When we get back to the living room, Jasmine and Simone are already there, watching TV and eating Oreos.

“Hey,” Jasmine says. “We’re just getting ready to watch a movie off On Demand.” She’s sprawled out on the couch, her dark hair in ringlets. She’s wearing a pair of tight black pants with a wide silver belt, and a button-up black shirt that shows off her cleavage. She looks like she’s going to a party.

“You guys have On Demand?” Kelly asks, plopping down on the couch next to her. “I’m Kelly,” she says, smiling. “You’re Jasmine, right? I think you’re in my bio lab.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m such a spazz,” I say. “Kelly, this is Jasmine and Simone. Jasmine and Simone, this is my friend Kelly.”

“Hey,” Simone says softly from the corner.

“Yes, we have On Demand and Pay-Per-View,” Jasmine says, shooting Kelly a look. Jasmine gets really cranky when anyone who’s not a cast member comes over. Mainly because James had some sort of hot tub party the other night that got pretty loud. Jasmine had a big test the next day, and she couldn’t sleep, so they had this huge blowout fight at, like, two in the morning. She called his friends dirty (which they kind of were—like, they looked like their jaunt in the hot tub was the first contact with water they’d had in a while). James told her to chill out, that it was his house, too, and he could have friends over if he wanted. The next day Jasmine spent an hour cleaning out the tub with disinfectant.

“You’re so lucky,” Kelly says, not noticing the look Jasmine’s giving her. She grabs an Oreo off the plate on the table. “We don’t get On Demand in the dorms.” She breaks her cookie apart and licks the icing off one half. Jasmine rolls her eyes behind Kelly’s back.

“Let’s pick something to watch,” I say quickly, grabbing the remote and scanning through the On Demand movie choices. “We’ll vote. Simone?”

Silence.

“Simone?” I look over to where she’s sitting, in one of the plush armchairs. She has it in recline mode, her red hair making a curly halo down the back of the chair.

“Yeah?” she asks, looking up. She blinks, like the light is hurting her eyes.

“Were you sleeping?” I giggle.

“Oh no, sorry, I was, um, thinking about something,” she mumbles, a flush lighting up her cheeks. When is this girl not blushing?

“James.” Jasmine rolls her eyes again.

“No way. You have a crush on James?” Kelly asks, looking intrigued. She leans forward, eager for details.

“Yeah,” Simone admits, blushing. “Just a small one.”

“She made him cookies,” I report.

“He said he loved them,” Jasmine says.

“She wants to marry him,” I say.

“And have all his babies.” Jasmine.

“At least five.” Me.

“So what’s the deal?” Kelly asks. She bites into the outside part of the cookie and chews thoughtfully.

“What do you mean?” Simone asks.