I avoided Luca for most of Tuesday, which would have been easier if he hadn't spent years learning exactly where to find me. I changed where I ate lunch, and he appeared ten minutes later carrying his tray. I left chemistry through the side door and found him near the stairs. After academic practice, I waited until nearly everyone else had gone before leaving the library, only to spot him across the courtyard talking to one of his teammates. None of it was deliberate on his part, which somehow made it worse. Westbrook wasn't big enough to avoid someone who occupied half my usual routine. The problem wasn't Luca anyway. The problem was what I'd heard his mother say. His father had given him an easy way out, and Luca had refused to take it.
I kept trying to decide why that bothered me so mu
