“Yep,” Daphne Elizabeth responded as they all stood with their plates and mugs. She was putting on a brave face, but Jaya could see the bleakness in her eyes.

“And we are off to the magical land of computer science,” Leo said, motioning to himself and Rahul. “Au revoir.”

Rahul paused, staring down at his feet. One of his shoelaces was untied, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Wait a minute. Daphne Elizabeth?”

She looked back at him.

“You have Mr. Thomas for English, don’t you?”

“Yeah?”

Rahul pointed a finger upward and spoke quickly, like he was in the middle of a great breakthrough. “Mr. Thomas assigns seating for people who’re disruptive the first week of class. If you can make Alaric and Caterina talk to each other, especially loudly, you won’t have to worry about them sitting together the rest of the semester.”

Daphne Elizabeth frowned. “How do you know this?”

“I had him last year,” Rahul explained. “And with careful attention to dining hall gossip, I’ve noticed the pattern every year. Last year it was Daryl and Misha who were separated, the year before that it was Lilah and Anna, and the year before that it was George and Paithoon. I remember them talking about it.”

Daphne Elizabeth shook her head. “Wow, I always underestimate how useful a perfect memory can be. Thanks, buddy. But I’m not sure how to get them to talk noisily enough so Mr. Thomas hears them.”

“Get them to argue,” Rahul said almost immediately. “Caterina is powerfully strident when she’s angry about something. And one thing Caterina and Alaric tend to argue about is social events. Just this morning, I passed them on the stairwell arguing about the color of Alaric’s cummerbund for the winter formal. Caterina wanted him to wear a deep green, to match her dress, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about it at all. So if you—”

“Bring up the winter formal at all, they’re probably going to throw down!” Daphne Elizabeth said. “You know, I think I can handle that.” She grinned suddenly, her perfectly straight white teeth on display. “Thanks, Rahul. You’re like an expert on Caterina, and um, I appreciate it.”

He nodded, turned rapidly on his heel, and left. Laughing quietly, Leo followed.

Jaya looked at Grey, her eyebrows raised, as they both began to amble toward the exit too. “Wow. That was really impressive.”

The corner of Grey’s mouth lifted a little. He may have been attempting to smile. “Rahul doesn’t speak much, but when he does, it’s like he’s channeling Sherlock Holmes. Or Einstein.”

Jaya studied his expression. “You have really great friends,” she said. “And you know what they say—you can tell a lot about a person by the friends they keep.”