Jaya turned and smiled up at him. “Until next time, then.” She sashayed off to her station, which was right next to his, and looked over at him as she put her gear away. “So, I was wondering, are you going to the back-to-school mixer next Saturday?”

Grey dropped his arrow into the quiver. He hated school-sanctioned “fun” activities like these. “Yes,” he said tightly. “It’s mandatory.” Because Dr. Waverly thought if they didn’t go, they’d all turn into hermits.

Jaya studied his expression. “Is it quite that awful? We get to dress up and mingle on the rooftop, don’t we? I’ve heard it’s really beautiful.” Jaya put the rest of her gear away and then walked back over to Grey’s station.

“Dressing up and mingling on rooftops? Not my thing.”

She laughed, the breeze tugging on a strand of her hair that had come loose from her ponytail. “So if I come talk to you, you’ll walk away?”

Grey watched her for a moment, hesitating. Then he turned away without answering.

Jaya

Later that evening, Jaya and Isha were meeting downstairs by the fireplace in the lobby to go off campus for dinner. But when Jaya finally made it downstairs (she’d been reading the latest young adult rom-com in her room and had completely lost track of time), she almost didn’t recognize her baby sister. Isha was wearing a sweatshirt so baggy it slipped off one shoulder, her lacy halter bra strap on display.

“Isha,” Jaya whispered, hurrying to her side. She yanked on the neckline of Isha’s sweatshirt, but it didn’t help; the thing just slid back down again. “What on earth are you wearing? Where did you get this?”

Isha pulled on it and smiled. “I got it at the airport store in Denver. Cool, huh?”

“The day we flew in? Where was I?” Jaya asked, frowning at it.

“In the bathroom.” Isha batted her palm frond–like eyelashes.

Sighing, Jaya said, “You better hope Appa never finds out.”

“How would he?” Isha retorted. “You’re not going to tell him, are you? You wouldn’t do that to your baby sister.”

Jaya rolled her eyes and put her arm around Isha’s shoulders, mostly to cover up her bra strap. “I suppose not. Anyway, where do you want to go to eat?”

“Ooh, Elliot told me about this really delicious sushi restaurant downtown. He says it’s pretty good for being a thousand miles away from the ocean and eight thousand feet above sea level.” She laughed uproariously, as if Elliot were the most hilarious person she’d ever encountered.