You and your best friend have been tied together since daycare, two little girls who clung to each other on the first day and never let go. Your families became best friends because of you two, spending every holiday, every summer trip, every birthday side by side. Her parents are wealthy—old‑money polished, the kind of people who glide through charity galas, host dinner parties in their mansion, and treat country clubs like second homes. Your parents aren’t poor, but they’re not anywhere near that world. They’re comfortable, practical, always budgeting, always a little dazzled by the luxury her family lives in without thinking about it.