“Coming?” Yasmin asked, breaking me from my reverie.
I realized that they were all standing, our aquatics research put away.
“Yeah,” I said, glancing once at the sky, as if I’d see the invisible shield around us.
On Thursday,Alex sat by me in Psychology again.
“What are you doing this weekend?” he asked, easing himselfinto the seat.
I obviously couldn’t tell him that I’d been invited to a garden party with magical botanists at a secret academy, so I improvised. “Mostly studying. And possibly hanging out with some friends tomorrow night. And I work on Saturday.”
“Someone is busy.” His voice was light, teasing.
He didn’t know the half of it. “Just a bit.”
“What time do you work at Vera’s?”
“My shift is six a.m. to noon.”
He whistled. “That’s early for a Saturday. But maybe I’ll get a craving for a lavender scone.”
I smiled, the idea of him randomly popping by the café surprisingly exciting. “How about you? Any fun plans this weekend?”
“Some friends from the dorms are having a barbeque. I was going to invite you, but since you’re already booked up…”
I made an apologetic face. “I swear I never used to be this busy, but this semester is a whole other beast.” I thought about Maci, and how she’d be falling over herself telling me to cancel my plans and take Alex up on his offer. A part of me wanted to. But Yasmin was looking forward to me joining her at the garden party, and I didn’t want to disappoint her. My friendship with her—and everything about my experience at Evergreen Academy—was so new that I didn’t want to rock the boat.
But here was Alex, looking adorable and inviting me to a barbeque. Something that felt so incredibly… normal.
“Maybe another time,” he said, putting a pause to my inner dilemma. “See you later, B.”
After giving him a little wave, I turned toward the parking lot, wondering if there was a way to make both my worldsbalance in the boat that was my time and energy—and not tip myself into the ocean in the attempt.
Chapter Twenty-Four
On Friday, I showed up at Evergreen Academy first thing in the morning. Even though I didn’t officially have Affinity Studies, I wanted to spend most of the day studying before the garden party that night.
As I walked across the campus, I noticed clusters of students in the forest, in the gardens, and out by the pond. Affinity Studies were clearly in full swing. I stopped into the teahouse to get a smoothie then made my way up to the library, which I found empty.
The morning sun was shining through the massive windows, the green of the plants adding to the sense of peace that I felt each time I walked in here. I couldn’t think of a better place to tackle everything I needed to do.
I’d downloaded a language-learning app on Tuesday and had been practicing my Latin between classes at SCC and during downtime in the evenings, so I was starting to understand a few basic words and phrases. After a few moments ofsorting through my journal, I decided to focus on Biostatistics, the area in which I had the most work to do.
The morning passed quickly, and I began to hear voices outside the library as students returned to their rooms before lunch. Soon, Yasmin popped into the library and whisked me downstairs, where we met Aurielle and Coral. The atmosphere in the teahouse was different today. Charged, somehow.
Once we got our food and sat down, it became clear why. Everyone was talking about the first garden party of the year that was happening that night.
“Should we all get ready in your room?” Aurielle asked Yasmin.
“Absolutely. And you too, B.”
“Thanks,” I said. “How late do these usually go? I have to work early tomorrow.”
“That’s totally fine. It starts at sunset, so you can be out of here by, like, eight or nine o’clock.”
“If you’re not having so much fun that you want to stay,” Coral added.
“I always heard about these parties from my sisters. It’s surreal to be going to one myself now,” Yasmin said.
