My driver’s license.
“I’m Nora for the night,” she sang, and everyone cheered.
I didn’t say anything. I watched it twice.
The dress, suddenly, was the smallest thing in the room.
“What else did you do while pretending to be me?”
Valerie cracked right down the middle.
“What else did you do while pretending to be me?”
“Nothing! Okay? I took your ID out of your bag at Dad’s house. I just used it to get in. That’s all, I swear.”
“You stole it.”
“Because you would’ve said no!” she snapped.
“Val,” I said. “You knew I’d say no. So you took away my chance to say it.”
She went pale.
This was the whole rule of my childhood. Valerie wanted something that was mine, so Valerie took it.
“You stole it.”
My feelings were never part of the math. The cake, the gifts, the dress.
This time, she hadn’t just borrowed my property. She’d borrowed ME.
Then I watched her realize what the video would do to her.
“Nora, please.” Her voice cracked. “Please don’t tell them. Dad will freak. I’ll pay for the dress. Every cent. Just drop it, and don’t tell them.”
There was the thing I’d wanted from the start laid on a platter. All I had to do was protect her one more time.
I watched her realize what the video would do to her.
“No,” I said.
“What?”
