Page 10

BABY DONKEY SITTERS CLUB

TEMPEST

I speed-walked across campus, mentally cursing Flynn Kingman and his annoying habit of being.

.. not annoying. It would be so much easier if he was just another dumb jock who thought Shakespeare wrote greeting cards.

Instead, he had to go and be perceptive and intelligent and actually understand my favorite play.

And that thing about romance novels? About how they’re like Shakespeare, writing for everyone? I had lit professors who didn’t make that connection. But Flynn just casually drops it into conversation, like he isn’t completely upending everything I thought I knew about him.

Plus, he had to mention my book. Well, he didn’t know it was my book. But still. The way he talked about it, like it was something worth reading, something his sister and sister-in-law were excited about...

Parker’ s text buzzed again.

Parker: Donkey EMERGENCY is escalating!!! Get home NOW!!!

Right. Focus. Donkey crisis first, Flynn Kingman crisis later.

I pushed through the sorority house doors and took the back stairs two at a time. The last thing I expected when I burst into my room was giggles and coos.

Bettie, the president of the sorority, did something very unpresidential. She squealed and grabbed me into a big hug. “The secret donkey mamá.”

I froze in her arms, my heart stopped, started again, and sped up to near panic speed. At least six of my sorority sisters were crowded into my room, all of them seniors, all of them staring at the baby donkey who was currently being hand-fed carrots by my roommate, Parker.

“I’m so sorry,” Parker said, though she didn’t look particularly sorry. “He got excited when Bettie came to borrow my economics notes and started making these little happy noises and?—”

“He’s so cute,” Hannah reached out to scratch behind his ears. “Why didn’t you tell us you were harboring a farm animal, most illegally? We could have helped.”

“I...” I looked from face to face, waiting for someone to be angry, to threaten to report me to the house manager. Instead, I found only delighted grins. “It’s temporary. The animal sanctuary flooded and?—”

“Ohmygod, is this the one from the viral video?” Alice, our rush chair, pushed forward. “The one Flynn Kingman was chasing at the pep rally? ”

“The very same.” Hannah grinned. “I saw the two of you together at the coffee shop.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

“Nothing happened.” I dropped my bag and shut the door quickly. “We were just studying.”

Hannah’s grin widened. “There was definitely flirting.”

“There was... negotiating. About tutoring.” I tried to sound stern, but it was hard when the baby donkey had noticed my return and was making his way over, stumbling a bit on his gangly legs. “Which isn’t happening, by the way.”

“Because he doesn’t need it,” Bettie said. “I have business econ with him. He’s actually really smart.”

“I know.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.

Six pairs of eyebrows shot up.

“Not that it matters,” I added quickly. “Look, about the donkey?—”

“We’re already working on it.” Alice held up her phone, showing a color-coded spreadsheet. “Parker’s been doing all the donkey-sitting while you’re in class or at the sanctuary, and vicey-versa, but we can totally take shifts so you two can have social lives too.”

“I can’t ask you to?—”

“You’re not asking. We’re telling.” Bettie stepped forward, putting her hands on my shoulders. “Tempest. Love. Light of my life. You cannot keep a secret baby donkey in your room without letting us help. It’s, like, against the sister code or something.”

“Is there a sister code about adorable livestock?”

“There is now.” She steered me toward my bed and sat me down. “Now. Tell us everything. Starting with why Flynn Kingman was flirting with you over coffee.”

“He didn’t—” I started, but the donkey chose that moment to rest his head on my knee and look up at me with those big brown eyes. “Fine. But first we need to figure out how to keep this quiet. If Lindsey finds out...”

Lindsey was a junior, and the house manager. She would definitely not approve of our newest resident.

“On it.” Hannah pulled out her own phone. “I made a group chat. Operation Baby Donkey Sitters Club is officially a go.”

I looked around at their eager faces, feeling something tight in my chest loosen. I’d been so worried about keeping secrets, the donkey, my writing, my general existence, that I’d forgotten what it was like to let people help.

“Okay,” I said finally. “But we need some ground rules.”

The donkey brayed softly, as if in agreement, and the room dissolved into giggles.

Some secrets, it turned out, were better shared.

“Okay, so we need a schedule.” Alice was in her element, already creating a shared calendar on her phone. “Parker can’t keep skipping her internship shifts at the computer lab.”

“I’ve got Tuesday afternoons free,” Bettie offered. “I can do donkey duty between classes.”

“I can take Thursdays,” Hannah added, already typing in the group chat. “My last class ends at two.”

“And I’ve got Fridays covered,” Alice said. “As long as you don’t mind him sitting in on rush committee meetings.”

I pictured the donkey helping select next year’s pledge class and had to bite back a laugh. “Are we sure this is going to work?”

“Please.” Parker waved a hand. “Between all of us, we’ve got enough engineering, computer science, and business majors to plan a lunar landing. We can handle one tiny donkey.”

The donkey, as if sensing he was being discussed, abandoned his investigation of my backpack to waddle over to Bettie. She immediately melted.

“Look at that face. How could anyone say no to that face?”

“Mrs. Henderson could,” I pointed out. “And would.”

“Then we don’t let her find out.” Hannah was still typing. “I’ve got noise canceling equipment from my music production class we can use. And Alice already has the perfect excuse for extra traffic to your room.”

Alice nodded. “Rush planning meetings. No one questions why the committee needs to meet so often. Especially not after last year’s glitter incident.”

Everyone winced. We’d all agreed never to speak of the glitter incident again.

“And,” Parker added with a sly grin, “if anyone asks why Flynn Kingman keeps coming around, we can say he’s helping with the athletics recruitment initiative.”

I choked on air. “Why would Flynn be coming around?”

“Oh, honey.” Bettie patted my hand. “We all saw how he looked at you in that video. And Hannah said he was definitely flirting at the coffee shop.”

“He wasn’t—” I started, but my phone chose that moment to buzz .

Six heads immediately craned to read over my shoulder. It wasn’t like it was going to be Flynn. He didn’t even have my number. Not sure why I was thinking it was going to be him, or why I was blushing like I was caught doing something naughty.

“Not flirting, huh?” Hannah smirked.

“It’s just my family group chat.” I clutched my phone to my chest, but it was too late. The damage was done.

“Ladies,” Bettie announced with the air of someone opening a chapter meeting, “I believe we need to add Operation Get Tempest a Social Life to our agenda.”

“No,” I said firmly. “No operations. No agendas. No Flynn.”

The donkey brayed, clearly disagreeing with me.

Traitor.

The knock at the door made us all freeze. The donkey, bless his heart, chose that moment to sneeze.

“Tempest?” My eldest sister’s voice carried through the door with all the authority of a Victorian governess. “Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

“Catalina?” I whispered in horror. Then louder, “Just a minute.”

The sisters sprang into action like a well-rehearsed ballet. Hannah and Alice whisked the donkey into Parker’s closet while Bettie grabbed a bottle of air freshener, and Parker opened the door to our balcony. I opened the door just wide enough to slip out onto the landing our rooms connected to.

Catalina stood there in her signature pristine white suit, carrying what looked like color-coded designer Tupperware and a crisp canvas bag with books and flowers printed on it. I think the bag... and maybe the food containers were Spate Kade.

She wrinkled her nose. “Why does it smell like a barn covered in fake lavender?”

“New air freshener.” I tried to block her view of my room. “What are you doing here?”

“You’ve missed three Sunday dinners.” She thrust the stack of food containers at me. “Mamá’s in Ecuador, Papá’s with her working on his book, and you’re avoiding family dinner. Someone had to check if you’d been devoured by your literature textbooks.”

“I’ve been busy with?—”

“Senior year, yes, I know.” She looked me up and down, taking in my coffee-stained sweater and messy bun. “Though apparently not too busy for...” She gestured vaguely at my entire existence.

From inside my room came a suspicious thump, followed by Parker’s too-loud laugh.

Catalina’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose. “Do I want to know?”

“Just study group.” I hugged the food containers closer. “Thanks for the food. I’ll come to dinner this Sunday, promise.”

“Wait.” She pulled something from her bag. “I brought you this too. Since you’re always quoting Shakespeare like Papá, I thought you might enjoy a... modern interpretation.”

My heart stopped. There, in my sister’s manicured hands, was my first book.

The one based on The Taming of the Shrew .

Maybe, possibly, probably, I’d gotten a little of the inspiration for the heroine from my own sharp- tongued, quick-tempered eldest sister.

The same one who was narrowing her eyes at me right at this very moment.

“Have you read it?” she asked. “Everyone at my boutique is obsessed. They all want me to read it. Says I’ll relate to the main character.”

Another thump from my room, followed by a sound that was definitely not human.

“What was that?” Catalina tried to peer around me.

“Studying.” I grabbed the book. “Thanks, Cat. Really. I’ll try it.”