Angela held up her hands. “All I’m saying is that maybe you’ve forgotten what it was like to be their age. I’m starting to, but I still remember it well enough to know that they haven’t figured out who they are yet.”

“You’re right,” Ben admitted. “I don’t think it’s so much forgetting, though, as it is not wanting to remember. As I recall, it wasn’t all that much fun. At least, not for me.”

“It’s fun for some of them,” said Angela. “But mostly it’s not. You’re old enough to know you want to be somebody, but you’re not old enough to be it. That’s frustrating.”

Ben nodded. He understood that. That’s where Caddie is right now, he thought suddenly. She’s trying to be somebody she’s not ready to be. He’d been so consumed with figuring out who they were in each other’s lives that he’d neglected to realize that she couldn’t know that until she knew who she was.

“The boy,” Ben said suddenly, and Angela looked up. “The one with the face,” Ben added, waving his hand in front of his chin to indicate the acne he recalled as the young man’s most distinguishing feature.

“What about him?” Angela asked.

“What’s he assigned to?” said Ben.

Angela looked down at a list attached to the clipboard she carried. “Rhodes Latrell,” she read, running her finger along the page. “He’s working with Dr. Patcher.”

“Salps,” Ben said dismissively. “Nobody cares about salps. Take him off that and put him with us.”

“With us?” Angela repeated.

“With us,” Ben confirmed. He saw that Angela was looking at him with an expression that combined wonder and amusement. “Nobody cares about salps,” he said again.

“I’ll take care of it,” Angela said. “Anything else?”

Ben shook his head. “No,” he said. “Send him in when you get a chance.”

“Great,” said Angela. “I’ll get back to analyzing the extraction data from those dorids we brought in the other day. That is if they’re still in the refrigerator. I blended a dozen of them and Jenkins almost drank them. He thought they were a smoothie.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Ben said. “Nudibranch smoothies. I bet Jamba Juice would go for it. We can say they’re full of antioxidants.”

“Okay, Dr. Rashid,” said Angela, standing up. “I’ll get right on that.”

“It was just a suggestion,” Ben called out to her retreating back. “We can even name it after you. We’ll call it ‘Angela’s Archidoris Antioxidant. ’ ”