The List by Siobhan Vivian Page B

opens the window, even though it’s cold outside. “I feel like I’m going to throw up a pile of icing.”
    Abby leans forward to the front seat. “Hey, Dad? Can I get ten dollars for my homecoming dance ticket?”
    “Sure,” Mr. Warner says. He pulls out his wallet.
    “Fern?” Mrs. Warner asks, eyeing her older daughter in the rearview mirror. “Do you want money for a ticket, too?”
    “I’m not going,” Fern says in a way that implies they should have already known that.
    Abby watches her mother share a look with her father. “Oh? Why not?”
    “Because the Blix Effect movie is opening this weekend and all my friends are going to see it.”
    “Why don’t you see the movie on Friday?” Abby asks. “Then you can go to the dance on Saturday.” Not that she cares if Fern goes to the homecoming dance or not. She’s just saying. It is possible.
    Fern doesn’t look at Abby while she answers. Instead she speaks to their parents, as if they were the ones who’dposed the question. “Because we’re going to see the movie on both nights, two different theaters. Once in 3-D and once in regular.”
    Abby stares at Fern, utterly perplexed. She knows the Blix Effect novels are super popular, but who wants to see the same movie twice, back-to-back? The homecoming dance is so much more exciting, more special. It’s a once-a-year thing, and the only dance at Mount Washington High that every grade is allowed to attend.
    Her sister must see her staring, because Fern suddenly pulls her hair out from behind her ear and lets it cover her face. The morning sun lights up Fern’s split ends. Fern’s hair is the flattest shade of brown, without any of the reddish highlights Abby had gotten when she was at the beach.
    Abby scoots across the backseat and takes Fern’s hair in her hands. “Do you want me to twist up your hair for you, Fern? I could do it like mine, so it’s up off your face.”
    “No thanks,” Fern says, jerking her head so her hair pulls out of Abby’s grasp.
    “Come on, Fern. It’s all ratty in the back. Trust me. It’ll look so much better this way.” Abby doesn’t know why she’s being so nice, seeing that Fern is giving her major attitude. But it feels mean to know Fern looks like crap and not do anything to help her, especially after the list had compared them.
    Fern whips around. Her eyes are big and angry, but she sighs and pulls an elastic off her wrist. “If you want to do two French braids for me, fine. But I’m not walking around school looking like I’m your twin.”
    It is the last thing Fern says to her. Abby does the French braids, and the rest of the car ride is silent.
    When they pull up to Mount Washington, Fern bolts past Freshman Island and goes straight into school.
    Lisa sits, leaning against the base of the ginkgo tree, doing homework. “Morning, Abby!” she calls as Abby walks over.
    “Hey,” Abby says and kneels down next to her. The ground is cold and hard, and not all that comfortable in a dress, but she doesn’t feel like standing. She doesn’t feel like doing much of anything, to be perfectly honest.
    “What’s wrong? You look upset.”
    “Nothing.” What was there to say, after all? She and Fern hadn’t fought, exactly.
    “Well, I’ve got some news that might cheer you up. Bridget said she’d take me shopping for homecoming dresses on Thursday. I know it’s kind of late in the week, but she hasn’t been feeling well. Anyway, do you want to come with us? She said it’s totally cool if you do.”
    Abby picks at some dead grass and wishes that she could have the kind of relationship with Fern that Lisa does with Bridget. But Lisa has so much in common with Bridget. Abby and Fern are as different as could be. Abby wonders if she and Fern would even like each other at all if not for the fact that they were related.
    Probably not.
    “That would be awesome, Lisa. Thanks. And tell Bridget I said thank you, too.”
    Lisa doesn’t say anything for a few