“Does sarc… sarc…ass… whatever that word is, mean when he’s funny and sassy all at the same time?” Lucy asks Anna, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Anna laughs again, clearly entertained by the innocent slip of Lucy’s tongue. I shoot her a glare. “Oh, God, I love ‘sassy’ as an adjective to describe him.”
“What’s an adjective?” Lucy inquires, tilting her head.
“It’s a word that describes something. Like that pink sweater,” Hildy says from the hallway, pointing to Lucy's as she approaches. “Or a—” she gestures toward her own attire.
“Gray sweater,” Lucy beams.
“Exactly,” Hildy replies, bending down to kiss Lucy’s forehead, and looking more than relieved she’s fever free.
“So Faulkers’s girlfriend is an adjective?” Lucy asks, smirking at me from the corner of her eye.
“Nope. ‘Faulker’s’ would be a genitive modifier, and ‘girlfriend’ is a noun,” Hildy responds, a hint of confusion in her voice.
Lucy’s lips twitch as she attempts to school her expression before asking, “What’s a genitive modi-thingy?”
“Nouns describe a person, place, or thing, so Faulker is a noun. And since you’re saying it’s his, then it’s possessive, which makes it genitive,” she explains, settling onto a stool.
“So, when he asks you like a gentleman to be?—”
“You are a little stink pot,” I interrupt, tossing a towel at her, landing perfectly on her adorable, yet traitorous face.
“What did I miss?”Hildy asks.
I grab a paper towel, scribble on it, folding it into a crude approximation of a flower, and round the island, presenting it to Hildy. “Even though I’m only offering you this crumpled paper towel instead of flowers, because these two are…,” I growl at them and hold it out, “I have written you a note.”
“What is going on here?” she asks open into the paper towel and reading it. She laughs softly, which again sends the terrible twosome into a fit of laughter.
“They were ganging up on me. Bullied me into admitting I was very fond of you. Bullies. I asked for them to keep it to themselves until I had time to prepare, but apparently?—”
“You gotta go to work.” Lucy laughs and Anna… snorts?
I look over at her at the same time Hildy does.
Hildy gets up and feels her forehead. “You, Queen Annaleise, have a fever.”
“Impossible, I’m immune to such nonsense.”
“What does immune mean?” Lucy asks.
“In this case, it means delusional,” Hildy says, heading to grab the thermometer.
“Hey, what did the note say?” Lucy asks.
“It said Hildy Sullivan, will you be my girlfriend, circle yes or no.”
Lucy nearly lays across the counter to grab the pen. “Hildy, you gotta answer. Do you wanna be his girlfriend?”
“Yeah, sure,” she calls back.
“She said what?” Hank laughs.
“I’m only telling you because you may want to continue avoiding the house.” I shut my locker and catch Aleks’ grumpy mug. “Don’t pout, you’re hearing it first.”
“This isn’t first, it’s in conjunction with him.” He nods to Hank.
Hank chuckles as he heads to the tunnel. “Perks of not leaving the Pad.”
