“You are? You seemed kinda pissed.”
“I was embarrassed. But I’m glad you know. It’s nice to have someone I can talk to without having to watch my words.”
I feel this completely. It’s such a rare thing to have someone you can talk to without censoring yourself in some way... and thinking about this makes it even more apparent that I don’t feel like this around Will. There’s so much I have to edit with him. I have to come clean in Venice.
I don’t want to bring up Will right now, though. “You know, if you want to have people to talk to about Quidditch, there is a simple solution. You could just invite all of us to a game.”
“Nice try, but no thanks.” He stands up. Our time is almost gone already.
“I’m serious, though,” I say as we walk back to the manor. “About inviting us to Quidditch stuff, but also about everything else. You need to find something that makes you happy, even if that’s not medicine.”
“And what about you? What are you going to do that makes you happy?”
I pause, taken aback by the sudden reversal. “I don’t know. Can I make a living writing Jane Austen fan fiction?”
“I bet a lot of people already have.” He shoves me lightly. “But what about your fairy gardens?”
“Um, aren’t we finished talking about embarrassing hobbies? There’s no more future in that than professional Quidditch, despite what everyone else seems to think.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, Miriam—the woman who takes care of the conservatory—is pushing me to look into gardening internships and jobs in America.”
“Have you?”
I shrug.
“You should do it. She made it a career, so why can’t you? And just look at what you’ve done to the conservatory.”
I hesitate outside the door into Emberton. “How do you know that?”
“I spent a few hours studying there and she told me about the bright student who suggested the changes. She’s very impressed by you.” He ushers me inside. “I am too. It’s so much nicer in there now.”
“Oh. Yeah.” I fidget with my ponytail, unsure what to think about this unexpected compliment. “So, um, are you still excited about Venice?”
To my surprise, Dev brightens. “Absolutely.”
“Has Sage said anything to you about getting tickets yet?”
“No. You’d know more about what she’s doing than me.”
“I’ll get on her about it. I know how disappointed you’ll be if she doesn’t come.”
Dev messes with his shirtsleeves, a nervous habit I hadn’tnoticed before. “Actually, let’s drop the whole Sage thing, okay? You don’t need to worry about that anymore.”
My shoulders slump. It was my job to help Dev and Sage get together. That was the deal. He held up his end—morethan held up his end—and I’m letting him down. Despite what he said, I’m not ready to forget about it yet. There has to be more I can do.
I spend most of chemistry thinking about Sage and Dev. Maybe if I can get her to spend some time alone with Dev—quality time, nothow many thoracic vertebrae are in the human bodytime—then she’ll finally feel that spark she’s been missing. And there’s no place better for spark-inducing interactions than Venice.
I hurry over to her in the hall after our class. “Hey, did you book your flights yet?”
“Actually I bought them during the lunch break.”
“Great!” I do a little skip next to her. Knowing that Sage will be by my side makes the whole trip more exciting. “I was worried you weren’t going to come. Were you able to get on the same flight?”
“No, I’m on a different one.”
“Ugh, seriously? It was already sold out? I hope Mr. Odell’s going to be okay with that since we were supposed to have everything turned in last week. I think he wanted us all flying together so the school can keep better track of us.”
