“Rhett isn’t here,” I say.

“Like I care,” Benny says. “The bus should be here in like, five minutes. Andiamo!”

“Is he always like this?” Jack whispers.

“Pretty much,” I say.

Jack knocks his shoulder into mine. “I like him.”

Benny speed walks outside and abruptly stops on the path, just so he can tap his foot impatiently. “I swear!”

The three of us hop off the bus onto Laurene’s sprawling campus. Seriously, it dwarfs CIA’s, making it look like a cute little compound in comparison to Laurene’s rolling hills lined with turn-of-the-century stone classrooms and dormitories. It feels stately but in an overwhelming way. It’s definitely not a place where I could flourish. I’d much rather be a big fish in a small pond than the other way around.

When Rae sees us, she hurtles toward me like a bowling ball at full force. I swear, if this were a scene in a movie, she’d be blasting people out of the way. She throws her body at me, flinging her arms around me, and you’d think we were long-lost lovers or something, the way she screams.

“I am so happy to see this stupid face!” She plants a wet smooch on my cheek.

“Your face is stupider!” I shout back.

“I hate your face!” she yells.

“Are they okay?” Jack asks, genuinely concerned.

“I’m not sure. I think they’re doing a skit,” Benny says.

“Looks very dysfunctional,” Jack adds.

“You’re damn right it’s dysfunctional!” Rae shouts. “Benny, get in here!” They’re basically the same height, two six-foot giants, all limbs like giant redwood trees.

Benny purses his lips and hops over like Tinkerbell doused him with pixie dust, flinging himself into our sandwich.

When Rae pulls back, she looks at Jack. “Who is this? I don’t know him.”

“That is Jack,” Benny whispers into her ear, making his eyebrows dance suggestively.

“Oh,” Rae says, picking up what he’s putting down. “I see.”

Jack extends his hand for a firm handshake.

Rae puts on her serious face. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot of good things.”

“You have?” He looks to me, and I shrug, embarrassment heating my face.

“Yeah, but coming from Chase, they’re probably all lies,” Rae says.

“Sounds right,” Jack says.

“Wow,” I say.

Rae gives Jack a sly wink. “We should move,” she says. “The show is about to start.”

There are a few hundred students at the bottom of what Rae calls Laurene’s Slope, a grassy area surrounding a pavilion situated in front of a small, sparkling lake. The sun is an incandescent orange and, as it sets, leaves a streak of pink that stretches to the remaining blue—a gorgeous late-summer painting. The band has already started their set, making Jack twitch with excitement and Benny tweak with FOMO.

Benny hooks his arm onto Jack’s, and they take a running start toward the stage. Jack’s beaming like an excited child, bouncing up and down, feeding off the electric energy.