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No one understands, at first, how Lucy can slot back in with her party so easily.
It's not entirely the same; what her friends went through changed them. Mary Ann is more withdrawn. Ruben, more clingy and attention-seeking before. Ivy and Oisin are stand-offish and snippish in a way they never were. There's an aching hole in Lucy's heart where her best friend used to reside and Lucy doesn't know how to reconcile that memory with what Kipperlilly became before her death.
Lucy is different now, too. Or, at least, everyone treats her like she is. The other students in her cleric classes act like she preformed some miracle by staying dead. No-one wants to hear about how scared she was. No-one wants to hear about how Lucy considered it.
Lucy's friends end up villains. Lucy ends up a martyr.
Kristen Applebees slings an arm around her shoulders like they were friends before. They weren't friends before. Kristen didn't know who she was before. Lucy isn't so sure if they're really friends now.
Her teachers simultaneously handle her with kiddie-gloves and expect her to meet a higher expectation level. She missed a year of classes, she's behind. Lucy fails her make-up tests and gets assigned to summer school.
She only finds out the rest of the Rat Grinders are also required to attend summer classes because her therapist mentions it during one of her mandatory counseling sessions. Her therapist asks Lucy if she thinks she's ready to be around them that frequently again. All Lucy can think about is how none of them told her.
The end of the school year is weird.
She sits with her friends at lunch, Ruben tying twine bracelets around her wrists and Ivy moving half her dessert onto Lucy's tray before she even starts eating. Other students shoot her worried looks and ask her if she's alright, after. Oisin drives her home one day and her parents usher her inside like she's going to disappear again. She goes to the movies with Mary Ann and her new boyfriend, and even he asks if Lucy is sure about sticking with her party.
Lucy doesn't bring up the summer school thing.
The first two weeks of summer are nice. The sunshine does them all some good, and Lucy ditches her sweaters and cuts her hair off at the jaw. She sits in the shade with Ruben while Ivy tans. Mary Ann shows Lucy the progress she's made on her Quokki Pet. Oisin's backyard is massive, although apparently dwarfed by Fabian Seacaster's. She wouldn't know; she's never been to one of his parties. Her friends flinch a little when she mentions that, but she just sips at the mocktails they had made and the moment passes.
She finally goes to one of Fabian's party and kisses a girl who couldn't possibly look less like Kipperlilly and then goes home cries so hard she makes herself sick.
Summer school starts and her friends look surprised but not unhappy to see her. Lucy manages to balance her remedial classes with helping Kristen and Fig with their new pantheon. She's happy Ruvina is reunited with her sister, is happy more people want to know about her faith in general. She still doesn't feel like the hero they're making her out to be. The Rat Grinders scrap by enough to confirm they can start Senior Year on time. Lucy helps Ivy withdraw her MCAT in the same appointment she makes sure her own half-submitted MCAT is removed from her file entirely.
Summer fades and things slowly start to come to an equilibrium. The people of Elmville still treat her friends like they're evil. They still treat Lucy like a saint. Lucy thinks about the B+ average she'll need to maintain to graduate and the promise of a Senior Year quest with no faculty chaperone. Her party is fractured and messy and by no means the best in the school.
Lucy wouldn't have them any other way.