Page 120 of Lovers Like Us
Donnelly smirks. “He’s not cool.” He never looks up from his notebook. “You know he was inhonor societyatYale.”
“That ‘society’ was actually a program.” I use air-quotes.
“Samething.”
“No,” I say matter-of-factly. “One you show up and participate in events. The other, you just take classes with anHbeside the number.” I snatch his notebook, and his blue eyes narrow. “And stop shitting on people who try inschool.”
He yanks the notebook back. “I tried. Still didn’t dowell.”
“Ditto,” Luna says and uses one of his Sharpies to draw on herkneecap.
“Didn’t graduate either,” Donnelly adds and erases some of hissketch.
Luna smudges the black ink on her kneecap. “From highschool?”
“Yeah.”
Luna glances at him, then me. “I think I’d be okay without highschool.”
She has a trust fund. She would be fine, but something needs to motivate her to finish this goal. Most people don’t have the luxury ofquitting.
I gesture for the Sharpie that she caps. “Give me.” She tosses it, and I bite off the cap and outstretch her arm on the table. I write the first three lyrics to “Dreams” by The Cranberries across the inside of herarm.
I glance up at Luna. “Being a high school drop-out with no GED issad.”
Donnelly grins. “You tell her,Farrow.”
“I could secretly be a sad alien,” she tells us with a goofy smile. “My weapon is my tearducts.”
Hales.I startsmiling.
Donnelly returns to his sketch. “Sad Alien would be a cool bandname.”
“Uh-huh, think of the Sad Alien merch. Plushies, toothbrushes, condoms, dildos—slogan:I want a sad alien inme.”
Ilaugh.
“Girl, take my money,” Donnelly says, accentthick.
Luna admires the lyrics on her arm after I finish, then she randomly asks, “Were you two friends withJ.P.?”
I cap the pen. “No. I didn’t like theguy.”
“Me either,” Donnellysays.
“He never believed half of what I ever told him. He would always chuckle with anokay,huh-huhlike I was stupid.” Luna bites her thumbnail. “But I feel guilty that he got fired.” In a unanimous vote, the Tri-Force terminated J.P.tonight.
I’m notcomplaining.
“Shit happens,” I say. “Your brother, your parents, and the whole security team would rather you had someone youtrusted.”
Donnellynods.
Quinn is now Luna’s 24/7 bodyguard. When Akara made the announcement tonight, Oscar grabbed his brother by the cheeks and said, “You’re ready for this, little bro. I taught you all Iknow.”
“I think you meanItaught him everything,” I said. I wasn’t that excited about the shift. Not just because Quinn is easy to be around, but because Thatcher is still temporarily Jane’s bodyguard. I thought he’d be gone by now. Back toEpsilon.
He even made the effort to remind me, “Nothing has changed. I’m still watching you andMaximoff.”
