Page 70 of Slayer

“But?” I asked.

Luna and Harper shared a look.

“But they’ve been off and on for years. It’s getting old. I thought this time was real,” Luna stated.

Years! That was a lifetime at our age.

Harper nodded. “Unhealthy at this point. Just move on already.”

“But they can’t. They trauma bonded,” Luna added.

“Wait, what? Trauma bonded over what?” I was trying to keep up.

Luna frowned. “Asher’s and Daphne’s parents both died in the New York massacre. I heard Daphne saw him at the memorial yesterday in the city. They probably made up there.”

My stomach dropped. When Asher was bringing flowers to his parents, Daphne was too? It was almost romantic.

I hated it.

“She lost her parents too?”

They both nodded. “After the attack, Asher and Daphne were both in a counseling class the school made them take, like group therapy. I think they got close there.”

My heart twisted. “Well damn.” They sounded like they were meant to be. And I needed to stop envisioning myself with a guy who was taken.

“There are a lot of hot guys here,” I said, and both Luna and Harper perked up at that.

“Now we’re talking. Let’s make a crush list.” Harper rushed to her desk and grabbed a piece of paper and pen.

“Crush list? What are we, thirteen?” Luna asked.

“Kiss, marry, kill. Come on,” Harper begged her.

I smiled, sitting on Harper’s bed as I witnessed a genuine, healthy, innocent friendship. No stealing each other’s things and fighting about it, no sneaking out in the middle of the night or cutting each other down with ugly remarks. All the things in the group home I’d been exposed to. I felt like I was in a movie, and at any minute, the credits were going to roll.

“Kiss…Professor Marcus,” Luna said and her face went bloodred.

“What?” Harper shrieked.

“What? He’s only twenty-three. It’s not crazy.”

“Oh, you’ll never live this down,” Harper promised.

“Marry Byron, of course,” Luna said.

“Of course.” Harper wrote it down.

Luna then said she wanted to kill some guy named Jansen Reeves.

“Okay, Stella. Kiss, marry, kill?” Harper asked me.

I sighed. Kiss Asher, marry Asher, kill Asher for having a girlfriend?

“Hmm, I don’t know anyone’s name yet. Can I take a rain check until next week?” I asked.

“Okay, so kiss Asher Voss. Got it.” She wrote that down.

“No!” I shrieked and tackled her, trying to rip the pen out of her hand. We were both laughing as Luna chanted “Fight, fight, fight.”