Page 5 of Sugar

I rolled my eyes. “It is. No offense, but your dad’s a jerk.”

“No offense taken to the truth.”

“Hebroke them up, not money. And since I don’t plan on cheating on you by becoming best friends with Bobbi, our friendship is solid. Nothing will change that.”

She laughed at my cringey joke. “But think of the deep, inspiring conversations you can have about whether you can feel Wi-Fi.” I opened my mouth, but before I could ask, she nodded. “Yes, she legit thought the air feltandtasted different in rooms with a router.”

“Oh God,” I wheezed, laughing so hard, I was worried I would snort. “Okay, I take back what I said earlier.That’sthe stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Right? So bad.”

Getting control of myself, I shook my head. “Seriously, though, money won’t change us. First of all, it’s our parents who have it. We’re broke as a joke.”

“Speak for yourself,” Greer cut in. “My piggy bank is stocked and awaiting our next mall trip.”

I hooked a thumb to the side toward her. “Okay, other than Scrooge McDuck diving into her pool of gold coins, you and Iare broke. Beyond that, you’re not gonna turn into a spoiled brat who demands they return a Ferrari because you want a Maserati. Even if he wanted to buy you something to match his sports car, your mom totally wouldn’t let him. You’ll be lucky if you get one from this decade.”

“This is true.”

“Third, we’re not jerks who… what was that word Ms. Slayer used? We don’t grudge you happiness.”

“Begrudge,” she corrected.

“Yeah, that either. Point is, we would have to be real assholes to throw away our amazing friendship because we’re jealous over something as stupid as money.”

She hesitated before muttering, “My dad threw away his marriage.”

“Yeah, but we’re smarter than him.” Taking the last thing from my lunch bag, I tossed it over to her. “Maybe having money means you’ll start bringing your own cupcakes.”

“Don’t count on it.” She grinned at me as she ripped open the package and took one out before handing the other back. Without a word about it, we each broke part of ours off to share with Greer. “Like you said, money won’t change us.”

“Fine by me.”

Taking a big bite of the delightfully artificial treat, Wren tried to smother a smile. “But, uh, remind me to help you study for the upcoming vocab quiz.”

“You supply the Diet Coke.”

“Deal.”

A small smile tipped Greer’s mouth. “I can bring?—”

“No!” Wren and I cut in. As similar as we were in most ways, we had very different preferences in snacks. She was all about whole foods and greens.

I preferred mine of the junk variety.

Wren fidgeted with her fingers for a moment. “I’ll ask John if we can study over at his house. We’ll sit by the pool.”

“There’s a pool?” I asked.

“A big one. And a jacuzzi.”

Greer scowled. “Well, now I am mad. We could’ve been using a jacuzzi all this time?”

“That’s not even the best feature.”

“Tell us everything.”

As we listened to our best friend, my focus was split between her words and how much happier she was compared to the start of the conversation. I couldn’t believe she’d thought something so stupid would come between us.

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