DESPITE THE LATE NIGHT, I wake up relatively early the next morning—in time to catch breakfast at the Beast, which is so empty it feels like offering it on Saturday mornings is basically a formality. I’ve always been an earlier riser; just feels like there’s too much to do with the day to sleep through it. Once I’ve eaten my weight in waffles and disposed of my tray, I start to head out and am surprised to see not just Isabel but all three of her besties enter the cafeteria.

“Evie!” I love how Isabel always sounds so utterly delighted to see me. “Come sit with us.”

I realize with my tray already gone, there’s no way for them to know I already ate, so I grab a little fruit salad and fancy myself looking dainty and ladylike with it. “We were just talking about you,” Isabel tells me once we’ve taken seats. “I didn’t realize you were with that boy.”

Once again, it’s time to figure out how to play this—would it be a good thing, or a bad thing?

Before I can even try, Ashleigh chimes in. “That’s Salem Grayson, right? Landon says he thinks once they whip him into shape, he’s gonna be a serious star on the team.”

“He’s certainly got the height,” Isabel adds.

“And the hands,” Priya says with a giggle, her long, thick black hair bouncing.

The other girls smirk and I suddenly feel very young and out of my element. “I … yeah. I mean, we’re not. We’re friends. Dormmates, too. But yeah, just friends.”

Judging by the glances they exchange, it feels like that was the right answer, but I couldn’t for the life of me tell you why.

“He lives with Matt, too, right?” Priya asks. “Have you ridden that train yet?”

I have to steel my jaw in place to stop it from dropping at the idea, only to realize Matt still would’ve been better than the station stop I actually did make the first week of school. Even a train that stops at every station is more appealing than one that … Okay, I’m losing this metaphor, but the point is, Matt’s cool and Lucas sucks.

“Don’t be embarrassed if you have,” Ashleigh adds knowingly. “Everyone’s gone through a Matt phase. Well, except me.”

“That’s Ash’s way of segueing into the fact that she’s been with Landon since the dawn of time.” Only when I hear Jenna’s wry voice does it strike me it’s the first time that I’ve ever heard her speak; she’s usually a quiet, somewhat unsettling ice-blue-eyed force. “We know, Ash. We all have our wisteria bridesmaid dresses picked out.”

“Periwinkle!” Ashleigh corrects her with a note of panic, as if these dresses have already been designed and ordered. Then she catches herself. “I mean, they’re not the same.”