“Yeah, sorry, Mom. I was going to tell you, but I was waiting until after my eighteenth birthday passed so you couldn’t tell me no.” She shot a very convincing glare at Mama D.

Bryn rolled her eyes. “Right. I’m not even going to ask. I’ve got chicken and rice going, for whoever wants it.”

My stomach growled. We didn’t get real meat very often at home—it was expensive and hard to come by on most of Mars. Most food we had, apart from the few crops that actually could grow here, came out of a can. I felt kind of bad; I didn’t know what Mom had been planning on cooking for dinner, but it definitely wasn’t chicken and rice.

“Actually, I probably ought to get going,” Scylla said, getting to her feet. “I have to take the train back over to Curiosity Bay, and I don’t want to wait until it’s too late.” She winked at me and Tamara and pulled a face when Mama D wasn’t looking. Based on her t-shirt that morning, I assumed she wasn’t as thrilled about the prospect of real chicken as me.

Henry stood up as well. “Yeah, I think I’d better go, too. I’m technically grounded this weekend, so I suppose I should get home before the ‘rents find me out and flip their shit.”

I stared incredulously at him. “Being grounded has never stopped you before.”

“Yeah, well, I’m trying to turn over a new leaf.”

He shuffled up the stairs after Scylla. I shook my head. Henry, turning over a new leaf? That would be the day. I wondered what he was really up to.

“Well, I hope you’re not planning on sneaking out, too, Isaak,” Mama D said, turning on me. “Bryn’ll have a fit if she cooked a meal for no one.”

“Oh, no. I’ll stay,” I assured her.

Tamara’s nose crinkled as she smiled at me across the workbench. As always, that had the effect of tying my stomach into a square knot.

In my pocket, my palmtop buzzed. A text from Henry. How much of a dumbass r u? Make ur move on Tamara, moron. This was quickly followed with, & sorry I was a dick last nite.

The corners of my mouth twitched. This, I supposed, was the closest Henry could come to an apology. It was pretty noble of him to give up a chicken dinner to help me out, I gave him that. But how exactly was I supposed to “make my move” on Tamara, especially with her moms hovering over us? Henry had some unrealistic expectations there.

Still, his words from before echoed in my mind. “If you don’t get your act together, someone else is going to make a move on her, and you don’t get to say I didn’t warn you.”