“He didn’t bring a Lambo to school.”
“What did he bring then?”
“A Ferrari,” Pecan chimes in.
“A now, shall we say,distressedFerrari,” Chaos Puppy comments, pumping his fist for the nth time.
Honestly, he’s earned it because I had nothing to do with that particular act of vandalism.
When a knock sounds on the door, Pecan waves at me. “See ya later, D. I’ll grab the door then head out. Bye, dudes.”
After he disappears, I ask, “Have he and Hailey gotten back together?”
Zach rolls his eyes at the camera on Pecan’s way out. “No.”
“Where’s he going?”
“Party.”
“He’s not watching the Bulldogs?!” I gasp. “Holy fuck, how broken is he?”
“Very. He’s approaching the point where it’s going to affect him even being able to play on the team! He’s flunking computer science, and I’m good at tutoring, but I cannot rescue a dead rat,” Callan complains.
“Wow, that’s some imagery,” a new voice drawls.
Callan immediately freezes as Lex takes a seat beside him.
His eyes beg me to 'send help.'
Smirking at him, I sit back in bed. “How are things, Lex?”
“Awesome now that I don’t have to serve that bastard breakfast anymore.”
“Did you hear the news?” Victoria cheers but damn, she sounds and looks exhausted.
“Edinburgh, baby! I brought Champagne,” Shay declares from the hallway.
“No fair! I’m not there to drink any!”
“We can have another party when you’re back,” Victoria tells me with a smile. “How’s Madrid?”
“Beautiful,” I breathe around a yawn. “And alive. And just awesome.”
“I loved Madrid,” Shay concurs. “Mom and I traveled a lot before she got back together with my dad. She’s kind of a…a nomad, so we went all over and I saw a lot of stuff.
"You need to go to the crystal palace. I know it’ll be kinda barren at this time of year, but it’s in this awesome park.El Retiro. I collected so many conkers from there when I was a kid and we sneaked them back with us in our suitcases and they rotted.” Shay pouts. “Mom didn’t prepare me. Said, ‘It was a part and parcel of life. Accepting that things don’t last forever.’”
“Aunt Aela and her words of wisdom,” Victoria tacks on while I open my notes app and log 'crystal palace'into my to-visit list.
“I’m not even sure what conkers are,” Callan admits.
“The nuts of horse chestnut trees. There’s this weird game in the UK. They punch a hole into them and then put them on a string and you try to hit the other person’s conker with yours. It hurts if they rap your knuckles.” He laughs. “Good times.”
“I’ll visit and take pictures,” I promise him, flicking a look at Victoria then mouthing to Shay, “She okay?”
He shoots me a grimace but waggles his hand from side to side.
“Puck’s about to drop,” Callan warns.
