The lady at Claire's, her name-tag read Diane, held out the tray of starter earrings. "You get to pick two sets and we'll use one of them today. You should leave that set in for at least three days, and it takes up to two weeks for the piercings to completely heal, so, really, it's better to leave them in that long."

"Huh," said Juice, unsure of what to say.

"They all have hypo-allergenic stainless steel posts," Diane added.

"Look, they have little gold or silver hearts," said Shabeez.

"There are ones with little ruby-colored gems," said Jenn.

"The pearls are classic," said Ell.

"Two choices," said Carmen. "Which ones you like, Juice?"

"I dunno."

Diane was patient, still holding out the tray. Behind her, the other Claire's lady, Andrea, prepared the pneumatic gun that would shoot the chosen ear stud through the flesh of Justin's lobes. With the straw hat and the touch of lipcolor, Justin easily passed as just another young girl with the two shop ladies.

"These," said Diane, pointing to a pair of silvery studs with a tiny, tiny glint of a gem, "are actual diamond chips."

"Woo," said Ell in a voice that meant she was not impressed.

Juice still hesitated. "What's my dad going to say?" he asked no one in particular.

Shabeez grinned. "Don't tell him."

"Don't you think he's going to notice?"

"Then he has to ask you about them," said Carmine. "And you go? What earrings? I've got ears?" She did a creditable job of imitating Shabeez's wide-eyed, clueless look.

They all laughed.

Jenn reached out and picked the gold-colored studs with the tiny red gems. "Tell him we initiated you into Los Rubá­s. All the boys and girls in the posse are wearing earrings with red stones." She handed the card with the jewelry to Juice who stared at it a moment and handed it on to Diane.

Ell picked a set of studs with simple flat gold disks showing. "For later when you don't want them to be as noticeable," she said.

Behind Diane, Andrea tried the piercing gun, triggering a puff of air like a small explosion. Juice flinched.

* * *

Afterward, they went looking for treats in the food court. Justin nursed a strawberry-banana smoothie and visibly struggled to keep his hands away from his ears. They itched and stung a bit but he'd listened to the care lecture from Andrea at Claire's and didn't intend to get any infected earlobes. But it was hard to remember not to touch them.

The girls were being super-nice to him today, having paid for the earring starter kit and his smoothie. And they'd all bought similar earrings with red gems, though only Shabeez and Jenn had bothered to change out one of the pairs they were already wearing. He appreciated the gesture.

But what was he going to say to his father? And what would the other boys say at school tomorrow?

He didn't know and tried not to worry about those things at the moment.

Jenn had wandered around the corner and come back with a cone from the Dairy Queen instead of a smoothie or shake. She sat beside him at the little round plastic table and nibbled delicately at the ice cream itself instead of licking. "What are you thinking about, Juice?" she asked.

He shook his head. It suddenly occurred to him that he had not thought about Zoe in over an hour and he felt a strange mixture of guilt, relief and anxiety. "I dunno," he said.

Ell sat down at the next table but facing Justin. She sipped at the last dregs of an orange smoothie from a clear plastic cup -- Juice's was less than half gone. "Those guys over there are checking us out," she said.

"Where?" asked Jenn, not looking around.

"Over by the Hawaiian Barbeque," said Ell. "Four of them, they look like they might be juniors or seniors."

Shabeez and Carmine had wandered to the rail of the balcony and were looking down on the lower concourse. They had not heard Ell's comment and seemed to be discussing something they had seen below.

Jenn changed seats so she had the boys in view without being too obvious that she was looking. She suppressed a giggle when she spotted what really looked like an admiring set of young men looking their way. Justin did not look.

The boys wandered over, eventually, and not as if they did it on purpose. Closer, they seemed more likely to be the same age as the girls, high school sophomores. Shabeez and Carmine rejoined the group and much chatter and noise surrounded Justin who continued to study the tile pattern of the food court floor.

"Hey, gorgeous," said one of the boys. Then a finger tipped Justin's face up. Smiling, the boy said, "You're the shy one, huh?"

"That's Tina," said Ell. "We call her Juice, for Justina. She's kinda depressed cause her boyfriend is dating someone else."

"Huh," said the boy. "I'm Clark, Tina. My friends call me Supe, but I've never known why."

Juice looked up. Clark had curly black hair with a forelock, bright blue eyes, handsome squarish features slightly marred by a bit of acne on the chin. Justin smiled.

"Juice and Soup?" said Carmine. "What would they name any kids they had? Appetizer and Entree?"

Shabeez made snorkeling noises into the last dribble of her blueberry smoothie.

"You're devastatingly cute when you smile," said Clark.

"You're cute, too," said Juice. He was, and he had shoulders so very wide.

"I go to Arlington," said Clark.

"Lincoln," said Juice.

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh."

"That's not so far."

Justin shook his head.

"You go to movies?"

"Sure."

Clark took a deep breath.

"They've got a bunch of movies playing right here. Anything you'd like to see?"

Justin looked away. He shrugged.

"Yeah," agreed Clark. "Bunch of turkeys. First week of school, I guess they figure no one wants to go see a movie."

"Best time," said Justin.

"It would be a good time -- except, nothing but stinkeroos."

Juice tried not to laugh.

"We got a three-day holiday and I think the best new thing playing is that George Clooney about the spy who's all sorry for himself -- and that's got like a four on Rotten Tomatoes."

Juice giggled. "That's pretty bad for a George Clooney movie."

"Uh huh," said Clark. "You've already seen Scott Pilgrim?"

Justin nodded.

"Everybody has," said Clark.

"Twice," said Juice.

"It's funny," said Clark.

"Uh-huh," said Justin. "But embarrassing."

"Yeah, well, they got that right about being a kid. Except the part about the ninjas."

Juice giggled again.

"Gosh," said Clark. "I'm out of ideas. Wanna go to the library?"

Justin looked at him and could see he was kidding so he smiled to show he got the joke.

"We could rent something?" suggested Clark. "Watch it at my house."

Justin shook his head.

"Yeah, not on a first date," agreed Clark. "But we have a pool."

Another head shake. First date? Justin's ears itched but he kept his hands around his smoothie cup.

"We have to plan these things a little better," said Clark. "I bet you didn't bring your suit."

Another giggle.

"Next weekend? Saturday? My house? Movies and into the pool. Huh?"

Juice shrugged. He noticed the little ring of lipcolor left on the straw in his smoothie. He had the tube of lipstick in his belt pack but he didn't have a mirror with him.

"The whole gang of us." Clark continued. He looked up and counted. "We'll need to find another guy if all of you come."

"I don't think so," said Justin, wondering if he could gather the girls together and retreat to a restroom.

"What?"

"What?"

"What don't you think?"

"Uh?" said Juice. "I don't think we'll go to your house to swim and watch movies next weekend."

"Why not?" said Clark, putting a little bit of a fake whine on it. When Juice looked up, Clark raised his eyebrows.

Juice giggled.

"How about we all meet here next Saturday, have lunch and decide on a movie then? Or go to my place and try to drown each other?"

Juice shrugged. "Maybe."

"Hey guys?" said Clark to everyone at once. "Let's all meet here before noon next Saturday and like, make a day of it? Movies if there's anything good, huh?"

After some talk about it, there seemed to be a general agreement and a plan was made.

"See you next week, gorgeous Juicy," said Clark, slipping a piece of paper into Justin's hand before the boys all left and the girls finally did retreat to a bathroom.

Justin stared at Clark as he went away. Then he looked at the paper, it was a phone number.

"How come you snagged the best looking one, Juice?" Shabeez asked as they trooped into the tiled room.

"And rich," said Ell. "That's Clark Endicott, Jr., his folks own three car dealerships."

"Like anybody is buying cars these days," said Carmine.

"Still," said Jenn. "Way to go, Juice."

Ell looked at Juice who had paused in front of the mirror. "We got to get you a swimsuit, girl, for next week."

"This is going a bit too far, maybe?" suggested Juice, pulling off the white straw hat.

"Huh?" said Shabeez. "Didn't you like him?"

"Yeah, but...."

"You can't just wait for Zoe to call, hon," said Jenn.

"He likes you, that's obvious," said Ell.

"But what if he...?"

"What if he finds out you've got Zoe's bun in the oven?" said Carmine.

"No," said Juice, putting the hat back on and adjusting it. "What if he finds out -- my name isn't Justina?"

The girls all laughed. "No one's going to tell him and he goes to a different school," Jenn pointed out.

Justin took the lipcolor tube from his belt pack and reapplied pink frosting. Shabeez handed him a tissue to blot with.

"Only one way he could find out, for sure," said Ell. "Just don't let that happen."

Juice blotted and reapplied. "What if Zoe finds out?"

"Fuck Zoe," said Carmine. "Oh, wait, you already did."

"Serve her right for dumping you," said Jenn.

"Clark is better than Zoe, anyway. He's got money to spend on you," said Ell.

"I don't know," said Juice. "Does he really like me?"

Shabeez gave Juice a hug. "Soup would be nuts not to like you," she said. When everyone laughed, she asked, "What did I say?"