“You can put on these clothes until yours dry
-they'll be a little big, but not too bad. Come downstairs when you're ready.” Diana paused, her emerald-green eyes on Cassie's face. “Is something wrong?”
“No… not really, but…” Cassie floundered, then shook her head angrily. “It's only… it's just… why are you being so nice to me?” she burst out. It all still seemed like a dream.
Diana stared at her a minute, then she smiled with her eyes, although her lips remained grave. “I don't know… I guess I think you're nice and you deserve it. I can work on trying to be rotten if you want.”
Cassie shook her head again, but not angrily this time. She felt her own lips twitch.
“And…” Diana was looking off into space now, her clear green eyes distant. “We're all sisters, you know.”
Cassie caught her breath. “Are we?” she whispered.
“Yes,” Diana said firmly, still looking far away. “Yes, we are. In spite of everything.” Then her face changed, and she looked at Cassie. “You can call your mom from this line,” she said, indicating a phone. “I'll go down and order the pizza.” And just like that, she was gone.
Nine
The girls who came over were named Laurel and Melanie. Laurel was the girl Cassie had seen in the library with Diana. Up close she was very slim, with light-brown hair almost as long as Diana's and a pretty, pixieish face. She was wearing a floral dress and pink hightops.
“It's veggie pizza, isn't it?” she said, kicking the door shut behind her because she was carrying a stack of Tupperware containers in her arms. “You didn't order any patriarchal pepperoni, did you?”
“No meat,” Diana assured her, opening the door again to reveal another girl standing there patiently.
“Oops-sorry!” Laurel shouted on her way to the kitchen. “I've got stuff here for a salad.”
Diana and the new girl turned as one to shout, “No tofu!”
“It's just veggies and greens,” Laurel's voice floated back. Diana and the new girl exchanged looks of relief.
Cassie was fighting shyness. The new girl was definitely a senior, tall and beautiful in a sophisticated way. Her smooth cap of chestnut hair was pulled back with an Alice band, and under it her gray eyes were cool and assessing. She was the only person Cassie had ever seen who looked as if she were wearing glasses when she wasn't.
“This is Melanie,” Diana said. “She lives on this same road at Number Four. Melanie, this is Cassie Blake –she just moved into Number Twelve. Mrs. Howard's her grandmother.”
The thoughtful gray eyes were turned on Cassie, then Melanie nodded. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Cassie said, glad she'd had a bath and hoping Diana's clothes didn't look too silly on her.
“Melanie's our brain,” Diana said fondly. “She's devastatingly smart. And she knows everything there is to know about computers.”
“Not everything,” Melanie said without smiling. “Sometimes I think not anything.” She looked at Diana. “You know, I overheard some whispers about a Cassie, and something to do with Faye, but nobody would tell me more.”
“I know. I only found out about it today. Maybe I'm out of touch with what's really going on in school– but you should have told me you'd heard something, at least.”
“You can't fight everybody's battles, Diana.”
Diana just looked at her, then shook her head slightly. “Cassie, why don't you go in and help Laurel with the salad? You'll like Laurel; she's a junior like you.”
In the kitchen Laurel was standing in front of a counter full of vegetables, chopping away.
“Diana said I should help you.”
Laurel turned. “Good! You can wash that shepherd's purse over there-it's fresh, so it's probably got
some native wildlife crawling on it.”
Shepherd's purse? Cassie looked at several piles of greenery doubtfully. Was this something she ought to know?
“Uh… this?” she said, picking up a dark green triangular leaf with a mealy white underside.
“No, that's wild spinach.” Laurel gestured with her elbow to a pile of long, slender leaves with ragged edges. “That's the shepherd's purse. But you can wash them both.”
“Do you ever use-uh, feverfew-in salads?” Cassie asked hesitantly as she washed. She was glad to have something to contribute. These girls were so smart, so competent, so together; she desperately wanted to make a good impression.
Laurel smiled and nodded. “Yes, but you have to be careful not to eat too much; you can get a rash. Feverfew's good for other things, too; it makes a good wash for insect bites and a great love-“ Laurel broke off suddenly and went into a flurry of chopping. “There, this burnet is ready. It's good to get these greens fresh, you know,” she added quickly, “because they taste better and they're still full of life from Mother Earth.”
Cassie glanced at her warily. Maybe this girl wasn't so together after all. Full of life from Mother Earth? But then, suddenly, she recalled that day when she had leaned against the red granite and felt a buzzing deep inside it. When she'd imagined she'd felt that, rather. Yes, she could see how you might think that fresh plants were full of that life.
“Okay, this is done. You can tell Di and Melanie it's ready; I'll get some plates,” Laurel said.
Cassie went back into the spacious front room. Melanie and Diana were absorbed in conversation, and neither of them saw her come up behind them.
”… picking her up like a puppy off the street. You're always doing that,” Melanie was saying earnestly, and Diana was listening with her arms folded. “But what's going to happen later-?”
She broke off as Diana saw Cassie and touched her forearm.
“It's ready,” Cassie said, feeling awkward. Had they been talking about her? Calling her a puppy off the street? But it hadn't been Diana saying that; only Melanie. She told herself that she didn't care what Melanie thought.
The cool gray eyes weren't unfriendly, though, as Melanie looked at her while they ate the salad. Only– thoughtful. And when the pizza came, Cassie had to admire the ease with which the other three girls laughed and talked with the college-age delivery guy. He got so interested in Melanie that he practically invited himself inside, but Diana, laughing, shut the door on him.