River glances at me. “Sorry,” he says in a low voice. “I don’t even know where that came from, Pandora.”
“You don’t know why you slipped up when talking to the third person in our group who happens to be female?” I ask, forcing myself to grin. “You’re kind of slow, River.”
“I am,” he agrees. “I’ll walk up with her anyway.” He trots off after her, even though we both know that Samantha’s not going to thank him for it.
I head into the building and go to the mailboxes. Mine’s got the package I was waiting for, as well as a bunch of junk. I grab it all and go back to the SUV, dropping the mail onto the passenger seat while I wait.
I tear the packing envelope open and pull out the t-shirt. It has a repeating snake pattern in neon colors, and the moment I’d seen it I’d known I had to have it.
Speaking of packages, though.
I still have Papa’s present sitting unopened underneath my seat.
I don’t know why I’m afraid to open it.
He wouldn’t give me anything bad.
But he hadn’t wanted to see my reaction, and he hadn’t wanted me to open it in front of anyone, so whatever it is, Mama wouldn’t approve. Daddy wouldn’t approve.
Maybe I won’t approve.
I drop the t-shirt onto the passenger seat and pull the present out.It’s heavy, but rattling it doesn’t produce any sounds. For all his joking, I don’t think Papa would have given me a sex toy.
Also, if he had, he probably would have wanted me to open it in front of Mama to scandalize both of us.
I place my neon pink nail against the tape.
Before I can make a decision, River returns. I place the present in the passenger seat with my new t-shirt and open the door so I can talk to him.
“She’s seriously okay?” I ask him. “Nobody trashed our dorms while we were gone?”
River shakes his head. “She barely let me look inside, but it didn’t seem to be disturbed or anything. I don’t know how she’s doing beyond that, though. She went straight to her room.”
“I’ll talk to her later,” I say. “She probably wants a break from all the Pavone craziness.”
Yes, I do know that my family is a lot for people who didn’t grow up with them.
“She wouldn’t be the only one,” River deadpans, though he offers me a crooked smile. “But it wasn’t so bad. Only your uncle went out of his way to try to intimidate me after the first day, but since he also said he’d help with my mom… I won’t complain.”
“I think you did just complain,” I point out. “Anyway. Asch and Blaze probably miss us. Or me. You think they miss you? Are you going to be making out with them as soon as you get back to the house?”
“I don’t think they missed me, and I don’t think either of them wants to kiss me,” River says. He glances at the pile of mail. “What’s that?”
“Papa’s present to me,” I answer. “No, I don’t know what’s inside. I’m saving it for a surprising occasion.”
He shakes his head. “I meant the letter.” He gestures to the letter on the top, which has the official university seal on it.
I hadn’t even noticed it earlier. I wasn’t expecting anything fromthe school. I take the envelope and score my nail along the top to open it.
Dear Ms. Pandora Pavone,
It has come to our attention that…
Huh. This looks really boring. So boring that the letters and words are melding together into one amorphous blob.
“I think it’s junk mail,” I declare. I pass it to River. “Throw this in the trash for me.”
“I don’t think it’s junk mail,” he says. “I’m reading it.” After the half-assed warning, he starts to read it, then his eyebrows shoot up. “The dean wants to see you, Pandora. That’s not junk mail.”
