Peaches

show up again. Murphy ran her hand hard through her frazzled hair. She could still see Rex walking down the path, not looking back.
    In helpless rage she hurled her nectarine at his heels, but it missed, bouncing along the ground and disappearing into the underbrush.

    Honey Babe and Majestic met Murphy halfway down the stairs, jumping at her legs and licking her hands as she bent down to pet them.
    “Birdie?”
    She could hear VH1 burbling softly out of Birdie’s room but no other sound.
    “Tweety Bird?”
    She’d already been back to the dorms to splash her face and calm down enough to talk to Birdie. When she’d gotten there, she’d seen that Leeda’s door was open, and the thudding inside had gotten worse. Walking over to the house, she felt like she had a fever. She kept on sending up one thought. Please don’t let her tell Leeda. Please please please.
    Now the rag rug on the landing slid slightly under her feet and Murphy pushed it back, swallowing. She padded to Birdie’s door and looked inside, feeling her skin start to prickle all over,hot and cold. There were Birdie and Leeda, sitting on the bed facing each other, one of each girl’s legs hanging off the side of the bed, the other tucked up under them.
    They both stared at Murphy. Birdie, with a half-open mouth and big, unsure eyes. Leeda’s eyes were red around the edges and ice cold. Murphy felt both looks like a slap.
    “Hey, guys…” she murmured.
    “Hey, Murphy,” Birdie muttered, picking at her quilt.
    “Uh, what are you…what are you guys doing?”
    Murphy slid around the edge of the door and leaned against Birdie’s wall.
    Birdie’s eyes darted to Leeda. Murphy felt a wave of nausea. “We’re just…watching TV.”
    “Oh.” Without meaning to, Murphy looked down at her shirt, noticing how much cleavage was poking out of her tank top.
    Suddenly Leeda stood up. “Well, see you, Birdie.” Without looking at Murphy, Leeda started toward the door. Murphy felt herself wince, and tried to iron her face into a cooler expression. But Leeda seemed to have the monopoly on iciness. She breezed right by Murphy into the doorway.
    “Leeda, wait…” Murphy said, reaching her hand toward Leeda’s waist. Leeda jerked away, fast as a rattlesnake.
    “Don’t touch me.”
    Murphy’s mouth dropped open. For the first time in her life she was speechless. Her heart began to thud in her ears, her toes. That was where Leeda’s words hit her. They hit her everywhere.
    Leeda looked wounded too for a moment, and Murphy swallowed, trying to regain her composure enough to string a few words together. She wanted to deny it had happened at all,which would have been the way she used to do things; a few months ago she could have slid out of anything, usually by turning it on the person who’d accused her. But this was too important to lie about.
    “Leeda, I didn’t kiss—”
    She’d been about to say she hadn’t kissed Rex back, but Leeda cut her off.
    “It’s actually sad that you have to do so much for attention. Rex said you were all show.”
    Rabbit punch. Murphy hadn’t seen it coming.
    “Do you think it’s all that hard to turn a guy on? Anybody could dress like you, and walk like you, and get a guy’s attention eventually. You walk like you’re easy. Any girl could do that. I could do that. Guys are easy, Murphy.”
    Leeda glared at Murphy. Murphy had seen jealousy a million times before in other girls, but jealousy was only part of Leeda’s look right now. The other part was Leeda’s mother’s look—disgusted, bored, condescending. It made Murphy back up against the wall harder. “But I didn’t mean…I tried not to give him the…”
    Leeda rolled her eyes and waved one palm in the air like she was brushing away a fly. “Please. Even Birdie noticed the way you were flirting with him at the engagement party, didn’t you, Birdie?”
    Murphy looked, flabbergasted, at Birdie, who sat on the bed giving them the fish eye and looking like she might pass out. Murphy tried to see herself through Birdie’s eyes, and she could see how wrong the vision was—Leeda the wronged saint and Murphy the painted floozy—and it twisted her. She fought back the tears that rose up now because she felt like everything good was crashing around her.
    “I thought you were my friend.” Leeda’s voice cracked, but her eyes stayed cool.
    Murphy tried to keep her voice calm. It was a break in Leeda’s armor, and a wave of relief washed over