“How much have you done so far?” I ask.
“My notes, and I sort of have an outline.” He glances away for a few beats. “I can’t afford to get less than aBon this paper. Not without it dropping my grade, and my dad will kill me if I don’t do well in this class.”
“Do you have a flash drive with you?” I ask. “I can give you my paper, and all my prep notes, but just be careful you don’t get too ‘inspired’”—I make air quotes–“by it. I will murder you myself if I get flagged for plagiarism because you played chicken with your deadlines.”
“Thank you!” He pats his pockets like he’s looking for a drive. “You’re the best best friend anyone could ever ask for.”
“Yeah, save that crap for your admirers.” I watch as he lifts his textbook like he’ll magically find a flash drive under it. “You can pay me back in coffee and drinks at The Stacks until I graduate.”
“Deal.” He shoots me a sheepish smile. “Do you have a flash drive I can borrow?”
Rolling my eyes in the most exaggerated way I can, I point at my desk. “Top drawer. Grab one of the ones with the blue push thing.”
West rolls off my bed and darts over toward my desk. Just as he reaches it, my phone lights up on the bed beside me with a video call.
“Is it okay if I grab this?” I ask, picking up my phone. “It’s Izzy.”
“Yeah, of course,” he says as he digs around in my drawer. “You said the blue push thing, right?”
“Yeah,” I tell him, already swiping to answer my sister’s call. “Hey,” I say when she appears on my screen. “What’s up?”
“I hate everyone,” she huffs out. “Well, except you. Everyone else sucks.”
“What about me?” West calls as he closes the drawer of my desk. “Do you hate your favorite uncle?”
“Is that West?” Izzy asks, her eyes lighting up and her grumpy expression melting into a big smile.
I flip the camera around so she can see him as he walks back over to the bed. “Yup.”
My sisters adore West, and he’s as protective of them as I am.
“Hi, West!” she says, waving enthusiastically, even though he can’t see her.
“Hi, Izzy.” He flops down on my bed, and my textbook and papers bounce from the impact. “So, do you hate your favorite uncle, or am I safe?”
She giggles. “You’re safe, silly.”
“Phew.” He makes a big show of wiping his brow in relief. “I was worried for a second there. Is it okay if I sit here and look over some of my homework while you talk to your brother? Or is this a private conversation?”
“You can stay,” she says quickly. “That’s fine.”
He beams a big smile at her, and she giggles.
It’s kind of funny that West looks more like my sisters than I do. And the few times he’s come home with me during holidays or for visits and we’ve taken my sisters somewhere, people assume he’s their brother, or even their father, and I’m just a family friend, or West’s partner.
It doesn’t bother me. I’m used to feeling like an outsider in my family. And West thinks it’s hilarious, so messing with people is always fun.
I flip the camera back around so it’s facing me. “What’s going on?” I ask again.
She heaves a big, dramatic sigh and pushes a long lock of wheat-blond hair back from where it’s fallen over her shoulder. “Michael is so annoying.”
I give her a sympathetic look. “What happened this time?”
She rolls her eyes and leans back against her headboard, the camera shaking violently as she settles. “He’s trying to convince Mom to make us go to Hendrix.”
“Hendrix?” I ask. “Like Hendrix Academy?”
West looks up from his laptop, his eyes wide, but doesn’t say anything.
