Outside the window, the apple trees were blooming.

Violet watched her friend Jade from across the table.

Jade yawned and covered her mouth with one hand. "Sorry," she said. "I was up late reading."

Violet brightened. "Oh, yeah! Did you finish the series yet?"

Jade laughed. "I'm only on the fourth book! The Goblet of All Flames, or something."

Violet grinned. Jade had a habit of making book titles sound longer and more dramatic than they really were–or just changing them entirely. Her best one yet was That One Book about The Idiots Who go on The Quest to Slay The Other Idiot and Rescue The Magic Tiara. (Guess what the original title was? You won't believe it. It was The Hobbit.) Violet was pretty sure Jade's favorite word was idiot.

She knew if it had been anyone else–even Jessie or Charlene–she might have been annoyed at the new titles. But there was something about Jade that made it hard for Violet to get mad at her.

Jade narrowed her eyes suddenly. "HowisRitaSkeeterfindingoutallofthisstuff?" She blurted out. It was her newest technique to get Violet to spoil Harry Potter for her.

Violet smiled her best serene and all-knowing smile. "Sorry. It's a secret."

"Argh!" Jade groaned, face planting on the table.

"Jade!" Violet rolled her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Jade said. "How could I have gotten hurt?"

Violet sighed. "When you have as many crazy siblings as I do, you'll learn that you could get hurt doing anything if you try hard enough. Hey, couldn't you just look up spoilers on the Internet? Wouldn't that be easier?"

Jade grinned, hazel eyes sparkling. "Probably," she agreed. "But it's so much more fun to try to get answers out of you."

"Girls," Ms. Norris called. "Please be quiet! Some people are trying to do their work!"

"Yeah," a girl with dark hair in front of them added. "Some of us are trying to work."

As Jade was laughing, Violet studied her friend. Her blonde hair–cut short and with a new blue streak added over the summer–shone in the artificial classroom light. Her laugh made Violet want to laugh, too, even though they weren't supposed to be making any noise. Not that that mattered to Jade; she talked all the time. And Violet couldn't help replying.

The bell rang, and Violet grabbed her bag, remembering to grab Jade's watch–the one she would always take off in class and forget about–and hand it to her friend.

"Can we just leave it here?" Jade sighed, taking the watch from her and fastening it around her own wrist. "It's heavy and I hate it."

"It's just a watch," Violet pointed out, like she always did when Jade started complaining about her least favorite accessory.

"A stupid watch," Jade pointed out. Then she giggled, which made Violet giggle.

They turned left when they reached the street corner, like they always did. The huge apple tree growing near the street was in bloom and little splotches of pink spotted the bright green leaves here and there. A thick branch stretched out over the sidewalk.

"I bet I can get one of those flowers," Violet said, pointing to the pink blossoms on the branch.

"Alright," Jade said. "Go for it."

Violet paused, then ran a few steps and leaped. Her fingers brushed the lowest flower, but even that was too high for her to reach. She landed on the sidewalk empty-handed.

"Let me try!" Jade called. She took a running start and pushed off of the ground. Violet watched as her fingers closed around the stem of a blossom and she landed much more gracefully than Violet had.

Jade held up the flower. "Got it!"

"Alright, alright, you're taller than me!" Violet laughed. "No need to rub it in."

Jade tossed the flower at her. It drifted gently to the ground, landing in a small puddle.

"Oh, we're at your house," Jade reminded her.

"Oh, yeah." Violet nodded. Quickly, she turned and climbed the steps before pausing and turning back to her best friend. "Oh, hey!" She called. "Sleepover tomorrow? I'll ask my dad. It's your turn to pick what we watch."

"Sure!" Jade agreed enthusiastically. "We can watch Willow! Or Wednesday!"

Violet tilted her head. "Uh...sure. I don't know what either of those are, but I'm sure I'll find out. Bye, Jade!"

"Bye, Violet!"

Violet stepped inside the house and closed the door behind her.