"Come on!" My eyeliner pencil has snapped as I try, for the third time, to not make myself look like a raccoon. So far it hasn't been going well, and I've wasted about half of Theo's makeup remover wipes.

"Maybe you should just give up and let me do it." Theo looks up at me from her bed, where she's reading a large volume of Poe stories and chewing her favorite Cinnamint gum. As always, her eyeliner is flawless, just like the rest of her makeup. Her dress, too, is absolutely perfect- light grey, with the edges patterned with purple paint splotches. Meanwhile, I'm honestly a bit of a mess.

I shake my head, my wild ponytail spinning around to smack me in the face. My outfit is pretty cute, but doesn't look nearly as sophisticated. I have black shorts that look vaguely like suit pants, tights with cat faces on them, a white collared shirt, suit jacket, bow tie, and my beloved Converse. I look pretty cute, if I do say so myself, a bit like a penguin but altogether the effect is very nice.

"Darling, Theo is very skilled with a makeup brush." Avery is flopped in Theo's purple velour beanbag chair, scrolling through her phone with her ankles crossed daintily. Her red hair is swooped up in an elaborate French twist, which I would have no idea how to start on, and she has a navy blue lacy dress that makes her look like she's about to walk down the red carpet instead of into an Olive Garden. "She did mine."

I finally give up, tossing the broken pencil into the wastebasket. "Well, you look beautiful, but I quit. Makeup has never impressed Philip much before, why should it now?"

There's a sharp knock, intentional and clean, and Aaron pokes his head in. "Almost ready, ladies?"

"Yeah, all except Kathryn. She's almost finished, though." Theo doesn't even bother to look up from The Tell-Tale Heart. Her perfectly painted fingernails flash as she turns the pages.

This is my first ever double date- Avery and Theodosia, me and Philip. We're using our scavenger hunt gift cards and going to Olive Garden for carbohydrates and good times. Aaron and Zia are chaperoning us, my curfew got extended by an hour, and we're all excited.

I grab my hair bow off of the floor, slide it into my hair, and bounce out of Theo's room. The others laugh and follow me downstairs, out the door, and into the Burr's SUV. Instead of spreading out and being sensible, Avery, Theo, and I all cram into the very back row. Surprisingly, there's classical music blasting at easily thirty-five, Mozart or Bach or someone thundering like hard rock.

When we arrive at the Olive Garden, Sam and Philip are waiting just inside the front door, along with a pretty blue-haired young woman. She can't be Philip's mom, as she's far too young, so I assume this is his cousin Lucy whom he's mentioned before. We walk over to join them, and Lucy grins at us.

"Hey there! Let's see...you must be Avery, with the red hair. The really tall one is Theodosia, the artist. So that leaves...Kathryn. My little cousin's girlfriend." She points at each of us in turn. She's right, of course. Something about the way she smiled as she said each fact tells me that Lucy is not often wrong.

Philip rolls forward and takes my hand. "You look lovely as always, milady." He's wearing a bow tie of his own, and his eyes are sparkling. His dad behind him waves at us, then falls to talking with Aaron. Philip hands me a flower, a daisy with full, silky petals and a sunny yellow center. I'm not sure how or where he procured it, since it's November and almost all of the flowers are dead, but it's absolutely beautiful. When I show it to Theo, she tucks it into my buttonhole.

********

Avery spins her fettuccine with a fork, grinning as she lifts it. "This is the coolest place ever. Do they ever stop bringing you breadsticks?"

Philip giggles and bites into a tomato. "Never. One time, when I was younger, my mom brought a giant purse and kept hiding breadsticks in it. We went through sixteen baskets before we actually ate any." Surprisingly, he doesn't sound somber or even a little wistful when he mentions his mother.

My phone buzzes, at the same time as Theo's, and we both look down. Judging by her expression of shock and upset, we've received the same text.

YellowBrickRad: Hey...something bad happened about a week ago but I didn't tell you before bc I was too scared...my parents are getting divorced...

Theodosia's fingers fly as she types a message, and it pings up on my screen a moment later.

ooo-DiscoGirl-ooo: I think we should go visit Harriet, yeah?

I nod at her quickly, and she stands up. Walking purposely over to the table where the parents are, Theo clears her throat until they look up. "Um, Dad, Mom, my friend Harriet got some really bad news. I was wondering if you'd be willing to drive me and Kathryn to go and help her out."

Aaron pushes his plate back and looks at Theodosia. "What happened? I mean, of course, but what happened?" He signals a waitress for the bill.

"Her parents had...an argument. She just needs some moral support right now." Theo digs her fingernails into her palms, and I squeeze her shoulder. I know parental issues are a bit of a problem for her.

Once the check is paid and Samuel has kindly offered to drive Avery home, we hightail it to Harriet's house. Aaron parks in the driveway, then he and Zia look back at us.

"I assume you're sleeping over, you two?" I blink back at them- the thought hadn't even occured to me. Theo nods, however, totally sure of herself, so I do too. Harriet and I are about the same size- I'll borrow something oversized from her and return it at school.

Theodosia doesn't even bother to knock on the door, just twists the knob and pushes it open. The doorframe looks almost splintered, and one of the hinges has been all but knocked off, so that the usually cheerful purple door looks shattered and malevolent. Inside, the whole house is dark and quiet and cold, as though with one slam of a door the life inside was extinguished.

I reach out and slowly flick the lights on, afraid of what I might see. There are several broken dishes on the floor in the kitchen, and one of the walls bears a small hole, as though someone punched it. I would have no idea where to look for anyone in this mess, let alone a small Harriet, but Theo knows. She stalks- absolutely struts- up the stairs and to Harriet's room. She kneels in front of the bed and whispers to the floor, "Come on out, Harriet. Everything's okay." Her voice is masterfully soft, as though she's speaking to a skittish cat.

My confusion lasts only a moment, as the dust ruffle on the bed lifts up and a small, forlorn-looking girl crawls out. Harriet's cheeks are streaked with tears and her eyes look swollen. Her clothes, too, are rumpled, as though she's spent a while curled up in a ball. As soon as she sees us, she throws her arms around Theo and buries her face in her shoulder.

Theodosia, to give her credit, doesn't look even a little surprised or unnerved by the weeping girl in her lap. She rubs Harriet's back and murmurs in her ear, little hushing sounds that seem to calm her down. Finally, Theo holds her at arm's length. "What happened, honey?"

"M-my dad came home late from work...again...and my mom got all mad and asked if he was seeing someone. It was my birthday, and he was late for dinner by like an hour. They both got super angry at each other and started yelling, and my mom said he could go rot with whoever he was seeing. She stormed out and he ran to his room and I've been hiding under here practically all week-" Harriet hiccups, in fresh floods of tears.

"Slow down," I whisper, squeezing her hand. "They're not getting divorced, are they? Sometimes adults just need a little time apart." I've noticed before that her parents' relationship is tenuous at best- one minute, they're all over each other like a pair of high schoolers, the next they're barely speaking and shooting each other frosty glances.

Harriet sniffles and wipes her nose on her sleeve. Theo grimaces at the action but says nothing. "I hope you're right. I texted Nina once Mom left, and she said she's going to try and fly up soon so I'll have a responsible adult- my dad can only cook macaroni and cheese, and uses bleach as laundry detergent."

I laugh a little- Thomas seems so responsible. It's amusing to me to think of him unable to cook or clean or wash his own pompous velvety jackets. "Come on, Harriet. Everything's okay. We're here for you."

Theo slides Harriet off of her lap and stands, brushing her hands together. She scoops the smaller girl up again, then carries her downstairs and onto the couch. I flick the lights on and turn up the Thermostat, then go to what I assume is the cleaning closet and grab screwdrivers, a broom and a mop and a paper bag. Theo has disappeared to the basement, and when she returns, she's got a pair of black and white striped pajama pants and a Wizard of Oz shirt reading 'If I only had a heart' in glittery red letters, still wrinkled from the dryer. She thrusts them at Harriet with only a "go shower", and Harriet walks to the bathroom to change out of her dusty, tearstained clothes.

I begin to sweep up the broken plates on the floor, pushing them into the paper bag. Theodosia unscrews the hinges on the door and gives it a simple hipcheck to reset it. She screws it back in and claps twice. "I think we need food, do we not?"

It takes Harriet almost an hour to finish her shower, and by the time she treks downstairs, hair dripping and face clean, Theo and I have cleaned almost the entire house. There are grilled cheese sandwiches on the table and a pot of tomato soup (canned, but Theodosia added milk) simmering on the stovetop. All of the lights are on, the floor has been mopped, and it feels like a home once more.

A door opens and Thomas, with his hair matted down and bags under his eyes, drifts out. He's wearing purple silk pajama pants and a t-shirt with the tag sticking out of the neck. "Is someone cooking?"

"Just us." I wave and balance several bowls of soup on the way over to the table, my few hours spent working at the diner finally paying off. "We staged an intervention."

Theo looks up from where she's loading the dishwasher. "After you eat, you're going to go upstairs and take a shower." Even though she's only fourteen, she's intimidating enough that he gives a meek nod, then sits down at the table.

Outside, a car door slams, and there's the rumbling sound of small wheels on cement. Thumps of feet up stairs, then the fumble of long nails on the doorknob. A click, as the knob is turned, and there's a dark-haired young woman standing in the doorway and looking at all of us. She walks in, leaving her suitcase by the door, and stands glaring at Thomas, hands on hips.

"You," Nina snaps, giving him a disapproving once-over, "have a lot of explaining to do."