﹆ sisterkind· .
THE IDEA THAT VALERIE even thinks to tease her about wanting to look good for someone offends her , lips parting in a wide gape , but her cheeks flush with embarrassment . ❝ no one is going to be there ! ❞ they do not hide , riley is not hiding , but it’s fun to tease when she is being teased . loathe to be too far from her sister when she doesn’t have to be , riley stretches out on her stomach beside valerie , her feet kicked up behind her , chin in her hands . ❝ wait , you’ve designated school friends versus after school friends ? that’s . . . actually brilliant . i might steal that . ❞ thoughtfully , riley’s gaze goes far away , stuck somewhere on the opposite wall , thumbnail caught between her teeth . but then , she blinks out of it and grins . ❝ i just think you need more of a life than school and work . it’s okay to have some fun every once in awhile , you know ! ❞
‘ NO ONE , RIGHT . NO ONE IS GOING TO BE THERE . have i met this no one , hm ? is it that boy who sits across from you at lunch every day ? is his name no one ? ’ the teasing is good natured . sometimes , valerie thinks the only one allowed to poke fun at her is riley . she snarls back at anyone else who tries . the rest of her family comes close , feels safe , now . but there is something about riley that will always be — safest . safest . ‘ kind of . i just don’t have any after school friends . ’ blunt ; not sad . the words come matter - of - fact and valerie is not bothered by them in the slightest . ‘ and i think that i do plenty outside of school and work . i just do it alone , or with you and mom and dad . i don’t want anything else . ’ she wants this conversation to stop . staccato . valerie switches topics back to something she knows riley wants . ‘ if i go to this party , i’m not staying the whole time . ’









