Cassidy smiled hugely. “Waiting to graduate and move on with my life, same as y’all. Now how come none of you ever mentioned that your school has a coffee cart?”
Cassidy slid onto the bench next to Toby, pulled out a packet of peanut butter crackers, and patted the seat next to her. It was the end of the bench, thank God, and I wondered if she’d left it for me on purpose, so I wouldn’t have to ask anyone to shift down.
“Oh, right,” Toby said a little too theatrically, pretending he’d only just remembered. “You all know Faulkner.”
“Hey,” I said sheepishly, taking the proffered seat. I guess they’d thought I was just passing by, showing the new student around, but when I sat down, Luke gave Toby a significant look, as though my joining the table needed to be preceded by his approval.
I put on my sunglasses and watched everyone pick at their food (lunch starts at 11:30, which is ridiculous, on account of how some nearby food chains are still serving breakfast sandwiches). I hadn’t brought anything, and I glanced toward the lunch line in the lower quad, which was an endless stretch of underclassmen.
“Quick, eat these.” Phoebe Chang slid a plastic container of grocery store cupcakes onto the table, her nose stud sparkling in the sunlight. There was a pink stripe in her hair that I didn’t remember. “I just swiped them from the front office. It’s the school nurse’s birthday.”
She glanced over her shoulder, as though expecting to be apprehended at any moment, and Toby grabbed for one of the vanilla cupcakes.
“Fifty points for irony if we get food poisoning,” he said. “By the way, Phoebe, this is Cassidy. And you know Ezra.”
Phoebe, who was still basking in the glory of her cupcake heist, glanced at me and nearly dropped her iced tea. “Holy crap. I’m five minutes late and I miss the most historic lunch-table switch in the annals of the upper quad.”
“I thought you didn’t do annals, Phoebs,” Luke said with a wink.
Phoebe picked up a cupcake, smashed the frosting down with her tongue, and offered it to Luke with an evil grin. “I don’t know about that. How about some sloppy seconds, Sheppard?”
Luke took the cupcake and bit into it with relish, antagonizing her. I wondered how long they’d been dating. Phoebe, who was not, in fact, a notorious cupcake thief, was actually the editor of the school paper.
“So Ezra,” Phoebe said, sliding onto the bench next to Luke. “How’s life as a teenage vampire?”
Toby snorted, and Cassidy snickered through a mouthful of cupcake.
“Oh come on,” Phoebe continued. “You’re asking for it. Pale skin, black clothes, no lunch, and that whole brooding thing? It’s hilarious. You should get some body glitter and go after an unsuspecting freshman.”
“You should!” Cassidy agreed. “Tell her you’re a dangerous monster. And mention how good her blood smells.”
“Wrong time of the month on that one, and I’m getting slapped,” I muttered, and everyone laughed.
“You’re funny.” Phoebe passed me the last chocolate cupcake. “And I always thought your friends were laughing over their own farts.”
“Ninety percent of Eastwood’s male population laughs over their own farts,” Toby said. “Present company excluded, naturally.”
“How many points would I lose if I farted right now?” Luke asked with a chuckle.
“Don’t even think about it!” Phoebe warned, preemptively scooting away from him.
I peeled the wrapper off my cupcake and glanced toward my old lunch table, where Charlotte had climbed onto Evan’s lap. She was texting, her ponytail spilling over one shoulder. Evan’s hand was on her thigh. Suddenly, she looked up and caught me staring. She nudged Evan, who glanced over as well, clearly wondering what I was doing at a different table. But it turned out they didn’t really care, because half a moment later, they were sucking face.
“Come on, new girl,” Phoebe said, standing up. “Let’s go to the bathroom.”
Once Phoebe and Cassidy had gone, Luke chuckled and shook his head.
“Can someone please explain why my girlfriend is going to the bathroom with Cassidy Thorpe?”
“I know nothing about the intricacies of female pack behavior,” said Sam. “But I do know that we need to expand Friday’s guest list.”
Luke shot Sam a dark look.
“Sorry,” Sam muttered, glancing guiltily in my direction.
“What the heck?” Austin said. “I thought she disappeared, and now she’s at Eastwood? It doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t make sense?” I asked.
“Any of it.” Toby balled up his cupcake wrapper. “But then, Cassidy always liked it that way. You know how I said she was unbeatable at debate? That’s not the half of it. She never seemed to try. She’d show up to tournaments in blatant dress code violations, throw a picnic in an elevator, and not even bother to come to the awards ceremony. She competed for this really snotty prep school, which made it even stranger. But she quit after winning the State Quals last year. Gave up her spot at the State championship four days before the tournament, and the rumor was that she’d left school suddenly, just completely disappeared.”
“Did you ever find out why?” I asked.
“Like anyone can get a straight answer out of Cassidy.” Toby laughed.
“Incoming,” Austin muttered, nodding toward Phoebe and Cassidy.