After that talk, Tracy and I went to her—soon maybe our—room, talking about everything from make-up, to celebrities, to boys. She told me about how much fun she had with Conrad but how she felt guilty because of Javi, so she planned to be extra nice to Javi today. Maybe they would have a date.

"But you have to help me, okay?" Tracy said, as she styled her hair in front of the large mirror on her counter.

"Of course, idiot," I agreed. "Why would I not help you? I mean, you're going to be my sister soon."

Tracy beamed.

"I can't wait for that," she enthused, turning away from the mirror to give me a hug.

"Girls!" I heard Mel call out from the kitchen. "Breakfast's ready, c'mon!"

Tracy added one last finishing touch to her hair before grabbing my wrist.

"Okay, let's go."

We rushed to the kitchen to see that Mel had prepared french toast again—mm, my favorite. And she knew it was my favorite. Maybe she really was going to adopt me? Maybe this was her way of saying yes?

"Wow, french toast," I remarked, as I glanced down at my plate. "Thanks, Mel!"

"Any time," Mel replied gratefully, beaming. I guess she was happy someone was appreciating her food.

We ate breakfast and then went to brush our teeth and do our make-up.

I applied a new light pink shade of lipstick I had stolen from this small make-up store yesterday and fixed my hair, and I was ready.

Tracy was still perfecting her make-up — she always had trouble with the eyeliner. I had actually recommended eyeliner for her, since it would make her eyes pop out. She was so lucky to have blue eyes.

"Come on, girls!" Mel yelled. "You're going to be late for school if you don't hurry up!"

"Shit, I didn't even apply my lipstick yet," Tracy cursed, wiping out a failed attempt at eyeliner and trying to do it again.

"Here, let me do it," I suggested, grabbing the eyeliner from her and doing it. She stood perfectly still as I did it. I had done it for Astrid multiple times, so I was pretty good at it. "Okay, let's go!"

"But—"

"You can apply your lipstick in the car," I reassured her. Tracy grabbed one of her lipsticks and I took a couple of sunglasses and we ran out.

Mel was already waiting for us in the car. I handed Tracy her pair of sunglasses as we both got in.

"Thanks," she mumbled, as she sat down. Mel started driving and Tracy got out her lipstick, ready to apply it, when I stopped her.

"No, the car's moving, it'll get smeared like that," I told her, and Tracy glanced down at her lipstick and sighed.

"You're right, I'll just do it when my mom drops us off," she said, putting away her lipstick.

We drove for about five minutes before arriving at our destination.

Tracy started doing her lipstick.

"Bye, Mel!" I called out, getting out of the car. I saw Malcolm, Javi and Josh a few feet away and approached them.

"Hey boys," I greeted, smirking slightly at them.

"What's up, Evie?" Malcolm replied.

"How you doin'?" Josh said, while Javi merely smiled at me. "You know, I ate two jalapeños yesterday at the same time without crying."

"No you didn't," I scoffed. Josh and I had this ongoing joke about him and jalapeños because he had bitten a piece of one once and instantly started crying. Ever since then, he's continued to try and convince me that he could eat jalapeños and he wasn't overly sensitive.

The boys smirked and I walked off to see a group of girls all talking. They were all either my friends, or wanting to be my friends, or my friends' friends.

"Hey Evie," they all greeted me as soon as I approached them.

"Hey guys," I said, grinning at them.

"Where's Tracy?" Merida asked. Oh right—Merida had broken up with her new boyfriend and started bawling her eyes out, so Tracy, Astrid and I kind of helped her out because we felt bad for her. After, we made fun of her obviously, but since then she's kind of been part of my clique again.

"She's still in the car," I said, turning around to call out for her. "Come on, Tracy."

After a while, I saw Tracy get out of the car. I turned to the rest of the girls and said, "Josh's still trying to convince me he can eat jalapeños without crying."

The girls all laughed, even those who didn't know the joke. Kind of pathetic, really.

"Please, he can't even eat one tiny piece without sobbing," Astrid said, causing me to laugh.

Tracy then approached us with a slightly amused smile.

"What are you all laughing about?" she inquired with a small smirk.

"Josh told me he ate two jalapeños yesterday without crying," I explained with a snort, causing Tracy to giggle.

"He's bluffing," she said, glancing over at Josh out of the corner of her eye. "That kid can't even look at an onion without bawling his eyes out."

We all giggled, and just then, the bell rang.

"What do you think?" Tracy asked as the rest of the girls, except for Astrid and Merida, walked away, calling out farewells. "Should we skip, or should we go to class?"

"We can't skip," Merida said worriedly. "I mean, they're going to give out our test results for math and stuff. I actually studied for that shit."

Tracy and I exchanged a look, smirking slightly, and then I looked over at Astrid—who wasn't laughing her ass off, like I expected she would.

"Ugh, she's right," Astrid groaned, and when I raised an eyebrow at her, she sighed. "Basically that old bitch Mrs. Lakewood called my parents about me getting bad grades, and if I didn't get good grades on my recent tests I would be grounded for like, a month."

"Oh damn," I responded. "Sorry. Do you think you got a good grade?"

"Maybe," Astrid replied, "I mean, I studied really hard for the first time in my life, so I guess so."

"Okay, good luck," Tracy said, before turning to me. "What's your first class?"

"It's with Mr. Smith," I answered. "I think I can skip."

"Okay, let's go, Astrid," Merida said a little too energetically, linking arms with Astrid. Astrid glanced back at us regretfully and followed Merida.

"Ugh, Merida's trying way too hard," Tracy said, rolling her eyes. "It's a little embarrassing."

"Yeah," I laughed, before grabbing her wrist and going to our hangout place near the dumpsters. "Um, listen, I heard a couple of these guys talking about skipping and selling some shit, maybe we could buy from them?"

"Hell yeah!" Tracy exclaimed, grinning excitedly. "Let's go."

"Okay, okay, chill," I chortled, looping arms with her. "I think I saw them go in this direction."

I pointed to a secluded place a few feet away from us.

"Oh yeah, a lot of people meet up there to buy stuff," Tracy said. "Rachel and I have sold some stuff there once."

"Yeah, I know," I responded, as we walked towards the place. "You have cash on you, right?"

"Um, yeah," Tracy answered, peeking inside her bag. "I have a lot of money from that lady I stole from."

"Oh, I almost forgot about that," I laughed. "That was so smart of you!"

We continued walking and talking, and eventually spotted the guys and bought something new we hadn't tried yet. They were originally planning to sell it for twenty bucks, but since I'm Evie Zamora, they gave us a five dollar discount.

After that, the bell rang and we rushed to meet Astrid and ask her about her grade.

"Hey, what's up?" Tracy questioned, once we saw Astrid coming out of class with an elated grin on her face.

"I got an eighty six!" she squealed, jumping excitedly. We both hugged her and said our congratulations. "Just one more test to go."

"Oh yeah, it's in our next class," Tracy said. "I just remembered."

"I also have test results coming next class," I announced. "Wish me luck, or don't. I really don't care, Brooke doesn't know shit."

We laughed to ourselves, and the bell announcing our classes were about to start rang again.

"C'mon, Trace," Astrid said, hooking arms with Tracy. "See you, babe."

I gave them both a hug and went to my next class. The only person out of my friend group there was Kylie, so I spent that class chatting with her.

Our teacher was ranting about some dumb stuff that I couldn't care less about, and reprimanded Kylie and I a couple of times, so we resorted to sending notes. Thankfully, this teacher didn't give a shit about notes.

"Okay, since we have about three minutes left of class, I'm going to give you guys last Tuesday's test results," he proclaimed, before grabbing a stack of papers on his desk and handing them out to everyone.

He passed by my desk and handed me my test paper. I glanced down at my paper disinterestedly—I got a sixty five. Better than last time, I guess.

"What'd you get?" Kylie asked, peering up from the top of her paper at me.

"An eighty," I lied, shoving the paper into my bag. "You?"

"Ninety!" Kylie exclaimed, grinning. "I actually studied for this test!"

"Cool," I replied with a slight smile, even though I really couldn't care less. Why was everyone studying now? Ugh.

After that class, I met up with Tracy and asked her what she got.

"Pick a number from one to forty two," she giggled. I laughed in disbelief.

"A forty two? Really?" I chuckled, shaking my head slightly. But that made me feel way better about myself. Finally someone normal who didn't study and wasn't a total nerd.

"And what'd you get, smarty pants?" Tracy answered with a small smirk. I showed her my test paper. "A sixty five? And you're laughing at me?"

"Hey, a sixty five is way better than a forty two!" I laughed, crumpling up the paper and throwing it in the trash. Tracy linked arms with me and we walked to our next class together.

For the rest of the school day, everyone was talking about their test results. Really? They really couldn't find anything else to talk about?

Astrid had gotten a seventy on her other test, which she was pretty happy about, even though she wished it was higher. Her parents wouldn't be mad at because of a seventy—she had gotten way worse before.

After school had finished, Mel came to pick us up. We got in and she smiled at us.

"Hey, how was school?" she asked as she started driving. "What did you guys get on your tests?"

"Um, our teachers only let us look at the paper for a couple of minutes and then took it back," Tracy lied. "But we got pretty good grades. I got hundreds on both tests, as usual."

"I got a ninety and a ninety five," I said with a grin.

"Good job!" Mel enthused, beaming pridefully at us. "I'm proud of you, ladies."

She was treating me almost as if I was her daughter.

"Hit me. I'm serious, I can't feel anything, hit me."

I smacked Tracy hard on her face, and she turned to look at me with an elated grin. "Again, do it harder!"

I hit her much harder this time, letting out a small chuckle.

"I can't feel anything, this is so awesome!" Tracy giggled energetically.

"I hear this little wa-wa-wa inside my head," I proclaimed, feeling dazed in an amazing way.

"That's your braincells popping," Tracy replied, and we both burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

"Do it," I commanded, staring at her determinedly.

"You want me to do it?" Tracy asked with a giggle, before slapping me across the face.

"Hit me! Harder!" Tracy shrilled, jumping on the bed. "Punch me!"

I shot a badly aimed punch at her jaw, causing her to collapse and her head to land against the counter. She got up, laughing, her lip bleeding.

"Hit me really hard," I instructed, looking up at her eagerly. "Really."

"Okay, I'm gonna punch you," Tracy giggled.

"Okay, go!" I yelled, laughing.

She punched me hard, and her ring collided against my forehead. I could barely feel it, and it was amazing.

"Holy shit!" Tracy exclaimed, laughing and looking down at the blood on her ring. I laughed, astonished.

"Yeah!" I screamed, laughing like crazy.

Mel and Birdie were preparing some food in the kitchen, so they couldn't hear us or anything. We had also locked the door just in case.

"Ah, I want to bleed more!" Tracy whined. "Hit me!"

I obeyed and hit her for what was probably the one thousandth time.

"Make an effort, bitch!" she roared, laughing. I giggled and then hit her really hard, causing her to fall off the bed.

I crawled to the edge of the bed with a small grin on my face—until I saw her lying down with a red mark on her head, looking unconscious.

"Tracy?" I called anxiously, my grin falling off my face. I got off the bed and took her in my hands. "Tracy?"

"Hey, food's ready, ladies!" Mel called out from the kitchen.

"Just a minute!" I called back, before taking Tracy's head in my hands. "Tracy."

"Get up, okay?" I said as I helped her get up, and sat her on her chair in front of the mirror. "You can't go out like this."

"Oh shit," Tracy muttered groggily, taking a paper towel and wiping off her lip with it. I started doing her make-up to hide the bruises.

We dressed up really fancy—and I mean, really fancy. Wigs and fake eyelashes and make-up and everything. Tracy went to Mel's room to get something and I borrowed Birdie's belt without her permission.

After we were ready, we strutted outside to meet them.

"How do we look, darling?" I greeted, as Tracy and I posed in front of them. Tracy laughed, and I spun around and shook my ass jokingly. "Guys, say hello to the butt."

"I wanna play! I wanna play!" the little girl, Kayla, darted over to me excitedly.

"Um, okay," I said, watching Kayla play around.

"Is that my belt, Evie?" I heard Birdie say, and I whirled around to face her.

"Yeah," I replied, sauntering over to Mason's side as Mel got up and left. I sat down on Mason's lap. "Mason, do you have any film? Do you wanna take pictures of us?"

I shoved a piece of food into my mouth as Mason shifted uncomfortably. "No, Evie, I don't."

I shrugged and continued eating. I don't know why he's acting like this when he wanted me so bad for the past few weeks, but okay.

Tracy and I sat down and started eating while Kayla played around. Birdie got up after a few seconds, and so did Mason, leaving us all alone with Kayla.

"Do you think they noticed anything?" I questioned, after I gulped down my mouthful of food.

"Um, my mom noticed my lip, but I just told her I bit it," Tracy answered, as she started eating. "That was fun, though."

"Yeah," I laughed. We giggled and watched Kayla play around, just eating.

"What's up with Mason?" I questioned disinterestedly. "He seemed kind of cold."

"Oh, him," Tracy scoffed, rolling his eyes. "He's just being stupid, like always."

"Yeah," I replied, before switching the subject. "Merida is so desperate to be friends with us again, gosh."

"Yeah," Tracy laughed, swallowing some food. "Poor Astrid had to spend a whole class with her."

I giggled.

"So, are you meeting up with Javi?" I asked curiously.

"No, Javi said he's busy or something," Tracy sighed, before shrugging. "Whatever, I have Conrad."

"Yeah, I think Conrad's way better," I told her, hoping for her to just forget Javi. "I mean, he's nice, he's funny, and he's older than us by a couple of years. And he's like, so hot."

"Yeah," Tracy chuckled. "I think he really likes me. I'll try a date with Javi a couple of times more, and if he keeps being boring, I think I'll just dump him for Conrad."

"Really?" I questioned, trying not to make my voice sound excited. "But I thought you liked him?"

"Well, yeah, but I think I like Conrad better," she elaborated.

"Yeah," I agreed, feeling my heart thump against my chest aggressively. "Um, I think we should clean up and go back to our room."

"Okay," Tracy answered readily. "Watching Kayla is really boring."

We guffawed and took our empty plates to the kitchen, where Mel was cleaning up.

"Here, let me help you, Mel," I offered, taking a dish from her hands.

"Thanks," she answered a little hesitantly, staring at me as if I had something on my face.

I turned to look at her, and we made brief eye contact before she glanced away. Did she change her mind about adopting me? Oh no.

Well, to be fair, she never really said yes, but I thought she would. I needed to make her like me, and fast, before she made up her mind.

"I'll clean the kitchen for you, Mel," I volunteered, scrubbing the dishes as fast as I could. "You can go and rest, I mean, you've prepared so much for us. You must be so tired."

"Yeah," Mel agreed, smiling slightly. "Thank you, Evie."

"Of course," I answered eagerly, watching Mel walk away.

Just then, I saw Tracy strut in with a couple of dirty dishes. She stared at me in surprise for a couple of seconds when she saw that I was cleaning.

"Is that all?" I inquired, scrubbing the plate in my hands and then putting it away to dry.

"Yeah," Tracy replied a little awkwardly. "Why are you cleaning?"

"Feeling generous," I replied simply, washing and putting away another dish.

"Oh," Tracy said, raising her eyebrows in surprise as she put the dirty plates in the sink. "I'll meet you in our room."

"Okay," I responded enthusiastically. She was referring to her room as 'our room'. That must be a good sign, right?

Mel will adopt me. I mean, she has to adopt me. Right?

Right?