Pink & Green is the New Black by Lisa Greenwald

are sitting in the living room reading. They don’t say hi. They look up and smile, but that’s it.
    They don’t tell us where the party is, but we see a sign that says PARTY DOWNSTAIRS .
    With each step I take toward the basement, I become sweatier, my stomach gets knottier, and I feel more and more like I’m about to throw up.
    This isn’t good.
    â€œAre you okay?” Sunny asks. “You look clammy.”
    â€œI do?” Oh no. I may feel clammy, but I don’t want to look clammy. “Actually, I’m gonna hit the bathroom. Will you wait for me?”
    She nods but seems reluctant, like she’s anxious to get downstairs. Evan says he’ll meet us down there, and I immediatelyfeel relieved. I need a few minutes alone with my best friend. That will fix everything.
    â€œWhat’s wrong with you?” Sunny whispers when we go into the bathroom together.
    â€œI don’t know. This just feels so, I don’t know, mature, and so different from the stuff we usually do.”
    â€œCome on, Luce. We’re in a basement in Old Mill with kids in our grade.”
    â€œRight.” I don’t want to go into all the reasons why I’m nervous, because I think that will just make me more nervous. I touch up my makeup, patting some concealer on my chin and reapplying my lip gloss. Even this little touch-up relaxes me. I take a deep breath. I give myself a cold, hard stare in the mirror.
    Lucy, you can do this.
    Sunny and I go downstairs, and there are already so many people there. It’s not our whole grade, but it’s close. The basement is big—pretty much the whole length and width of their house. And they have a big house. Maybe one of the biggest houses I’ve ever seen in Old Mill.
    The AGE girls are sitting on the blue velvet couch in the corner, looking at their phones and sipping cans of soda. Erica and Zoe are standing in the other corner with their arms folded across their chests.
    Where to start?
I wonder. I remind myself of my mission: to help Zoe and Gavin get together, and to make the AGE girls enjoy themselves for the first time in their lives.
    I can do it. And if I focus on everyone else, I won’t have time to think about my own worries and fears. Having a mission helps me calm down. It gives me a sense of purpose.
    â€œI’m gonna go over to the foosball table with Evan,” Sunny says. She squeezes my arm. “Are you okay?”
    I nod. I can’t hold Sunny back. In my heart of hearts, I wish she would stay by my side the whole night, but I know that’s not fair.
    I don’t want to stand alone at this party. When you stand alone, you feel like everyone notices that you’re alone. Claudia has told me so many times that no one is really paying attention. But it’s still hard to accept that. When I’m alone, I feel like there’s a flashing neon sign above my head: LUCY DESBERG IS ALONE RIGHT NOW .
    â€œLucy!” Travis runs over to me and hands me a can of soda. “So pumped you’re here.”
    He’s wearing a long-sleeved polo with the collar up a little, and just like Evan his hair is glossed and spiky, with only one strand that won’t stay where he wants it. He keeps pushing it back, but it repeatedly falls and lands in the middle of his forehead. I have to stop looking at it.
    â€œCome. I want to show you our man cave.”
    Man cave? I’ve never heard a kid call a room a man cave. But I don’t say anything, just follow him.
    There’s a whole separate room in the back of the basement. From the outside it looks like a closet. My stomach swirls around like a bug in a glass of lemonade. It’s going to be one of those awkward scenes from a TV show.
    He even takes my hand. It seems like we’re the only ones at this party right now. How did we go from two people who talked occasionally before the start of band to two people alone in a basement?
    â€œThis is