Levi meets her eyes, his own gray ones steady, and nods. “I got back today. Gravelle, I mean, my guardian, was hoping I’d be able to enroll midterm.”

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” Jane answers distractedly. I can tell she doesn’t know what to make of this. “I don’t know if your friends told you, but—”

“Mom’s the interim headmistress,” Ollie pipes up. “Which is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Because every guy wants his mom trailing him for three-quarters of his senior year.” He pops a tater tot in his mouth, giving Jane a little salute. I know what he’s doing, trying to lighten this tense moment. It works—sort of.

“I’m afraid I have a million things to do,” Jane says briskly. “But I’ll loop back in with you tomorrow, Levi… Oh, dear. We don’t have a room ready for you.”

“He’ll stay with me,” Jago offers. “Would have been my roommate, anyway. Can’t he take his old bed back?”

“Er, yes. Great idea,” Jane says, staring at Jago like she still can’t put all this together. “Goodnight, all,” she adds before tightening her sweater around her and slipping out.

“That went surprisingly well,” Levi mutters. The others don’t respond; heavy on all of our minds is this latest development about the tasks, and, of course, the stealth virus.

I’m relieved when Pru gives me time alone in our room, to think. To try and process what happened today.

What was I doing kissing Ollie like that? I’ve never thought of him that way; for weeks, I’ve been panicking that he’d confess his feelings and I’d have to turn him down.

But today, when we were standing there in the late-afternoon chill, and he was telling me how much he blames himself for everything that’s happened… And his lips collided with my own…

I felt something. Something different and new and, frankly, terrifying. It was like Ollie wasn’t exactly the boy I’ve loved as a friend all these years, but something, someone, else. Someone kind and generous, who feels everything. Someone who takes all the burdens of the world and makes them his own.

And yes. Someone hot.

I’d never seen him that way before. He was always just Ollie. But in that moment…

I cringe, thinking of Levi, and how he watched us, and how mortified I am. How I might never be able to talk to him again, because I have no idea what I’d say for myself. I’ve missed you for months, with an ache like a gaping wound? But then when Ollie kissed me, I changed my tune so fast, I probably gave myself whiplash?