The Candy House

Molly is upset because her friend Stella, whom she’s tried to please by being mean to others, has dropped her again. Stella suspects that something is going on between Stella and Chris Salazar. Molly escapes to the locker room to cry and overhears a conversation between Chris’s mother, Stephanie, and Colin’s mother, Kathy. They gossip about their new tennis instructor, and Stephanie tells Kathy about her tattoo. When Kathy finds out Stephanie went to the University of Illinois for college (Kathy went to Harvard), she remarks that it’s funny they became friends. Stephanie notes that they’re tennis partners, not friends. Molly can’t tell if they’re joking or fighting, but she’s eager to share adult gossip with Stella. But when Molly searches around the country club for her, she can’t find her.

Molly spots a girl she recognizes: Lulu, who used to live with Chris Salazar’s family because her mother went to prison. Lulu is nice to Molly; she buys her some food, and they chat about their lives. Lulu is back with her mother in upstate New York. Molly is worried that Stella will see her with Lulu, who is the type of girl that Stella would make fun of.