I rolled my eyes.
“I’m serious.”
“I know you’re serious, and that’s why I love you.”
“Then that’s the first point. You love me so much that you can’t bear the thought of us going to two separate colleges next year.”
“You’re right.”
“I am?”
“Yes.” I groaned. “Blaire, I want to go to college with you. It’s just hard, you know?”
“I don’t know.”
“My parents are finally doing better and I hate to disrupt that with a major life change.”
“Seriously? You need to stay if they’re not doing well and stay if they are?”
“I’ve just always had this image of me in a dorm room an hour away so that I can visit them whenever they need me.”
“Even if it’s not the best option for you?” She pointed at me. “For you, Maddie. Not for your parents or your brother or anyone else. For you.”
“But I’m connected to those people you want me to view as separate entities. We are all intertwined.”
“You can’t be forever.”
“Isn’t that what family is?”
“But you have to live your own life at some point.”
“I know.” I patted the papers. “This was very persuasive.”
“I hope so. That thing took me a week to put together. Stanford should hire me to do their pamphlets.”
I giggled.
“Another point,” she said, tapping the page in front of me. “Money. You always said an academic scholarship for Stanford was going to be so much harder to get than one for UCLA. But you don’t need to worry about that anymore. You have money now. You don’t need a scholarship.”
“That’s true.”
“It’s basically Ivy League,” Blaire said. “You worked your tail off for the last four years. You deserve to go to the school you earned.”
My heart gave a jump. It would be pretty amazing to go to Stanford. I had worked hard. I’d always known the possibility of earning a scholarship there was next to none because the competition would be so high. That was one of the many reasons I’d never truly let myself consider it. But now …
“Maddie!” The barista called my name from behind the counter.
“I’ll go get our drinks.” I stood up and went to the counter, leaving Blaire plotting behind me. I was sure she’d have some new angle by the time I sat down. I picked up our drinks and turned, nearly running cups-first into someone. I saved our drinks and his shirt just in time.
“Sorry,” I said.
“Maddie?”
I met his eyes. “Seth? Hi!” In my excitement I hugged him with my hands full of drinks.
“I thought I heard them say your name, but I didn’t recognize you at first. You’re not wearing your glasses. And you’re blond!”
“I’m not. And … yeah, I am.”
“It looks good.”
“Thanks. What are you doing here?”
“I told you I study at Starbucks.” He smirked at me like I had wound up here at his Starbucks on purpose.
“Oh, right. I’d forgotten.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Blaire, her eyebrows raised. “Come meet my friend.”
He followed me back to our table where I set the drinks down.
“Blaire, this is Zoo Seth. Seth, this is my best friend, Blaire.”
Seth smiled. “We’re still going with Zoo Seth?”
“I needed to give her context.”
“Because I’ve heard stories about you. Now I have a face,” Blaire said.
“I’m scared to hear what stories,” Seth replied.
I waved my hand through the air. “Oh, you know, the classics, dentures and vomit and that time you let the macaw out of the cage.”
He cringed. “You’re going way back now. And for the record, the cage opened itself.”
I spun a chair from another table across the floor until it was between us, then patted it. “Have a seat.”
Seth pointed back to the other side of the store. “I should go grab my stuff. I’ve taken over a booth with my books. I’ll be right back.”
When he left I quickly sat down and leaned forward to whisper to Blaire. “Don’t say anything about the lottery thing. I haven’t told him.”
“Oh, that small thing?” she said, giving me a look of incredulity.
“It’s a long story. I’ll fill you in later.” It really wasn’t a long story. I hadn’t told Seth, then I hadn’t told him some more. Now it was way past appropriate timing. That was the story.
“I won’t say anything.”
“Thank you.”
Seth came back and set a book on the table and his bag on the floor, then lowered himself into the chair between Blaire and me. “Did Maddie also tell you that I’m really bad at Algebra II?” He pointed at the book.
“No, she didn’t.”
“You never told me you were really bad at Algebra II,” I said, sliding the book to face me.
“I didn’t? Huh. I probably didn’t want you to judge me.”
My mouth fell open and I started to object when he winked at me. I gave a breathy huff instead.
I pushed his book back toward him and the Stanford packet that was underneath it came into view. Seth picked up the packet and looked at the heading of the first page, which said in bold print, all caps: MADDIE IS GOING TO STANFORD AND THIS IS WHY.
He handed me the packet. “You’re going to Stanford?”
“And this is why,” I said with a smile.
“Yes, Seth,” Blaire said. “Help me convince Maddie to go to Stanford.”
“The one six hours north of here?”
“Is there another one?” I asked.
“Why do you need convincing?” He met my eyes, his expression so intense it made me blush a little.
“I … I’m just … I have a lot of choices.” I had four choices in my drawer so far. All in Southern California. None of them Stanford. None of them UCLA either, though.
“I’m sure every school wants you,” he said.
Blaire mouthed something at me across the table but I had no idea what.
“No. I mean, I don’t. I have. I didn’t apply to all of them. It costs money to apply so at the time I had to narrow it down.” Oh my gosh, why was I so flustered?
Blaire started leafing through Seth’s Algebra book.
“She’s more addicted to schoolwork than I am,” I whispered, happy for the distraction.
“I am not,” Blaire said, but kept turning pages.
Seth smiled. He really did have the best smile. And cheekbones. They were high and he had a great jaw line actually. He had really full lips, too. I shook my head and forced myself to look away.
“Is this what you’re working on?” Blaire asked, holding up a folded piece of binder paper she had found stuck between two pages.
“And she’s super nosy, too,” I said.
“Yes,” Seth answered her. “Probability.”
“Probability?” I piped up.
Blaire laughed. “Now who’s interested? That’s Maddie’s favorite unit.”
“You have a favorite Algebra unit?” Seth asked.
“Doesn’t everybody?”
“No, I can very firmly say no to that question. Maybe I can say that it’s my least favorite section. I don’t understand how Pascal’s triangle works with it.”
I took a sip of my latte, then flipped Seth’s book and paper toward me.
Blaire chuckled. “You’re in for it now, Seth.”
Thirty minutes later, I worried that Blaire and I had overwhelmed Seth. We were all three hovered over his book, shoulder to shoulder. Blaire and I had both explained the concept in different ways and he seemed to be getting the hang of it, but I wasn’t sure.
“I’m going to get a refill,” Blaire said, standing. “Anyone else want anything?”
I asked for another latte and Seth shook his head. When Blaire was gone, I pointed to the numbered question on the textbook. “Do you understand this one yet?”