“Who’s that?” Luke asked.
“A junior.” Sage refocused on me. “She’s Rapunzel inInto the Woods, right?”
“Oui,” I said.
“Ah,” Luke said over Sage’s snort. “Mixing business with pleasure…a bold choice.”
When he cocked his head, it took me a second to get with the program. Sage burst into laughter, but I just reached for my Coke. “Touché, Morrissey,” I heard myself say. “Touché.”
I was right; he was pigeon-toed.
Not in a super noticeable way, but just slightly—and it was kind of adorable. His feet were all I could look at as we crossed back onto campus. I did my best to ignore the flicker I felt every time he took a step.
It wasn’t working.
Luke cleared his throat. “So, what’s Mr. Magnusson like?”
My head snapped up, right as Sage bumped into me, per usual. One of life’s greatest challenges for her was walking in a straight line. She was a zigzagger all the way. “Mr. Magnusson?” I turned to look at him.
He nodded, and we made eye contact. He wasn’t wearing his sunglasses anymore, and I made a mental note tonevertell Nina I agreed with her—his eyes were pretty incredible. A deep brown, like the juniper berries on the Vineyard.
“Yeah,” Luke said. “Mr. Magnusson. What’s he like? All the registrar said was that I was in for anexperience.”
Sage and I laughed. “Mr. Magnusson is a Bexley School treasure,” I quoted Dad. “He’s been here forever, but nobody knows how old he is…”
“Our best guess is seventy-seven,” Sage said.
“Right,” I agreed, because Gus Magnussonhadto be pushing eighty. He’d been Kitsey’s English teacher her freshman year,andDad’s back in the day. “Ah, Charles Carmichael,” he said when I walked into his classroom early this morning. “I knew your journey would eventually lead you here.” He’d given me this serious look. “If the pattern holds,youare the smartest Carmichael yet.”
Luke’s eyes were wide when Sage and I finished speaking. “Heseriously grades papers drunk?”
I shrugged. “It’s really only a rumor, but yeah, I think so. My sister keeps in touch with him, and he sent her a crate of all his favorite alcohol when she graduated college.”
“Hard liquor?” he asked.
“Hard liquor,” I confirmed. “Whiskey, gin, tequila, anda lotof vodka.”
“Wow, too bad he isn’t my housemaster,” Luke said as someone called Sage’s name, causing her to smile and zigzag away from us. “That would make it perfect.”
I raised an eyebrow.What would makewhatperfect?
“This is my stop.” He nodded his chin at the dorm. “Gatsby’s house.”
A tremor went through me.Did Sage tell him? Or did he seriously just think of that?Brooks was easily the largest dorm on campus and didn’t look a thing like any of the other buildings. Bexley was mostly Greco-Roman brick, but Brooks was sandy-colored stone, with three floors, two serious turrets on each end, multiple chimneys, and a sprawling terrace out front. It was a total monstrosity, one I had calledGatsby’s Mansionsince reading the book as a freshman.
Luke hid his hands in his pockets. “I should probably go. I have practice in a half hour.”
I nodded. “Yeah, me too. Rehearsal in”—I checked my phone—“ten minutes.”
He laughed, and I felt one corner of my mouth tug up. When he laughed, it was like his whole body was laughing. “Well, I guess I’ll see you—”
“At dinner?” I asked.
Luke gave me a questioning look. “Aren’t you having dinner with Sparrow?”
My stomach dropped.Oh…right.Dove and I’d made plans for tonight.
But I shrugged and said, “Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”
