Everyone leaves on the train early the next morning, so they’ll have time to get back home before the weekend is completely over. Tomorrow, life goes back to normal. Our new normal. Back to school, back to homework and routine. The only ‘back to’ being not back to being best friends with Nadine.

Nadine officially crossing me off the list as her best friend makes me want to do the same. Do I need an official best friend? Will I be able to confide in her the same way I had before, knowing she doesn't care about me like she used to?

This sucks.

I end up in the attic with my sisters, cleaning up after the weekend and trying to get the floor that belongs to us into some sort of final configuration that makes sense. There is a ton of room up here, and we try to make the most of it. It is just one big space, so breaking it up into different parts looks awkward and forced. I'm still dreaming about the day when we're able to add an extra bathroom to this floor assuming that’s even an option. There has to be a way to pull this off.

We ended up aligning our desks along the far wall and putting a room divider in between each so we can pretend we each have a separate office space. All anyone has to do is roll her chair back to see the people beside them, but if nothing else, it means that our desks are finally out of our bedrooms. Besides, we have a little more room to move around, and to avoid the sister we're stuck rooming with.

"So, that was equal parts fun and weird, right?" Reilly asks as she piles up folded blankets in the corner of the room beside the couch.

I'm doing my best to organize some of the stuff on the shelving units Dad put up last weekend. It's mostly random textbooks and unreturned library books, they look like a mess no matter how I arrange my stuff.

"For sure," Reece says. "I think everyone got along though, not that it matters."

It’s hard not to agree. The party was actually fun, but the weekend as a whole was more weird than anything. Probably weirder for me than it was for them.

"Nadine told me I'm not her best friend anymore," I say, talking quickly so can get the words out before I can stop myself. There’s a big part of me who would be happy never to have to bring this up again. But I have to tell my sisters. "Pretty much out of nowhere she announced that the Laney girl from back home is her best friend now. Not me. Not anymore."

Even though my back is to the rest of the room, I can sense everyone else stop what they're doing and hone in on me. I turn to find Rhiannon staring right at me, head tilted slightly to the side. "Wait, what?" She asks. "You guys have been best friends for almost our whole lives."

"Yeah, are you sure you didn't misread this somehow?" Reilly asks.

"How? She made it pretty clear. I'm sure. That first night, when she didn't want to sleep up here. She said it was because the floor was uncomfortable, but really she just wanted to get me alone somewhere so she could friend dump me." I can hear the anger rising in my voice and attempt to keep calm, but I know no matter how I play this, my sisters will see right through me. Nothing about this doesn't suck.

The more I say aloud, the more humiliating all of this sounds. There’s no taking it back. It's out there now, and my sisters are looking at me with a mix of sadness, worry and anger.

My sisters take care of the rest.

Somehow, we end up crowded around the small shared TV my dad let us have up here. Reece and I are on the couch with my legs spread out over hers, Reilly and Rhiannon are squished into the loveseat opposite us. Without meaning to, I'm crying. I'm still trying to fumble out what happened, but I can tell I'm not making much sense-- none of this makes much sense to me.

"I'm kind of glad you didn’t tell us earlier," Reece says, seething. "I definitely would've said something to her. This weekend was not the time to bring up any of her overdramatic crap. This was supposed to be a good time."

"I still had a good time, I think. Last night was fun. But yeah, when I remember this weekend, this is what I'm going to think about." For some reason, the idea of my sisters being angry on my behalf makes me feel the tiniest bit better.

"Your new friends seem really cool," Reilly adds. "Rosie seems like a lot of fun." I note that she doesn't seem to think the same about Jen, but I'll take what I can get when it comes to the seal of approval on the new people I hang out with.

Nobody mentions that no one from Fairview turned up for Rhiannon last night. Thankfully, she at least managed to be more friendly than usual and made an effort to talk to everyone else, so maybe this would be the introduction she needed to start making friends here as well. That is if we could pry her away from her textbooks, long enough for her to get to know anyone.

"What I want to know is how you two...," I look at Reece and Reilly, "...managed to meet that many people already."

"I had three people here," Reilly says. "Only one more than you. But you shouldn't be keeping score. I just met some decent people in my classes so far."

Reece on the other hand, had five people show up and all of them pretty and athletic. She keeps quiet during this discussion, still looking somewhat proud of herself. It's not like I actively want to be more popular, though I've always liked the idea of people secretly thinking I’m more interesting than I am. If I ever got stuck in a room with any of Reece's friends, old or new, we’d have absolutely nothing in common.

Back home, I would always watch her during lunch surrounded by this huge group of friends, guys and girls, who seemed to shift in and out of her group constantly. It made me wonder what that would be like.

Now, at least I have my own little group of my own, even if we usually hide out during lunch instead of parading around the cafeteria and making as much noise as possible.

Hours pass before we finish the attic. The final touches take the longest. The sloping ceiling that leads up after the stairwell has been covered in photographs. Among the four of us, we have a lot of pictures. We also now have a lot of abandoned, empty photo albums.

As a group, we decide we’re giving up on any sort of formal memory storage. Everything's on Facebook now anyway. Our new plan is to have the photograph wall grow out from the first three feet or so (the part we put together today), and hopefully cover all of the attic’s walls one day.

Looking at the pictures makes me conscious of my anger and hurt, how they haven’t gone away. Nadine and I… Okay, it still sucks, but if she doesn't want to be my best friend anymore, then I don't want her in my life. Maybe I can convince myself of that. After all, I have something she'll never have. That most people will never have.

For me, Nadine's spot as my best friend was never the true top of the people I cared about. I have three sisters, who are just like me and also so different, for whom the term best friend pales compared to the reality of my sisters and I’s relationship. There’s no question that they will always have my back. In the end, it's Donovan sisters first. It's always been that way. And that's something that no one will ever be able to take away from me.

* * *

The rest of the night slogs on, as if our usual weekend routine had never been disturbed.

Of course, most of my teachers took advantage of the long Thanksgiving holiday to pile on even more homework than usual, none of which I'd done during the past few days, I had working on all of that to look forward to.

I was just finishing up taking all the dirty plates from the table so that Reilly and I could tackle the dishes, our usual Sunday night chore, when the doorbell rang.

For a second, all six of us stare at one another, not sure what to make of the disturbance.

"Is anyone expecting someone?" My mom asks, looking at us. "Because at least two of you still have papers to finish before bed."

Almost as one, we shrug.

"I'll get it then," Reece says, standing up. While this neighborhood seems to be big on getting to know the people who live around you and involving one another in your lives, I can’t imagine any reason someone would be compelled to come bug us on a Sunday night, and at the end of a long weekend too. I feel way too tired for someone who just had extra time off, and the last thing I want to do was deal with company.

"It's for Reagan!" Reece's voice echoes through the house, snapping me back to reality. I look over my shoulder, convinced that my sister has misspoken. Reilly nudges me.

"Go," she whispers.

I put down the plate I’d been scrubbing while I rack my brain for who could have shown up, hoping to see me tonight.

Absolutely no one comes to mind.

Reece is standing in the hallway, grinning. Beside her is Kent.

Nothing about what I’m looking at makes any sense. Kent hadn't mentioned coming over tonight or ever.

"Reagan, there's someone here to see you." Reece waggles her eyebrows, looking ridiculous and probably trying hard to embarrass me, which I have to say is going pretty well.

"I can see that, thanks." She continues to stand there looking between Kent and me. "I've got this."

Reece takes the hint and goes back to the kitchen. I can already imagine what she’ll say to everybody else and the interrogation I’ll have to sit through later, I can worry about that once I got through this.

I remind myself to exhale.

Kent stands, staring down sheepishly at his feet. "Sorry to just randomly show up like this," he says, looking up. "But my dad was on his way to drop me off back at home, and I wanted to stop by and apologize again for not being able to make it this weekend."

Oh. "You didn't have to do that. I knew it was a long shot with Thanksgiving." My heart thumps against my ribcage as my body tries to work out what’s happening.

He came all this way just to apologize? It was just some stupid party, but I don't say that out loud. For some reason, he made the effort to come here tonight, I'm not sure how to respond. A smile is struggling to fight its way onto my face, I’m determined to play it cool.

"Did you want to come in?" I ask before remembering what he just told me. So much for cool.

"No can do. My dad has to drive back home, so I don't want to keep him waiting." He locks eyes with me. "So how was last night? I heard both Rosie and Jen came by. They loved seeing the house up close."

"I really can't figure out why people care about this house." If I’m being honest with myself, I can’t figure out why most people in this town care about any of the things they did. Maybe complaining wasn't the best way to continue this conversation. "But yeah, it was fun. A little weird having those two different groups of people all here together, I think it went well though."

"Rosie said she had a great time, and Jen managed not to find anything to complain about. So that's a good sign."

"I promise you didn't miss much. If you want, I can do a private tour just for you some other time." Did I actually just say that? "Although at this point, I feel like I should add some plastic bats falling from the ceiling just liven things up. People seem to have high expectations for this place."

"And low standards for haunted houses." He chuckles.

I laugh. "That too."

A dish clangs from behind me. I turn around in time to see someone's head popped back out of the doorway. Great, we have an audience. Everyone in my family is clearly going to read way more into this than they should. Kent is just being polite. Him coming is super sweet, and granted more polite than anyone would ever think was necessary. It's not like it means anything.

Right?

"Well, I'll let you go. I still have to finish pretty much every piece of homework I got for the weekend."

"I did most of it at my dad’s place since there wasn't anything else to do. I'm still going to thank Mr. Sullen a thousand times for not adding on some ridiculous paper just because teachers seem to think they need to give us homework whenever there's a chance we might be enjoying our free time instead."

I grin and say goodbye, wishing I could be the kind of person to spontaneously hug people. I stay and watch from the door as Kent made his way back to his dad's car. His dad had been sitting in the driveway and is now politely looking at his phone instead of at us. He has dark skin and hair a little curlier looking then Kent’s. Even from here, I can see that Kent looks more like his dad then he does Mindy.

It’s a surprising reminder that besides Rosie, I really don’t know that much about my new friends outside of their school lives. Has everyone else met Kent’s dad? What are Jen’s parents like?

Is that why Nadine had decided that Laney would make a better best friend? Was I too self-involved? How often does everyone hang out outside of school without me?

No. Not now! This is not the time to let these stupid thoughts get the best of me. I’ve made an effort to get to know people outside of school now, and I’m not going to let Nadine ruin this part of the weekend for me too. Kent just showed up at my house, just to be nice!

As they drive off, I wave goodbye and close the door, leaning my head briefly against the door frame as I collect myself all over again. That had been the most unexpected dishes detour in a while, but I can’t stop grinning.

Even if Kent had just stopped by to be polite, he'd done it all the same. He was thinking about me. I'd gotten to see him on a weekend, which was pretty much a first for me and any guy. Ever.

Thankfully, no one is watching me from the kitchen as I head back inside as I try to steady my breath. I brace myself for the onslaught of questions I’m sure is coming, already prepared us to downplay everything that had just happened. I want time to figure out what this means for myself first.