Erin groaned. “Ugh, those are the worst. Two tables back from you, kid with the green hair? That’s my ex, Todd. Todd’s a butt.”

“I totally stole his girlfriend,” Morgan said with a satisfied smile.

I lifted my chin and tried to do the casual glance. There was a table of skateboarders with wallet chains and colorful hair, and in the middle of them was a nerdy looking kid with ectoplasm green spikes on his head and an Anarchy T-shirt.

“You upgraded,” I announced without hesitation.

“Yep, I like her,” Morgan said.

Erin lifted a french fry in salute. “Same.”

“I told you,” Leaf said, after swallowing down a bite and dashing at his mouth with a napkin.

“You told them what?”

“That you could hang. I got a good feeling about you. Speaking of which, what are you doing Friday night? We get together and watch movies at Morgan’s place every week. She’s got a private movie theater.”

“It’s not a private movie theater,” Morgan said with a sigh. “My dad’s a football freak and got the reclining chairs and a big TV for Mantown is all. I hate it, but it has its uses.”

“The TV is huge,” Erin said. “Ridiculously huge. It might as well be a movie theater, babe.”

“Dad really likes football. Patriots fans are kind of extra,” Morgan said dryly.

I didn’t answer right away, because I wasn’t sure what Devi was doing that night and I didn’t want to ditch her simply because I’d met new people. Leaf must have clued in that something was up, because he finished his food and motioned at me with his fork.

“Your friend, right?”

“Huh?”

“You said you miss your best friend. Bring her. If you like her, that’s good enough for me.”

“Oh! Yeah, I was worried she’d think I ditched her. What are you, psychic or something?” I smiled, thinking I’d just dropped some easy, forgettable banter, but Leaf’s expression turned grim.

“Haven’t you heard about gypsy fortune tellers? I see allllll.”

I had no idea what to say to that because I wasn’t sure if he was serious. Fortunately, I was spared the embarrassment of asking when Morgan reached out to whack Leaf upside the head.

“Stop it, you ass.”

Leaf burst into laughter, not his earlier childlike giggles but a full-bellied roar of a thing that filled up all the space around the lunch table. “I’m practicing! Dukkering is a tried and true way to scam gullible gadze out of their money, don’t you know?”

“You jerk.” Erin rolled her eyes. “You like Sara!”

He picked up his milk carton and pressed it to his full bottom lip, his dark eyes fixing on me as he offered yet another exaggerated wink. “Oh, I do.”

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen