Okay, that could be cool.
Slowly but surely, Brennan developed a routine. He’d go to the library late at night with nothing else to do, and Cole—sometimes shelving books, sometimes talking a freshman down from dropping out—always made time to stop by wherever Brennan was camped for the night. They always at least chatted for a few minutes about whatever they were working on. Other times, when it was quiet and Cole didn’t have so much to do, he’d sit across from Brennan and they’d talk for ages without realizing. Cole always had stories about shenanigans in the library. Brennan allowed himself to let his guard down.
“Alright, fair’s fair,” Cole said one night.
Brennan was halfway throughNew Moonand debating Cole on the merits of Team Jacob, his pamphlet organizing forgotten. They were at a table instead of the floor for once, books and papers strewn across it, Cole working on homework while Brennan flipped through pamphlets. He was still too nervous to let Cole help him, at least until he got throughreading it all himself. He didn’t know what secrets they held that could scare Cole off. Under the table, Cole’s ankle was nudging Brennan’s in a way that wasprobablyaccidental butdefinitelydistracting.
Cole continued, “I’m making you read my trashy romance, you can make me read anything you want. Hit me with your angstiest poetry recs.” He madegimmemotions with his hands, like,bring it on.
“I’ll have to think about it,” Brennan said. “I need to look at my bookshelf and decide whether to give you something I actually like, or subject you to something appropriately terrible as payback forTwilight.Like Rupi Kaur.”
“Oh, I actually read Rupi Kaur!Milk and Honeywas great.”
“Oh god,” said Brennan. He nudged Cole’s foot with his own. “Say you’re joking.”
“I thought it was nice! I liked the illustrations.” He feigned defensiveness, but he was biting back a smile.
Brennan shook his head slowly. “Now you’re definitely getting a serious recommendation. Maybe homework, too, for that comment.”
“Sure thing, Professor,” Cole said, and winked.
BRENNAN’S JOURNAL
NELLIE ADAMS
I know
She’s a vampire clan leader with Sunny. Friends (?) with Sunny. Terrible with technology.
Questions
Why is she clan leader? What does she want?
Is anybody really that nice?
Research
No social media outside of Facebook, or else they’re under a different name.
No other relevant internet record. There are too many Nellie Adamses.
Facebook is just interacting with the New England vampire group. She’s prettypopular, actually, going off the comment threads, and is constantly telling people to reference the pamphletseven though there’s fucking thousands of them
WAIT, UPDATE: Scouring the internet for an ungodly number of hours looking up every record of a Nellie Adams in Massachusetts finally paid off!!! Found an archived article from Harvard University’s student newspaper highlighting the first few Black women to graduate from Harvard undergrad. Guess whothe fuckis there, looking exactly like she does now, in a photo taken in 1963? Totally wild.
SOON-HEE (SUNNY) KIM
I know
Also clan leader with Nellie? Possibly second-in-command, or maybe just quieter.
Good with tech and social media. Some sort of influencer, according to Nellie. Let’s see!
Questions
What exactly does she do?
How does a vampire become social media famous? Like, shouldn’t that be against the rules? Secrecy and stuff?
