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crazy Hawaiian shirts Joe would describe as “retro meets fashion forward” that they got at the thrift shop down by the Trailways station. It’s like a two-person tween gay pride parade right here in Paintbrush Falls, except for the fact that Zachary isn’t gay, or doesn’t know yet that he is. I’ve got to hand it to Joe; he’s got chutzpah. (That’s a word I learned from Joe’s grandmother, who has a lot more to say than mine, and half the time it’s in this Jewishlanguage called Yiddish. Chutzpah means nerve.)
    Right behind them come Addie and her new bff, Becca. Well, okay, Becca isn’t exactly her best friend. In fact, up until the end of the school year, they were more like frenemies, but then they started hanging out together and Becca lost some of her attitude and most of her makeup and turned out to be a whole lot nicer than anybody thought she was.
    And, without all the makeup, a whole lot prettier.
    By which I mean, she definitely does not make me think of half a dead mouse.
    They surprise me by sitting at the counter instead of our booth at the back. I guess it’s because that’s where I am, putting away glasses that just came out of the dishwasher.
    â€œSo how are you guys?” I ask.
    â€œOkay,” Addie answers. “It was a slow day at the library.”
    This makes me laugh. “Um, is there ever a fast day at the library?”
    â€œI just mean,” says Addie, getting a little huffy,“that there was hardly anyone there, even for story time. Does no one read books anymore?”
    Becca says, “Books, books. I think I remember those. Weren’t they those things made out of paper that had words in them?”
    â€œVery funny,” says Addie.
    Joe says, “Well, consider yourself lucky that you weren’t doing my job today, Addie. We were having the kids make these paper-bag wind socks, and this one boy, Jeremiah, who I swear is the devil’s child, kept blowing up the paper bags and popping them in everyone’s ears. And this girl, Eloise, who is very sensitive, wouldn’t stop crying and saying that Jeremiah had made her deaf. And then this other boy, Liam, started screaming at Eloise because he thought she couldn’t hear, and then this girl, Leeann, wet her pants.”
    Zachary starts laughing his goofy laugh, which makes everybody else laugh, and Addie says, “Okay, you win.”
    I love my friends. Seriously.
    â€œAnd how’s it going with you, E.B.?” Joe asks.
    â€œSay what?” says Becca.
    â€œE.B. Earring brother. Skeezie and I got our ears pierced together last Christmas, and we call ourselves earring brothers.”
    â€œOh-kaaaay,” Becca goes, like that’s just about the uncoolest thing she’s ever heard.
    â€œI guess you had to be there,” I say to Becca.
    â€œI guess,” she says. “But Skeezie, really, you could do better than that skull-and-crossbones thing. I mean, it’s so trailer trash.”
    â€œOuch,” I say, and then Addie lets Becca have it for using that expression when all kinds of nice people live in mobile homes, including Bobby and his dad.
    â€œOkay, okay, excuse me for living,” says Becca. “I didn’t know Bobby lived in a trailer.”
    â€œEven if he didn’t, there are lots of people who do, and they are not trash,” Addie goes on in this high-and-mighty tone, sounding like, well, Addie.
    â€œAnyway,” Becca says to me, “I didn’t mean that you look like trailer trash, Skeezie. Just theearring. In fact, I think this job has, like, improved your appearance.”
    I wasn’t aware that my appearance needed improvement. Apparently, that is a minority view.
    â€œIt’s true,” Addie says, while Joe and Zachary nod. The traitors. “Maybe it’s just that you’re out of that leather jacket for a change and are required by law to wash your hands, but you look