“That’s why I only eat flat foods at cocktail parties. Much less risk of slippage.”
I straighten at the voice. Sage nibbles delicately on a rectangular cracker and cheese. She’s perfectly at ease, her short bob of dark hair framing her pale face and accentuating her chandelier earrings.
“Right. Good tip for the future,” I mumble.
I look behind me, but the girls are gone. I take a deep breath in relief.
Sage pulls out a folded piece of paper from her pocket. “My class schedule.”
“Oh. Uh, cool.”
“I have my first class in the Wells room.”
“The Wells room?”
I study her schedule more closely. It’s handwritten using five different ink colors. Of course.
“For H. G. Wells,” Sage replies. “Each of the classrooms is named after a famous British author from the nineteenth century.” She pauses. “... Because Emberton was built in the nineteenth century. And the original owner dabbled in poetry himself. Didn’t you read any of the info in the packet they sent us?”
“I did, yeah... I just didn’t memorize which classrooms I’d be in.”
Sage cocks her head at me as if I’ve just spoken in Welsh instead of English.
“Did I hear you say Wells?” We turn to find Dev and Huan walking toward us. “Are you talking about anatomy?”
“Yeah.” Sage smiles approvingly and Dev’s face lights up. “You’re taking it too?”
“I am! Er, I mean, we both are,” Dev says, gesturing to Huan. “We have British lit after, then chemistry. What about you?”
“Well, we all have British lit since it’s required.” Sage points down to her perfectly written schedule. “And we’ll be in chem together too. Are you both in advanced calculus at the end of the day?”
“I took art history,” Dev replies.
“But I have calc.” Huan grins. “Looks like we’ve got identical schedules again this semester, Sage. Let the competition begin.”
“I think you’ve forgotten—thereisno competition.” Sage’s face is serene as she says this, but there’s a glint in her eye that makes Huan laugh.
I fiddle with my plate of food, feeling even more out of place. “So you’re all friends, then?”
They look at each other like they’re searching for confirmation.
“I mean, yeah,” Huan replies. “We’ve been in most of the same honors math and science courses since freshman year.”
“And we worked together on that biology project last year,” Dev says.
“Right. Dev and I are always together, but Sage...” He raises his eyebrows at her. “You’re too busy for us.”
She shrugs. “It’s nothing personal. I’m too busy for everyone.” She nods at me. “How about you, Ellie? Are you in our classes too?”
I can barely suppress a sarcastic bark of laughter. Uh, no. I didnotsign up for premed classes. Only one science class means I have an “easy” schedule, but easy will be plenty hard for me.
“It sounds like we’ll all be in chemistry and British literature together, but no anatomy or calculus for me. I have social psych in the morning and art history in the afternoon.”
“Mm,” Sage replies. “Well... I’m sure that’ll be good too.”
I look at the gargoyles again. Maybe they were placed here to give people something to study during awkward conversations.
“I have good news for you.” Huan gently elbows me. “Looks like psych is in the Brontë room. Should be very dark and foreboding. A good atmosphere to study the human thought process.” He winks and I smile back, grateful.
