Page 52 of Ruthless Court

Somewhere down the beach, Stella is talking to Tristan Vale about a past she kept from me.

Behind us, Sandy has vanished into the party without looking back.

Two girls walking away from me in one night.

That won’t happen again.

Six

HANNAH

A month into Stanford, I know three things.

The athlete quad never sleeps.

My housing transfer request has moved from under review to still under review, which feels less like progress and more like administrative mockery.

And Kane Haverhill is a sophomore.

I learn the last fact against my will.

Everyone talks about him.

At breakfast, two swimmers debate whether he’ll declare for the draft after this season. In the laundry room, a girl from soccer claims she saw him leaving a track athlete’s room before sunrise. Piper says he’s still hung up on Stella Cortez, though Stella has been spending most of her time with Tristan Vale.

Or maybe Vale has been spending time with the Texas soccer girl.

The story changes every twelve hours.

Today’s version has Stella heartbroken, Kane sleeping with a sprinter, and Vale secretly dating Texas.

Piper drops into the chair across from me with her lunch tray.

“I’m telling you, T and T is happening.”

Jules sits beside her. “Tristan and Texas?”

“Who else?”

“People are calling them T and T?”

“They have a hashtag.”

I stab my fork into a piece of lettuce.

Kenzie clutches one hand to her chest. “But the way Vale looked at Stella during practice last week.”

“You don’t attend volleyball practice,” I say.

“I saw a video.”

“A six-second video filmed through a window.”

“It was enough.”

Piper leans across the table. “No, listen. Vale is using Texas to get over Stella. Stella is pretending she doesn’t care, but she does. Kane sees the opening, starts hooking up with the track girl to make Stella jealous, and then⁠—”

I set my tray down hard enough to rattle the silverware.