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He raised his hand like he was a celebrity who couldn’t be bothered to respond with words.

“So epic,” I said sarcastically. “You stood off to the side and watched your teammates table surf.”

“You know exactly where I was standing?” he asked, that mocking glint in his eyes.

I was mad at myself that, yes, I had noted where he was standing. “You too good to participate in school-sponsored activities to unite the student body?”

“We all are, Finley.”

“Most of us aren’t asked to,” I said. Only the elite.

“The bathroom ad,” he said, bringing us back to his initial topic, apparently the only reason he was talking to me, and the one thing I didn’t want to discuss. “I heard the story of why you broke up. Brutal.”

Of course he had. This was even more embarrassing than being caught in the bathroom with a Sharpie. “Yeah, it’s no big deal.”

“No big deal?” Theo asked, confused or appalled, I couldn’t decide. “The guy publicly skewered you to the whole school. Spelled out all your weaknesses. That’s no big deal?”

I stopped and whirled on him. Somebody walking behind me nearly ran me over but avoided me just in time, adding a “Good thing I’m a quick thinker, Finley” to his sidestep.

My face burned red, but I tried to ignore it. Theo had stopped as well and stood there with an innocent expression.

“Those aren’t my weaknesses. I would’ve killed it as the podcast host. He has zero experience,” I tried to say with confidence, but I sounded like I felt, defeated.

“He hasn’t even started, and he already has the whole school talking about the podcast. Maybe experience doesn’t matter.”

“Obviously,” I said, and continued walking, so over this conversation with a person who I thought would’ve been on my side about this. Maybe Theo didn’t hate Jensen as much as Jensen had claimed. Or maybe Theo was just trying to irritate me. It was working.

The late bell rang overhead, and I glanced around to see the once-busy halls were now empty. I would have to walk into my first day of mentorship late. Great first impression.

“Good luck!” he yelled.

I flipped him off even though it really wasn’t Theo I was mad at. I was frustrated at the entire situation Jensen had created for me. Theo, I could ignore.

He just laughed as he walked away.

“Nice of you to join us, Finley,” Nolen said when I slipped intothe conference room in the library. Headphones and microphones not plugged into anything sat on the table in front of him like we were going to do a mock podcast today.

There was an open chair by Ava on the end of the long table closest to me, so I took it. “Sorry. Got held up.”

“We missed you at the end-of-day announcement Friday too,” Susie said.

“Yeah, I didn’t know we were supposed to be there. Sorry.” My eyes drifted to Jensen with a cold stare.

Surprisingly he was staring straight back and his eyes seemed soft, apologetic even. That confused me more than if I’d been met with an equally cold stare. His actions to this point hadn’t indicated any form of remorse. Maybe he’d analyzed things. I quickly averted my gaze and pulled out a notebook. I turned back the front cover, only to see my revenge list. I shut it and looked around to see if anyone noticed. Everyone was focused up front.

Nolen smiled. “Since we have some new people in the group, for the next week we’re going to cover some basics of podcasting, to help get everyone up to speed.”

“Basics?” I asked, unable to keep my irritation inside. For theonenew person in the room?

Nolen stopped and looked at me. “Everyone benefits from a review session.”

This time I did keep my words in my mouth.

“We’ll make it fun,” Susie said. “Please partner up, and we’ll hand out a review sheet.”

No joke, Jensen met my eyes again. That was not happening.

I turned to Ava. “You want to partner?”