This is from Quin's point of view.
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My mom dropped me off at Lisa’s house at exactly 7:30. I hopped out of the passenger’s seat. The gravel driveway crunched under my feet.
    Mom went over to the front door and knocked. Brigit answered the door.
    “Hi, Penelope!” she said, giving my mom a quick hug. “How’s everything at home?”
    “Pretty good. It’s pretty good. How is it with you?”
    “Same,” Brigit said.
    “Good. That’s good. Hey, I was wondering if Quin could spend the night? We have some guests coming over for dinner. They’re staying until midnight, and we thought it would be easier on everyone if Quin stayed somewhere else.”
    Brigit nodded. “Of course. Lisa will be thrilled.”
    “Okay. Quin, grab your stuff,” Mom said.
    I went to the car and got the tiny suitcase I use as an overnight bag. Then I followed Brigit inside.
    “Girls! Quin’s here!” Brigit called.
    Instantly, Lisa and Zoë tumbled into the living room. Lisa gave me a hug.
    “We waited forever for you!” Zoë a dit dramatically.
    “Okay, we have the hugest, big-deal thing in the whole world toi need to see.” Lisa grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the stairs and up to her room. “Throw the suitcase over there,” she said, gesturing to a corner.
    I tossed the suitcase in that general direction. “Okay, where’s the hugest, big-deal thing?” I asked.
    Lisa ran over to her bureau and picked up a laptop. “Check it out!” she said. “I can write all my stories on here. I was thinking about écriture something with this plage girl, and she meets some bisexual guy, and they fall in love, only she has a huge problem with gays and stuff, so he doesn’t tell her that he’s bi, but then he feels like he’s keeping this huge secret from her, ‘cause he is, and he starts trying to figure out: should he tell her, and risk having her break up with him, ou should he keep it a secret and have it brewing in him for the rest of his life, since he wants to spend his time with her?” She looked at me. “What do toi think?”
    I gave her a thumbs up.
    She smiled. “I was actually gonna make him gay, ‘cause of you, but then I was like; ‘why would he like a chick if he was gay?’ so I changed him to bisexual.”
    “You could make him pansexual,” I said, thinking of Wesley.
    “What’s that?” she asked.
    I shook my head. “Never mind.”
    Lisa shrugged and flopped down on her bed. She snatched a remote control from her bureau and turned on the TV.
    An animé about a zombie apocalypse came on.
Lisa changed it. She hates anime.
    Some montrer about designing evening gowns. Lisa changed it again.
    Some kind of riot. The channel changed, then went back to the riot.
    “Gay rights protestation,” Lisa said.
    I sat down suivant to her. “Change the channel,” I said. I felt like she was watching it because of me.
    Lisa shook her head. “No. I wanna watch it.”
    I directed my attention to the screen.
    The camera was on a sign. It had a arc en ciel ribbon (the gay rights ribbon) and the words: Love, not gender.
    “Well, that’s stupid,” Lisa said.
    “What is?” I asked.
    “Think about it. I mean, sure, it’s catchy, but that doesn’t make any sense. I mean, it does have to do with gender. A gay guy’s not gonna like a chick, ya know?”
    “I think it’s saying l’amour is what matters, not that they’re both the same gender,” I said.
    Lisa shrugged. “Aw, that’s so sweet!” she suddenly said.
    I looked up at the TV. Two girls were standing in front of the camera, their lips pressed together. One of them was dressed like a guy and had short hair. The other was holding up a sign with the arc en ciel ribbon on it.
    When they pulled away, they just looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. toi could tell they really loved each other.
    “That’s so sweet,” Lisa repeated.
    The picture on the screen changed from the two girls to a boy riding a bicycle. He rode over a speed bump and fell off, skinning his knee. Someone ran over to him, pulled a box of Band-Aids out of their pocket, and handed it to him.
    “Stupid commercials,” Lisa said, turning off the TV. She turned to us. “Did toi see how they looked at each other? Did you?”
    “We were right here, Lisa,” I said.
    “It was so sweet!” Lisa said. I wished she would stop saying that.
    “Omigod, where’d toi get that belt?” Zoë asked suddenly.
    “What?” Lisa asked.
    “That belt.” Zoë pointed to the floor, where a silver ceinture lay, shimmering in the light.
    “Oh, that? I got it at Target,” Lisa said. “You can get some pretty cool stuff there.”
    Zoë picked up the ceinture and wrapped it around her hips. She looked in Lisa’s full-length mirror. “What do toi think?”
    “Put this on,” I said, handing her one of Lisa’s chain link necklaces.
    I’m not sure how many fashion designer-based gay guys there actually are, but I’m one of them. I l’amour hanging out with Zoë and Lisa, and helping them put together outfits. I’d deny it if anyone pointed it out, but I really l’amour that stuff.
    “Spin,” Lisa said.
    Zoë spun in a circle.
    “Ooh, that looks good with the necklace!” Lisa said. “Wait, hold this.” She handed Zoë and blue, fake snakeskin purse.
    “That looks really good!” Zoë said, looking in the mirror again. “I mean, it’s plus of a Lisa style, but it’s cute.”
    Someone knocked on the door. I jumped off Lisa’s lit and opened it.
    It was Brigit. She smiled at us. “Hi. toi having fun?”
    “Yeah!” Zoë exclaimed. “Look at the accessories Lisa has.”
    “That ceinture looks good on you,” Brigit said. “Hey, do toi three mind playing with Haley’s guests just for about half an hour? I can’t get them out of my hair.”
    “Mooooom,” Lisa moaned.
    Brigit held up a hand. “Don’t start. Here are the kids. I’m going to go make the pizza.” Brigit went back to the kitchen, leaving the kids with us.
    “Hey, guys!” Lisa said. “Y’all wanna watch TV?” She switched the TV back on. The protestation was still on.
    “Lisa, don’t let them watch this,” I said.
    “Why not?”
    “They can get pretty violent.”
    “Fine, change it.” Lisa waved a hand at me and went out the door.
    One of the girls, Sophie, was watching the TV intently. I knew her. Me and Tress, my sister, babysat her sometimes. I liked her.
    I started looking for the remote. It wasn’t on the bed, where I remembered Lisa putting it.
    “Why are they kissing?” Sophie suddenly asked.
    I looked up. Two of the guys in the protest were s’embrasser passionately. They looked like they loved each other as much as the two chicks did.
    “They l’amour each other,” I said.
    Sophie wrinkled her nose. “My mom says people who are gay don’t love. She says it’s a sin. If they loved God, they wouldn’t be gay.”
    I stood up abruptly. “Sophie, look at me. No, in the eyes.” I knelt down in front of her. “People who are gay do not choose to be gay. Some of them hate the fact that they’re gay. And plenty of them l’amour God. There are a lot of people who are very religious and who are gay. And they do love, okay?”
    Sophie just looked at me.
    “Okay?”
    “How do toi know all that?”
    “I have sources. How does your mom know?”
    “The Bible. How do toi know? Are toi gay?”
    My eyes widened in surprise. “What? I…I…Oh, I know where the remote is! Lisa has it! Lisa, I need the remote!”
    Lisa came to the doorway and tossed the remote at me. “There toi are.” Her eyebrows scrunched together. “Hey, toi okay?”
    I nodded. “I’m fine.” I looked away from her and changed the channel to some weird cartoon about a blue dinosaur.
    “It’s Mugzee!” Haley exclaimed. The girls huddled around the TV.
    “It’s time for pizza,” Lisa said.
    I nodded and followed her down to the kitchen.

After dinner, Lisa had the idea to have a contest seeing who could stay up the longest. Me and Zoë agreed.
    “Okay, whoever wins gets twenty dollars,” Lisa said, sitting down on the couch.
    “Who gives them the twenty dollars?” I asked.
    “You give me ten, Zoë gives me ten.”
    “Gives toi ten? I’m gonna win,” Zoë said.
    “I’m gonna lose,” I said, flopping down suivant to Lisa. “I’m already tired.”
    Lisa jumped up. “No, you’re not crashing already! It’s only eight! Wait here, I’m gonna go get something.” She dashed out of the room and came back in with the phonebook.
    “Prank calls?” I asked.
    She nodded, sat down on the floor, and opened the book. “’Kay, who’s the first victim?”
    “Ash,” Zoë said.
    “Tonia,” I said.
    “Why?” Lisa asked. “She’s nice.”
    I looked at her.
    “Don’t toi like her?” asked Zoë.
    I shook my head. I hadn’t liked her since she spread that rumor. I know she’s the one who started it. toi can tell. It’s not hard to tell.
    “Okay, how about someone none of us like?” Lisa suggested.
    “Zeke,” I said.
    Lisa and Zoë agreed vehemently. Zeke had been a jerk to us since we started high school. He starts rumors about us, makes up nicknames for us, and is basically just a pain in the ass. I get so sick of him.
    Lisa looked up Zeke’s number and dialed it, mouthing the numbers to herself. She held the phone to her ear.
    After a few moments, she a dit in a high, girly voice: “hi, my name’s Yolanda. Is Zeke there?”
    Another pause, then she spoke again.
    “I’m his girlfriend. Okay, thanks!” Lisa took the phone away from her ear. “I’m on hold.” She placed receiver against her ear. “Hi, Zekey! It’s your girlfriend, Yolanda…because I l’amour you…what do toi mean toi don’t have a girlfriend? Are we breaking up? Is that what toi mean, Zeke? ‘Cause if so, I have—damn it.” Lisa turned off the phone.
    “He hung up on you?” I asked.
    She nodded. “Also Zoë crashed.”
    I glanced over. Zoë was lying on the couch, her head lolling. She was drooling slightly.
    “I think I’m gonna rejoindre her,” I said, laying down and closing my eyes.
    “What? Already?” Lisa asked. “You owe me ten dollars!”
    “So? My family has enough money to do that,” I said.
    Lisa a dit something else, but I couldn’t hear her. I was already drifting off.
    The last thing I remembered before I fell asleep was what Sophie had said. About how being gay is a sin.
    And I remember I started wondering if it was.