He blinks. Hey, she says, I’m looking for Justin? Xie opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again. Sorry, I don’t really know anyone around here. Little laugh at his own stupidity but she just nods, serious. Oh, well, that’s okay. Glancing again around the room. This place doesn’t seem super-safe. She reaches to pet the cat but it darts off before she can get her hands on it. Dusts her palms against her ass. This is a big group for the area, she says. There’s a university nearby, he says, E.A. started there, so. It’s like a hub, I heard. She squints. Are you from California? He nods. Me, too, she says. Berkeley. You look kind of familiar, did you do any work out there? No, I. Just started coming to these a year ago. I wasn’t that active in California. A pause. Hey, he says, sinking his fists into the pocket of his hoodie. Do you know, um, Nova, by any chance? The girl pushes her lips to the side. You mean the founder of Earth Alliance? Yeah, he says. I just. Wondered if you knew where she was, or. How to get a hold of her. No, sorry, the girl says, tucking her hair beneath her beanie. But someone here must, right? If you ask around? Yeah, Xie says, chin to his chest. Yeah, probably. A guy in a huge green army jacket comes in, spots the girl. Well, it was nice to meet you, she says, as Justin puts his arm around her neck, pulls her head to his lips for a kiss. Laughter beneath the window. Glass shattering against something upstairs, someone’s whoop, footsteps thumping down the staircase. Wishes Peter would show up but knows he won’t, the vibe of this place too dark for him, revolving around some fractured purpose that seems intentionally exclusionary, no community food table or sign-up sheets or chairs in a circle, just these bleakly intense pockets of activity, urgent but stalled at the same time. It’s like being in his own head, but worse. The cat reappears and puts its paws on his leg. What do you want, he says. It meows. He picks it up, careful, and takes it to the front steps, the cat purring rustily in his lap. A circle of girls smoking, casting incurious glances at Xie from the corners of their eyes. A boy in bright white Converse stalking out onto the porch, launching past Xie into the dirt, pursued by a trio of other boys trying to calm him. Man, chill, just chill! And the angry one turning on them, hard, arms up, Are you fucking hearing me? It used to be you needed clearance to come to these things, only people with a rep could join but now it’s a goddamn free-for-all, assholes are posting locations on fucking Facebook, how am I supposed to trust any of you bastards? Turning his eyes to Xie, the cat jumping away. I mean, who is this punk, huh, you come here and just fucking stare at shit, I mean who the fuck are you, how do I know you’re not working for the— Leni, from nowhere, heavy step across the rotting porch, Xie would not have believed someone as small as her could make her body so loud, getting right up in the guy’s face, yelling, Back up, and the guy trying to get past her but she doesn’t move, following his body with her own, holding his gaze even though she is shaking so hard her teeth chatter, why does she think she has to protect him, defend him?