Keeley couldn’t believe she was about to tell her story to a perfect stranger, but somehow Talon felt like more than that now. “It’s like this, okay? One day, when we were little, our dad took us to the fair. There was a Batman eraser Zach wanted at one of the booths. It was a prize, at that game where you try to knock over a pyramid of bottles? Anyway, Zach tried again and again but he kept losing. Our dad offered to win it for him, but Zach refused. He wanted to be the one.” He was so small, he could barely see over the booth. She remembered the frustration on his face, then the glint of determination when their dad said he should give up. “But he did it. He never gave up and he knocked down all the bottles and won.”
“All that over an eraser?”
“Don’t make fun of him,” she threatened. She admired her brother’s focus. And that eraser meant more to her than Talon could ever know. During their first day of kindergarten, she had been terrified because she was going to be separated from Zach for the first time. He gave her that eraser, claiming it had magical powers to protect her. “He isn’t perfect, but he’s my brother. No one, and I mean no one, gets to make fun of him.”
“I get it,” Talon said, his voice subdued. “I mean, I’m an only child so I don’t fully understand, but okay. I’m actually kind of jealous.”
Keeley was surprised he admitted that. “What about your parents? Are you close to them?”
There was a short pause. “We’re close but not like that.”
There was a stretch of silence. She didn’t want the conversation to end, so she said the first thing that popped in her mind. “I hate math. I think it was put on this earth to torture me. What’s the point, you know?”
If he was surprised by the change, he didn’t show it. “I think it’s pretty useful.”
“Really? I’m taking AP stats and the teacher assigned us a year’s worth of problems this summer. I don’t see how plotting a graph is going to help me in the future.”
“You’re taking AP classes?”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”
“I’m in some AP classes, too. But at my school, we take stats our junior year, not senior. I can help if you want,” he offered. “I just finished the class last year.”
She’d take all the help she could get. “Do you have time?”
“Yeah. The guys are watching a movie, but I’ve already seen it.”
She knew team bonding was important. Zach was adamant about it. “It’s fine. I don’t want you to miss out.”
“Nah. It’s a stupid movie. I planned to skip it anyway.”
“If you’re sure …”
“Baby doll, do I say stuff I don’t mean?”
She huffed out a laugh. “No.”
“There you go. Now, what’s the problem?”
For the next hour, he actually helped her through her problems. She kept expecting him to get bored and leave, but he didn’t. She couldn’t believe it when they were done. They’d completed the whole assignment. “We did it! I thought it’d take me days to finish.”
“I told you it wasn’t that hard.”
That wasn’t true, Keeley thought. Statistics was hard. He was the reason it was easy. “You explained it so I actually understood the steps. No one’s been able to do that before.”
“All in a day’s work,” he joked. “It was fun.”
“Let’s not go that far.”
“It couldn’t have been that awful. You were laughing.”
“Because you kept singing the formulas and made me sing along, too!”
“It helped you remember, didn’t it? There’s a method to my madness.”
Keeley knew this was crazy, maybe even dangerous, but she had an idea. “Do you want to go to Barnett with me?” If he could make math enjoyable, maybe he could make a college tour fun as well. And there was no pressure to pretend like she cared, because he wasn’t interested in Barnett either.
A startled silence. “Is this a serious offer?”
“Dead serious. The tour’s coming up soon.”
“And it would just be the two of us?”
Suddenly, she realized how the invitation sounded. It was forward. Very forward. But she didn’t regret it either. “Well, us and the rest of Barnett. But if you don’t want to go, no biggie.”
“No. I think it would be fun. I look forward to it.”
Interestingly enough, now she did, too.
Two days later, Keeley shuffled into Nicky’s house with two duffels and a sleeping bag. She dropped the bags to the ground and rotated her shoulders. “That feels so good. I brought hair, makeup and my entire nail polish collection. I couldn’t narrow it down.”
Nicky clapped her hands. “I’m so excited for Monday. First day of school is always the best. We have to look killer. Never know who’s going to be in our classes.”
Keeley lined up the nail polishes on the coffee table. “Hopefully we’ll have classes together. Last year sucked. I love that you went to the office and complained.”
“No harm in trying, right?”
Keeley held up the pale pink and the navy blue. “Which one? I plan on wearing my jeans and that blue tank Mom got me for my birthday.”
“You always wear that. You should dress up a little. Wait. I have the perfect skirt for you.” Nicky showed her a white floral skirt. “Before you say no, you could wear it with some sneakers to make it less fancy.”
It wasn’t her, but it was cute. And the beginning of a school year was the perfect time to try something different. “Okay, let’s do it.”
While they were painting their nails, Nicky confided about one of the guys in her study group. “He totally sees me as a little sister. It sucks. He’s smart and hot and everything I want in a guy. I’m in love and I don’t know what to do.”
Keeley couldn’t take her seriously. “You say that about a different guy every month.”
“I’m not that bad,” protested Nicky.
“What about Alec Davidson? You were convinced you were soul mates till he came out as gay. And remember David Gaston? You thought he was the ‘one,’ so we volunteered at the animal shelter … and so did his girlfriend.”
“Okay, okay!” Nicky interrupted. “I admit I may have been a little boy obsessed, but I’m older now. Wiser.”
“And you have polish on your cheek.” Keeley giggled.
Sheepishly, Nicky wiped it off. “So what about you? Any summer crushes?”
Keeley thought of Talon. Then shook her head. “I’m barely leaving the house,” she complained. “Well, I’m driving Zach but that doesn’t count.”
“I still don’t get why you bail him out so much.”
“Not you, too,” Keeley muttered, slumping down. “You sound exactly like Talon.”
“It’s a valid question.” Nicky stretched out on the couch. “Speaking of Talon, I bet you’ll be happy to get rid of his phone. Tomorrow’s the day, right? Have you guys set up a time and place?”
She didn’t know what she was feeling but it wasn’t happy. She was used to talking to Talon every day. Would that disappear when they switched back phones? “We’re going to meet at Java Hut. I don’t know what time, though. I texted him this morning, but he has practice till five and then dinner at six, so I probably won’t hear from him till later.”
Nicky raised an eyebrow. “You know his schedule?”
Keeley flushed. “We’ve been forwarding texts and voice mails all week. Of course I know his schedule.”