Reputation(44)

Traffic swishes peacefully. Alexis’s body presses into mine, and I feel the swell of her rib cage as she breathes. I want to snuggle with her, but I still can’t quite read the situation—how much touching is too much? What is friendly, and what’s romantic? I need to play this just right. As impatient as I am for things to move quickly, I have to bide my time.

“So are you feeling sad?” Alexis asks after we’ve both drunk from the wine bottle.

“Sad? No. Why do you ask?”

“You were at a funeral. Usually, after I’m at a funeral, I’m a little sad.”

“Oh.” I scrunch the scratchy blanket in my hands. My leg is falling asleep from the weight of Alexis’s body, but I don’t dare move. “I feel bad for Sienna, sure. She’s a good friend. I was with her the night that guy was killed, actually.” Although, actually, I wasn’t with Sienna the whole night. I’d found her about twenty minutes after she found out about Greg. She was balled up in a corner, practically catatonic.

“Did you know him?” Alexis asks.

I turn my head away, staring at a smokestack on a nearby roof. “Sort of,” I lie.

“He wrote some sexy e-mails to someone. Have you read them?”

“I’m not really into hack gossip.” I don’t want to talk about this anymore, so I tilt my head back. “Look at that red light up there. Think it’s a spaceship?”

Alexis squints. “No, silly. That’s Mars.”

“Really?” I squint hard. “Nah. It’s so bright.”

Alexis swallows more wine. “The planets are always bright. And that’s definitely Mars because of its reddish tinge.” She gives me a cocky smile. “You’re looking at the president of her astronomy club in high school, so I know for sure.”

“You were an astronomy nerd?” I nudge her. “You’re making that up.”

“I was a nerd through and through.” Alexis laughs. “I took all AP classes, on the Quiz Bowl team, in Model UN . . .”

I’m about to ask what Model UN is—my school didn’t have fancy clubs. But that would make me look stupid. “Well, good for you.”

“Were you a nerd, too?” Alexis asks.

I’m about to tell her yes, but maybe it’s not the right play tonight. “Actually, I was a troublemaker,” I admit. “I can’t even believe I got into Aldrich.”

“Your grades weren’t good?”

“No, they were good. Great, actually. But, I mean, it’s Aldrich.”

Alexis frowns. “Aldrich isn’t that great.”

“Of course it is,” I say proudly, my smile crooked. “I mean, it’s gotta mean something that it was hacked along with Harvard and Yale, right?”

“Yeah, but.” Alexis stretches out her legs. “All that stuff that’s come out in the hack—everyone seems so skeevy, you know? Totally amoral. Half the professors are criminals.”

“Well, I still love it,” I say, feeling something clench in my chest. It’s true. I love Aldrich desperately. I love the things I’ve learned, the taste of the world I’ve received. Maybe that’s because it’s about to be taken away from me.

Alexis chuckles. “Personally, I love people, not old, crumbling institutions run by old, crumbling white dudes.”

I laugh, too. “So, like, you love your boyfriend, then?”

She snorts. “Oh God, no. Not him.” And then she lowers her chin. Her eyelashes flutter. “But I might be into someone else. I’m not sure yet. It’s all really . . . new.”

I watch her carefully. Is she sending a message? If not, then what are we doing up on this roof together, alone?

“Hey,” Alexis suddenly says with momentum. “Come with me to my parents’ place next Tuesday. They live just a few miles to the north.”

I stiffen. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m not great with families.”

“Please?” She grabs my hands. “It’s my grandmother’s ninetieth birthday—I have to go. We’d have so much fun! We could ride the horses, we have a great heated indoor pool, their bar is insane . . .”

The scent of a cigarette drifts up from the street. I try to wrap my mind around what Alexis is asking. Meet her family? What if Alexis’s parents see right through me? What if I do something that shows my roots? It is so far out of my comfort zone I don’t even know how to answer.

“But what about Trip?” I finally say. “Maybe you should take him instead.”

Alexis’s face darkens. “He’s already invited. But I want you to come, too.”

I frown. “Are you sure that makes sense?”

“My parents are crazy about Trip,” Alexis explains in an almost woeful voice. “He’s practically a son-in-law to them already. But I’m tired of him. He’s just . . . I don’t know. Not right.”

I sit back. “Then why are you going out with him?”

She shrugs. “You know what it’s like. When my parents like a guy, they’ll move heaven and earth to make sure I stick with him. My parents have wanted to cut me loose for years, though—they’re real assholes. Breaking up with Trip would be just the straw that breaks their backs.”