"Should you even go to the mall, Juice?" asked Jenn.

"Why not?"

"Well, you're, like, puking your guts out, huh?" said Shabeez.

Justin waved a hand. "I'm all better now. It doesn't last that long."

Carmine cracked up and everyone looked at her. "Maybe," she wheezed between laughs, "maybe it is morning sickness?"

"Don't be a doof," said Ell. "You sure you feel like going, Juice?"

"Sure," he said. "I don't want to be a mope, this is our last weekend before school really starts and I want to do something."

Shabeez wagged her head sideways. "All right then!" she said.

Juice laughed. "Hey, let's all do that."

"Do what?"

"What Shabeez did," Juice demonstrated and Shabeez did it again. "Instead of shaking our heads up and down for yes, let's go side to side."

"Huh?" Ell looked confused.

"Wouldn't that be, like, no, instead of yes?" asked Jenn.

"No," said Justin. "Or, yes." He grinned. "No is still moving your face left and right, but now yes is wagging your head sideways." He did it again, each movement of his head almost bringing his ears to touch his shoulders and Shabeez and Carmine copied him, grinning.

Ell and Jenn laughed and tried to do it, too.

"Oh, this is wild," said Jenn.

"I read somewhere that in Bulgaria they shake their heads for yes and nod for no, but nobody wags their head," said Ell.

"Try it," said Juice.

"C'mon," said Carmine. "First time doesn't cost anything."

They all laughed.

"We'll get dizzy," said Ell.

"We're teenagers, we're supposed to be dizzy," said Carmine.

"It's fun!" said Shabeez. "Do something different to make grown-ups think we're nuts!"

"We could all dress like Carmine," said Jenn.

Carmine stuck out her tongue.

"Oh!" said Shabeez. "Wag our heads AND stick out our tongues!" she did so, crossing her eyes at the same time.

Justin laughed so hard Ell had to prop him up against a chair because his knees stopped working.

# # #

"Wear the hat we got for you," said Shabeez. "You look so cute!"

Justin looked at the item. It was a high-crowned, white, fake-straw hat with a very pale pink hat band. "That's a girl's hat and the last time I wore it, my dad saw me."

"He's not going to be at the malls today, is he?"

"Uh, no," said Justin. His father seldom went anywhere anymore. Harold had therapy Tuesdays and Fridays when the county van came to pick him up and take him to his appointment. On Wednesdays he went grocery shopping with a ride in the shuttle. Yesterday had been Sunday, the church van had come and got them and taken them home. This was Monday and Justin knew his father had no appointments because it was a holiday.

"Wear it so people don't think you're my tagalong little brother," said Ell, grinning.

Carmine took the hat from Shabeez and plopped it on Justin's head. "I still think it's fuckin' amazing," she said. "One little femmy chapeau and he's one of the girls." She laughed.

"You guys," Justin complained, but he moved so he could see himself in the mirror over the couch. He pulled the hat off and brushed his hair with his fingers until Jenn handed him a pink wide-toothed comb. He fussed with his shaggy dark blond locks until satisfied then put the hat back on, adjusting the angle.

Turning around, he gave the group a perky, middle-school smile. Jenn grinned but the other girls all cracked up.

"You're too good at that," said Carmine.

"You're so cute!" said Shabeez.

"Maybe you could model for a Petites catalog," suggested Ell.

"I'm not that short," protested Justin. "Besides, I am a boy, you know."

"There are a lot more boys doing fashion modeling as girls these days than you'd think," said Ell. "It's not even a big secret anymore. You're slender and you have the eyes for it. Modeling is mostly about the eyes, you know?"

"It is?" said Shabeez.

"And you are that short," said Carmine.

"Uh, huh," said Ell, whose own eyes were big and soft-looking and crayon blue. "Lots of beautiful girls can't make it as models 'cause their eyes are squinty or baggy or too close together or something."

"I knew a guy once whose bag was too close to his dick," said Carmine.

"You did not," said Jenn. "And what the heck would that even mean?"

"You had to see it," said Carmine, smirking.

"Well, you didn't," said Jenn. "Face it, Carmine, you're just as much a virgin as the rest of us."

"I'm not," said Justin.

No one else said anything for a moment.

"That Zoe," complained Shabeez when the silence got too much for her.

Justin chewed on his lip for a moment, took the hat off and put it back on with only a glance at the mirror. "Say something in Italian," he said to Ell.

"Qualcosa, lo pienso," she said. "Che cosa? Che detto?"

"Half of that was Spanish," commented Carmine. "Bad Spanish."

"Italian is sort of like half-bad Spanish," said Shabeez, "at least, that's the way it sounds."

"You sorry you didn't go?" asked Justin.

Ell shrugged. "I'm only fifteen, Dad says I can go when I'm eighteen but not before. But ... If you're going to be a model, you need to start young."

"Like eighteen is over the hill?" said Jenn, rolling her eyes.

Ell winced. "The younger the better...."

"Lot of young girls get taken advantage of, and your dad can't take time off to go with you."

Ell nodded. "He's right, I can go later. If they still want me."

Justin took Ell's hand in both of his and squeezed it. "They will want you, if you still want them," he said.

"Oh!" said Jenn. "We got you something else." She pulled a bag from Claire's out of the buffet drawer and dumped the contents on the table. A charm bracelet with five charms.

"Mmm," said Justin.

"I got you the bat," said Carmine.

"Mine's the heart, it opens up with a star inside," said Shabeez.

"I thought the daisy looked cute," said Jenn.

"Kitten," said Ell.

"Who?"

"Zoe got you the unicorn," said Jenn.

"You gonna wear it?" asked Shabeez. "You gotta wear it."

Jenn fastened the bracelet on Justin's wrist. His smile looked a bit shaky.

Carmine studied his face. "We gonna get your ears pierced."

"Oh, yeah," said Shabeez.

"Just plain studs, nothing embarrassing," said Ell.

Justin shook his head, looking at the bracelet.

"It is pretty," said Jenn.

He nodded.

"Let's go," said Shabeez. "Is anyone getting hungry? Red Brick or Jody Maroni?"

"Red Brick," said Justin. "I want pizza and I'm starving."

"You sure, Juice?" asked Jenn. "You're not going to throw up again?"

"No, I want a Hawaiian Special. I'm like totally empty and pizza sounds so good."

"They put cashews on that at Red Brick, what do cashews have to do with Hawaii?"

"Shouldn't they call it a Canadian, it's got Canadian bacon?"

"It's ham, they just say it's Canadian bacon."

"What's the difference?"

"Pineapple. They call it an Hawaiian because of the pineapple."

"Then they should call it a Mexican. Pineapple is from Mexico," said Carmine.

"It is?" said Shabeez. "Like in a taco?"

They poured out of Jenn's house in a flood of giggles and got to the bus stop on the corner just as the Market-Magnolia bus pulled up. The driver wrestled getting a bike into the front rack while they all found seats.

Carmine plopped down next to Justin. She leaned close to whisper, "Juice, if you're having Zoe's baby, what's the unicorn for?"