Free Inheritance by Malinda Lo Page A

recognize her. Madison pushed open the door of a thrift shop, the bell jingling. “Come on, let’s try this one first,” she said.
    Reese and Julian followed her inside. It smelled like used clothes—that combination of mothballs and other people’s lives that always made Reese wonder who had worn these things before. Madison dived into the first rack, quickly flipping through blouses of every color and combination. Reese pulled off her sunglasses and wandered back to the accessories and began to dig through a pile of hats. Madison was at her elbow almost instantly.
    “No,” Madison said sternly. “Focus, Reese. You need a skirtand a top.” Madison dragged her back to the rack full of blouses and began to hold them up to Reese, while Julian looked on.
    “Ew,” Reese said, pushing away an orange shirt with pink flowers on it. “I’m not wearing that.”
    “You need to have a more open mind,” Madison admonished her, but hung up the orange shirt. “Just try some things on and we’ll see what looks good.”
    Fifteen minutes later Reese was in a dressing room with an armful of shirts. The first was a clingy red tank top with lace edging that made her chest look huge. She opened the dressing room curtain and shook her head at Madison and Julian. “This is not me.”
    Madison tugged the curtain aside and gave her an appraising look. “Wow. Yeah, not you.”
    Julian poked his head over Madison’s shoulder, making a face. “Yeah, no.”
    “I told you,” Reese said.
    “Try on the blue one,” Madison said, pulling the curtain shut again. But the blue one was too tight; the purple too loose. As Reese struggled into a billowy white shirt with armholes in very strange places, Madison said, “I can’t believe you’re dating David Li. It’s so crazy.”
    “Why is it crazy?” Reese said indignantly. “I’ve been friends with him for a while.”
    “You’ve been his debate partner. That’s different. Besides, as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been like ‘I’m not dating anyone ever!’ What changed your mind?”
    Amber?
But Reese said, “I don’t know.”
    “Hey, I’m gonna go look at the belts,” Julian called.
    “Okay,” Reese and Madison said in unison. Reese finally got the white blouse on. It made her look like a cross between the Pillsbury Doughboy and—no, that was bad enough. She took it off without showing it to Madison.
    She pulled on a gray flannel shirt with black piping as Madison peeked through the curtain.
    “I did not pick that shirt out for you,” Madison said.
    “I know. I did.”
    “It’s not sexy enough.”
    Reese buttoned the shirt and looked in the mirror. It fit well. “I like it.”
    “You would.” Madison pulled the curtains open and reached out to unbutton the top two buttons.
    “Hey!” Reese cried.
    “Cleavage,” Madison said. “You have some. You should take advantage of it.”
    “I don’t have cleavage.”
    “You have more than me.” Madison pointed at her size-A cups and gave herself a mournful look in the mirror. “Guys don’t like these.”
    “You’re not dating the right guys.”
    Madison smiled. “Yeah, probably not.” She studied Reese for a moment longer and said, “All right, you can have the shirt. But you have to wear it with a miniskirt.”
    Reese groaned.
    Two shops later, they compromised on a jean skirt. It was shorter than Reese was used to, but at least it wasn’t one of theplaid schoolgirl skirts that Madison kept pushing on her, and Julian approved. “Looks good,” he said, flashing her a grin. “Guys like skirts.”
    “You’re gay. How would you know?” Reese teased him.
    His eyebrows rose, and he opened his mouth to say something, but then shook his head. “I’ll let you off the hook this time because we’re friends. I’m gonna go look around.”
    As he sauntered out of the dressing room, Madison gave Reese a questioning glance. “What was that about?”
    “I don’t know,” Reese said, confused. Was she not