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“Realimportant.”

“Well, I’d love to give it a shot, but this isn’t drinkable.” I hold up my wine, and glance at Perrie’s flute. “Is champagne any better?”

“Worse.”

“How can it beworse?” I ask as we head back outside. “Are adults all playing a mass game of chicken to see who’s the first to crack and admit wine sucks?”

Across the lawn, Jordy and Grayson are filming something in front of the rosebushes, and the other girls are sitting on a pair of love seats on the back porch. Two wicker chairs are still empty.

Perrie and I look at each other.

“We don’t need to sit with them,” she says quickly.

“But we should. What happens if I’m the first to leave? You can’tonlybe friends with me.”

“I could say the same to you.”

“No, because it’s me they’re mad at. You just got caught in the middle.”

She tosses her head. “If I have no friends, I have no friends. I’d rather be alone than pretend to like people who suck.” Then she thinks on it some more, and frowns. “But we should probably try to be a little friendlier to them.”

“Whyus? We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“How about because, if we don’t, all four of them can say we’re awful people on camera, and the folks watching along at home will believe it because there’s more of them than us?”

I stare at her in horror as I process this. “Motherfucker.”

The girls whisper frantically as we walk up, and fall dead silent as soon as we’re close enough. Like that’s gonna stop us from knowing exactly what they were saying.

“You guys look gorgeous,” I say calmly, sitting next to Kim, who shuffles away to put more space between us. “I think this is the fanciest dress I’ve ever worn. How cool is this?”

Skye folds one leg over the other—which is kind of impressive in that slinky dress—and rests her chin on her fingers. Her mouth doesn’t move, but her eyes crinkle slightly in a way that’s sort of half-annoyed, half-amused. I reply with an innocent smile, which tips her firmly into “annoyed” territory.

“They’re nice,” Lauren says, looking down at her own royal blue gown. “But I’m more excited for the ones we get to wear when we go to the palace.”

“I didn’t know we were going to the palace,” Perrie says.

“Yes! Couldn’t you just pass out?” Lauren says.

“That sounds cool,” I say.

Kim gives me an annoyed look. “It’s a few episodes away. We don’t know who will actually be going.”

“I guess not,” I say coolly.

Perrie grimaces at me. Tough crowd.

“So, where are you all from?” I ask, persisting with a little desperation at the edge of my voice.

“Dublin,” says Francesca.

“Liverpool,” Kim says. “That’s in England.”

“Yeah, I know,” I say.

“And I was born in Goa,” she goes on. “That’s in India.”

Lauren jumps in hurriedly. “And I’m from Columbus.”She pauses, then gives Kim a sly smile, like she’s holding back laughter. “That’s in Ohio.”