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“Actually, Jesse shares a dorm with his cousins,” Raina said, choosing her words purposefully. “They’re across the hall on the boys’ side.”
Silence. More silence. Raina scratched her leg, looking up anxiously to see Nicole doing the exact same thing.
“I didn’t realize Jesse was a boy,” her mother said finally.
“To be honest, we sort of think of him as one of the girls at this point,” Nicole chimed in. “Jesse and I—and his cousin Zara—all grew up together, so Jesse spent his weekends playing with Barbies and Care Bears.”
That didn’t surprise Raina in the slightest. If anything, she was more shocked Zara had convinced Nicole to play along.
“Ema, we’ve got class in a few minutes. We’ll see you Sunday?”
“Sounds good. Oh, and Raina, I’ve found you a ride for up here. One of my friends lives near your school and is visiting her aunt and uncle in the next town over. She’ll pick you up and drop you off at our house.”
“That sounds great.” The lie slipped through her mouth easily. A two hour car ride with one of her mom’s cronies, who would report on every word said? It was Raina’s most dreaded nightmare. But if Sarah Cohen had decided on something, there was no changing her mind. “Okay Ema, we’ve got to get to class. Talk to you later!” She hung up without waiting for a response.
Nicole made a face. “Hey, Cohen?”
“Yes?”
Nicole’s smirk was painted across her ruby-red lips, a glimpse of teeth showing as a predatory look appeared in her eyes. “Shotgun.”
* * *
“Come in, Mr. Ashcroft.”
Jesse would be forever impressed by how his teacher managed to identify him without looking up from her desk. “Hey, Mrs. D. You have a minute?”
“I’m always available,” Mrs. Dixon pushed aside the papers she was grading. “How may I be of assistance?”
“Mr. Kingston mentioned something in history the other day,” Jesse began, “and he suggested that we ask you about it. He said that a warm environment could be a trigger for romance, specifically in Italy. So I was wondering, is that really what happened inRomeo and Juliet?”
Mrs. Dixon nodded slowly. “Romeo and Julietis an interesting case because the main characters knew each other for such a short time. Let’s take weather out of the equation for a second—how often do you talk to your best friends?”
Jesse frowned but answered, “Every day. We all go to school here, so I see them all the time.”
“And that is precisely my point. An emotional connection is easier to grow between two people who interact regularly. Emotions and feelings are a very personal thing, so why would you want to open up to someone who lives miles away?”
“But they only knew each other for four days,” Jesse protested.
Mrs. Dixon tilted her head, her sharp eyes trained on Jesse. “Have you ever felt an instant connection with someone? A connection you might not be able to explain?”
Raina.Jesse wasn’t sure how to explain that to his teacher—or if he even wanted to—but he forged ahead as best he could. “Let’s say you had that connection, and then something went badly, and now you don’t know how you feel about that person.”
“Then you have to decide—is your connection worth forgiving the person for what they did? Or are you willing to lose them?”
Unable to answer, Jesse merely nodded and said his goodbyes to his teacher. But as he returned to his dorm, Mrs. Dixon’s words couldn’t escape his thoughts. InRomeo and Juliet, Juliet became estranged from her parents after refusing to marry the man they chose, and she died without reconciling their relationship. The best way to mull over something was to sleep it out, and that was exactly what he would do. Then he’d wake up, get ready to go to Raina’s, and have this all figured out.
Hopefully.
“Are we ready to leave, Agent Rainbow?” Jesse hissed into his walkie-talkie a few hours later, crouching behind the door to his room.
A gift from Theo’s mom one Christmas, the trio of communication devices had been lying in his closet until he’d unearthed them the night before. They were pretty decent for walkie-talkies, stretching across the entire common room and dormitory area. Of course, that might have been due to the price tag, which Jesse remembered being in the hundreds.
He could practically hear Raina rolling her eyes. They might not be close anymore, but Jesse still knew her well. “Yes, Jesse, I’m ready.”
“A-hem,” Jesse said sternly, walking over to his bed. He put down the walkie-talkie to pick up his watch, wrapping it around his wrist. “Code names, please.”
Raina sighed, a hissing noise coming through the walkie-talkie. “Yes, Agent Super-Sexy.”
