At my locker, I see Javier and Nina. Javier is my locker neighbor, and you’ll rarely see Javier without Nina. They’re the last third of our sextet. Javier transferred to Deer Hills from Spain during the middle of his sophomore year and barely spoke English, so Kane was elected to help him around school. Since Javier and Declan were the only new kids at Deer Hills, they quickly became friends. Nina was always Luisa’s friend because they live in the same neighborhood and went to dance class together.

Because the six of us always hung out together, eventually Nina and Javier became a couple. Kane may complain about Luisa in secret to me, but Javier and Nina have the opposite dynamic. They constantly look like they can’t stand each other. Their fights are explosive, the result of being two people who probably never would’ve gotten together if it weren’t for us pushing them that way.

They’re at each other’s throats again. Nina’s dark cheeks are flushed, and she’s scowling. She grabs my arm as I approach and says, “Oh good, Hailey. Tell him.”

I run the dial on my lock, cursing when I can’t remember the numbers. Details I know by heart leak away, somehow. Finally I pull open my locker and look over at Nina, who is looking at me expectantly.

Nina has a habit of thinking people can read her mind. “Tell him what?”

She sighs. “That you can’t go naked under your cap and gown.”

I raise my eyebrow at Javier, happy to have something else to talk about.

He grins at me. He usually says shit like this to get Nina riled up, and even after more than a year together, she still hasn’t wised up to the ploy. Nina is more serious than a heart attack. Javier says, his accent thick, “Oh come on, Nee. It’s going to be hot under there.”

I don’t have to look at him. From his tone of voice, I can tell he’s kidding. I get my books for first period and say, “He can if he wants to. But I think the fabric is kind of sheer. We might see your junk.”

She screws up her face. “God forbid. No one wants to see your junk.”

Javier nods. “But my junk is so impressive, no?”

She punches him. “You wish.”

He grabs his arm and winces. Overpowered by a girl who’s half his size and probably weighs ninety pounds soaking wet? Javier is the biggest wimp ever. “Come on, Nee. I was kidding. Mi madre bought me a three-piece suit with a top hat, un reloj de bolsillo, y un monóculo. Happy?”