“Okay but it’s one thing to be friends or hook up with a sophomore when you’re a junior; it’s an entire other thing to pursue one.” She nods down between us. “Honestly, this friendship is bad enough.”

“I really appreciate your humbling yourself.” I’m not even entirely sure I’m kidding.

“Well, there is one more thing I want, and before you get mad, I’m telling you. Directly. So this is different, and born of friendship.”

“I suppose I can appreciate that. What is it? A voodoo doll of Salem’s hair? A lifetime supply of scones? A kidney?”

“Nothing like that, you drama queen.”

“What, then?” I ask as we reach the fork on campus where we’ll part ways.

At first, I assume from the smirk on her face that she isn’t going to tell me after all. But then she wraps an arm around my waist, pulls me close enough to kiss my cheek, and says, “Hook me up with your boyfriend’s sister.”

Then she winks and heads down the path toward Hillman, leaving my jaw on the ground.

Chapter Nineteen

THE WEEKS UNTIL THANKSGIVING ARE like an entirely different experience at Camden, one that erases every single doubt I’ve ever had about going to boarding school.

Yes, I’m still in Rumson, but no one dares mess with me about it anymore. Having your boyfriend upstairs is a pretty damn huge perk, especially when the housing office looks the other way because dealing with it is too complicated.

Sabrina and I keep up the GSA, and sometimes, Salem or Heather even joins. Eventually, Sabrina finds out that a Ewing resident is nonbinary, and together, we all agree to re-petition for an official club for the spring.

I find actual study groups for the classes I don’t share with Salem and am reasonably certain I kick ass on all my midterms.

The biggest surprise of all, though, is what doesn’t change: Salem and I decide to continue our pact, in a way. Every week, I get to make him do two things I think are good for him, no questions asked—this usually involves either going to study groups he was gonna blow off, shooting around with Matt and the other guys in the gym, or joining me for the nature options on weekends, which I point out accomplishes both our goals by making me a hiking, climbing badass and him a do-gooder nature lover who takes gorgeous pictures of fall foliage for his mom.

And every week, he gets to suggest two things that he thinks will further my experience in badassery, which usually means either working on my “musical education” or making out. (Often both simultaneously, which I suspect is Salem’s master plan of giving me positive associations with his faves. Unfortunately, it’s working.)