Chapter 3
“Why didn’t you wear your eyeshadow today?” Marta said during lunch break the following afternoon. “You said you couldn’t wait.”
“I just didn’t like it, Marta. But I brought your onions anyway. They’re on the front bench inside.”
“I prefer your face without cosmetics,” Esme countered. “Eyeshadow is for loose girls.”
“Maybe you think so,” Marta replied. “But many girls wear it. And thank you for the onions, Isla. My mother will be so happy to use them in her bread and beans.”
The three of us were sitting on a hilltop outside the school building, taking in the sun and fresh air before Ms. Hardin called us in for the Citizen exam. The day was lovely, cloudless, and the air smelled like warming earth. From our spot beneath a willow tree, veiled with a wave of blooming branches,
