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‘Is that the plan, now?’ Brooke asked.

‘Eh. Maybe.’ Meredith took off at a clip, moving through her neighborhood with the confidence of someone who knew the area well. ‘The choice is between staying in school or getting a job, and I don’t know if I’m ready to join the rat race.’

Brooke snorted with laughter. ‘Like you’re going to do some high-flying corporate job.’

‘I might,’ Meredith said. She tugged at the long feather earring hooked through her left lobe. ‘I could.’

‘No, you couldn’t,’ Brooke replied.

‘What’s your major?’ I asked her.

‘Ceramics,’ she said, and really, I should have seen that coming.

We passed a long row of indie stores selling plants and coffee and a second-hand bookstore that tugged at my belly. Next to the bookstore was a tattoo and piercing place, and I wondered if that was where Meredith had gotten her nose pierced.

The idea sprang into my head fully formed, and I grabbed Brooke’s arm to get her to stop.

‘What do you think?’ I asked, pointing.

She looked into the window. ‘You want atattoo?’ she squeaked.

That made me laugh. ‘No! But I could get my belly button pierced.’

‘Oh my God, you have to be kidding.’

In the grand scheme of things, this probably wasn’t as big a deal as the haircut. It would be less noticeable to most people. But I couldn’t help but want to chase that high from last night – to do something outrageous that the old Jessie would never have considered.

‘Do it,’ Meredith said. ‘I’ve got mine done. It barely hurts.’

‘Why not?’ I asked Brooke.

‘No, you absolutely should. I just can’t believe you’re suggesting it.’

I grinned. ‘Are you up for it too?’

It didn’t escape me: the way Brooke set her jaw before nodding.

The bell above the door tinkled when I pushed it open, and a woman behind the desk looked up, then smiled at us. She was wearing a black tank, showing off the full-sleevetattoos on both her arms. Her hair was bright, flaming red, and she had piercings in her ears, lip, nose and elsewhere, too, if I could make a guess. If Brooke hadn’t been standing right next to me, I would have swooned.

‘Hey. Can I help?’ she called.

I walked past the drawings of tattoo designs on the walls and leaned on the desk.

‘Can someone pierce my belly button?’

‘Sure,’ she said. ‘It’s sixty bucks for the piercing, jewelry and all the cleaning solution.’

‘Great.’ I’d take the money out of my cut from last night.

I glanced over my shoulder at Meredith and Brooke, who had gone a little green.

‘You don’t have to,’ I told her, unable to keep the laugh out of my voice. I wasn’t used to being the confident one, and seeing Brooke like this was … sweet.

‘Maybe I could watch you first?’

‘That’s fine,’ the tattooed lady said. ‘You can bring one person back.’

‘I’m fine waiting here,’ Meredith said, pulling her phone out and taking a seat on a black leather couch. ‘You two go ahead.’