"Well, this time you got what you wanted. But you're going to have to wait and live with the hair you've got until early next year. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two about spontaneous, and potentially reckless decisions."

With that, Reece storms off, swearing under her breath. The whole thing has me kind of stunned. When I'd woken up this morning, we'd all had the same hair. And now I would be going to a salon soon to change mine, if I want. After that, a chunk of what makes my sisters and I so similar will be gone forever.

On one hand, maybe we won't get mistaken for one another as often. But probably not. If I've learned anything from being an identical quadruplet, it's that people are not particularly observant about anything that doesn't directly involve them.

But I'll see the difference every day when I see my sisters, or look back on old pictures of us. Even when we first moved to Fairview we made a point of doing our hair the same in order to give the newspaper what they wanted from us. Identical sisters. That wouldn't be an option anymore.

If this had happened on a different day or in a different way, maybe I would've felt more excited about it, but as it is, I'm having trouble getting my head around any of it. This feels like way too big a decision to make this fast. I don't like change on a good day, and this change feels like its stripping away part of my ident.i.ty.

Yay.

Chapter 21.

We go to the hair salon on Sunday morning-and by we, I mean all the women in my family who aren't Reece. In the car, I'm all set to achieve my year-long dream of adding just a little of pink to my hair. By the time I'm in the stylist's chair, I've chickened out. Why would I want that kind of extra attention? I do end up getting a few inches taken off my hair and adding in layers. So that's something.

By Monday everything feels different. Okay, not the freaking out over the Kent thing. That's still the same. If anything I've talked myself even further down from pursuing this at all. But beyond that, a new hair style can change everything, even when it's not your hair that's different.

What I'm not ready for is all the refreshed staring from kids we go to school with, when we turn up looking a little less identical than we did before.

Out of all of us, Reilly looks the most like she did when we left school on Friday. All she did was take a few extra inches off the bottom of her hair, so little you wouldn't consider it more than a trim. She added in a few layers around her face, but not much. Her hair color, like mine, is exactly what it was before. We all tried to talk her into doing something new, but she insisted that she likes her hair the way it is, and none of us could argue with that.

It's Rhiannon who gets the award for most dramatic difference. Her hair has gone from long and brown like the rest of ours to sitting at her shoulders. It's now a deep shade of red. I'm surprised at how well the color suits her. Suits us. She looks like a new person, older. She's even changed up her makeup today, shifting the products she used just a little, so they better suit her new style. And it's working for her. Now she's the Donovan sister that's attracting the most attention, though as people approached her and complement the new hair, it's obvious that she doesn't know what to do with the extra attention.

Even as we're standing outside the front doors of the school, Reece gets a fair amount of compliments on her changeup too. But I do kind of wonder if maybe the three of us accidentally stole a little of the thunder she was trying to create for herself with this makeover.

After the big shakeup on Friday night, I never did get up the nerve to confess to Reece all the signs about Kent I had noticed last week. So I'm still on my own. But when I turn up in the cafeteria for lunch, I'm starting to feel like I can handle this. I can't remember the last time I felt this confident about how I look at school. Having the new hairstyle, I made sure I put in a little extra effort today on all fronts, and I think it's paying off. I could be imagining it, but I'm pretty sure Kent is looking at me even more often than he was last week.

"I'm loving your haircut, by the way." Rosie snaps a cookie in her mouth while giving me a nod of approval.

"Thanks. I didn't do much but am feeling a little weird about the change. Well, not my haircut. It's not a big deal. But my sisters changed their hair at the same time, and it's freaking me out a bit."

Honestly, I'm not sure why I admitted that to this particular table. If anything, it was the kind of thing I would usually tell Nadine. And I had mentioned it to her, sort of in pa.s.sing. But her response had been brief, and I didn't want to continue to obsess about my sisters' hair to her because I know it's something she would find kind of stupid.

I should probably stop obsessing about it at all.

"Not something you guys have done before?" Jen guesses.

"Nope. Totally new. Pretty sure this is the most dramatic thing we could have done to make ourselves look different from one another. And it's great on some levels, and just strange on others."

"A couple of you could have gotten fat, if you wanted to go for something different." Frank looks up from his book, raising his eyebrows. When n.o.body answers, he goes back to reading.

"We'll call that Plan B," Rosie says with a laugh.

"Well, I like it," Kent says, looking at me again.

"Really?" And I'm grinning before I can stop myself. Now I'm glad I didn't do anything else with my hair. This is perfect. "You don't think it's too short?" Not only did Kent actually complement me a few seconds ago, but I'm already fishing for more. I don't know what's come over me, but I'm waiting, heart racing to see what he says next.

"No. It's great. It suits, err, your face." Kent glances away, staring across the room like something endlessly fascinating is happening over by where the food is being served.

I smiled at him for another second before my eyes wander and I notice Rosie watching me all over again.

"What?" I ask her, and immediately regret it. If she's caught the way I'm looking at Kent, then the last thing I want is for her to call it out in front of everyone else. In front of Kent. I may be acting a little braver and there may be a lot of signs pointing toward Kent being interested. But it's not something I'm willing to put to a public test, now or ever.

"Nothing." All of my newfound bravado retreats back inside me. And it's like Rosie notices that moment too. Her eyebrows shoot up a second after I slump back into my chair. Rosie's eyes move to Kent. "Actually, I was wondering if any of you guys wanted to see a movie with me this weekend. I'm up for whatever, I just need to get out of the house."

I'm nodding yes before I can think about it. This is the first time these guys have asked me to hang out with them after school since Halloween. And I don't care if Rosie just wants to see a stupid action movie, or one of those comedies that I never really find funny, but I'm in either way.

We spend the rest of lunch making plans, Rosie taking the lead. I can't shake the feeling that there's something more going on here, something I can't quite figure out.

Before I say much of anything, the details are set. The five of us will be going to a movie on Friday night. No one seems to have any real idea about which one we should see, but that doesn't seem to be the point.

By drama cla.s.s, it's all I can think about. I'm not sure if I'm more excited about the idea of finally getting out of my house on a weekend, or if I'm just loving the idea of sitting in a darkened theatre with Kent for two hours. I'm already imagining ways I can maneuver things so that we'll be sitting together for the movie.

"All right, team." Mr. Sullen stands up from his desk with an exaggerated stretch and waits until everyone in the room has stopped talking before he starts his lesson. "The time has come. We still have smaller a.s.signments to tackle this semester, but from here on out most of our focus will be going into our final performance of the year. I'm sure all of you have been diligently reading the Alice in Wonderland script I a.s.signed you two months ago, and are more than ready to face this challenge head on."

I look around the cla.s.s and see everyone looked about as guilty as I feel. Note to self, read that script tonight. Due to the size of the cla.s.s, Mr. Sullen breaks us up into three groups by drawing names from a top hat. I end up in the same chunk of the cla.s.s as Frank, with Jen and Kent split up in the others. The last three days of the semester will be dedicated to our final performances, and while Mr. Sullen a.s.sures us it won't be as big a production as the school play he helps put on in the spring, he expects us to dedicate our time and energy to this.

While the eight or so of us in my group sits on one side of the cla.s.sroom, hemming and hawing over different ideas and trying to figure out who will take on which areas of the production, it's hard not to notice that Jen has already taken control of her group, and is already issuing orders.

Leah, a black-haired girl that's also in my first period cla.s.s, tries to do the same for our group, but she isn't nearly as effective. Instead of deciding anything at all, we decide to take the night to brainstorm so we can all come back to this tomorrow, hopefully with better results.

We're walking home from school later that day, when Rhiannon chimes in with a question. "Are you guys still getting many questions about the Fairview Four things?"

I take a few quick steps so I'm caught up to her. "What do you mean?"

"Just that today, my hair seemed to draw all this attention back to me. And suddenly people are asking me the most random stuff. And I'm wondering if they've been asking you guys the stuff all along, and just have been leaving me alone because of my back off vibe."

Reece turns around so she's walking backward and facing us. "People are still interested, yeah. But it's died down from the first couple weeks of school."

"And we are really boring people," I add. "I haven't been getting any questions at all, but that probably has a lot to do with me avoiding people, and not with them or the things they are curious about."

"Or, it has everything to do with that note on the first day of school."

"Shut up." I stick out my tongue, glad that at least no one had brought that up in a while.

"Guess what I'm doing on Friday?" I say, changing the subject. I suspect that the newfound interest in Rhiannon might fade a little, once people realize that she isn't super interested in engaging, but I hope that may be somehow this could be the open door she needed to start getting to know people a little better. Except... how many times do I need to hope for that before it actually happens?

I don't bother waiting for anyone to respond before I continue. "I'm going to the movies with a couple of people from drama cla.s.s. Rosie and Jen, who you guys met at the party."

My sisters mostly mumble something about that being cool, but Reece gives me a knowing look. I give her a small nod in return. Yep, Kent will be there. And I'm well aware that this might be my opportunity. Maybe finding out for sure if he likes me or not during a big hang out with friends isn't the most straightforward way of going about things, but if it works it works. I make a note to myself to pester Reece for ideas later in the week when we won't have an audience. Because if this goes badly, and I somehow embarra.s.s myself or have been reading way too much into all of it, the less people know about my secret humiliation, the better.

When we get back home, Rhiannon and I both end up in our bedroom. My homework tonight is thankfully minimal, and I was kind of hoping to get in and nap before dinner. But Rhiannon has other ideas. She's searching through her drawers and the bookcase beside her window.

"What's wrong?" I ask, and I can admit that I sound a little annoyed.

"The same stuff that's always wrong, Reagan. You may have gotten used to this stupid little town, but I'm not."

I sit up, eyes still heavy with the need to sleep. "Where's this coming from? And what are you even looking for?" On the way home she didn't seem annoyed exactly, but once again her mood has turned on a dime.

I wonder, not for the first time in the last few months if she's still talking to Derrick. Are they still together? I know she would never tell us, one way or the other. But she still doesn't seem a hundred percent herself, no matter how many of her old friends come to visit or how many new haircuts she gets, and how much time pa.s.ses. She's still unhappy, and today seems to be one of those days where her feelings are seeping through the cracks.

"Did something happen today? You seem extra p.i.s.sed all of a sudden."

Rhiannon then leaves the room without saying anything else, slamming the door unnecessarily behind her. I'm still sitting on my bed, slightly stunned, when Riley pops into the bathroom. "What was that?"

"Rhiannon. Obviously."

"Should I go talk to her?" Reilly looks over at the door, and I can tell she's being pulled toward it, pulled toward Rhiannon, just a little.

I shake my head. "No point. I'm sure she needs to work things out for herself."

"But that's been our strategy for a while now, and it's still not getting her anywhere. I know Rhiannon has never been one for big mood swings in any direction, but I swear, I've seen her smile no more than five times since she got here. And this is a long time to hold a grudge, even for her."

"Leave her alone!" Reece calls from the other room. I so wish I had some s.p.a.ce to myself. Instead I wriggle down into my bed and put my blanket up over my eyes so Reilly will take the hint. I don't hear her leave, but when I peek back up over the blanket, she's gone. But now, with the bathroom door closed again and Rhiannon gone, the s.p.a.ce feels emptier than it should. Did I handle the Rhiannon thing wrong just now?

Even though I do my best to ignore it most of the time, there's always a part of me that is hyperaware that of the four Donovan sisters, I am technically the oldest sister. It was luck of the draw I was plucked out of our mom's uterus first, but there's no denying birth order. In a lot of ways, it's always felt like Rhiannon should've been the first born, instead of last. She's always been more of an adult than I will ever be. Especially if being an adult means having to give up video games and comic books.

Okay, I promise myself, two more weeks. Rhiannon can have two more weeks of sulking, moping and mood swings. But after that, I'm going to have to talk to her. I'm not even sure what I'd say, or how to bring it up. But if she's been this upset, for this long, it's my job as part of her family to make it better. Right? Even if that means having to go to our parents, something I'm sure she wouldn't thank me for.

Two more weeks brings us right up to Christmas vacation, and the extended break could be exactly what she needs to start acting like herself again. There's already been a bit of discussion about some of us going back to Richmond for the week between Christmas and New Year's, but nothing is set in stone yet and Mom is pushing against the idea. Once we have that figured out, Rhiannon might come around on her own. If not, then I'd better have a backup plan.

Chapter 22.

Having my dad be the one to drop me off at the mall is the most uncomfortable thing I've ever experienced. Before, he would drive Nadine and I around all the time, but he always knew the places I was going and the people I was going with. Fairview doesn't even have a movie theatre, so he's driving me all the way to Meadow Green, which is still only a slightly bigger town than Fairview. But at least it has a movie theatre.

Rosie took charge of planning tonight, one a hundred percent. So all I know is when and where to meet everyone, and even where to park so I can find them inside the mall I've never even heard of before.

I'm texting with everyone else the whole ride there, but as we pull into the mall, it seems like absolutely everyone is running late.

"So you're sure you have a ride home?" My dad asks, keeping the car in neutral as he stares me down again.

"Yup. I'll call you in a few hours, but I'm sure someone else will drive me back so you don't have to go both ways."

"Well, either way, I'm just going to pop over to the hardware store across the street for about half an hour. If for some reason, you want to go home in the next little while, just give me a call. Even if you want to go home midway through the night, let me know, and I'll be here."

I give him a look, trying to rea.s.sure him that he's overreacting, but I still appreciate the gesture. "Thanks Dad. I'll keep that in mind."

I hopped out of the car and try to keep my head tilted down, away from the falling snowflakes, until I slipped inside the building. The movie theatre is the central point of this small mall, but we're meeting at the food court first to grab something to eat, and by cheaper candy to smuggle in in our purses.

Reagan: I'm here. Anyone else?

Kent: Five minutes.

No one else answers. Which hopefully means they're rushing out the door to come meet us here. But either way, it looks like Kent will be the first one here.

I find the burger joint where we said we'd meet, and sit down to wait, wishing someone else had already been there waiting for me. Still, Kent and I might get a few minutes alone together... and I'm not as nervous as I should be. A few minutes at a time, I can do. My phone rings, startling me a little. "h.e.l.lo?"

"Hey Reagan, it's Rosie. So. Bad news. Kind of. But I'm not going to be able to make it, and since my mom was Jen and Frank's ride. They are out to." Something in the tone of her voice makes it sound like she doesn't feel bad about any of this. And how had they not mentioned they were all carpooling before this?

"So, it's just you and Kent tonight. Totally didn't do this on purpose or anything. Good luck." She hangs up the phone before I have any chance to respond.

It becomes perfectly obvious just what this is. Kent and I have been set up. Now, it's just the two of us, alone in a different town going to the movies together. My heart thuds against my ribcage but I don't have time to panic before I see Kent coming from the opposite end of the food court. I wave him over pathetically as b.u.t.terflies a.s.sault my gut.

"Where's everyone else?" He asks.

I'm guessing he didn't get that same fortuitous phone call I did. Now I get to wait and see what his reaction is, hoping it's not sheer panic, because this is about to get either all kinds of exciting, or mortifying very quickly. "They're not coming. Rosie just called, and none of them are coming."

Kent's mouth drops in surprise but soon the expression turns into a grimace. I don't know how much to tell him. I'm sure that Rosie did this on purpose, so Kent and I would be alone together, but I don't know if she did this because of anything she'd seen from him. She caught me looking at Kent more than once. Would she have pulled something like this based on that alone, or does she know something about Kent's feelings that I don't?

G.o.d, this is terrifying. And kind of wonderful.

I'm desperate to text my sisters and let them know the situation I've fallen into, but now Kent is here and looking at me and we're the only ones here to keep this conversation going.

"Well, we're here, so I guess we should see the movie?" At least Rosie picked the latest fantasy blockbuster for all of us to go see, so it's something I'm interested in either way. Not that I'll be able to focus all that hard on it with Kent sitting right beside me.

"Sounds good. But I'm starving. If you're okay with it, I'll go grab us some burgers. My treat." Kent smiles shyly and my heart just about explodes. All I can do is nod along and put in a request for no pickles.

As soon as Kent leaves the table I whip out my phone and start a new text to Reece.

Reagan: Help! This whole going to the movies thing was just a set up. Everyone else bailed, so now it's just Kent and I. What am I supposed to do? To say? I don't know if he feels okay about this whole thing. I'm not even sure he realizes what this whole thing is supposed to be. And I'm not about to tell him. I literally have no idea what to do next. He's getting food, and then we're on our own.

I stare at my phone, willing my sister to respond for the entire time Kent stands in line, gives our order and then makes his way back to the table. Nothing. Apparently, today's the day that Reece decides she doesn't need to be on her phone at all times. Meaning, she's absolutely no help to me.

I pocket my cell as Kent slides the tray across our table. "Fries okay?" He asks.

"You can never go wrong with French fries." I grab one and take a bite, not sure what if anything I'm doing could be construed as flirting. I want to be flirting. But I'm pretty sure I'm not. More likely, I'm seconds away from doing something embarra.s.sing that'll have Kent screaming and running from the building.

We eat in silence for a few minutes, with Kent looking up at me from his food every few seconds, but never speaking. Which I can't fault him for, since I haven't come up with anything all that great to say either. This is my one chance, and I'm in the process of blowing it.

I open my mouth to ask him something about drama cla.s.s, trying to find common ground, but Kent speaks first. "I'm really sorry about this."