“Think about it. Look at our names, for god’s sake. Which one stands out?” she hissed, pushing to her feet and pacing around the room. Her Doc Martens clunking against the wood floors.
“Your parents’ names are Elliott and Cricket. And then there’s Whitney. What am I missing?”
“Elliott, Cricket, Whitney, and then Clarice? What the fuck is up with that? That was the chick’s name in that freaking movie, Silence of the Lambs. They named me after a girl in a horror film,” she shrieked, running a hand through her hair as she walked in little circles in front of me. “Coco only came about because Princess Whitney couldn’t say my serial killer name. She got to pick my actual name. She was three years old, for god’s sake. They probably would have let her call me asshole if she’d wanted to.”
My shoulders shook in a fit of giggles. She was being completely irrational, which was not uncommon for Coco. She lived large, had a flair for the dramatics, and never backed down from a fight. Her family was much haughtier than she was, but I knew they loved her, though they had a terrible way of showing her most of the time.
“Coco is very fitting. You’re being ridiculous. I think you should run this by the girls.”
The door swung open, and Ivy all but fell inside with Maura and Gigi talking a mile-a-minute on her heels.
“Uh-oh. Do we need to clear the air before we start the meeting? You look like an angry elf.” Ivy set the enormous leather-bound book on the coffee table and settled her hands on her hips as she stared at Coco. There were newspaper clippings and fabric sticking out of the sides of the book.
Maura and Gigi dropped to sit on the area rug across from us, and Ivy sat beside me on the couch as Coco continued to pace.
“Okay, I’m going to tell you something, but it can’t go in the book until I’m certain it’s true.” She pulled her long hair over one shoulder and everyone stared in silence.
“Well, you best say it now. Everything we talk about in the meeting goes in the book. It’s the rules.” Ivy set her pencil down on the table and crossed her arms over her chest.
She and Coco tended to bump heads most often because they were both headstrong.
“The rules? I just can’t with you sometimes, Ivy. We make the rules. It’s our club.” Coco dropped back down to sit on the other side of me and rolled her eyes.
“But these rules were put in place for a reason, so we wouldn’t be tempted to waver,” Ivy said.
Ivy took the Magic Willows seriously, and most of the time we all just chuckled about it, but Coco was in no mood.
“Fine. Do not start the meeting until after I say this.” She took a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m fairly certain I was adopted by the Radcliffs, but until I have proof, I don’t want it in the book.”
Maura and Gigi burst out in laughter but straightened their faces once they realized she wasn’t joking. Ivy tapped her pointer finger against her lips before speaking. “I think you may be on to something. You’re nothing like those people.”
“Those people? The Radcliffs are her family. You’re a Radcliff,” Maura said, shaking her head. “This is a stretch, even for you, Co.”
“I’m not saying they aren’t my family. Obviously, families adopt all the time. I’m saying that I think my entire life is based on a lie. I do not believe I came out of Cricket Radcliff’s vagina. There. I said it.”
Gigi laughed until tears streamed down her cheeks. “Cricket’s vagina would be very boujee.”
All five of us lost it.
“Can we please not talk about Cricket’s vagina? Do you have a plan for how to find out if your theory is correct?” Maura asked.
“I was hoping you could all feel out your parents. I mean, we’re the same age. They’ve all lived in this godforsaken hell of a town forever. So, they would have been pregnant at the same time. We need proof.”
Coco was the only one who was dying to get out of Willow Springs. We all loved it here. The other girls all wanted to go away to college, but Maura, Gigi, and Ivy all planned to return home after graduation.
“Fine. Everyone report back with their findings at the next meeting and we’ll keep it out of the book for now. Until then, shall we start?” Ivy flipped the book open and reached for her pencil. “Lots to discuss with school starting tomorrow.”
“Who’d have ever thought we’d make it to senior year?” Gigi asked, her blonde hair bounced on her shoulders.
“Um. Well, it was sort of inevitable. And it couldn’t come soon enough. I’m about to blow up my entire family. I need to get the hell out of Dodge.” Coco leaned her head on my shoulder, and I patted her cheek and chuckled.
“If you don’t want the my-whole-life-is-a-lie-and-I’m-not-a-Radcliff theory in the book, please don’t reference it during the meeting.” Ivy raised a brow.
“You know, Ivy, I think you’re sexually frustrated, and that’s why you’re so bitchy lately. I think you need to stop being terrified of the penis and just embrace it.” Coco leaned over me and shot a glare at Ivy, and I put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
Ivy huffed. “For your information, I am actually considering having sex with Ty. I am not terrified of the penis. I don’t find it particularly attractive, but I don’t fear it either. Are you happy?”
“Well, that’s going in the book, girl. You said it at the meeting. You may as well paste your V-card right on those pages now. I just hope Ty doesn’t send you any dick-pics, because I do believe those will be public record too,” Coco said through her laughter.
Even Ivy was laughing by now.
“He’s not pressuring you, is he?” I asked. Ty was a great guy, so I highly doubted this was coming from him.
“No. Of course not. He’s just like Alec, he would never pressure me.” She shook her head. “I just think at some point, I need to just do it.”
Alec and I had been dating forever. Our moms were best friends, we’d grown up together, and our friendship had turned romantic our freshman year of high school. We always joked about the fact that we were told we’d end up together before we ever considered anything different.
“Well, Alec doesn’t need to pressure Addy because he made sure he got some during that ever so convenient breakup. He’s an asshole. And I don’t know why he gets to call the shots. Follow Ivy’s lead. If you want it, go get it, girl.” Coco twisted the cap of her water bottle off and tipped her head back and chugged it.
I rolled my eyes. Coco was not a big fan of Alec these days. She couldn’t forgive him for breaking up with me and sleeping with Karina James, who happened to be the co-captain of the cheer team with me this year. Awkward. To say we didn’t care for one another would be a massive understatement. Alec and I had broken up the summer before our junior year and apparently, he’d gone off and sowed his wild oats with my nemesis. He claimed he’d just gotten lost for a while and begged my forgiveness. After a few weeks of groveling, I forgave him eventually. We’d been on a break after all, so it’s not like he cheated on me. My mom and Alec’s mom had been devastated by our breakup, and we’d agreed to keep his fling with Karina a secret, as they were too involved in our relationship as it was. And keeping a secret in Willow Springs was no easy feat. I’d eventually gotten over the whole ordeal, and we’d gotten back together. I’d known him forever. And things had gone back to normal this past year. As if it never happened.