Jasper grinned. “Most girls worry about whether the parents will like them.”
Ariana turned and opened the door to the dining hall. With one hand on the handle, she leaned toward him, her coat just brushing his.
“First of all, your parents are not the parents to me. Palmer’s parents are,” Ariana teased. His face fell slightly, but then he tossed his head, flicking his bangs away from his eyes and coming back to himself. “And secondly,” Ariana said, smiling, “I’m not most girls.”
Slowly, Jasper smiled back. Ariana walked into the dining hall ahead of him, and just before the door closed in his face, she heard him say under his breath, “No, you’re not.”
“See, the problem with the Stone and Grave Ball is that you have to take a member of Stone and Grave,” Maria said, lazily turning the page of last year’s Atherton-Pryce Hall Golden, the slim hardcover yearbook. She was lying on her stomach on the floor of her and Lexa’s room in a tank top and pajama pants, a bottle of sparkling water within reach. “It cuts down your potential dates by about seventy-five percent.”
“Ah, Maria. She can only do the heavy math if the topic is boys or sales,” Lexa joked, leaning back on her pillows. She opened a Vogue magazine and started to page through it.
Ariana laughed as she and Soomie leaned in toward the yearbook on either side of Maria. “What about Carlton Goff ?” Ariana suggested, looking over Maria’s ponytail at Soomie. In his picture from the year prior, Carlton’s now short hair was long around the ears, and he wore a serious expression. “He’s kinda cute.”
“Ugh. Have you ever actually spoken to Carlton Goff ?” Soomie asked.
Ariana shook her head. “Not really.”
Soomie leaned back on her hands, h
er long black hair dangling almost to the floor. “That boy is (A) condescending, (B) nasal, and (C) needs to buy stock in Listerine.”
“So true,” Lexa confirmed with a wrinkle of her nose. She flipped a page and held up the perfume sample she found there for a sniff.
“Ew. Then why did he get into Stone and Grave?” Ariana asked, reaching for her own bottle of water.
“Legacy,” the other three girls answered in unison.
“Ah,” Ariana replied knowingly.
“Well, there has to be somebody in here Soomie can ask,” Maria said, flipping to the next page.
“Why are we all focused on Soomie, anyway? Don’t you need a date too, Maria?” Lexa said, sitting up. She had torn out the perfume sample and was now swiping the scent strip across her wrists. “No offense,” she added, nudging Soomie’s back with her bare toe.
“None taken,” Soomie replied.
Lexa and Soomie eyed Maria with interest as Ariana casually looked away, suddenly riveted by the pilling atop her cashmere sock. Maria blithely flipped another page, lifting her tiny shoulders. “I don’t mind being dateless. Soomie, however, does.”
Ariana looked up in time to see Lexa and Soomie exchange a glance.
“I’ve got it! What about one of the newbies,” Maria said, sitting up straight and swinging her legs around in front of her. “You can ask Adam! Or Jasper!”
Ariana’s heart twisted in an odd way at the mention of Jasper. She tugged the now abandoned yearbook onto her thighs and flipped to last year’s juniors.
“Or Landon,” Lexa put in.
There was a brief pause. “I’m so over Landon,” Soomie replied. “And Adam . . . I don’t know. He and Brigit were really close. I’d just feel weird. But Jasper . . . I’ve actually had some moments with him.”
“Real-ly?” Lexa asked, sliding off the bed and onto the floor with the rest of them. “What kind of moments?”
Soomie blushed. “I don’t know. I think he might like me.”
“Do you?” Ariana asked. Her voice sounded tense. But why? She shook out her arms, trying to relax. It would be great if Jasper liked Soomie. Right?
“Why didn’t you mention this before we spent half an hour going through the yearbook?” Maria asked, taking a swig of her water.
“I don’t know,” Soomie said, blushing even darker and flipping her hair. “But he’s always making excuses to talk to me. Like asking for my help with trig and checking to see if I need refills at lunch.”
That’s just because he’s lazy and a gentleman, Ariana thought.