Page 27 of Run

Rachel stared her down until she gave in.

“Fine.” Elle started typing again. “But to make up for disappointing me, you can interrogate Harvard on what he knows about David. I’m emailing questions now.”

“No,” Rachel repeated.

“Seriously? Haven’t we discussed this? I know for a fact we went over the girl code with you that time Megan brought pizza to your place. You’re supposed to have my back on this. That’s what friends do.”

Rachel did that dramatic yet bored eye-roll only she could pull off. “We’re not friends.”

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. I’m sending the questions. Make an effort, okay? Remember, girl power. We stick together.”

“By gossiping about boys?” If a look could freeze lava, Rachel had it down pat.

“Not gossiping, doing a deep-dive background check on each other’s honeys. Haven’t you ever had even one female friend? Maybe back in the dark ages of your teens?”

“No.” It was Rachel’s favorite word.

“I’m deeply disturbed by this news. I mean, I was raised by a psychopathic gangster, and I still managed to have a girl gang in my teens. Sure, I didn’t see them that often, but they still had my back when it came to boys, homework, and teen drama.” Honestly, there were times when she wondered exactly what Rachel had done during her teen years. Then again, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Rachel frowned at Elle’s head. “Did you know that your hair is more Fraggle than usual?”

“Did you know that you turn mean when cornered?”

They stared at each other until Elle blinked.

What? Rachel was scary!

“It’s obviously time you learned some more about the girl code,” Elle started sending Rachel links to helpful websites while she talked, pleased when she heard her phone ping repeatedly. “When you have female friends, you have responsibilities—checking out their dates, supplying chocolate when things go wrong, and helping to bury any bodies they mightaccidentallyleave in their wake. I checked out Harvard for you.”

That had the Queen of Darkness sitting up straight in her chair. “You didwhat?”

Elle waved off her thanks. “I check up on everybody who gets near our team. FYI, Harvard’s one of the good guys.” She patted Rachel’s knee. “You fell on your feet with him. Well done.”

“Okay, I’m finished here.” Rachel got to her feet and headed for the door.

Elle followed. “I’m more than happy to walk while we chat,” she said cheerily.

“Oh, for the love of Prada.” Rachel spun around to glare at her. “What do I have to do to get you to stop talking and go away?”

“Talk to Harvard. Get the skinny on David.” Elle wanted to pat Rachel on the head for catching up with the conversation. “Otherwise, I can talk all day. After all, your education in the girl code is seriously lacking, and we have a lot to cover. Let’s start with Princess Leia. When things get particularly complicated in my life, I like to ask myself, WWLD—what would Leia do? I find the answer usually sets me on the right track. You have seenStar Wars, right?”

There was silence. It wasnotreassuring.

“Rach, you’ve seenStar Wars, right?” Surely everybody had seen at least oneStar Warsmovie?

Rachel pointed a talon toward the door. “Go away. Now.”

“No, not until we’ve established your position onStar Wars. This is serious. If you haven’t seen it, I’m setting up a screening at your place. We can watch the movies in story order or in release-date order. I know”—she beamed—“we’ll do both.”

If looks could kill, Elle would have been vaporized. “I’ll talk to Harvard.” Rachel gritted the words between her teeth.

“And then tell me in detail what he said.” Elle wanted to ensure Rachel got the fine print.

“If I have to.”

“Yes, Rachel, you do have to.”

“Then fine.” Rachel pointed to the door.