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Adonis laughed. He didn’t seem shocked by these accusations. Not even a little.

But she had to be mistaken. “No, Mom...”

“I told you all about him,” my mom said. “He never did his assignments right and he changed that nice bumper sticker on my board...”

RJ laughed. “A woman’s place is in the kitchen? That was a solid prank.”

Wait. I did remember her talking about this bad student. “The Harry Potter essay kid?” I asked. He hadn’t followed the assignment. And she’d been very annoyed. But the essay had been very funny. I swallowed hard. It had been very Adonis.

“Yes!” my mom said. “That kid. Dimitri.” She pointed to Adonis. “Him.”

Adonis laughed. He didn’t deny it. He just smiled at her. Kind of in the way he smiled at me.

I shook my head. After hearing the stories of her bad student, I’d wondered if he’d had a crush on my mom. Like how I’d had a crush on Mr. Halifax.

I stared at Adonis smiling at my mom.

No.

No, no, no.

“Aw, you talked about me with your family, Miss H?” Adonis said. “I’m honored.”

“It’s Mrs. Hunter!”

“Miss Hunter,” Adonis said.

“Get out of my home, Dimitri!”

“Aw, don’t be that way, Daphne,” he said.

My mom looked so flustered.

I opened my mouth and closed it again. “Adonis.” I grabbed his arm. “Tell me she’s mistaken. Tell me you don’t know my mom.” It felt like my world was turning upside down.

“Oh, I go way back with your mom,” Adonis said. “Isn’t that right, Miss H? And she’s just kidding. I was definitely her favorite student. Don’t worry, Aphrodite. Your mom loves me.”

I didn’t know how I was supposed to respond to that!

My mom’s face turned red. “Rob.” She grabbed my dad’s arm. “I need that boy out of my house. Right now.”

My eyes ping-ponged back and forth between my mom and Adonis. This wasn’t happening. Adonis couldn’t like my mom. Because he liked me. My stomach churned.

Maybe he had an evil twin or something?

But why was Adonis staring at my mom like he did know her? And like he was enjoying this attention from her?

And why was he answering to the name Dimitri?!

“Adonis,” I said. “Why is my mom calling you Dimitri?”

He shrugged. “It’s my middle name. I’ve been kicked out of so many schools that I have to change it up a bit in order to get into new places.”

I opened my mouth and closed it again. So it was true? All of it? It felt like my heart was beating in my throat.

Adonis knew my mom.

I thought about when we first met. When he’d come up to me in that club. How he said I looked like someone he could never have. Was he talking about my mother?!