Shelby rubbed her jaw. "What else is Daniel keeping from you?"
"That's what I plan on nding out."
Around the terrace, time had marched on; most of the students were heading to class. The scholarship waiters were hurrying to bus the plates. At a table closest to the ocean, Steven was drinking co ee alone. His glasses were folded up and resting on the table. His eyes found Luce's, and he held her gaze for a long time, so long that--even after she stood up to go to class--his intense, watchful expression stuck with her. Which was probably his point.
After the longest, most mind-numbing PBS special on cell pision ever seen, Luce walked out of her biology class, down the stairs of the main school building, and outside, where she was surprised to see the parking lot completely packed. Parents, older siblings, and more than a few chau eurs formed one long line of vehicles the likes of which Luce hadn't seen since the car-pool lane at her middle school in Georgia.
Around her, students hurried out of class and zigzagged toward the cars, wheeling suitcases in their wake. Dawn and Jasmine hugged goodbye before Jasmine got into a town car and Dawn's brothers made room for her in the back of an SUV. The two of them were only splitting up for a few hours.
Luce ducked back into the building and slipped out the rarely used rear door to trek across the grounds to her dorm. She de nitely could not deal with goodbyes right now.
Walking under the gray sky, Luce was still a guilty wreck, but her conversation with Shelby had left her feeling a bit more in control. It was screwed up, she knew it, but having kissed someone else made her feel like she nally had a say in her relationship with Daniel. Maybe she'd get a reaction out of him, for a change. She could apologize. He could apologize. They could make lemonade or whatever. Break through all this crap and really start talking.
Just then, her phone buzzed. A text from Mr. Cole:
Everything's taken care of.
So Mr. Cole had passed on the news that Luce wasn't coming home. But he'd conveniently left out of his text whether or not her parents were still speaking to her. She hadn't heard from them in days.
It was a no-win situation: If they wrote to her, she felt guilty about not writing them back. If they didn't write to her, she felt responsible for being the reason they couldn't reach out. She still hadn't gured out what to do about Callie.
She thumped up the stairs of the empty dorm. Each step echoed hollowly in the cavernous building. No one was around.
When she made it to her room, she expected to nd Shelby already gone--or at least, to see her suitcase packed and waiting by the door.
Shelby wasn't there, but her clothes were still strewn all over her side of the room. Her pu y red vest was still on its peg, and her yoga gear was still stacked in the corner. Maybe she wasn't leaving until tomorrow morning.
Before Luce had even fully closed the door behind her, someone knocked on the other side. She stuck her head into the hallway.
Miles. Miles.
Her palms grew damp and she could feel her heartbeat pick up. She wondered what her hair looked like, whether she'd remembered to make her bed this morning, and how long he'd been walking behind her. Whether he'd seen her dodge the caravan of Thanksgiving farewells, or seen the pained look on her face when she'd checked her text messages.
"Hi," she said softly.
"Hi."
Miles had on a thick brown sweater over a collared white shirt. He was wearing those jeans with the hole in the knee, the ones that always made Dawn jump up to follow him so she and Jasmine could swoon from behind him.
Miles's mouth twitched into a nervous smile. "Wanna do something?"
His thumbs were tucked under the straps of his navy blue backpack and his voice echoed o the wood walls. It crossed Luce's mind that she and Miles might be the only two people in the entire building. The thought was both thrilling and nerve-wracking.
"I'm grounded for eternity, remember?"
"That's why I brought the fun to you."
At rst Luce thought Miles was referring to himself, but then he slid his backpack o one shoulder and unzipped the main compartment. Inside was a treasure trove of board games: Boggle. Connect Four. Parcheesi. The High School Musical game.