Page 19 of Next Time Will Be Our Turn

I watched as that secret smile erupted into a chuckle. “Heck yeah! You’re the shit, Frangipani.”

“Frangi…pani?” I had a hard time keeping my face straight.

“My bad. Your name is a kind of flower, right? Tulip, that was it.”

“It’s most definitely not Tulip.”

“Mangosteen?”

By now, we were both laughing so hard we were doubled over. The laughter made me feel bold, and I said, “Can I ask you a stupid question?”

Without any hints of hesitation, Ellery said, “Go for it.”

“Do you—ah—are you—do you have a girlfriend?”

She cleared her throat, then said, “Yeah.”

My heart sank. “Okay.”

“That’s all you were going to ask?”

“Yeah.” Now that I knew for sure, I didn’t want to know anything about the girlfriend. I didn’t want her to be real.

“Doyouhave a girlfriend?”

“What?” My cheeks burned. “No! I’m not—I’m straight.”

“Cool. So, boyfriend then?”

“No. I had a boyfriend two years ago, when I was fourteen. It lasted eight months, and the most we ever did was make out. He asked to touch my boobs very respectfully, I said no, and he said okay. He was nice.”

“Whoa, okay, hold up.” Ellery looked at me with a curious expression. “Two years ago, you were…fourteen?”

“Yeah?”

“Which makes you sixteen right now?”

I bit back a laugh. “Good job mathing.”

Ellery’s hand flew to her forehead. “Holy shit, Tulip! You’re sixteen? Whaaat?”

“Yeah, that usually happens two years after you turn fourteen.”

“Okay, smart-ass. But really, though, how are you in college at sixteen? Are you an actual child genius?”

Iris did warn me that this would happen. “No. It’s just a different education system. If I were back home, I would be in what’s called junior college for two years before going to college.”

“Damn.” Ellery was still wide-eyed. “I’m talking to a real-life child genius.”

“Did you not hear what I just said? I’m not a genius. All of my classmates graduated high school the same age I did.”

“Too late, sorry, you’re a child genius.”

“I’m sixteen, so I’m definitely not a child.”

“I don’t know, I was definitely a dumb kid at sixteen.”

I gave her a mock glare. “How old are you now?”