" I guess it felt … nice having someone like that, someone wealthy, wanting me like that. He made me feel…” She shrugs.

I remember the feeling I always had, walking arm-in-arm with Nick at school.

“Valuable,” I say, brushing on the base eye shadow. “He made you feel valuable.”

She nods. “Yeah. I guess that’s it.”

I say, “I think that you are way too valuable for Arnold Mikloshevsky and his clammy hands.”


She nods. “I know you’re right. But sometimes it’s hard to believe that. It’s so hard to find someone who loves you for yourself, and not just because you’re pretty or act the way they want you to act.”

I think of Sean. I have that with him. Yes, he’s a friend, but he’s a good friend.

“Are you okay?” I say.

She nods. “I think I’m getting better.” She takes out a different lipstick and holds it near my face, then recaps it. “Oh, Caitlin, he really was a toady little man, wasn’t he? Every time he kissed me, I’d think, Valerie McCourt, has it really come to this?”

I giggle, then stop myself. “He kept looking at my boobs.”

“Mine too—and he had some boobs of his own, let me tell you! "

― Alex Flinn , Diva (Breathing Underwater, #2)