“I’ll have my green thing at dinner.” Matty let his dad strap his backpack onto him as he leaned forward. “Wait! Is that Miss DeRosa?”

Seb looked up and sure enough, Via was walking half a block ahead of them. “Yeah. Didn’t I tell you she works at your school now?”

“No way?! Can I run and say hi?”

“Sure.”

Seb crunched into the apples his son hadn’t eaten as he watched him sprint up the block to Via, his backpack bouncing wildly with each step.

“Miss DeRosa! Miss DeRosa!”

Via turned and, when she saw it was Matty, smiled so brightly that Seb coughed on the apple he was swallowing. Damn. Packed a punch.

Right. A twenty-four-year-old punch, he reminded himself.

He swallowed his apple and sauntered up to them as she finally unhanded Matty from the hug she’d wrapped him up into.

“It’s so good to see you, Matty. I heard that you’re in Mrs. Foster’s class this year?”

“Yup. And I just got bumped from the red reading group to the blue one.”

“Wow! Matty, that’s so great.”

“Really?” Seb butted in. It was news to him. “Knuckles, my dude.”

Matty absently knocked fists with his dad, something they often did when one of them had a small victory, before he turned back to Miss DeRosa. “Yeah, the books were easier in the red group, but Joy is in the blue group.”

Via smiled at Seb before she looked back down at Matty. “Is Joy your friend?”

“Best friend.” Matty frowned. “But she’s never allowed to come over.”

“But you get to play with her at the park all the time.” Seb reminded Matty, brushing a hand over his son’s hair. The Chois had moved from South Korea to Brooklyn about three years ago, and the language barrier had made it hard to make playdates with them. But through clumsy charades, lots of smiles and mutual unspoken agreement, they usually met at the park at 4:00 on Sundays and Wednesdays to give Matty and Joy time to hang out together.

“Right. Do you walk home from school, too?” Matty asked, tugging gently on Via’s hand.

“Yup. I’m only a few blocks that way.”

“Us, too! Right, Dad?”

Seb smiled at his son. He was a brilliant reader and could already draw a respectable self-portrait, but Seb feared directional skills were not his son’s forte. “Sort of. We’re more in that direction.”

“You’re looking limber after our staff meeting today,” Via said as the three of them fell into step together.

“Oh yeah.” Seb grinned at her. “Principal Grim likes those shoulders to stay loose.” He glanced at the necklace on her golden-skinned chest, his eyes ricocheting away. “What’s the blue one for?”

“I’m sorry?” Her brow furrowed in confusion and a little line appeared between her eyebrows. Seb told himself that the little line wasn’t cute.

“You said your red necklace was for luck. What’s the blue one for?”

She looked down at the light blue crystal on her chest, her fingers absently twirling it. “Oh. Apparently it’s for, uh, making friends. Fin thinks I need help in that department.”