Page 67 of The Cinderella Secret
“Really?” Lilly’s face looked like it might split in two from her grin.
Ella sighed. “Yes.”
“Did I tell you about Nora and Kacey?” asked Lilly.
“No?” Ella was confused by the change in topic.
“I remembered what Aiden said.”
“What did Aiden say?” asked Ella, adjusting her head to try and get her cousin in focus. She’d only left the two of them alone for a few minutes. She didn’t think Aiden could have managed anything earth-shattering in that time.
“He said that Kacey was injured. Like an injury that can’t be seen, and she was doing the best she could, but she was injured. I don’t know how, but after the puking, that was still with me. So the next day, I sent a text and said we were fine and if she needed to talk, I was here for her.”
Ella wanted to cry for both Lilly and Kacey, and she wished she’d had a Lilly when she’d been their age.
“Anyway, Kacey apologized, and we’re cool. But even weirder was Nora.”
“Isn’t that the girl—”
“Yeah, it was her party and her dad who yelled at us. She said that when she heard what happened later, she told her dad about last summer when Brett and Chet tried the same shit on her. And then she went out of her way to sit with Kacey and me at lunch and now everyone knows what happened and no one will talk to Brett and Chet.”
“Holy shit,” said Ella.
“Pretty sure they aren’t getting invited to anymore parties for at least a year,” said Lilly. “I’m not delusional. Their families have a lot of money, so it probably won’t last forever, but it will last awhile.”
“We’ll go shopping,” said Ella.
“What?”
“You’re new,” said Ella. “So probably they haven’t realized it yet, but your father can buy and sell most of them. We’ll do a little strategic shopping and send you to school with enough new stuff that the kids figure it out.”
“Dad hates that shit. He’s going to go on a rant about not growing up with indoor plumbing.”
“I’ll take care of it,” said Ella.
“Well, all right!” exclaimed Lilly, her voice raising in volume and she added a little fist pump.
“What’s all the fuss?” asked Nai Nai in Mandarin, poking her head around the door.
“Ella was out with a boy,” said Lilly. Her Mandarin was a little rough, but when it came to gossip, she was clearly willing to step up.
“Snitch,” said Ella, mildly outraged by her cousins turn-coat behavior.
“Ah!” exclaimed Nai Nai, coming all the way into the room. She carried her tea mug in one hand. It said,World’s Best Grandmaand had a kitten on it. “The sweet boy who likes my candy?”
Ella sighed. “Aiden, yes.”
Nai Nai settled herself onto the other side of Ella, wedging her into the bed.
“Ew. He ate Grandma’s cricket candy?” Lilly looked horrified.
“He didn’t even gag. He said it tastedcrickety,” said Ella, and Lilly laughed.
“That’s bad ass.”
“I know, right?”
“Lilly, you’re not bothering your cousin, are you?” said her aunt sticking her head around the door. “Oh.” She looked suspiciously at Nai Nai and Lilly. “What are we plotting?”
