Free Inside Girl by J. Minter Page A

is.” But I could barely keep my eyes open. Even Noodles was falling asleep in my lap. I dragged myself up off the sofa before I could pass out, and held my sleeping dog like a baby. “Hey, I’ve got school tomorrow, but you two should keep hanging out.”
    â€œDo you want to?” Philippa looked at SBB all sorrowfully. “I should warn you that I’m not going to be much fun. I’ll probably just keep talking about my problems all night.”
    â€œOf course I’ll stay up with you! But on one condition.” Sara-Beth looked up at me. “Flan, can we have a blanket fort?”
    â€œSure, I won’t stop you. There’s a closet full of blankets and throws right off the pantry.” I carried Noodles upstairs, put on my pajamas, and crawled into bed. I was exhausted. Down below I could hear Philippa crying while Sara-Beth knocked over furniture and rummaged through the linen closet, but even if she was breaking everything in the house, I was way too tired to care.
    * * *
    In the morning, I woke up with Noodles licking my face. He really was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. Pomeranians have these funny little mouths that make them look like they’re smiling all the time. I spent a long time just petting him before I made myself get out of bed and start getting ready for school. The minute I started trying to move, I understood why most of us don’t party like rock stars during the week. It’s one thing to stay up if you don’t have anything to do the next day, but if you have first-period algebra to look forward to, it’s another situation entirely.
    I could tell SBB and Philippa had stayed up even later than I did, because even though I was banging around the kitchen, trying to figure out how to make the coffee I normally don’t drink, they didn’t make a sound. Sara-Beth really had rigged up a blanket fort, using the leather wingback chairs from my dad’s study and what looked like the entire contents of the linen closet. It looked like an elephant was sleeping under a patchwork quilt, right in the middle of our living room.
    I finally choked down some granola and the coffee-flavored water I’d managed to make, and I boiled some spaghetti for Noodles, who was standing on his hind legs and waving his paws around excitedly. I promisedhim that I’d buy him some dog food after school, then stumbled out the door. As I walked, I realized there was no way I’d be able to keep this up for long. Normal by day, fabulous by night only really ever works for superheroes—for the rest of us, it always falls apart sooner or later.

Chapter 13

An Invitation … to Disaster
    On my way to second period, I went up three escalators, pushed through a crowd of thousands, and found Meredith and Judith waiting outside my classroom. Fortunately, they were way too giggly and excited to notice how wiped out I was.
    â€œOh my God, did you hear?” Meredith asked me. “A bunch of the sophomores are having a big party this weekend. It’s going to be excellent.”
    â€œOkay …” I looked from Judith’s face to Meredith’s and back. “But we’re not sophomores.”
    â€œWe might as well be!” Judith squealed. “Check it out!”
    She thrust a folded-up piece of notebook paper at me. My name was written on it in Sharpie, with a single zigzag line drawn under it, like the person who wrote it was trying to make his handwriting look macho and sharp. I unfolded the note.
    The message was written in pen:
    Hey, Flan, I just happened to be passing by your locker and thought I’d let you know there’s a party you, M., and J. might be interested in this weekend. It’s going to be mostly sophomores, so you might not know everyone there, but it should be chill anyway. It’s on Friday night at my friend Devon’s place in Chelsea. Call me for details. Here’s my cell
.
    He’d put down his