“Do you guys mind giving Victoria my number while you’re at it?” Tristan asked.

“Can do,” Rain said.

People were standing, now. Tristan gave Sveta a hand in getting to her feet.

The group, Tristan excepted, filed out into the hallway. A few people had coats draped or hooked on the stacked plastic chairs along the hallway’s length. I’d left my bag on the ground. I pulled my phone out before I slung it over one shoulder.

A message from Crystal, asking if I was coming home for dinner.

“Pass me your number?” Rain asked. His phone was as battered as he was, with a crack running down the case.

I thumbed through the concentric rings, put my thumb on my phone number and profile information, and then flicked it in Rain’s direction.

“Got it,” he said.

His info appeared on my phone, at the top edge. It was soon joined by Tristan’s, then Kenzie’s and Ashley’s, near simultaneously. Kenzie’s name was framed with colorful symbols. Chris’s and Sveta’s were the last to appear.

Rain had handled sending me Sveta’s, Ashley’s and Tristan’s, it seemed. Ashley was pulling on a raincoat, and Sveta’s hands were clasped in front of her.

Sveta might have sent me hers without using her hands, now that I thought about it. It was possible she had a phone in her suit.

I glanced back into the room, to see if Mrs. Yamada had anything she wanted to convey with a look or gesture. Instead, I saw her talking to someone who wasn’t Tristan.

Byron had black hair, shorter than Tristan’s, slicked back with something that shone in the room’s lights. He wore a jacket, a black v-neck shirt, and jeans. The contrast between him and Tristan in everything but facial features were striking—Tristan had been bright-haired, his top and shorts all about contrasts with light and dark, color and lack thereof. He’d brimmed with confidence.

Byron didn’t. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, his hands in his jacket pockets, shoulders forward, a look of concern on his face. The muted gray-blue of his jacket, the black v-neck shirt, the jeans, there weren’t any of the intentional contrasts I’d seen in Tristan.

“Are we going to wait for Tristan and try to have a quick chat about things?” Rain asked.

“I have dinner,” Kenzie said. She looked at me. “I try to have dinner with my parents every night. We’re trying to reinforce that normalcy.”

“Is that going alright?” Sveta asked.

“It’s going,” Kenzie said. She smiled. “Which is better than the alternative.”

“I’m all people’d out,” Chris said. “Most of you guys are better than some, but I’m done for now.”