Page 82 of On His Mind

“Oh, like you with your little romance novels in class with your phone in it, texting God knows who?”

Mara throws her head back and laughs. And while they continue their conversation, my thoughts can’t take it. The guys think that Percy only speaks French? Is it his first language? Or did he take a college course, and the guys are giving him grief? I don’t even know that much about him, and I’ve been his friend for a year and a half. I’ve been treasuring a boy I know almost nothing about. And Gianna just handed me more of him in ten minutes than I collected in eighteen months.

I sit there, hold my cup, and listen for anything else I might not know. But they’re already onto the next thing.

“Okay, but the rules,” Gianna says, and the girls groan like they’ve heard this is coming. “Have I told you about the rules? There’s a whiteboard.”

“A whiteboard,” Mara questions.

“With their house rules on it written out like a manifesto.” Gianna sets her glass down so she can use both hands. “Because they’re very serious athletes with very serious futures, and they’ve decided that girls are a threat to the mission.”

“Oh my god.”

“I’m not joking. Okay—” she ticks them off on her fingers. “Rule one. No falling in love before the draft.”

Mara puts her face in a pillow.

“Rule two. No serious girlfriends in the house.” Gianna’s really enjoying it now. “Rule three — and this one’s personal — no teammates’ sisters. Which, excuse me? I’m right here. I’m a teammate’s sister. I find that deeply insulting and also, frankly, who’s asking—”

“That is the most fragile thing I’ve ever heard,” Lucy says from the floor, and it’s the most she’s said all night, and it gets the biggest laugh.

“Right?” Gianna’s delighted. “Five boys who think their little hearts are so powerful they had to make a law. Like any of them could hold down a relationship anyway. Stanley’s in love with a different girl every week—”

And I go still because I have spent a year and a half keeping him a secret. I thought the secrecy was mine. I thought I was the one with the wall and the reasons. I thought I was hiding him.

I’ve seen the rules before and laughed. I didn’t know it was that serious of a thing. This whole time, there have been house rules, and he’s following them. He has been keepingmea secret.

“—Penelope, back me up, the sister thing is insane, right?”

“It’s insane,” I say, and my voice comes out level. I even smile.

Gianna says, “Thank you.”

She pours more wine, and the conversation moves onto classes and what professors are rumored to be good and bad.

“What’re you majoring in, Penelope?” Mara asks.

The question makes my throat tight. “Architecture.” There was a time when I was so proud to say that aloud, and now, it feels off.

Gianna says, “Oh, I heard you have to draw for that.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Mara makes a sound. “I’m so happy I’m doing liberals.”

Gianna gives her a face. “I did mine in high school.”

Mara teases, “Okay, smartie pants. Whatever.”

They laugh while Lucy and I nervously watch them. They both have the same energy, and I’m not sure if it’s going to spark into a fight or laughter. They stare at each other and belt out a big laugh. Lucy and I look at each other and smirk.

Then Gianna says, “Oh my god. I need to put on the game.”

Lucy quietly adjusts herself on the couch, looking up at the TV. Gianna uses her phone to put the hockey game on the screen. Within a second, it pops up.

“You stream the games?” Mara mocks.

“Yeah. I watch all of my brother’s games.” She says it easily like it’s given.