Riding the bus to the Kleins’ neighborhood, ZeeZee wondered why she’d been crazy enough to accept this job. She’d always hated babysitting

ZeeZee raced into her room, dropped her books on her desk, and grabbed her Kate Spade crossbody bag.
“Where’re you going?”
ZeeZee started; she hadn’t realized anyone was in the room. After all, the entire school body was at lunch right now, unlike her, who’d gulped down her soup and schnitzel so fast, she could still feel it churning in her stomach.
The entire school body — except for I-don’t-need-food Shani.
“I’m going to join the Balfour protests. Wanna come?”
Shani stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. “Fine, don’t tell me.”
ZeeZee pursed her lips. “ ’Kay, don’t believe me. And I don’t believe you when you say you’re skipping lunch cuz you’re just not hungry.”
Shani glared at her. “Enjoy the protest. Try not to get arrested.”
“What if I want to get arrested?” ZeeZee said with a wink. She hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then let the words burst out. “And you enjoy your insane starvation diet. Try not to die from anorexia.”
Shani sucked in her breath and flinched. The look on her face was so raw that ZeeZee wondered if she’d gone too far.
No, she thought, as she turned toward the door. Somebody needs to tell it to her straight.
As she left, she could have sworn she heard Shani whisper, “But what if I want to?”
Riding the bus to the Kleins’ neighborhood, ZeeZee wondered why she’d been crazy enough to accept this job. She’d always hated babysitting.
But there was something about Rikki Klein that attracted her. The woman had told her on the phone that she worked at a center for at-risk teen girls. How totally awesome was that?