Page 34 of Devil in Disguise

A blonde guy came out of the room next door. He must have heard that last part, because he said, “Problem?” Sounding amused. “Just got here, and you’re already going to jail?”

“Nope,” Dyma said. “I’m on top of it.”

He stuck out a hand. “Fletcher.”

Dyma took it. “Christian?”

He looked startled, then said, “I guess, technically, though I’d call myself more of a pantheologist. Looking for the universal truths, or maybe the lowest common denominator. Whichever.”

“Nice,” Dyma said. “I’m a Taoist, or possibly a Buddhist, or I wish I was. It’s more of a philosophical thing right now. No, that was a joke. Fletcher Christian.”

“Uh …”

“Mutiny on the Bounty.Fletcher Christian led the mutiny. On theBounty.Which was a ship.”

“Oh.” He scratched his chin and grinned. He was good-looking, she happened to notice, tall and broad-shouldered and lean, with blue eyes. A little bit like Harlan, if Harlan’s looks were 60 watts instead of 150, because you couldn’t really compare other guys to Harlan. He said, “It’s a movie. I think.”

“Nope,” she said. “Well, yeah, but it was a book first. And it was real. I shouldn’t have told you, probably, because it didn’t turn out that great. Fletcher Christian ended up on Pitcairn Island after the mutiny. He also probably got eaten.”

“Whoa. By what?”

“More of a ‘who’ than a ‘what.’ There were a bunch of mutineers, and they were hungry, I guess, soooo …” When he winced and laughed again, she said, “I did a paper on the book for this English class. Comparing it toMoby Dick.Which sucked, by the way.” She didn’t say, “AP English,” because unlike her roommates, she wasn’t a dick. “Focusing on the true parts was my attempt to steer into factually-based waters instead of talking about symbolism or whatever. Symbolism makes me itchy. But that’s why I know.”

“Yeah, well,” he said, “I’m computer science. Which means I don’t get symbolism either.”

“Cool,” she said. “Aeronautical and Astronautical.”

“Engineering. Right?”

“Yep.”

“So what was the …” He gestured in the direction her mom had gone.

“What? Pregnant mom? Because, yeah, that was my pregnant mom.”

He grinned again. “Don’t say it like you want to fight me. You got a name?”

“I do. Dyma.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Like Dynamite?”

She sighed. “I was feeling bad about the Fletcher Christian thing, because you’d probably heard it a million times. I’m not feeling bad anymore, because I’ve heardthata million times. No, like Dyma. It’s my name. Given to me by my pregnant mom.”

“Got it. But actually, I was more talking about the …” He made a back-and-forth movement with his hands. “Bailing you out deal.”

“Oh. Yeah, well. My roommates are kind of bitchy. Is living in Bellevue a thing? The Bush School? I’m guessing yes.”

“Don’t ask me,” he said. “I’m from Colfax. Well, near Colfax.”

“Well, hey, Colfax. That’s maybe a hundred fifty miles from me. Wild Horse here.” She didn’t bother explaining Portland. She was figuring out pretty fast that she was from Wild Horse, if only because she was being stubborn about it.

Wait. How could you want to leave Idaho with every fiber of your being, and now want to proclaim that you werefromIdaho with every fiber of said being? Depended how mad you were, she guessed.

“Idaho,” he said. “So we’re both hicks from the sticks?”

“You got it. Are you a freshman too?”

“Nope. Junior. Which room are you?”