“So prickly!” Quin crooned. “And here I just came to congratulate you. I’ll admit, I was skeptical. I mean, amuseumfield trip? For seniors? Especially when we had a hundred better options. Like a theme park. Beach. A cruise. Trip to a private island—”
“I get it.”
“But look at this,” Quin waved at the room. “It’s charming. Educational. And veryyou.”
Riya couldn’t tell whether it was a compliment or an insult?
“Just how do you do it? Student Council, field trips, managing...” Quin’s gaze flicked to Kian again.“Everything.”
Thatwas the moment Riya felt it shift. Kian’s mood, curdling. The easy warmth from earlier—gone. Replaced by something tight and electric, simmering just beneath his skin.
Her chest cinched tightly.
And for a flicker of a second, she saw Kian as he used to be. Or rather, how she used to see him: the boy everyone avoided. The boy who’d gotten into fights, snarled at teachers, wrecked Mel’s science project without blinking.
“Anyway,” Riya interrupted, trying to redirect, “we’re waiting for someone at the moment, so if you could just—”
“Ah, there you are,” said Andrew, strolling up.
Mel let out a tiny squeak, darting behind Riya.
“Odd little group,” Andrew remarked cheerfully. He smiled at Mel. “Hi, Mel.”
“We’re going to head to the next exhibit,” Riya announced. “I really want to check out the, uh, sword exhibit, but Mel—you said you wanted to keep looking atSunflowers, right?”
Mel blinked rapidly. “Oh! Yes. I did say that,” she spluttered. “I, um, really like Van Gogh.”
Andrew grinned. “I like Van Gogh, too. Bit of a sorry sort, though. Isn’t he the one who cut off his ear?”
“Just the earlobe, I think,” Mel said faintly.
“I heard he ate yellow paint because he thought it would make him happy,” Quin added.
“Swords!” Riya said abruptly. “We should look at swords.Except for Mel and Andrew, who should look atSunflowers. Alone.” She glanced at Kian.
“Riya, you look tense.” Quin tilted their head. “Everything okay?”
Before she could answer, Andrew said. “Actually, while you’re both here, I had a question about Prom. Have you decided on the theme yet?”
Mel straightened, her hopeful gaze stuck to Andrew like Velcro.
Of course. Student Council was supposed to finalize a theme by next week. Which would have happened already if Quin hadn’t dragged their feet the entire process with talk of needing “creative mood boarding,” which really just meant Quin drawing rude caricatures of every member of Student Council on the whiteboard.
“Ah,” they said, scratching their chin. “Asking the hard-hitting questions here.”
“It wouldn’t be so hard-hitting if we’d started brainstorming earlier,” Riya muttered.
“Well, if you haven’t landed on a theme yet,” Kian said suddenly, “why not outer space?”
Riya turned toward him, startled. He wasn’t even looking at the others. Just her. Soft and sincere.
Quin’s brow arched. “Oh? A nod to our resident astrophysicist?”
“What if it is?” Kian replied.
“What a sweet boyfriend you are.”
“It’s a nice idea, Kian,” interjected Riya, “but we can’t do a theme just becauseI’dlike it.” She added, under her breath: “And, for the record, he’snotmy boyfriend.”
