The clock is now officially ticking for Donald Trump — now that the election has been officially called for President-Elect Joe Biden, the Trump’s White House era is coming to a (somewhat grotesque) end. And today, we have another development that will hopefully fill in some gaps many people have in understanding what is going on inside the Trump clan and why they do things they do and say things they say. Well, not really — but it definitely helps to have some context here.

Yesterday, Vanity Fair published a story written by Lysandra Ohrstrom, Ivanka Trump‘s former childhood best friend. Now a freelance journalist, Ohrstrom grew up alongside Ivanka in New York. The two first met when Ohrstrom joined Ivanka’s seventh-grade class in Chapin, an Upper East Side all-girls high school, and the two became rather close before eventually drifting apart for good. “She still sent presents on my birthday and invited me to her Halloween birthday parties at Trump SoHo,” Ohrstrom writes. “When my son was born, she sent me a gold-plated bracelet engraved with his name. She was never impolite, but we no longer belonged to each other’s inner circles.”

Trips to Atlantic City, sneaking off to London—as a child, Ivanka was fun, loyal, exciting. But she always had the Trump radar for status. Lysandra Ohrstrom recounts watching her former best friend torch democracy. https://t.co/8D9H1tKjQQ

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) November 17, 2020

Here, we have selected five of our favorite moments and details from the revelatory piece — from President Trump’s demeanor around Ivanka and her peers to Ivanka’s own character and codes of behavior. Check them out below, and head over to Vanity Fair to read the essay in its entirety:

ON MONEY AND SENSE OF HUMOR

“Mr. Trump always handed over the credit card after a little feigned outrage about how much money he was giving her mother. He would barely acknowledge me except to ask if Ivanka was the prettiest or the most popular girl in our grade. Before I learned that the Trumps have no sense of humor about themselves, I remember answering honestly that she was probably in the top five. “Who’s prettier than Ivanka?” I recall him asking once with genuine confusion, before correctly naming the two girls I’d had in mind. He described one as a young Cindy Crawford, while the other he said had a great figure.”

ON WINNING OVER THE MANHATTAN ELITE

“In contrast, it took no time for Ivanka to be embraced by old money. During summers in high school she would usually come visit me in Newport, where I grew up in a Waspy beach community frequented by many of the same sort of people who patronized the club across from Mar-a-Lago. This set also used to deride people like the Trumps, but Ivanka won everyone over. She was polite, refined, and fun to be around. She subscribed to The Atlantic and spoke ambitiously about her lifelong dream of leaving her mark on the Manhattan skyline. After every conversation, strangers would marvel at how she had turned out so unlike her parents. There was a moment at the end of college or just after when it seemed like this more understated life of wealth and privilege might appeal to Ivanka — like she might actually veer off the track her dad had laid for her.”

BUT STILL HAVING HER ROUGH “TRUMPIAN EDGES” SHOW UP, NO MATTER HOW HARD SHE TRIED

“Ivanka would regularly relay stories of teachers or observers who had commented that she had the most innate talent they had ever seen for whatever new pursuit she was taking up. She never wore a Halloween costume that wasn’t flattering, which means she usually showed up at costume parties looking beautiful and boring. She always stopped at McDonald’s for cheeseburgers. She cursed. And of course, she had the Trump radar for status, money, and power, and her dad’s instinct to throw others under the bus to save herself.”

ON GIVING HEED TO HER FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES

“The months between her engagement and wedding to Jared were a flurry of activity in which I was honored to participate. When I started a new job in a different field the day after their wedding, however, I expected my best friend to ask how it was going. After what could have been a few days or weeks, I remember sending her a text that said something like, ‘Hey, I started a new job the day after your wedding, and you haven’t asked me a single question about it.’

I don’t remember her exact reply, but it was something along the lines of, “Ly, I’m too busy for this shit.’”

ALAS — BUT AT LEAST THE TWO HAD THEIR MOMENTS

“I’ve been a good Wasp and kept quiet until now, even as I’ve grown increasingly repulsed by Ivanka’s ability to aid and abet her father. I’ve been comforted by the certainty that the backlash from those whose respect she craves most must sting. Still, I miss my old friend. I miss going to Green Kitchen on First Avenue at 1 a.m. for ‘mozzarazza,’ hailing down a gondola in Amsterdam for a tour, belting out ‘Anna Begins’ and songs from Les Mis on a road trip. But most of all, I miss the time when the Trump family quest for power was not dangerous to the country.”