he entered the dining hall. He went straight to the soda machine and poured himself a Coke. Maybe he had an idea of girls that Hutch was hanging out with.
Devon stood up and grabbed her tray. “I gotta go. See ya back in Bay.”
“What?” Presley frowned. “You’re gonna leave me with the Freshman 15 over here? Whatever, I’ll catch you later, Moby Slut.”
“That one sucked,” Devon said over her shoulder.
“Oh, there’s more where that came from, John Malko-bitch.” Presley yelled across the dining hall.
“Jennifer Ho-Pez!” Devon dumped her tray through the window to the dishwashing station and dodged the steam escaping from the industrial sink. She hurried past the teacher’s table toward Matt, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw Sasha sidle up next to Matt at the soda machine. Sasha also poured herself a Coke. Seems like a lot of sugar for an abs-obsessed star athlete, Devon thought. She pretended to analyze the fruit bowl instead as she eavesdropped. “Hey, Matt. How’s your class load?” Sasha asked.
“Maybe you wanna help me with that AP Bio test next week?” Matt said back.
Devon glanced at them, and caught a glimpse of Sasha slipping a folded piece of green paper in the pocket of Matt’s hoodie.
“Let’s meet up after study hours. I should have my questions ready for you by then,” Matt said. He turned and walked away, sipping his Coke. Sasha dumped her soda in the nearby drain and walked out the side door to the dining hall.
Devon suddenly realized that someone was staring at her. Right on the other side of the fruit bowl. Deep green eyes on a tanned, freckled face. A girl with black hair in a nest of braids and knots. Could it be the rat’s nest Cleo had mentioned? Raven, the pharmacist’s sister? She was practically glaring at Devon. Devon opened her mouth to say, “Can I help you?” when—
“You know what they say, an apple a day.…” Two hands reached around and squeezed Devon’s waist. She jumped and spun around.
“Oh hey.”
Grant smiled at her, his eyes twinkling.
“I haven’t seen you all day. Where you been? I’ll walk you back to Bay. Come on.” He held out an elbow and Devon took it. She turned back, but the girl was already gone.
It was still light out, but a peachy-pink shade filled the air as the sun set over the Pacific. They walked across Raiter Lawn in silence, Devon’s head falling against Grant’s shoulder. It wasn’t as pillowy as it was last year, but was that a bad thing? It still comforted. Anyone else would have filled the silence with small talk. Grant knew better.
“There’s still a bit of visiting hours left. Want to come up?” Devon asked.
“I thought you’d never ask.” Grant winked as he led the way inside.
Was that a loaded question? It hadn’t been until now; she’d asked Grant the exact same thing dozens of times. She could almost hear Presley beside her, egging her on. As Grant signed his name in the dorm ledger of visitors, Devon snuck a peek at his tanned neck, the perfect line of bicep poking below his sleeve. Maybe I should just go for it.
Devon opened the door to her room. Weird: The light was already on. Then she froze. An old man was lying on her bed. She tried to process what she saw. Phrases like ‘Who are you,’ ‘What are you doing?’ and ‘Get off my bed’ rattled through her brain. Instead Devon just cowered against Grant and let out a scream that devolved into “Ahhhhwhatmyroom?”
The old man sat up and slowly pushed himself off the bed. He held a cowboy hat in his hands and extended a wrinkled hand out toward Devon.
Grant immediately sequestered Devon behind him. “Go call someone, Dev. I got this.”
“Wait!” The old man barked.
His brown eyes were milky, his skin weathered behind a gray scruffy beard. A homeless man who wandered up the hillside and randomly into Devon’s room? Except that Devon had never known homeless people to tuck in their shirts and wear cowboy boots. He had a large silver belt buckle: three trees. Somewhere deep in Devon’s memory, that logo looked familiar, but she couldn’t be sure.
“You can’t be here,” Grant stated. “This is private property. I’ll count to three for you to get out of here or I’m forcing you, okay?”
Devon whirled and ran off to find any teacher. Anyone.