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6| Late night visits

Sunday mornings were always dedicated to Motown and breakfast. Mom and Dad would belt out anything from Diana Ross to The Temptations while we sat at the breakfast table, waiting for our waffles. When Dad left, Mom's love for Motown left with him–now she spends her Sundays at the bookstore.

Jenna and I spend the day spread out on my bed with cucumber face masks on. She has my foot in her hand and is giving my toes a much-needed pedicure. The Temptations My Girl is blasting through the speakers, and we're singing along at the top of our lungs. At some point, Finn shouts for us to be quiet or he's going to come up and thump me.

"So, back to this bet," Jenna says, turning to face me. "Why are you doing it again?"

"Because he's trying to take Faculty Advisor from me," I say, "and there's no way I'm letting that happen."

Jenna stops painting my nails to look at me. "Technically, Faculty Advisor isn't yours for him to take, and what if you lose?"

I pause for a moment to consider this. I'm not arrogant enough to think I have this in the bag or anything, but I know I still have to try. If I left my fate up to Mellissa, Jax would get Faculty Advisor and I'd be left on the sidelines, forced to write about lunch menus and the new vegan options until the day I graduate.

"I won't," I say.

Jenna lets out a hopeless sigh. "Just make sure you're being safe, okay?"

"Jeez, I'm not going to have sex with any of them."

She swats my arm in horror. "Not like that, you idiot. I mean be safe in general. There are a lot of creeps out there. People get kidnapped all the time."

We spend the rest of the afternoon researching the ins and outs of online dating. It seems the trick to staying alive is to meet somewhere public and let several people know where you're going. "Well, you and Jax will both know where I am," I say. "That's enough, right?"

"You're not going to tell your mom?" Jenna asks.

I'm not exactly the type to keep secrets from my mom, but something tells me she's not going to like the idea of me dating multiple guys to win a bet. "Probably best if I don't." I'm about to read out rule number two when Gina appears in the doorway.

"What are you guys doing?"

I glance at her from across my bedroom. Her tight golden curls are piled high on her head, her freckled face free from make-up. I forget how pale she is under all that concealer and bronzer.

"Skiing," I say.

Jenna ignores me before turning to Gina. "Just talking. What's up, Gi-Gi?"

Gina grins back like a kid in a candy store. Secretly, I think she's always preferred Jenna over me. "Do you guys want to bake something with me? I'm thinking vegan brownies. That's your favorite, isn't it, Jenna?"

I roll my eyes at the same time Jenna smiles. I've tried doing the whole sisterly bonding thing with Gina, really, I have, but all she ever does is run back to Mom and tell her every little thing I say.

"We'd love to," Jenna says. "I've actually been craving brownies for ages."

That's how the three of us end up baking vegan brownies to Diana Ross' 'I'm Coming Out'. Halfway through belting out, I want the world to know, I realize I'm kind of glad that Jenna's so self-righteous; I'd forgotten how fun Gina can be. But then, when the brownies are done and we're all Motowned out, Gina runs upstairs and leaves us to clean up the mess.

"You should be thankful you have siblings," Jenna says once I've finished grumbling. "Do you know how lonely it is being an only child?"

I stop scrubbing the counter to look at her. "Feel free to take mine–they're non-refundable. You staying for dinner?"