My head snaps up and I find Dr. Michaels in the hallway. Ugh, I didn’t think about room checks. One of the faculty comes by every night at ten to make sure all the high school students are accounted for. We either need to be in our rooms or have signed in at one of the study areas in the manor or we get written up. I’m jealous of the college students who have full run of the place.
“What are you doing down on the boys’ floor tonight?” His expression is neutral, but his voice can’t hide his suspicion.
I pull a few of my art history cards out of my book bag. “Studying art history with Dev.”
His face brightens. “Oh, very nice. I’m sure Dev would be a great study partner. Such a bright boy.”
“Mm, yes.” I’mnotrepeating that to him. He’ll never stop quoting it back to me.
“I’ll just get the room check out of the way so I don’t disturb your studying.” Dr. Michaels knocks.
“Come in!” Dev opens the door. “Oh, hi, Dr. Michaels.”
“Evening, Dev. Just checking for you and Huan.”
“Here!” Huan calls from within the room.
“Wonderful.” He takes a step to the side so I’m right in front of Dev. “And Ellie is here for her tutoring session.”
My eyes bulge. He thinks Dev istutoringme? Well, okay, heis—but only in cricket. Of course he’d assume that, though. Why would we ever study together otherwise?
Dev’s eyes also widen. “Oh... right. Hey, Ellie. Um, come in.”
“Thanks.” I shuffle into his room.
“I know you’re only studying, but still...” Dr. Michaels knocks twice on the door. “Remember to keep the door open until Ellie goes back to her room.”
“I will,” Dev replies immediately. We stand in silence until we hear him knocking on the next door.
Dev’s brows furrow. “What’s going on?”
“Sage sent me up here.”
His whole body lifts for a moment and I realize how that sounds. “Sorry. I mean, I was annoying her with my whining so she said I should come bother you instead. I ran into Dr. Michaels on the way.”
“Oh. Right.”
I’m surprisingly hurt at his downtrodden expression. I don’t know what to say so I focus on their room. It’s not nearly as messyas I was expecting, though there are piles of clothes scattered on the floor. Darth Vader and Darth Maul posters cover one wall.
“A big fan of the dark side?” I ask Huan with a smile.
“The biggest. The dark side is always cooler than the light.”
“Particularly when it includes shirtless Kylo Ren, right?”
He winks. “I like that you get me.”
I laugh and walk over to his desk. “What are you working on?”
He points at a YouTube video, which turns out to be the source of the music I heard. “Just working on some new tricks.”
“Cool! I want to hear.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. You wouldn’t be able to stop him if you wanted to,” Dev replies.
Huan makes some weird squeaking noises with his mouth that don’t sound anything like music. I smile encouragingly. I listen for another minute but it’s weird to watch somebody who’s staring intently at a video of another person’s mouth, so I turn back to Dev. Unsurprisingly, his desk is covered with books and notes. There’s even a stack of index cards in the corner.
“Are you making flash cards too?”
