“You just figured that out?” Mateo pushed the door open wide so Brandon could come in. His roommate, Sean, was out. The room was strewn with sports equipment—cleats and jerseys on Mateo’s side of the room, sweatbands and basketball socks on Sean’s. There was also a lacrosse stick and a stapled packet of papers labeled “Student Ambassador Guide to Acheron Academy,” but those were Felicia’s. She was always leaving her stuff in her friends’ rooms, and Mateo was too nice to call her out on it.

Mateo closed his laptop and Brandon filled him in on what had just happened, leaving out a few salient details. He didn’t tell Mateo the girls were going off campus, since he’d promised Maria. He didn’t mention the séance, either. He didn’t want to scare away his brand-new boyfriend with the news that he may have hallucinated a supernatural creature.

“I don’t even see why Maria would want to hang out with her in the first place,” Brandon finished. “Delilah’s such a fake.”

“You think so?” Mateo frowned. He was sitting in his desk chair, which Brandon didn’t like, because it only left the bed for him to sit on, and he worried that sitting on the bed alone made him look pathetic. Or desperate. He wasn’t sure which.

“Yeah,” Brandon said. “She’s, like, Maria’s most hated person ever.”

“I always liked Delilah.” Mateo shrugged. “Sure, she’s kind of fake sometimes, but so’s everyone here, right? Maria’s just as bad.”

“No, she isn’t.” Brandon tugged on the hem of his sweater, annoyed. “And she’s my best friend.”

Mateo’s face softened immediately. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I just don’t think Delilah’s any worse than anybody else. Plus she’s fun to hang out with. Remember when we went to Kings Dominion for junior skip day and she made us all spend the first two hours in the lazy river? Most awesomely relaxing day ever.”

“Yeah, well, Delilah just likes bossing people around.”

Mateo raised his eyebrows. “Maybe Maria should think a little more about relaxing.”

“That’s not the point.” This conversation wasn’t going the way Brandon had expected. “I’m just saying, the way Ree was acting tonight, it wasn’t like her. There’s something weird going on. She might need help.”

“Yeah. You’re pissed ’cause she’s hanging out with someone else and she didn’t invite you to tag along.”

“That’s not it at all.”

Well, maybe it was. A little.

Mateo got up from his chair and sat next to Brandon.

“You’re right,” Mateo said. “Girls are weird.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

They kissed. Brandon felt less pathetic now.