When You Were Everything

Dom shows Cleo around the diner while they talk about tutoring, Ms. Novak, and Layla. Dom asks Cleo what happened between her and Layla, and she offers some details. They let the issue go, and Dom tells Cleo more about working at the diner and the ongoing struggle to keep the business open.

Cleo and Sydney go to “a tiny jewelry store” in Chinatown to get their aura photos taken. Cleo has visited the shop in the past with Gigi and Layla. Now, she tells Sydney about her experiences there and updates her on her friendship with Dom. The friends get their photos taken, and the woman explains the meaning behind them. Later, Cleo keeps thinking about her photo and psychic reading. Then Sydney reveals that she and Willa have made amends. Sydney explains that she didn’t want to tell Cleo about this before because Cleo was so upset about Layla. Cleo tells Sydney that they don’t have to be friends if she wants to be friends with Willa instead. She lets Sydney leave to meet up with Willa.

When Cleo returns home from school one day, Cleo finds her mom in the kitchen drinking wine. Cleo knows that something is wrong because Naomi is never home this early, so she texts her dad to come home as soon as possible. Cliff appears shortly thereafter. He and Naomi tell Cleo that they have decided to separate. Upset, Cleo texts Layla, but Layla says she needs space from Cleo. Cleo throws her phone across the room and knocks down one of her snow globes.

Cleo wakes up and realizes that she has broken her snow globe from Gigi. She takes the train into Manhattan, listening to Etta James and Nat King Cole on the way. She runs into Jase outside the subway station. They get coffee and tea and talk about their relationship. Jase explains what happened between them and asks if they can try to be friends. Cleo agrees.

Cleo decides not to skip school. She confronts Layla in the hall and asks if they are still friends. Layla is still hurt that Cleo wasn’t supportive of her singing and acting dreams. She turns away from Cleo to join the Chorus Girls. Cleo hurls a mean comment at Layla. She then runs into Dom and insists that she is fine before running away and fleeing the school.

Cleo stops texting Sydney or responding to Sydney’s texts. She is not mad at Sydney, but she doesn’t want to get in the way of Sydney’s friendship with Willa. Instead, she focuses on her new job at the diner. One weekend, she tells her dad about Dolly’s and explains her desire to help Dom’s family save the business. Afterwards, Cleo meets up with Layla for another tutoring session. Cleo does her best to focus on the assignment, but she can’t help noticing how different Layla is acting. Upset, she goes back to Dolly’s after the end of the tutoring session.

Cleo tells Dom that she needed to come into the diner on her day off because her tutoring session with Layla upset her. She changes the subject to the diner’s future and shares her fundraising ideas with Dom. Dom gets upset and insists that he doesn’t need her help and that his family has no interest in her charity. Alone and confused, Cleo leaves.

Cleo prepares to avoid Layla, Sydney, and Dom at school. She is surprised to notice that Layla and Sloane seem upset with each other in homeroom. She tries not to pay attention to them and ignores Dom and Sydney, too. At lunch, Sydney confronts Cleo and insists that she wants to be friends. She invites Cleo to her table and introduces her to Willa. Cleo and Willa immediately connect over the music they like. Afterwards, Sydney asks Cleo to give their friendship another chance and offers to keep helping her to make new memories.

A few days after Cleo and Layla’s argument in the school hallway, Cliff moves out. Cleo feels upset when she is at home and cannot calm down at school either. She overhears the Chorus Girls saying mean things about her but tries to ignore it. After homeroom, she discovers that she was not accepted into the London program. Ms. Novak is just as shocked by the news as Cleo is. When Layla excitedly bursts into the classroom to talk to Ms. Novak, Cleo flees.

Cleo decides that she wants to get revenge on the Chorus Girls, so she makes up a fake email address and sends an email “to the full student-body email list” (255). The email reveals everything that happened between Sloane and Todd, with some exaggerations. After she sends it, Cleo starts thinking about the themes in Othello.

Cleo invites Sydney and Willa to the diner. They come up with nicknames for each other and chat about Dolly’s. When Dom doesn’t come out, Cleo goes into the kitchen to talk to Lolly. She finds a photo of a young woman holding a baby. Lolly confirms that the picture is of Dom and his mother, Molly. She explains that Molly got pregnant when she was 18. She and Dom’s dad, John, left Dom with her and Pop so that they could go to school and join the military. Dom only spent a little bit of time with Molly, but she wasn’t ready to raise him, so he came back to New York. When Cleo tells Lolly about her recent argument with Dom, Lolly encourages her to give Dom some time.

Cleo notices everyone staring at her at school the next day. Sydney texts her to meet in the girls’ bathroom. She tells Cleo that someone spread a rumor about her dad, saying that he left the school library for another library because he had an affair with a student. Back in the hall, Jase tries to reach out to Cleo, but she pushes him away. Dom does the same, and Cleo snaps, insisting that he doesn’t really care about her. Then she runs into Valeria, who tells her that she thinks Sloane spread the rumor.

Valeria explains that Sloane has wanted to get revenge on Cleo ever since Cleo sent the email about Sloane and Todd. Valeria is close with Sloane and the Chorus Girls but has always been nicer and disagrees with their behavior. Sloane found out that Layla told Cleo about Todd but has since forgiven her.

Cleo overhears everyone at school talking about the email she sent and starts to feel bad. Then Layla confronts her and accuses her of sending the email. They argue, and Cleo bursts out crying when Layla storms off. Layla ignores Cleo for the rest of the week. One day, Cleo sees her and Sloane talking in the hall. Sloane is encouraging Layla about her upcoming performance.

Cleo attends Layla’s musical and sits with Jase and Mason. Cleo is surprised by how well Layla does throughout the majority of the play and starts to feel guilty for the mean things she said. Suddenly, Layla starts to stutter and can’t deliver her line, but she manages to recover before the end of the performance.

Cleo finds Layla hiding in their spot in the library after the play. Layla blames Cleo for her mess-up in the play. She says that she wanted to be brave by going through with the performance, but Cleo discouraged her. Cleo pushes back, upsetting Layla more. Layla says she doesn’t want to talk anymore and leaves. Cleo cries as she watches Layla walk away. That night, Layla messages Cleo, telling her not to contact her again.