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shove that girl away from Keith, she didn’t. Instead, she found her cell phone and calmly sent Keith a text message, inviting him over to her house after school. She watched as he reached into the pocket of his letterman jacket and pulled out his cell phone, checking the screen.
    What Keith did next horrified Eden.
    Instead of texting her back, Keith closed his phone, returned it to his pocket, and walked out of the cafeteria with the girl. Not only was her arm still wrapped around his waist, but Keith had an arm wrapped around her shoulders. The girl smiled up at Keith and snuggled up against him as they walked away.
    Staring at the two of them, Eden blinked back tears. She hated to admit it, but it looked like her boyfriend had found himself a new girlfriend.

“So do you think my party should have a theme?” Claudia asked Natalie as they walked home after school. “I’m thinking since next week is Valentine’s Day, I should play that up. Lots of pink and red decorations. Lots of chocolate desserts. Maybe even a chocolate fountain! Wouldn’t that be yummy?”
    Natalie nodded. She knew her opinion really didn’t matter. Claudia always did what she wanted to do.
    â€œMaybe I should make everyone dress in red, and if they’re not in red, I won’t let them in.”
    â€œDo you really want to play fashion police the entire night?”
    Claudia thought about it for a second. “Good point. Maybe I’ll tell all the girls that I’m the only one allowed to dress in red for the party.”
    Natalie knew if Claudia did that none of the girls would dare disobey. Crossing Claudia was like being sent to Siberia. You would be frozen out of all social events once she got the word out to her friends.
    For the second time that day, Natalie wondered why Claudia enjoyed being so mean. Was it a power thing? Did she feel she had to be this way? Was she afraid that if everyone wasn’t scared of her, they wouldn’t be her friend? Although, realistically, were the other girls Claudia hung out with her friends?
    Natalie liked to think that she and Claudia were friends. She listened when Claudia had problems and tried to help her out when she could. They certainly spent a lot of time together. During the summer they went to the beach and Claudia’s parents’ country club. They went shopping together in Manhattan, saw Broadway matinees, went to concerts, had sleepovers, hung out at the mall, borrowed each other’s clothes, and discussed guys. In the beginning, Natalie had loved hanging out with Claudia. She’d been fun! But lately . . . lately Natalie just wasn’t liking Claudia.
    She knew she couldn’t say anything to her. No one dared to criticize Claudia. But maybe she could discuss the situation with Eden and see what she thought.
    Natalie felt closer to Eden than she did to Claudia. Eden was more real and grounded. True, she was a girly girl, totally into shopping and hair and makeup and guys, but Natalie felt that if she were ever in a crisis, she could depend on Eden. Eden was the one who always brought over her homework when she was out sick. Eden was the one who had come with her to the hospital last month to visit her grandmother after she broke her leg and helped her parents plan her Sweet Sixteen surprise party last summer. She couldn’t keep track of all the nice things Eden had done for her since freshman year. If she ever had a problem and needed to talk it out, all she had to do was pick up the phone or send a text and Eden was there.
    Thinking about Eden made Natalie realize that she had to call her later. At lunch, she could see that something was bothering her. At one point it looked like she was crying, but Eden had reassured her that she wasn’t. Something had gotten into her eye, she quickly explained. Before Natalie could ask her anything else, Eden had dashed off to the bathroom. Natalie hadn’t seen her the rest of the day