somewhere.â
âHow was Cooleyâs?â Dionne asked, reaching for an oversize marshmallow to stick on the end of one of the skewers on the tray.
Cooleyâs? Percy and Marisol? A date? Even a pseudo-date? What the hello and goodbye is going on? Starr thought.
âIt was okay. We shared a banana split, got our flirt on. Nothing major,â Marisol said nonchalantly.
âAww,â Dionne sighed as she stuck her skewer into the fire.
âWhen was this?â Starr asked before taking a sip of her hot chocolate as the flames of the fire reflected in her eyes.
âThere goes my babyâ¦â
âYesterday.â Marisol snatched up her phone.
Humph. âAfter school?â Starr asked, shifting her eyes to watch Dionne drop the gooey marshmallow into her open mouth.
âYup. Right after.â
Hmmm. Starr had left right after school to get her plans together, so she missed the love connection. âDonât you have dance last period on Thursdays?â she asked. âPlease tell me you did not wear that coodie-mama-hugging, butt-molesting unitard to Cooleyâs?â
Dionne choked on her marshmallow as she laughed.
âThere goes my babyâ¦â
âNo! I had my tracksuit over it,â Marisol said, obviously distracted as she read her incoming text and fired away a reply. âPlus Percy said even without makeup Iâm the ish.â
Starr rolled her eyes.
âPlus, guess who was at Cooleyâs eating a huge Jay-Z burger with a Madonna milkshake?â
âNot our resident mama-to-be?â Starr asked, ignoring the emotional gut punch she felt at losing Jordan before she even had him. Boys. Ugh.
âIâm just saying old girl definitely looked like she could be eating for two.â Marisol threw up her hands like so there.
âOh. My. God. What if Heather is really pregnant?â Dionne asked, this time pressing her melted marshmallow between two chocolate-coated cinnamon sugar cookies.
âCan you imagine some girl walking around Pace with a big belly!â
Starr held up her hands and then pointed her ebony-painted nails to the left several times like she was directing traffic. âShe got to go. Seriously. Itâs Pace Academy, not Baby High, â she drawled in withering tones, referring to the MTV show about a school just for teen mothers.
âYou donât really believe thereâs never been a student atPace that has gotten pregnant?â Dionne asked, looking at them as if they couldnât be that naive.
Starr shrugged. âThereâve been rumors, but a full-blown my-water-is-about-to-break-in-the hall-at-any-moment pregnancy, no.â
âThere goes my babyâ¦â
Marisol nodded in agreement before giving in to a sudden text addiction that Starr thought a solid pimp-slap to the cheek would solve.
âYou still havenât talked to Jordan?â Dionne asked, chewing on a mouthful of sâmores.
âFor what? Obviously he is moving in a faster lane than I want to be in. Jordan needs to continue dealing with the Heathers of the world, because this Starr is too far up there for him to reach.â
âAlright now,â Dionne said like she was in church saying amen to the preacher in the pulpit.
Heatherâs fifteen-dollar-an-hour-earning father marrying a famous actress pulling in nearly fifteen million per movie had brought the girl into a whole new world. Unfortunately, she overdid it trying to fit in.
Style? Too sexy.
Clothes? Too tight.
Friends? Too slutty.
Boys? Too needy.
Enthusiasm? Too much.
Legs? Too open.
Ew!
Bzzz. Starr picked up her iPhone. She had a Twitter update. She had over five thousand followersâsome of themceleb bloggers and entertainment e-zines. Not bad for a freshman in high school without her own claim to fame. At least not yet, she thought.
Her idol and unknowing mentor, Kimora Lee âOh So Fabulousâ Simmons (or Hounsou?) had sent an