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Owen shrugged. “Or I look good no matter what I’m doing.”

“Men are terrible,” Jazz told Gibby.

“I’m glad you think that way,” Gibby replied. “Means more of you for me.”

Owen reached over and stole one of Seth’s sugar snap peas. Seth looked like he was going to say something but swallowed it down instead as Owen continued with his nonsense. “Why are the dorks being all touchy-feely with each other? Not that I care.”

“Right,” Gibby said. “You don’t care so much that you asked anyway.”

Owen grinned at her, razor sharp. “I’m pretending to be interested. It’s what friends do.” He glanced at Nick. “And exes, I suppose.”

“Where did you come from?” Jazz asked suddenly.

For a moment, Owen’s facade morphed into a look of surprise, before it cooled again. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You weren’t friends with us. With any of us. And then all of a sudden, you were here. Why?”

Owen bit into the sugar snap pea, teeth crunching it cleanly. “You knew me before they did. My parents are donors to the same charities your parents are. We saw each other all the time.”

“Rich people stuff,” Gibby whispered to Seth and Nick.

“Right,” Jazz said, gnawing on her bottom lip. “And I remember seeing you at our country club, but we never talked. Well, except for that one time when you asked if I wanted to go back to your house and see your bed.”

Gibby’s eyes narrowed.

For the first time since Nick had known him, Owen almost looked scared. “Yeah,” he said hastily. “That wasn’t one of my better ideas. But if you could tell your guard dyke that it wasbeforeher, that would be great.”

“It was,” Jazz said, putting her hand on Gibby’s arm, much to Nick’s consternation. He wanted to see what Gibby would have done. He thought it would have been gory. “And I wasn’t the only one he tried to get with.”

Owen shrugged. “What can I say? I’ve got a big… heart. Ain’t that right, Nicky?”

“Ugh,” Nick said. “You know, you’ve got the whole attractive thing going for you, but what most people don’t know is that you’re also terrible. It’s really not the best combination.”

Seth laughed.

Owen narrowed his eyes at Nick. “You didn’t seem to think I was terrible when I put my tongue down your—”

“Gibby,no,” Jazz said.

“Gibby,yes,” Nick muttered, but Gibby let Jazz pull her back down to her seat.

“Look,” Owen said. “I don’t know what you want me to say. You guys are losers, and I happen to like losers.” He looked at Seth. “Everyone at this school is so… fake. You guys keep things interesting. Isn’t that right, Seth?”

“Right,” Seth said through gritted teeth.

Nick was almost positive they weren’t flirting, but that didn’t explain the tension. He knew Seth hadn’t been thrilled when Owen announced that he and Nick were an item, but he’d said as long as Nick was happy, nothing else mattered. Nick hadn’t seen much of Seth during the Great Romance of Nick and Owen, but he figured that was because Seth was busy. And Nick had also been busy, but it’d been the type of busy that made his lips chapped.

Looking back, it was obviously temporary insanity; that was the only thing that made sense.

“So, that’s why I’m here,” Owen said. “Because gosh darn it, I just like you all so much.” He reached across the table and pinched Nick on the cheek. “Doesn’t hurt that you’re all so cute.”

Nick smacked his hand away. “I hate it when you do that.”

“I know,” Owen said, eyes glinting. “But I like it when you’re flustered. Now that that’s all settled, would someone fill me in on what was going on before I got here? Something about Seth being cool, or whatever. Which, honestly, doesn’t seem possible.”

For a moment, Nick thought about changing the subject entirely. He knew his ideas were… well. Sometimes they were out there. And he was going to soldier on even if he had to go it alone, but he didn’t want someone like Owen making fun of him. Because Owen could be all right sometimes, but he could also be mean. Nick had never had it directed toward him, not really, but he’d seen Owen be vicious before, and it’d made him uncomfortable. And while he didn’t think Owen would give him crap for wanting to be an Extraordinary, he didn’t want to risk it.

But it was taken out of Nick’s hands when Jazz said, “Gibby and Nick were almost mugged yesterday, but then they were saved by Shadow Star. And now Nick wants to be an Extraordinary because he thinks it’ll get Shadow Star’s attention.” She frowned. “I still don’t know how that’s going to work.”