“Do they give me driftwood. They’re nonbinary. And no,” I say. I consider telling her about Ross wanting to help me win Dominic back, but stop myself. She’s my best friend in the entire world, but she hasn’t exactly been there for me through the breakup with her short “he’s a dickbag” commentary before moving on. It’s so unlike her to not talk about things. At least, it was unlike her when we talked for hours about her things. I was there for her when she and Lucy Braunstein broke up last summer because Lucy had to move away, and was by her side when Samuel dumped her in front of me and her moms, Avani and Coraline, at her grandpa’s Holi celebration the spring of our freshman year. I can still see the tear streaks in the neon pink covering her cheeks and the way her aunties threw fistful after fistful of colored powder at Sam until he ran out of there. I would be there for her time and time again, but Kavya doesn’t seem to want to get deep with me. But I haven’t brought it up. I don’t want to upset her or make her think I’m accusing her of anything because, honestly, I can’t handle losing my boyfriend and my best friend at the same time. So if I can get Dominic back, then maybe I’ll have enough space to find out what’s going on with K.

“Anyway,” Kavya says, “if the way your new friend stared at your backside the entire walk from that human statue to the triceratops fountain tells me anything, I bet wood is going to be drifting your direction much sooner than you think.”

“Wait, what?” Kavya has a way of knowing if people are going to hook up. I’d think maybe binoculars and the distance between me and Ross would cloud her judgment, but she knew from the way Xavier looked at Geoff from opposite sides of the football field last homecoming that they were going to get it on. And they did. That night.

“Affirmative. They are most definitely, without a doubt, hypnothighzed.” She sets the binoculars down and points even though I’m half a block away from her. “What have I told you about those things? They’re a weapon, and you should not take that responsibility lightly.”