We always rated Josh’s recipes. VFG, or “very fucking good,” was the top honor.
Then I said a grand farewell to everyone, announcing that I had to start on homework. Josh followed me into the kitchen. “Take me with you,” he whispered as I loaded my bowl and water glass into the dishwasher. “Please.”
“Only if you do my homework,” I replied.
Josh let out a deep sigh. “I am so ready for summer vacation.”
Most of the faculty vacated Ames for long breaks. Housing on campus was free, so a lot of teachers owned homes elsewhere. Josh had an amazing cabin in Montana.
“Twelve days,” I emphasized before winking and disappearing upstairs to my room. It was small with peach-pink walls, the color I’d chosen when I was little. And all these years later, the room was even more of a statement thanks to all the photos and my collection of National Park posters. My mom and I had vowed to visit each and every one before I started college. This summer, we were concluding our tour in Alaska.
I flicked on my fairy lights and lit a floral-scented candle before changing into a pair of sweats and a Georgetown T-shirt. Then I wove my hair into a messy braid and went to work on my blisters after grabbing Vaseline and Band-Aids from the bathroom. Even my pinkie toes were swollen. “Much better,” I said to myself after a couple minutes. A nurse I was not, but I had confidence I would survive.
Now, self-imposed study hall. I let a moan loose, unzipping and unloading my backpack. Laptop, books, and overstuffed pencil case. Ugh. I really wasn’t in the mood for homework tonight, even senior spring homework. Some students at Ames never studied at night; instead, they woke up absurdly early to study. “You’re nuts,” I’d told Pravika after she’d started routinely waking up at 4:00 a.m. “I’d rather stay up until 4:00 a.m.”
My brows furrowed as I rustled around in the bottom of my bag. Okay, where’s my gum? I thought. Because whether I was at home or in the library, Orbit Sweet Mint was forever a necessity. It helped me focus.
Once I finally located the squashed pack of gum, my heart leapt…but it plunged to the floor when I also found something else.
The Jester’s bid. With half the neighborhood over for dinner, I’d managed to forget about it, but it hadn’t forgotten about me. I bit my pinkie nail and read Alex’s note again.
Will you join my band of fools? it asked, and I swore I heard a clock ticking. Less than twenty-four hours—I had less than twenty-four hours to decide whether to join the fun.
Would it be fun? part of me wondered, but the other part quickly nipped the thought in the bud. No, it would be risky.
Too risky. What if we got caught?
My mother would murder me.
I tore the envelope in half and buried it in my wastebasket, then popped in some gum and opened my textbook to start on physics.
But before I finished, I’d dug out the invitation and carefully taped its pieces back together.
Maybe, I thought as I climbed into bed later. Just maybe.
I would talk to Alex tomorrow.
THREE
Approaching Alex was not as easy as I’d imagined. Instead of going to the Hub for breakfast the next morning, I made egg white omelets that my mom and I wolfed down before driving to campus. It was a gray rainy day. “I better play some music in class so no one nods off,” she said while maneuvering our car into her faculty parking spot outside the English building. “It’s perfect sleeping weather.”
I laugh-yawned in agreement before opening my umbrella and heading off to history. My teacher was a big fan of cold-calling students, so I knew none of my classmates would be falling asleep. They’d come equipped with coffee or energy drinks to save themselves the embarrassment. Pravika was never without a dirty chai latte. Whatever that was.
Later, during midmorning student-teacher consultation, I booked it over to the student center, suspecting Alex would be there. No seniors would be hanging out in the Circle; the rain was too heavy. “Please be here, please be here,” I chanted as I pulled open Hubbard Hall’s wide front door.
The first floor was unsurprisingly flooded with students, but after taking a slippery lap, there he was: Alex Nguyen chilling on one of the couches with Tag and their other friends.
Shit, I thought. Tag.
He too had come in with the rain.
With Alex as the Jester, Tag had one hundred percent been tapped to assist him. How could he not? Alex always had Tag’s back and Tag always had Alex’s. “Despite these unfortunate circumstances, I still think you’re spectacular, Lily,” I remembered Alex saying after things between Tag and me had ended. “Seriously.” He tried to smile. It was unspoken that we wouldn’t be hanging out as much anymore. “I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.” I’d sort of smiled back. “But it’s okay; he’s your best friend.”
Alex nodded. “Yes, he is.”
My heart twisted now. An entire evening with Tag. I couldn’t decide if that was a pro or con for the prank. Sitting next to him in class yesterday had been painful but also a wish granted. Because I missed him. I really missed him.
I watched as several underclassmen girls confidently sauntered up to their couch, each wearing a Barbour raincoat and a pair of colorful Hunter rain boots. It wasn’t difficult to figure out what they wanted. In a nearby club chair, I caught Blair Greenberg roll her eyes and flick her glossy brown hair over her shoulder. Unlike Tag and me, their friend group always weathered the storm whenever Tag and Blair fought or broke up. Everyone could stay cool and act like nothing had happened.
Something curdled in my stomach. Had Alex tapped Blair too? Had he tapped his whole inner circle? And if so, what was the point of asking me?
I needed to know. I had never been a go-with-the-flow type of girl. I needed more information. What was this prank? Who else was involved? I wanted time to study the material.
Alex and I have physics together, I reminded myself, but in typical Alex Nguyen fashion, he strolled into our classroom right when the bell rang. It was as if it were announcing his arrival instead of signaling the start of class.
Mrs. Epstein-Fox spent the hour writing various equations on the whiteboard. Equations that I copied into my notebook but didn’t fully comprehend. If I needed help later, I would ask Daniel; we sat next to each other and were study partners for a couple classes. Physics was his best subject, and he took every opportunity to remind everyone of that. His mansplaining always tempted me to dump my water bottle over his head, but at least he answered my questions.
Once class was dismissed for lunch, my muscles tensed—I was about to make a casual mad dash over to Alex—but by the time I made it halfway across the room, he’d already slung his backpack over his shoulder and had his phone pressed against his ear. “Afternoon, Paul!” I heard him say, and then right before he disappeared into the hallway, “Yes, I’ll have the usual, please and thanks. Taggart’s gonna change things up, though. He’s feeling a diablo…”
Provisions, I realized. Alex was ordering lunch from Provisions, a sandwich shop in town. Josh said their food was overrated, but the rest of Ames begged to differ.
I quickly texted Zoe and Pravika that I wouldn’t be at the dining hall for lunch. “Where’re you headed?” someone asked, and I turned to see Daniel at my side. He tilted his head so he could see my phone screen. “Ah, Provisions?”