Majesty
They both looked up as another figure burst through the back door of the Patriot: Jeff, wearing his favorite state championship rowing shirt and khaki shorts, his hair still mussed from sleep. When he saw Daphne and Sam sitting together, his expression shifted from puzzled disbelief to a sudden, boisterous delight.
“Hey, guys.” He came to stand behind them, throwing his arms around their shoulders to hug them close. “Sorry I’m late to the party.”
Daphne said something polite, but Sam just gave her brother a playful shove. “I believe the party was last night. Technically this is the afterparty.”
“Or the after-afterparty. Sounds like you and Marshall had an afterparty of your own,” Jeff teased. Sam stiffened, and he glanced over. “Sorry. Too soon?”
“No, it’s okay. Your ability to make me laugh at my own mistakes is one of your greatest gifts.” Sam drained the rest of her coffee in a single sip, then reached up to ruffle Jeff’s hair, just to remind him which twin was boss. “I’m going to head out.”
He and Daphne both made a show of protesting, but Sam knew better than to crash their date.
Just as Sam reached the door, Caleb following dutifully in her steps, Daphne called out, “See you later, Samantha!”
Sam wondered what she’d gotten herself into, asking for Daphne Deighton’s help.
“It’s been way too long since we did this,” Daphne declared, reaching across the Marikos’ counter for another sugar cookie.
For years this had been the two friends’ most sacred tradition: Saturday-afternoon shopping, followed by dinner at Himari’s house. Sometimes Daphne would sleep over, and they would stay up far too late, talking about everything and nothing at once, the way only best friends can do.
Himari smiled. “Thanks for coming with me. I had a year of shopping to make up for.”
“You made a valiant effort,” Daphne teased, glancing at all the shopping bags jumbled behind Himari’s chair. Daphne herself had only bought a single sweater that was on sale. She did most of her shopping online, where she could stack up coupons or buy couture items secondhand.
“Speaking of which, I have something for you.” Himari leaned back in her chair to grab one of the shopping bags, then handed it over.
Daphne pulled off the tissue paper to reveal a supple leather handbag, the same emerald green as her eyes. Its gold chain was so soft that it slipped through her fingers like water.
“Himari—this is far too nice—”
“I saw you eyeing it at Halo,” Himari said brightly. “Consider it a thank-you for being such a good friend this year. It means a lot to me, that you came to see me at the hospital so often,” she added, more softly.
Somehow Daphne smiled through the wave of her guilt. “Thanks.”
“It’s nothing.” Himari sighed. “I just can’t believe you’re graduating in a few weeks. I don’t know how I’m going to survive all of next year without you.”
“Please. You’ll rule the school with an iron fist.”
“Of course I will,” Himari said impatiently. “But who’s going to help me make sure the freshmen all know their place? Who will help me steal the best spots in the senior parking lot? Who’ll sneak out of Madame Meynard’s French class with me to get sesame bagels when we’re supposed to be practicing our dialogue?”
There was a touch of sadness in Daphne’s smile, because she had spent a year doing all those things alone, too. “I won’t be far; King’s College is only fifteen minutes away,” she pointed out.
“You and Jeff are going to have so much fun,” Himari moaned. “I can’t wait to come visit you guys.”
Daphne smiled. “All the time, please.”
She and Jefferson had been texting ever since last weekend, when he’d arrived at the Patriot to find her deep in conversation with his sister. Daphne knew at once that she’d scored a huge point in her favor. Samantha’s disapproval of her had always been a source of unspoken tension.
Himari pushed her chair back from the counter. “Want to watch something? I have so much TV-bingeing to catch up on.”
Daphne’s phone buzzed in her purse; she saw that it was her mother and pushed Ignore. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with Rebecca’s endless supply of plots and schemes.
“Yeah, I’ll stay.” She made to turn upstairs, but Himari had already crossed the room toward the back door.
“Can we go outside, actually? My brothers have taken over the playroom.”
There was nothing Daphne could say without arousing suspicion. She followed Himari despite her sudden uneasiness.
When they pulled open the door of the pool house, Himari sighed. “It’s too hot in here,” she announced. “Let me get the AC.”
Daphne went to sit down, clicking through the TV menu without really registering what it said. The last time she’d been in here, the night of Himari’s birthday party last spring, this couch had been unfolded into a pull-out bed.
It was where she’d lost her virginity to Ethan.
Daphne braced her palms on the couch cushion beneath her, trying—and failing—not to think about that night. Of the way Ethan’s body had fit against hers, skin to skin.
There was a loud clattering sound from the doorway. Himari had stumbled, barely catching herself from falling to the floor.
Daphne rushed forward, grabbing her friend beneath her arms to steady her. “Are you okay? Should I call your doctor?”
Himari’s face had gone ashen, her eyes fluttering shut. “I just need a minute.”
Daphne helped her to the couch, then found a bottle of water in the mini-fridge and forced Himari to take a few sips. “You probably overexerted yourself today,” she babbled. “Let me help you upstairs. Or do you want me to get your parents?”
Himari’s breaths were quick and shallow. For a terrifying moment, Daphne thought she might have passed out or somehow relapsed into a coma.
Then Himari’s eyes shot open, and Daphne knew at once that something had changed.
“You were in here last year, weren’t you?” Himari asked, speaking very slowly. “With Ethan.”
The hair on Daphne’s arms prickled. She didn’t know how to answer. There was no way she could admit the truth, yet she couldn’t bear to lie to Himari, either. Not after everything her friend had been through.
The misery must have been written there on her face, because Himari drew in a breath.
“I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “You and him—I remember now. I saw you!”
Daphne swallowed against the fear in her throat, sticky and hot like tar. “Let me explain,” she said weakly.
“Explain what? The fact that you cheated on your boyfriend—Jeff is my friend too, you know—in my house?”
“I’m sorry—”
“Sorry that you did it, or sorry you got caught?”
“I’m sorry for all of it!”
Something in her tone must have given her away, because she saw the moment of Himari’s comprehension, as the last piece of the puzzle fell into place.
“Oh my god. The night of the twins’ graduation party. That was you.”
Daphne leaned forward, but Himari lurched unsteadily from the couch. She stumbled back, to where a row of plastic folding chairs leaned against one wall, and held one before her so that its four legs were stretched out like weapons.
“You stay away from me.” Himari’s voice bristled with outrage, and even more heartbreaking, with fear. “You slept with Ethan, and when I confronted you about it, you tried to kill me to shut me up!”
Daphne’s mind was brutally silenced by those words.
“Of course I didn’t try to kill you,” she managed. “I mean, I guess it might seem that way, but you don’t know the whole story.”
“You’re the one who drugged me that night! Aren’t you?”
Daphne glanced down, unable to bear the hurt and disgust on Himari’s face, and gave a miserable nod.
Himari set down the chair, but didn’t move. “You’re unbelievable.”
“I never thought—I just wanted you to do something dumb that night,” Daphne stammered. “Something I could hold over your head, the way you were holding Ethan over mine. I never, ever meant to hurt you. You’re my best friend.”
“I was your best friend, until I got between you and Jeff.” Himari shook her head. “That’s the thing about you, Daphne. You always put yourself first. You’re completely and utterly selfish.”
Daphne winced. It was one thing to know the ugly truth about her choices, another thing entirely to hear it from someone else. “I’m so sorry. Himari—it destroyed me, what happened to you.”
“Are you kidding? You don’t get to ask me to feel sorry for you,” the other girl hissed. “I could have died!”
“If I could take back what happened, I would! It’s the biggest regret of my life!”
Himari looked at Daphne for an interminable moment. “I wish I could believe you,” she said at last. “But you’re too much of a liar. You lie to me and to Jeff, and most of all you lie to yourself.”
Sometimes, when Daphne was asleep, she got trapped in a lucid dream—she had the panicked realization that she was asleep but still couldn’t wake up. She felt like that now, trapped in some warped, nightmarish version of reality.
“Please,” she begged. “Is there anything I can do to fix this?”
Himari shook her head. “Get out. Now.”
* * *