Greg doesn’t take notes well. And Yadira doesn’t give them that well, to be completely honest. Not a fan of the soft touch, that one.

“She has a point there, Greg,” I say, clearing my throat and stepping into the auditorium. “Hello, children.”

“You’re late, Haltiwanger!”

“Which does not negate her point, Greggers,” I continue, because the best way to defuse Greg’s annoying thing about punctuality is to ignore it until he forgets. “You don’t want the judges to check their phones while you’re actively making a point against using phones in theaters.”

“Thank you!” Yadira exclaims. “But you are late, Henri.”

“Aye, aye, captain!” I salute jokingly.

The worst thing about being on a debate team with Greg and Yadira is being on a three-person debate team with Greg and Yadira that’s been on a winning streak all semester. The momentum is . . . suffocating.

“H!” comes a familiar voice as a silhouette appears in the doorway.

“Hey, Evie.” I smile as Evie Hooper peeks her head into the room.

“I thought I heard your voice. What are you guys doing in here?” she asks, leaning against the door and smiling in that way she tends to do. Like the whole world is a photo shoot.

“Debate practice,” I answer. “You?”

Yadira throws her hands up as though she’s given up any idea that we’d get back on track for the remaining few minutes of practice.

“Film.” She shrugs. “I was editing something in the lab.”

Two short film competitions and an internship at Fox Studios last year. Evie may come off as a detached, white downtown girl who likes to knot her uniform blouse and defiantly wear her tie undone around her neck and her fingernails black, but she’s by all accounts the next Greta Gerwig.

“So, I’m having a party Saturday,” she says, stepping into the room as if no one else is around. “Will a wild H appear?”

The stereotype isn’t all wrong in Evie’s case: she does love to throw a rager here and there.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll swing by.”

“I’m not a maybe, H,” she says coolly, flicking at my ear playfully. “In or out?”

“Evie!” Yadira yells out, finally out of patience. “What if we decapitate him and keep the head? All we need is his brain, but you can have his body.”

Greg has been rendered silent by Evie’s appearance. Girls like Evie Hooper are his Kryptonite.

Evie laughs before leaving. “See you Saturday, Halti!” she calls over one shoulder.

“Are you guys done yet?” comes another voice from the hallway. Corinne this time. “You’re seven minutes past your window!”

“Haltiwanger was late!” Yadira tries, although under the Corinne Troy glare even she tenses up like a soldier just hearing her drill sergeant storming the barracks. “And then his girlfriend walked in! We haven’t even done a single round with him yet.”