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with my textbook burden. One female and one male. I opened my door to find Zack and Katie canoodling on her bed, whispering sweet nothings and groping.
    “Oh, hey,” I said, so they would notice me. Both of them looked so wrapped up in each other that I was pretty sure I could have tossed a grenade at them and they wouldn’t have pulled apart.
    “Hey, Lottie.”
    “Hey, Hottie Lottie,” Zack said, winding some of Katie’s hair around his finger and giving me a smug look. She looked both uncomfortable and pissed that he’d called me that. “How’s Sexy Lexie doing?” Oh no. He was not going there. I bottled the rage that threatened to spew from my mouth and instead settled for a sweet smile.
    “She’s doing great. So, I ran into your brother. What’s he doing here?” The momentary flustered look that passed over his face was only mildly satisfying.
    “He skipped a year.” Katie looked mortified, but I couldn’t stop.
    “Was that before or after he was in the state youth facility? I mean, I’m sure they had wonderful educational programs, but it seems kind of odd that he would both be able to skip a grade and then get accepted here, you know, seeing as how he has a criminal record.”
    “After.” His eyes narrowed and I caught a glimpse of the guy who’d stood behind me and tried to get me into that truck so many years ago. “Hey, babe, I’m really sorry about last night, but it was a guy thing, you know?”
    It took a second for Katie to answer. She’d been busy following our verbal ping pong battle.
    “Sure. I understand.”
    “So I was thinking I should take you out tonight to make up for it. This guy I met last night is having a party. You want to go?”
    “I guess,” she said as he kissed her cheek. She didn’t give him a gooey smile, but she still took his hand and let herself be led away.
    “See you later,” she said.
    “Bye, Hottie.” Zack gave me a little finger wave and I wanted to grab them and snap them off one by one, but I just waved back and smiled. After the door closed, I collapsed on the bed. This was going to be a long fucking semester.

 
     
    Chapter Eight
     
     
    Lottie
     
    When my eyes cracked themselves open the next morning, and I saw the stained ceiling tiles above me, I had a panic attack and thought I had been kidnapped. It only lasted for half a second, but it was enough to really wake me up. I turned my head to the side and saw Katie, sprawled out in her pink nest, her mouth open and one foot sticking out of the blanket.
    Attractive, that was.
    I craned my neck to look at my clock. It was only seven thirty. I didn’t have to be up, so I was mentally kicking myself for deciding to be awake so early. I got myself up and ready, trying to be quiet so I didn’t wake Katie.
    It was a strange situation, suddenly being thrown into a forced-intimate situation with a complete stranger. Granted, I could have done the social media stalking, but it was a little too late now. God, what if I had found out about her and Zack this summer? That would have put a damper on my beach days.
    When I came back from the bathroom, Katie was awake.
    “Hey,” I said. I wasn’t a real ‘good morning’ kind of person.
    “Good morning,” she said with a wide yawn.
    “I’m, um, going to breakfast with my brother and Simon. Do you want to come?” I didn’t think she did, but it would have been an asshole move not to ask.
    “No, I’m meeting the girls for brunch later.” I assumed they were probably the same girls I’d met before. I still hadn’t figured out which one was which.
    “Okay, well. See you later.” Awkward moment.
    “Yeah.” I shut the door headed for the stairs down to the second floor.
    I banged on Will and Simon’s door, knowing at least Simon would be awake.
    “Good morning, sunshine,” he said, looking as if he’d already had twelve cups of coffee and maybe some uppers.
    “Hey,” I said, walking in and noticing Will was still sacked out, sprawled all