Lori froze. Maritza turned to look at her with perfectly made-up eyes. Her hair was fluffed high on top and cascaded down into long soft curls, as though a professional stylist had just put a finishing touch on it before pushing her on stage. Her vivid aqua blouse was neatly tucked into a pair of slim black jeans. Black boots completed the ensemble as neat as a pin. She must have grown six inches—tall and willowy.

What had Amy said? A knockout? That was an understatement.

What could be more traumatic to a sixth grader than to have her best friend move away?

The answer? To have that friend return in eighth grade, totally changed.

But then, Lori Ann Layton doesn’t believe her former best friend has changed. Lori believes even though friend, Maritza Novales, is devastated by her parents’ divorce, and even though she now looks like a model for Seventeen Magazine — she’s still the same on the inside.

And Lori sets about to prove it. 

It’s a confusing time in Lori’s life. But then—insight and help come from the very person Lori least expects.