“That was . . . Ah, yes: Ornell. I met him at Evie’s party. He has very strong feelings about the anime Naruto. Also kept staring at my chest but not, like, in an obvious way. I gave him bonus social points for that.”

“This is dark, Corinne,” I say, watching the cards and catching glimpses of names I recognize in that tiny handwriting.

“Well! You’re the one that said I had to express interest in other people’s interests!” she says, clutching the cards like they suddenly hold nuclear codes I might try to pry from her. She looks around at the students passing by us and lowers her voice. “Look, a lot of people have very vapid interests that I can’t remember off the top of my head. Like, the girl from my locker just now, Eloise? She’s perfectly nice, but Eloise likes drawings of penguins. Nothing else, just penguins. How am I supposed to remember that?”

I can’t help but laugh, which does not seem to alleviate her mood.

“Is it that weird? It’s weird, isn’t it?”

Her logic is sound, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Corinne, it’s that she doesn’t mean ill.

“It . . . seems like a result-driven solution to a well-thought-out problem,” I say as diplomatically as possible.

She frowns. “You’re making fun of me again, aren’t you?”

“I’m not making fun of you.” I smile. “What does my card say?”

She smiles back and quickly flips through the deck. “Henri Haltiwanger: Senior. Dogs, con-man tendencies, sneakers.”

“I mean, that’s the gist of it,” I concede.

We end up walking to the other building, where Corinne’s next class is. Her special brand of neurotic has a way of getting me to stop paying attention to the clock.

“You two again,” a voice comments behind us. “I didn’t know you were such close friends.”

Evie and a now shaved-head Marvyn approach us, also seemingly heading for Corinne’s classroom.

“Hey, Evie.” I smile before turning to Marvyn, fake Smile on full display. He extends a fist bump that inexplicably feels like a monarch who expects his ring to be kissed. “Hey, Marv!”

“I haven’t seen you around, H.” Evie smiles at me. There’s an edge to her voice too. A certain I should have, given that the last time we talked a prophylactic was discussed.

“Sorry. I’ve been swamped. Y’know, college stuff,” I say, which, to be fair, is completely true.

“Thank God for gap years,” Evie says, wincing in sympathy.

“And you’re assuming they’re just friends, E,” Marvyn says, still bored by any college talk. “We could be looking at lovebirds.”

I can’t quite contain the eye roll on this one. Did I mention that I really do not care for Marvyn? His playbook is as generic as it is effective. Corinne nearly has a heart attack.