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right, I don’t. But I know you’re my best friend and I know that you were happier this summer than you have been in a really long time.”
    “No I wasn’t,” I say, but it sounds unconvincing even to me.
    Alexa stares at me a second. “Oh yeah?” she says and she’s digging around for something in her purse. A few seconds later she retrieves her cell phone and starts scrolling through her texts. What is she thinking? Can’t she see I’m going through a crisis here? Who could she possibly need to text at this exact moment?
    She should really start to take best friend lessons or something, I mean honestly, this is just getting ridiculous.
    Then suddenly she starts reading aloud from her phone. “I never thought I’d say this Lex—ever--but I’m really glad Austin ended up being here. I’ve never felt as close to a boy as I do with him.”
    I recognize the text immediately. It’s one I sent Alexa over the summer one night after me and Austin had just gone mini golfing. Before I can react, Alexa starts reading off another text. “I feel like I can tell Austin anything and he would never laugh at me, even if it was totally stupid. Is that weird?”
    “Where did you get those?” I demand, reaching for her phone.
    “I saved them, locked them right up.” She puts her phone behind her back.
    “Want me to read you more? I have plenty.”
    “No,” I snap, “I don’t. And why would you even save those?”
    “’Cause,” Alexa says, “you were happy, for the first time in a long time.
    You weren’t stressed out about your parents’ divorce, or about things that you shouldn’t be worrying about, Ashley. You weren’t worried about things that are completely out of your control, you were just happy. Austin helped do that, and it’s easy to forget that when you’re upset.” I don’t say anything and she continues.
    “Or we could just stop all this pretending and talk about what’s really killing you right now, Ash.”
    “And what’s that?”
    “You don’t send texts like this about someone you don’t care about as more than a friend. You’re upset because you got close to him, which I get. But it’s okay to admit that you like him, and you like him a lot. Until we address that, you’re not going to get anywhere.”
    I think about denying it, about telling her she’s crazy, but I know deep down that she’s right. I do like Austin. I do. A lot. And if I can’t trust my best friend with that, who can I trust? So I nod instead. “I know.”
    Alexa smiles “Then tell him. Fight for him, Ash. If you can’t do it, if things could never be the same, I get it. But if any of this was real,” she says, waving her phone in the air, “then I’d give it a chance, I’d fight for it. Don’t let Melissa and her snobby friends ruin the first real thing you’ve had in a long time. That’s all I’m saying.”
    She knows she has me, even before she wraps up her speech. I can tell by the look on her face. “But if you can’t do that,” she says, “I respect you enough to not push it, ‘cause you’re my best friend, and I love you no matter what.”
    I look away from her, not because I’m mad at her, but because everything she just said to me is really hitting home.
    “He probably hates me now anyway.”
    She looks at me, amused. “He doesn’t hate you, now come here.”
    “For what?”
    “So I can do your makeup. You can’t get him back looking like that.”

Chapter 7
    Twenty minutes later my foundation is freshly applied, my cheeks are bronzed, and my eyes are perfectly lined with a light gray glittery eye shadow. My hair is now full of volume and falling in bouncy layers around my face, thanks to the million hair products Alexa magically pulled out of her bag. “You can never be too prepared,” she told me.
    I look at myself in the mirror and I cant help but admit to myself that I look pretty good. “Perfect.”
    “Almost perfect.” Alexa pulls her sparkly sweater over her head so