Lily blinked.
“That’s your condition?”
“Use your own words. I won’t write it for you.”
“She’s going to think I’m being weird.”
“Why would asking about pictures be weird?”
Lily didn’t answer.
I lowered my voice.
“You don’t need Brooke’s permission to wear your costume.”
“I know.”
“Then you shouldn’t need her permission to ask a question.”
She stared at her phone for a long moment.
Finally, she typed, “I’m wearing my angel costume because I like it. But what are the picture rules? I want to know before I get there.”
“Can I send that?” she asked.
“That’s your decision.”
She pressed “Send.”
Brooke answered almost immediately.
“Seriously? We already talked about this.”
Lily frowned.
“No, we didn’t.”
Brooke replied, “Madison understood. Why are you making it complicated?”
Lily looked at me.
“See? Now she’s mad.”
“Ask her to explain.”
“Mom!”
“You’re allowed to know what you’re agreeing to.”
Lily typed again.
“What exactly are we doing?”
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Finally, Brooke sent, “First picture is the version our parents approve of. Second picture is the real one. Then we post them together.”
Grant looked over Lily’s shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
Lily’s face turned red.
“Some girls are wearing jackets over their costumes until they get to Brooke’s.”
“But we already know what you’re wearing,” I said.
“That’s why Brooke wanted me in the first picture.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
Lily swallowed.
“She said my dad’s reaction would make the joke funnier.”
I looked at Grant.
He was still standing beside the counter, his coffee forgotten.
“What reaction?” I asked.
Lily’s eyes dropped.
“Brooke told me to get a picture of Dad looking angry.”
My daughter’s costume wasn’t the joke.
Her father’s reaction was.
“Did you agree to that?” I asked.
“No!”
“Then why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I thought if I just got there, she’d forget about it.”
Grant’s face hardened.
“She wanted to embarrass us online?”
“I wasn’t going to let her!”
Lily began crying again.
“I just wanted one normal Halloween!”
I hugged her.
For a moment, she stood stiffly in my arms.
Then she held on.
I could have called Brooke’s mother right then.
But Lily still had to decide what she wanted to do about the pictures.
“Tell Brooke you aren’t taking that first picture,” I said.
“What if she leaves me out?”
“Then we’ll deal with that.”
Lily stepped back.
“You make it sound so easy.”
“It isn’t.”
She looked at her phone.
Then she typed, “I’m not taking a picture of my dad for a joke. I’m still coming, but I’m not doing that.”
She sent it before she could change her mind.
Brooke’s answer came seconds later.
“Fine. Then don’t expect to be in the group post.”
Lily stared at the screen.
“She actually did it.”
I felt her fingers tighten around mine.
Then another message appeared.
This one wasn’t from Brooke.
It was from Madison.
“Why did Brooke tell everyone you’re not coming?”
Lily looked up at me.
Brooke hadn’t just threatened to leave Lily out.
She’d already started doing it.
“She told them I’m not coming?”
Lily read Madison’s message again.
Then she typed, “I’m coming. Brooke said I couldn’t be in the pictures because I wouldn’t do the joke.”
Madison replied, “What joke?”
Lily frowned.
“The parents versus real costumes thing.”
A moment passed.
Then Madison wrote, “She told me we were just taking normal pictures.”
Grant leaned closer.
“Wait. Brooke said Madison understood the rules.”
“That’s what she told me too,” Lily whispered.
She called Madison.
“Are you seriously not doing the pictures?” Madison asked as soon as she answered.
“I want to. Just not the one Brooke planned.”
“What did she plan?”
Lily explained the angry-parent photograph and the comparison post.
Madison went quiet.
Then she said, “That’s not what she told me.”
“What did she tell you?”
“She said everybody was choosing their own funny before-and-after pictures.”
Lily glanced at me.
“She said I had to take one of Dad.”
Madison sounded confused.
“Why would she want that?”
“Because he got mad about my costume.”
“That’s mean.”
Lily wiped her cheeks.
“I thought you agreed to everything.”
“No. Brooke told me you were the one who wanted to do the big reveal.”
Lily stared at the phone.
“Me?”
“She said you wanted everybody to see how strict your parents were.”
Brooke had told each girl a different story.
I watched Lily’s expression change.
Until that moment, she’d believed Brooke had the entire group behind her.
Now she wasn’t sure Brooke had anyone’s agreement.
