But Emma and Grace were staring at me, waiting for my answer. They weren’t going to let me off the hook.
“It was the best kiss of my life,” I admitted. “But that’s all it was. A vacation fling.”
Pretty green eyeshovered an inch from mine. I sat on the floor with my back propped against the couch. Blair knelt next to me, scrutinizing every inch of my face.
“You have, like, zero pores,” she announced. She rocked back on her heels. “That’s kind of boring.”
“Sorry,” I laughed.
Blair tilted her head, still studying me. Suddenly her eyes lit up. “Hey, can I make you ugly?”
I blinked rapidly. “What?”
“Like, old.”
“I think you mean vintage,” Emma said drily. She was curled up on the far end of the couch, watching us as she knitted a blanket.
Blair was already rummaging through her makeup kit. “It would be good practice. I’m already great at making people pretty. And sometimes my friends let me do their makeup for Halloween. But they all want to be pretty things, like elves and fairies. No one ever lets me make them ugly. I practice on myself sometimes, though. I’ve got some liquid latex that’s great for making lines and wrinkles.”
I shrugged. “Sure, why not.” I eyed her kit. “All your stuff is clean and sanitized, right?”
Blair nodded solemnly. “I gave Uncle Liam pink eye once, and he wasmad. I’m really careful now. Anyway, next year I’ll be fourteen and I’m going to start charging people to do their makeup for, like, prom and weddings. No one will hire me if I’m gross.”
“Very true.” I leaned back and closed my eyes while she dabbed moisturizer onto my cheeks, forehead, and chin. “I respect the hustle.”
“Hang on, I’m going to go get my spa headband to keep your hair out of my way.” Blair jumped to her feet and dashed to the stairs.
“Hey, toss me that mascara, will you, Lennon?” Grace asked from her chair across the room. “I need to take a photo so I know what to buy. It’s really good.”
I looked down at the pile of tubes. At least two looked to be mascara. I held one up, glancing at the label. “This one? Lux?”
Grace shook her head. “No, it was something XL. I can’t remember the brand, but I remember that.”
Emma leaned forward and peered over my shoulder. “That’s it. See? XL.” She tapped the letters.
I blinked and looked again. “Oh. I don’t know why I thought it said Lux. Letters moving around on me again, I guess.” I tossed Grace the tube.
She caught it with both hands and sent me a curious look. “Dyslexia?”
I forced a light laugh. “No, I just suck at reading.”Are you lazy, Lennon? Or just stupid?I pushed the voices down and kept smiling.
“Because letters move around?” Grace snapped a photo of the mascara with her phone and then tossed it back to me. “And maybe your brain hallucinates letters and words that aren’t there, filling in the gaps to make sense of it?”
Like changing XL to Lux. I stared at the tube in my hands. “Sometimes,” I said.
She nodded. “I’ve had a few students with dyslexia. That’s how they describe it.”
“Or maybe I’m just stupid.”
I meant it as a self-deprecating joke, but Grace shot up from her chair and stormed toward me. She squatted down, putting us eye to eye. “We don’t use that word. You are not stupid. There are learning difficulties, and there is willfully ignorant. Stupid doesn’t exist.”
My eyes burned. “There are people who have known me my whole life who would disagree.”
“Then tell them to call me.” Grace’s face turned red with fury.
“Do it,” Emma said. “She’s vicious.”
Grace patted my knee. “You should get tested for dyslexia. It’s missed a lot in kids. Plenty of people don’t get diagnosed until adulthood.”
