The Fruit of My Lipstick by Shelley Adina

have.”
    “It’s not about people liking you at all,” Lucas said. “Popularity is all about who has the most. Looks, money, stuff, whatever. Look at Vanessa.”
    Our heads swung, just as she looked up.
Oh, you bunch of losers
, her bored expression seemed to say, before she picked up her tray and walked out of the dining room, Brett close behind.
    “That was rewarding,” Lissa remarked.
    “I didn’t mean you should actually
look
at her,” Lucas said impatiently. “I was using her as an example. She’s beautiful, she has a trust fund, and her parents are famous. That’s why she’s popular.”
    “Huh,” Carly mused, deadpan. “And here I thought it was because of her winning personality.”
    Next to me, Shani snickered.
    I was still recovering from what Lucas had just said. “You really think Vanessa is beautiful?” Guys weren’t supposed to say things like that in front of their girlfriends, were they? Or even people they thought might be their girlfriends. Maybe he was just making an observation, along the lines of “Look, the sun came out.”
    “Oh, yeah.” He spooned more Demerara sugar on his oatmeal. “She’s pretty bright, too. I had low expectations with the tutoring last term, but it worked out.”
    “I heard Annie Leibovitz wanted to photograph her when they lived in New York, but she turned her down,” Shani put in. Whose side was she on, anyway?
    “I find that hard to believe.” I’d seen her myself, pretending to dodge photographers while she made sure they got her best side. How else did she show up on places like whowhatweardaily.com?
    He shrugged. “Truth is truth, whether you choose to believe it or not.”
    I sat back, rebuffed and a little hurt. Why were we talking about Vanessa Talbot, anyway? “That isn’t truth. It’s just something somebody heard.”
    “Besides,” Shani said, “defining what’s beautiful is like defining what’s popular. It’s just people’s opinion.”
    Way to redeem yourself, girl.
    “But usually people’s opinions form critical mass in a given society. And that’s when you get definitions of both,” Lucas said. “So for our little society right here, a girl with high cheekbones, puffy lips, big eyes, and a trust fund is defined as beautiful.”
    I considered my non-cheekbones, wide mouth, Asian eyes, and hair that did whatever it wanted. If he thought Vanessa was so beautiful, what was he doing having breakfast with me? Did he have a crush on her? Was he just using me to fill time until she dumped Brett and left the field open for him?
    I pushed my half-eaten oatmeal away.
    “Personally,” Lissa said, “I define beautiful as a girl with a big heart, a big smile, and a sharp brain. So that makes Gillian a beauty in my book.”
    Bless you
.
    Lucas nodded. “Under that definition, she is.”
    My throat prickled and I blinked back stupid tears. “Sitting right here,” I said hoarsely. “Knock it off, you guys.”
    He smiled at me. “Didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
    Better embarrassed at a compliment than jealous over nothing. My cheeks might be burning, but a happy little warmth blossomed inside me. Time to change the subject. “Do you have any plans today?”
    “We should all do something together,” Lissa said. “There must be tons of stuff going on around here.”
    “In February?” Carly asked.
    “We could go to the de Young and see the new exhibit,” I suggested. “Or to Ghirardelli Square to eat chocolate.”
    “Or Pier 39,” one of the guys said. Jeremy Clay, that was his name. “It’s crab season—we could hit Fisherman’s Wharf and get one right out of the pot. Eat it on the sidewalk.”
    “Gross.” Shani’s whole face scrunched up in distaste. “I’d rather go to Alcatraz and be locked in a jail cell.”
    “We could do that. Or we could go to Angel Island,” Lucas said to me. “Have you ever been there?” I shook my head
—
I’d never even heard of it. “There’s a ferry that runs out there, and