Eden’s friend that he saw her with most appeared in the hallway down at the opposite end and stopped short when she saw them. “Leahy sent me to check on you,” she called out, and her voice bounced and echoed.

Eden walked toward her, then turned and mouthed, “Please?”

Marwan nodded and started to feel like he’d have a hard time ever saying no to Eden.

Eden

EDEN

“All right. Spill it.” Anjali threw her lunch tote onto the table.

“Nothing to spill.” Eden took a sweep of the room, looking for Ilanka and not finding her.

Despite Eden’s protests, her mother still packed her lunches, and, every day, Eden was a little bit surprised by what she found. Today was one of those days when the cupboards were apparently nearing bare. Progresso Italian-Style Wedding soup in a thermos and half a piece of past-its-prime pita bread. There hadn’t, sadly, been any leftover pasta Bolognese.

They were at their usual table with Tristan and Thea, both of whom had gotten the school lunch, which was curry chicken. They both only really picked at it, but it smelled good.

“Have either of you ever seen Eden talk to that guy Marwan?” Anjali asked as she unpacked a sophisticated spread of salami and olives and cheese and crackers.

Tristan and Thea both shrugged. Eden thought about offering to trade lunches with one of them.

“Maybe. I don’t know. Why?” Tristan said.

“Twice today, I’ve seen them talking,” Anjali said. “Something’s up.”

“Nothing’s up,” Eden said.

“You’re a terrible liar,” Anjali said. “You have a crush on him.”

“Yes, you figured it out,” Eden said, rescuing a small meatball from her thick soup and hoping she’d never marry an Italian if this was what the soup would be like. “I have a massive crush on Marwan. I’m in love with him.”

It felt weirder to say that than she’d thought it would.

“Sarcasm can’t save you,” Anjali said, then turned to the other two. “She asked to be excused from calculus, and when she was taking too long, Leahy sent me to check on her and she was on the third floor with Marwan.”

Now Thea and Tristan seemed interested. Thea said, “The evidence does appear to be mounting.”

Eden worked fast, fabricating her lie, as she scanned the room again for Ilanka. “I left something in the music room yesterday, and he was there and took it and was giving it back to me.”

“In the middle of class. On the third floor?”

“Yes,” Eden said simply.

“What?” Anjali pressed. “What did you leave?”

“My water bottle.” Eden nodded at her bottle on the table, as if it were compelling evidence.

“But you didn’t have it with you when I saw you in the hallway,” Anjali said.

“I did!” Eden lied.