“Right. You only miss classes.”

“Don’t judge,” he said. “I would’ve been there if I could.”

I let it go. I’d certainly had my fair share of weird personal complications come up before. While he wrote, I turned on my cell phone and found I had a text message from Brayden. It was one word, a record for him: Dinner?

I hesitated. I was still worked up over last night, and although Brayden was fun, he wasn’t the comfort I needed right now. I texted back: Not sure. I’ve got some work to do tonight. I wanted to look up some self-defense options. That was the reassurance I needed. Facts. Options. Brayden’s quick response followed: Late dinner? Stone Grill at 8? I considered it and then texted back that I’d be there.

I had just set down my phone when another text message buzzed. Unexpectedly, it was from Adrian. How r u feeling after last night? Been worried about u. Adrian was articulate in e-mail but often resorted to abbreviations in texts—something I could never bring myself to do. Even reading it was like listening to nails on a chalkboard for me, yet something touched me about his concern, that he was worried about my well-being. It was soothing.

I wrote back: Better. I’m going to find a self-defense class. His response time was nearly as fast as Brayden’s: Let me know what u find. Maybe I’ll take one 2. I blinked in surprise. I certainly hadn’t seen that coming. There was only one thing I could send back: Why?

“Geez,” said Trey, closing up his notebook. “Miss Popularity.”

“Family stuff,” I said.

He scoffed and shoved the notebook into his backpack. “Thanks for these. And speaking of family stuff… your cousin. Is it true she was expelled?”

“Suspended for two weeks.”

“Really?” He stood up. “That’s it? I thought it’d be a lot worse.”

“Yeah. It nearly was. I persuaded them to go easy on her.”

Trey laughed outright at that. “I can only imagine. Well, I guess I can wait two weeks then.”

I frowned. “For what?”

“To ask her out.”

I was speechless for a few seconds. “Angeline?” I asked, just in case he thought I had another cousin. “You want to ask out… Angeline?”

“Sure,” he said. “She’s cute. And taking out three guys and a speaker? Well… I’m not going to lie. That was pretty hot.”

“I can think of a lot of words to describe what she did. ‘Hot’ isn’t one of them.”

He shrugged and moved toward the door. “Hey, you’ve got your turn-ons, I’ve got mine. Windmills for you, brawling for me.”

“Unbelievable,” I said. Yet, I wondered if it really was. I supposed we did all have our own “turn-ons.” Trey’s lifestyle was certainly different from mine. He was devoted to his sport and always had bruises on him from practice, even now. They were more severe than usual. I couldn’t understand his passions any more than he could understand my love of knowledge. My phone buzzed again.