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“I was wondering where you’ve been. But that’s so exciting,” I said. “I know how much you miss home. How was it?”

“So good.” She shared a sleepy smile with me. “I got to see all my friends, and my baby sister is getting so big. She’s nearly crawling now.” She fished her phone out and showed me a picture of a tiny baby with a big toothless grin. The little girl had chubby cheeks with adorable dimples, and she shared Lily’s big brown eyes.

“Aww, she’s so cute,” I said.

“Abby’s pretty sweet,” Lily agreed. “But it makes me sad. She’s changing so much and so quickly. I feel like I’m missing everything because I’m here at Weybridge.”

“That must be hard.”

“It’s not easy. Though sleep is a whole lot harder to come by back home. Abby wakes up crying at like 3:00 A.M. every morning. I definitely don’t miss that here.”

“Every morning? Really?”

“Like clockwork. My mom looks like a zombie these days.”

“I’d probably look like a zombie too if I was constantly woken up in the middle of the night.”

“Tell me about it.” She placed her phone back down as she took another sip of her coffee. “So, how was the rest of your weekend in New York?”

“It was fun,” I said. “I had dinner with my dad on Friday night, but mostly I hung out with Anna, Cress, and the twins. We shopped and did some sightseeing and ate so much good food. We went to a club on Saturday night, but that was just chaotic and not really my thing.”

“I don’t think it would be my thing either,” she agreed.

“Yeah, I don’t recommend it.” I focused down on my granola pot. It was mixed with fresh fruit and yogurt and just about the most delicious thing I’d tried for breakfast so far at school. Everyone else raved about the waffles here, but there were only so many mornings a week you could eat them before you were waffled out.

“So, did anything else happen in New York?” Lily asked. “Like maybe you got closer with a certain twin...”

My head jerked up. “You already heard about that?”

Lily’s eyes were wide, and I could tell she hadn’t been certain if she should believe the rumor. “Amber heard you and Wes were acting all adorable together in the library last night, and then apparently you were seen making out in the corridor.”

“Oh, ah, yeah, we did kiss,” I said. “But it was just a kiss. We’re not dating or anything.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “I’m not ready for another boyfriend.”

“So, why were you kissing Wes then?”

“Uh...” I didn’t exactly have a rational explanation for our kiss. “It seemed like a good idea at the time?”

It had felt like the right thing to do last night, but now I wondered if we’d been a bit hasty. Things between us were getting confusing, and I really didn’t want to screw up our friendship. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to regret it.

“Wow.” She sighed. “I wish I could kiss a hot guy just because I felt like it.”

“Why can’t you?”

Her cheeks flushed and she quickly shook her head. “I’m not nearly brave enough for that.”

“I bet you’re braver than you think.”

“Nope. I couldn’t do it even if one of my book boyfriends showed up at school. And some of them areperfect.”

I laughed. “Yeah, guys in the real world have a lot to live up to if you read.”

“I bet Wes would be pretty close.” There was a suggestive look in her eyes. “He’s super sweet and very good-looking.”

“He is,” I agreed. His personality was nothing like Noah’s, and for that I was grateful. I was totally done with the whole dark and brooding type.