Emmitt Ramos dyed his hair blond and is sitting in the back of my Italian classroom.

“Rosie,” I say in a panicked hiss, prior dejection all but forgotten. What is he doing here? “Do you know who that is?”

“Am I supposed to?” she asks, equally as quiet. Her eyes are wide as they dart between Emmitt and me. “Do you know who that is?”

I turn around, scrawling Emmitt’s name on the corner of my script and pointing at it deliberately.

Rosie inhales sharply. “Holy shit.” Her head snaps up, turning to look at Emmitt again, taking in his features with a more critical eye. “Holy shit.”

“So you guys know who that is?” Kevin asks, looking between us.

“No,” I say immediately, even though I’m now regretting every life decision I’ve ever made. After Saturday night, I felt so ashamed about the whole situation with Emmitt that I decided to keep it to myself. Anam, Nazifa, and Syeda were enough witnesses to my stupidity. I didn’t want to add anyone else to the list.

Not that it matters now.

“No, we don’t,” Rosie says, backing me up without a second thought, but she’s nearly vibrating in her seat.

Kevin doesn’t seem to believe us, but I couldn’t care less.

Across the room, Emmitt finally catches sight of me, and whatever he was saying to Grant dies on his lips.

His features draw tight as he clenches his jaw. Then he gives me this look—this awful, condescending, arrogant look, like I’m the worst kind of human being, like he’s appalled we’re even sharing the same breathing space.

I flinch internally, but a different part of me flares up with irritation. I may have been rude to him, but he wasn’t any better.

I consider the twist of his mouth and I’m reminded of last Friday, of nearly being in tears while he stood there and smirked at me. And all at once, the built-up resentment in me rises in the form of a reckless idea.

But what do I have to lose? After all, he’s already made it clear I haven’t endeared myself to him.

“Miss Turano,” I say, raising my hand. When she nods, I take it as an invitation to continue. “I can’t help but notice we have a new student. Since we’re in an AP course, I think it’d be great if he could introduce himself in Italian. It’d be good practice for all of us, don’t you think?”

“Mina, what are you doing?” Rosie whispers, but I’m too busy watching Miss Turano hopefully to notice.

Miss Turano looks bemused but offers me a smile. “That’s a great idea.” She looks at Emmitt, making an encouraging gesture. “If you will?”