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“The fuck?”

One of the open Sharpies slid off her lap and rolled a couple inches away.

“He said she wanted to introduce him to the SGA for some reason.”

Nat groaned and snapped the lid on the sky-blue marker before it could make another attempt at an escape.

“She probably just wants to look like she’s important. I told you she got all pissy when I said she didn’t need to show him around this morning, right?”

“Repeatedly.”

“She actually called my house to ask about it the day before school started. Who the hell gave her my number?”

A.J. shrugged, hoping they could get off the subject before Nat really dug her claws in.

“What a cock-womble.”

Yu snickered from his space on the floor beside her but kept listening to whatever Brittney Tanner was saying.

A.J. couldn’t think what point there was in introducing Bren to the SGA. They planned dances and pep rallies and stuff. He hadn’t ever heard of them pulling out the welcome wagon for new students. But then again, that had been before Morgan had been voted into power.

“Hey. You don’t think she’s, like . . . into gingers?”

“What?” A.J. snorted.

“I mean, think about it.” She reached into her pink and black duct tape purse and pulled out a handful of Starbursts that she started unwrapping with unnecessary malice. “You know how much she loves attention. Bren’s cute. And he’s from Ireland so he’s all exotic and stuff. I wouldn’t put it past her to try something.”

A.J. plucked a pink starburst out of Nat’s lap, specifically because they were her favourite, and peeled back the wrapper.

“OK, first off.” He made sure to look her in the eyes as he popped the stolen sweet into his mouth. “Please tell Bren you think he’s ‘exotic and stuff.’ Like, use those exact words. Second—”

He’d told himself that Morgan obviously wasn’t Bren’s type. But then, what exactly was Bren’s type? He’d fancied Orlaith before him—not that Orlaith and Morgan were at all cut from the same cloth. But Orlaith was a lot more assertive than he was, and so was Morgan.

“—I’m pretty sure he’s already seeing someone.”

“Oh, fuck. I didn’t mean I think he’d do anything,” Nat said, dumping a handful of unwanted orange Starbursts into his lap, “I just wouldn’t put it past her to try something. She’s shitty enough to do it.”

A.J. looked around the hallway. Yu was still talking with Brittney on their left, and everyone else was focused on their own stuff. He dropped his voice low enough that Nat had to lean in to hear him anyway.

“I don’t think Bren’s going to be thinking about girls right now.”

Nat’s mouth dropped open before she snapped it shut and went back to her Starbursts in what A.J. knew was an attempt to look casual. He tried to mimic her by setting to work on his own pile of sweets, speaking out of the corner of his mouth.

“You know that trick with the door to the fly gallery?”

***

Bren’s stomach growled as he made his way back down to the first floor. Maybe it was the hunger, but he couldn’t see what the point of that had been. Morgan had rushed in ahead of him and announced his arrival like it was the second coming. It was surprising then that there were only three other people in the room—a guy in an oversized hoodie chatting to a girl in a denim skirt, and another girl with broody bangs flipping through a binder like she was studying for something.

There’d been a lot of angry muttering from Morgan about how the other members of the Student Government Association needed to take things more seriously, and something about the texts she’d sent that morning.

She’d told him she was so embarrassed, but if he needed anything—anything at all—to just let her know.

He didn’t know why he felt strange about having her number in his phone, only that he wouldn’t feel better about it until he told Arlo it was there.

With the instructions Morgan had given him, Bren didn’t have any problem finding the hall that she said Arlo and his mates usually ate lunch in. The theater kids, she’d called them. A year ago, there wasn’t any part of him that thought he’d wind up with someone who fit that title. To be fair, he’d also been sure he wouldn’t wind up with someone with the same bits as him, but here he was.

“Oh! Hi!”