“Good morning, Desiree,” said Mrs. Carter. “Eliza took some of the girls to school early. Apparently they had something they needed to attend to.”

“Right.” DJ nodded as she sat down. “Eliza told me.”

“I’ve been thinking about something, Desiree.” She set her coffee cup back in the saucer.

“Yes?” DJ waited, unsure as to whether this would be a good something or a bad something.

“We seem to be in need of another vehicle.”

“Huh?”

“Ladies do not say, huh, Desiree. Pardon me.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Her grandmother narrowed her eyes slightly. “Well, I suppose that Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

“Huh?”

“Pardon me.”

“What was it you were thinking?” asked DJ, desperate to move on.

“I think it’s time to get you a car.”

“Me?” DJ sat up a little straighter now. “A car?”

“Yes. We will go looking tomorrow morning. Please, plan on it.”

“Looking for what?” asked Taylor as she came into the dining room. Then she paused and politely said good morning to Mrs. Carter.

“A car,” said Mrs. Carter. “I have decided with six girls going in different directions, it would be wise to get a car for Desiree.”

“Cool,” said Taylor, winking at DJ.

“It isn’t that I mind driving you girls to school.” Mrs. Carter smiled. “But I have never seen myself as a chauffeur.”

“I have my Vespa,” said Taylor.

“That may be fine when the weather is nice like this, but winter in Connecticut isn’t like what you’re used to in southern California, Taylor.”

“Yes, I suppose.”

“Perhaps you would like to join Desiree and me in looking for a vehicle tomorrow morning.”

“Sure,” said Taylor. She looked around the table now. “Hey, where’s everyone?”

So Mrs. Carter relayed Eliza’s little fib, and then Taylor offered to give DJ a ride on her Vespa this morning.

“That’s okay,” said DJ quickly.

“You have helmets now?” asked Mrs. Carter.

“I do.”

“That would be lovely,” said Mrs. Carter. Then she frowned. “But you girls are wearing skirts today. That doesn’t seem very ladylike…to ride on a motor scooter like that.”

“Girls do it all the time back in LA.”

“Well, then…”

“And, of course, you can be assured that both Desiree and I will be perfect ladies while riding.”

Mrs. Carter smiled. “Yes, of course.”

DJ was tempted to say she’d rather walk to school than be stuck with Taylor on the back of the Vespa, but then she remembered today’s goal to be nice to her enemy.

“Have a good day, girls,” said Mrs. Carter. “By the way, Desiree, will you let the others know that I won’t be at dinner tonight?”

“Where are you going?”

“The general has invited me to go to the city with him. He has tickets to a show.”

“Which one?” asked Taylor.

“I don’t know. He wanted it to be a surprise, but he promises that I’ll be pleased. Apparently, it’s usually sold out.” She refilled her cup with coffee. “But don’t worry, girls, both Inez and Clara will be here…in case I get home late.”

DJ knew that meant that her grandmother would be quite late, and she had a feeling that Taylor suspected the same thing.

Riding to school on the Vespa actually turned out to be okay, and DJ was relieved that Taylor didn’t try to knock her off going around the corners.

“Thanks for the ride,” said DJ as she removed her helmet and handed it to Taylor.

Taylor set the helmets on the Vespa and then fluffed out her hair, removing her compact to check her image. She handed it to DJ. “Don’t you want to make sure you don’t have helmet head or bugs in your teeth?” she teased.

So, to pacify her, DJ checked. But everything seemed to be in place. She handed the compact back.

“Thanks.” Taylor frowned now.

“What’s wrong?” asked DJ.

She let out a sigh. “I don’t know…it just seems that no matter how hard I try to make friends, there’s this barrier. Girls just don’t like me. Including you, right?” Now DJ felt guilty. Still, she didn’t want to lie. “The truth is…you can be kind of hard to like, Taylor.”

“I suppose.”

“And, believe it or not, I am trying.”

Taylor blinked. “You are?”

DJ nodded.

“We better hurry or we’ll be late,” said Taylor. “And I’ve already been warned twice. I don’t want to push things too far in my first week here.”

So even Taylor had her limits. Still, DJ knew that Taylor’s limits were primarily self-centered. As long as she came out on top, it was okay to break the rules and push the envelope. In fact, Taylor seemed to thrive on pushing everything and everyone to the max. The question was…why?

Still, DJ didn’t have time to think about that as she hurried to English lit. Like Taylor, she didn’t want to be late either. She’d had one tardy already this week and that was more than enough.

The morning seemed to flow fairly smoothly, and as DJ went to lunch—walking with Eliza and Taylor since they’d all just been in US History together—she thought that perhaps this school year was going to be a good one.

“Are those Jimmy Choos?” Taylor asked Eliza as they stood in line for lunch. As usual, they’d already staked out their table by placing DJ’s bag there.

Eliza just nodded.

“Nice,” said Taylor.

“Thanks,” said Eliza, but the way she held her head when she said it sounded a little snotty, like she was trying to put Taylor in her place. Just then DJ noticed that Tina and Madison were looking at their saved table. And then Madison was actually picking up DJ’s bag, holding it between her thumb and forefinger as if she were taking out the trash. Then she dropped it onto the floor.

“Hey, look,” said DJ, nudging her friends. “They threw my bag on the floor.”

“What a couple of—”

“I’m going,” said DJ as she broke from the line and charged over to where Tina and Madison were now making themselves comfy at the table.

“That’s my bag that you just threw on the floor,” she told them angrily.

“That piece of crap?” said Tina. “We thought it was something the janitor forgot to take—”

“That happens to be a Hermès bag,” said Taylor as she picked up DJ’s purse and handed it to her. “Not that you small-town, fashion-challenged hick chicks would know anything about that.” She looked down at Tina’s blue bag. “Like what is that supposed to be? Kmart’s blue light special?” Then she pointed to Madison’s shiny pink bag. “And I’ll bet you got a free Malibu Barbie with that little number. Is it made by Mattel?”

The girls didn’t say anything.

“And you are sitting at a table that we’d saved,” continued Taylor.

“It’s our table now,” said Madison.

“Fine,” said Taylor. “Then, you’ll just excuse us while we go and report what’s missing from DJ’s bag. We have at least three witnesses who will attest to the fact that Madison took—”

“Fine,” snapped Madison, standing.

Taylor looked down on her and smiled in a very catty way. “Let me guess, Madison…you got those pathetic jeans at Wal-Mart?”

As the two girls walked away, Taylor laughed, and DJ couldn’t help but chuckle. “You are something else, Taylor.”

Taylor took a twenty out of her bag and handed it to DJ. “You go and get me a salad and an iced tea, and I’ll save the table.”

“That’s all you want?” asked DJ.

Taylor nodded. “Unlike you, I won’t be sweating it out at volleyball practice after school today.”

“I’m sure Coach Jones would gladly let you on the team,” said DJ. “If you wanted to…”

“Oh, yes, I’m sure she’d love me to join the team. I hear that Coach Jones likes pretty girls.”

DJ rolled her eyes and headed back to join Eliza in the lunch line. Oh, well, like her grandmother had said—Rome wasn’t built in a day.