Chapter One

The moment. It happened when we were thirteen and had something to do with thighs, music and our mothers. We've never been able to describe it exactly. We only know that it transpired at some point during that conversation in the locker room. And that it changed our lives. During times of crisis, I suppose it's good to keep the beginning in mind - if only for something to hold on to as the world collapses around you. As I drove to the airport on that dark December morning, I filled my head with the memory of our first meeting, hoping to calm my fears with the sweet recollection of how simple adolescence could be.

"Do you think Mrs. Wilder knows she has cellulite on the back of her thighs?"

That was the first thing she ever said to me. She being the cool girl from my gym class who didn't seem the type to wonder about things like that. Probably because I was the type who wondered about things like that, and I definitely wasn't cool.

But there'd always been something different about this girl. She wasn't popular-cool - no one in the popular crowd stood out the way she did. This girl was intriguing. I think it was the way she wore her confidence - subtle, detached and full of power, like she just might be some kind of rebel. Who would've known that underneath it all, she wondered about cellulite, too?

"I like your shirt, by the way," she said, glancing down at my chest. Milli Vanilli hadn't become common fodder for comedy sketches yet.

"Thanks! I didn't actually go to the concert, though," I admitted. "I got it at the mall."

"Oh, well, that's probably better. Things are always way over-pr