the anomalous weather, and the quad was dotted with klatches of students, many of whom were
clearly gossiping about me, of course. They kept throwing me curious looks, tilting their heads
together and whispering. I couldn't believe that Sabine and Diana were so willing to risk being
seen with the school pariah.
"Doesn't it bother you that everyone's staring at us?" I finally asked.
Diana glanced up from her textbook. "Are they? I didn't notice."
"Doesn't bother me at all," Sabine replied with a shrug.
I grinned, touched again by Sabine's unwavering friendship. And how had I never realized how
unabashedly nice Diana was? Oh, right.
59
Because I had always been too busy trying to get in with the Billings Girls.
"Do you think he's going to give us a pop quiz? Because if he does, he's definitely going to ask
about all these stupid baby boom statistics," Diana said, pointing at a bulleted list in the book.
"Barber just loves to talk about the baby boomers."
I was about to focus--I really was--but then I saw Trey Prescott, Josh's roommate, walking by with
some books tucked under his arm. Immediately I started to wonder--what did Trey think of Ivy? He
had to know more about her and Josh's relationship than I did. They probably spent all kinds of
time in Josh and Trey's room together. Had Trey ever heard her say anything weird or seen her act
erratically? Suddenly, I had to know. And Trey was, atypically, alone, which was a blessing for me.
He was a lot more likely to talk to me if he was alone. Feeling a sudden flutter of nerves, I jumped
up and grabbed my bag.
"I have to go. Sorry," I said to Diana and Sabine. "But yeah. He's definitely going to ask about the
baby boomers."
I took off after Trey, ignoring the baffled expressions on my friends' faces, and caught up to him
right at the base of the library steps.
"Trey!" I called out.
He paused and turned around. He was wearing a thick white turtleneck sweater that set off the
dark color of his skin, and he'd recently had his black hair shorn so close to his scalp that it was
barely there. Trey was widely considered to be one of the hottest, sweetest, and most mature
guys at Easton. Why Cheyenne had ever let him go, I had