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→“Wow,” he says, shaking his head. “Just . . . wow.”

→I shrug. “You asked.”

→Josh practically gags. “Kavinsky? Are you kidding me? He’s so obvious. I thought you’d be into someone more . . . I don’t know, subtle. Peter Kavinsky’s such a cliché. He’s like a cardboard cutout of a ‘cool guy’ in a movie about high school.”

→“Well . . . I guess Peter Kavinsky.”

→“Sure.”

→“Hmm. My first real crush?” I had kindergarten and first- and second-grade crushes aplenty, but they don’t really count. “Like the first one that really mattered?”

→“Who was your first crush?”

→“Who what?” Maybe if I can somehow convince Daddy to buy her a puppy . . .

→“Who?” Josh asks me.

→“I had crushes on boys when I was nine,” I tell him. I’m still thinking about Kitty. I wonder how I can make it so she isn’t mad at me anymore. Somehow I don’t think snickerdoodles will cut it this time.

→Josh sighs. “Is she really old enough to have crushes on boys? I feel like she’s too young for all that.”

→“Just a boy from school.”

→“Who’s this kid she likes?”

→“I know,” I say. I’ve got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Why did I do that? Even as I was doing it, I knew it was wrong. Margot would never have done that to me. That’s not how big sisters are supposed to treat their little sisters, especially not when I’m so much older than Kitty.

→When we hear the sound of her bedroom door closing, Josh turns to me and says, “You’re in so much trouble.”

→Meekly, I say, “Good night, Kitty,” but she’s already running up the stairs, and she doesn’t reply.

→“Night, Kitty,” Josh says.

→Kitty whisks her collage away from Josh. Stiffly she says, “I’m going upstairs to work on this. Good night, Josh.”

→I clap, and I try to catch Kitty’s eye, but she won’t look at me. I know I deserve it. The boy Kitty has a crush on—it’s Josh.

→She ignores me, and Josh smooths the paper back out with a coaster, and with the concentration of a surgeon he tapes the two pieces together. He wipes his brow. “Phew. I think this one will make it.”