I glance at Salem, but his eyes are firmly on the screen, and I catch the light flickering on his sharp jawline instead. If it weren’t for the slight tic indicating he was clenching it, I’d almost think he was actually enjoying the movie we just entered ten minutes late.

Tomorrow, I’ll make this up to him, I vow. I may not be able to deliver Isabel yet, but a weed-free study session to help his slacker ass? That I can definitely do.

Salem can’t wait to bolt when the movie’s done, and I have no reason to linger, so we leave the second the closing credits roll, and promptly bump into Matt. He’s got an arm around a girl I don’t know while deep in conversation with a couple of guys I recognize from basketball tryouts, and he lights up when he sees us. “Roomie! Dormie!” he says cheerfully, holding up his free hand for Salem to reluctantly slap and me to much more enthusiastically follow up. He gives me a once-over, complete with a slow whistle. “Looking good, Riley.”

I’m not yet at the point where I’m cool enough not to blush at that, but I try to cover it up with a joking hair flip anyway.

“Me and these guys were just gonna go shoot around in the gym for a while. You in?” Matt asks Salem.

We both know Salem’s gonna turn down the offer before he even opens his mouth, but I refuse to let him. If this is what the basketball players do, then he’s gonna follow their lead, and he’s gonna like it. “Go ahead,” I tell him, as if I’m what’d be standing in his way, and not his general misanthropy and loathing of all things recreational that can’t be smoked or blasted from speakers. “I’m gonna go see what your sister’s up to.”

Those stormy gray eyes narrow, but I just squeeze his arm and whisper, “Good boys are joiners who practice their sports.” Then I say my goodbyes and am pleasantly surprised to see that Salem doesn’t put up any further fight about being dragged off to the gym.

The campus is unusually quiet as I walk through the quad alone, with most of the students either still lingering around the Student Center after the movie, or at game night in the library, or, like Matt and Salem, throwing balls at things in the gym. There are a few kids scattered on the grass, though, tossing Frisbees and picnicking on blankets, and there’s something about the serenity of it all that overwhelms me. I close my eyes, inhale the scent of grass and pine, and let the evening breeze ruffle my curls.

In this moment, I am so, so glad I came to Camden.