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calling me on my BS.
    “I’ll take the fifth, Counselor,” I muttered.
    “Megan, I’m worried about the boardwalk thing, too,” Turquoise said in a sympathetic tone. “But I’m more worried about Jade. She just seems…more lost than she’s been in a while. And I also realize that she has a point: It’s not fair of me to talk about her or criticize her, because I haven’t been home in a while. I am like a tourist.”
    “No, you’re not,” I answered automatically.
    She snickered.
    “What?”
    “Megan, when was the last time I called you? I’m really not a local. But you and Jade are. You’re the best friend my sister could possibly have. And you never have a bad word to say about anyone. Not even losers like Sean Edwards. So what’s going on?”
    There was a nutty irony. Because for a second, I felt closer to Jade than I’d felt all summer long. Turquoise was nosy, and pushy, and self-righteous. I could just picture Jade making a crack about how Turquoise always used reverse psychology to make somebody feel stupid. ( “Classic wannabe lawyer move,” she’d say.)
    “Nothing is going on,” I muttered. “I just had a lousy day.”
    “That’s what Jade said.”
    “Ha, ha.” I yawned. “Listen, Turquoise, I don’t want to—”
    “So are you guys serious about this pact party thing?” Turquoise asked, lowering her voice.
    I sat up straight in bed, suddenly very wide-awake. I grabbed the remote and turned the TV off. “You know about the pact party?” I hissed.
    “I’m not deaf, Megan,” she said, and I knew she was smiling. “I hear things, even when I’m studying for the bar exam. The walls are pretty thin in this bungalow.”
    “Well…”
    “If Jade is depressed about something, maybe this pact party could be just what the doctor ordered. We invite a bunch of tourists, and the usual crew from town—Brian Ashe and whoever else—and you and Miles and Jade will hang back, watching everybody try not to hook up, and you’ll have a ball. And hopefully Jade will snap out of her funk. I can play the shrewish older sister.”
    I laughed out loud.
    “What?” she said.
    “Nothing. I um…that’s just…nice. What I’d pay for Jade to be in on this conversation. I wish we were being wiretapped.”
    “She’d never believe it,” Turquoise stated. “And don’t joke about wiretapping.”
    “Hey, you’re the lawyer. You know more about this stuff than I do.”
    “So do we have a deal? Pact party this weekend?”
    I nodded. “We do indeed have a deal. Let’s say Saturday—”
    “MEGAN!” Mom yelled from her bedroom. “GET OFF THE PHONE AND GO TO BED! YOU HAVE TO CLEAN THE ROTHS’ HOUSE TOMORROW!”
    Party time indeed.

Jade
    M egan and Lily-Ann were the first to arrive for the pact party, and they arrived together—which didn’t exactly fill me with glee. To Megan’s credit, however, she’d not only called me four times since our fight (if that’s even what it was), but had also e-mailed, texted, and stuffed a handwritten note into our mail slot.
    Hey, Jade, I am so sorry about the way I acted the other day. I guess I’m just stressed about the boardwalk situation, and about college applications, and about the summer…and blah, blah, blah. Anyway, very psyched for the big party! So is Turquoise! xoxoxo Your true BFF, Megan. P.S. You can’t ever possibly get rid of me, even if you tried.
    I was happy about that, I admit. Even though I got the feeling she was holding something back. Namely, that she knew about Miles and me.
    What I still wasn’t happy about was that Megan had clearly engaged in secret phone conversations with my sister, and that Turquoise had taken her sisterly new hippie vibe beyond the style phase and into the realm of reality. Where was the ice-cold condescension? Where were the complaints about my crappy attitude, appearance, and diet? Not that I missed that stuff…or did I?
    But what bothered me the most was that Megan and Lily-Ann still seemed to be