Page 5

WAVERLY

I t took everything I had to unclench my jaw as Keene paused at my counter with a pile of books in his arms and his best friend Alec Younger at his side.

He and Alec rented rooms at Archer House too, a fact I’d learned from listening to Xander ramble during class. But I’d already known who both he and Alec were for at least a decade before that.

I’m sure they hadn’t known I existed, though, not until last year, anyway, when I’d helped their other roommate, Oaklynn, solve a murder mystery.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Alec said to Xander with a big grin as he settled his hip against the checkout counter, facing her.

He didn’t acknowledge me. He probably didn’t even see me standing there.

They rarely did.

“Dugger and I were just going to study in the back room if it’s free. Want to come?”

“Sure,” Xander answered, smiling at Alec with a genuine grin. “I don’t have another class until two.” It was obvious she was fond of him.

“Great,” Keene cut in as he squeezed between the two of them, purposely separating them so he could drop his pile of books heavily and noisily onto the counter right in front of me. His eyebrows lifted as if in a dare as he looked at me, letting me know he was returning them to be checked in.

I coughed and swatted at the sudden cloud of dust that swirled up around me, and he grinned evilly before turning pointedly away from me to face Xander and put his back to Alec.

“You can help me study for my anatomy and physiology test.” Winking at her, he leaned close to add in a husky voice, “I’d really like to brush up on those…erogenous zones.”

“Oh, brother,” Xander muttered with a roll of her eyes. She was clearly not fond of Keene. “I’ll pass.”

Her excellent taste in character for not falling for his flirty ways was just another reason why I jealously hated her. I mean, why couldn’t I be turned off by scummy come-on lines like that?

Because something was seriously wrong with me, that’s why.

“Geez, man, behave,” Alec grumbled to Keene as he playfully shoved Keene out from between him and Xander with a groan. “Can you not be a total perv for, like, two seconds?”

Xander laughed as Keene stumbled away from them.

But Keene wasn’t deterred. Catching himself nimbly, he straightened and plucked at the front of his shirt as if smoothing something Alec had wrinkled before he countered, “Behave? What’s the fun in that ?”

Returning to the counter, on the other side of Xander this time—away from Alec—he jumped up to sit on the ledge and swung his legs as he produced an apple from who-knows-where.

Sinking his teeth into it, he smirked as if winning that round.

“Do you mind?” I asked, lifting my brows threateningly as I glanced pointedly from his face to the counter he was sitting on.

But the damn man just snickered at me. “Not at all,” he answered before he took another bite as if to taunt me.

Ugh. I rolled my eyes, which caused him to muffle out a “mph” sound from a full mouth and motion toward the pile of books he’d just given me. He waited to swallow before adding, “Don’t forget to check those in. I don’t want to get a late fee just because you forgot .”

“Hey!” Xander whirled to scowl at him. “Don’t be mean to Frankie. I will legit hurt you.”

Keene coughed and sputtered at the demand, choking on whatever he’d just swallowed before he pounded on his own chest and asked from watering eyes, “ What did you just call her?”

“Frankie,” she said as if that should be obvious. “You know…because she’s Waverly Frank .”

“Hey, I didn’t know your last name was Frank,” Alec said in surprise, turning to address me for probably the first time in my life. “Any relation to Anne?”

Keene scoffed. “Right. Seeing as Anne Frank’s whole family died in the holocaust, except for her father Otto, who didn’t get remarried again until he was in his sixties, I would say that’s a totally legitimate question, dumbass.”

“Wow, Frankie ,” Alec answered, sending Keene an annoyed frown. “Thanks so much for answering.”

While Keene merely shrugged and turned back to his apple, sinking his teeth into it, Xander shook her head and wrinkled her nose at him. “How in the world do you know so much about Anne Frank’s family?”

“Because I’m smart like that,” Keene answered, paying more attention to his apple than her.

And sadly, he was right.

Keene Dugger was a friggin’ genius. He didn’t usually flaunt his IQ, though, which was strange in itself since he liked to flaunt everything else. Sometimes, I swear, he acted like an idiot just to hide how smart he really was.

My mom had been the guidance counselor at the high school he’d attended, and she’d mentioned his name at the dinner table on more than one occasion.

Usually, it was to complain about some of the wild stunts he’d pulled to get into trouble, like getting caught in a janitor’s closet with a girl or pouring syrup on the doorknob to the principal’s office.

But she could never deny just how brilliant his mind was.

He’d actually been set to become the valedictorian of his graduating class.

But after my mother had mentioned that fact to him, he’d suddenly started tanking a few courses.

She still swears to this day he’d made sure his GPA dropped on purpose just so his best friend, Alec—who actually cared about the position—could be the valedictorian instead.

“By the way,” Xander spoke up, nailing Keene with an irritated glower while I started to check in Keene’s books.

This time, his choice of reading material was about afterlife communication.

Keene checked out a lot of occultist, supernatural stuff. It was very curious since the topic didn’t seem to complement his happy-go-lucky, why-think-about-death-or-the-afterlife, life-is-great, score-with-as-many-girls-as-he-could disposition.

“Could you please inform the loud individual who stayed over in your room last night,” Xander was saying to him, “ not to drink from the juice carton in the fridge with the big red X on it the next time she comes over? She took the last of my Green Machine, and I didn’t get any breakfast.”

“Not sure she’ll be returning, sorry,” Keene answered casually as he nibbled away. “But you know…” He leaned toward Xander and bounced his eyebrows once. “If you stayed the night in my room, you could have your own juice for breakfast every morning again.”

Xander scoffed. “You’re a pig.”

“Amen,” I agreed under my breath.

No one ever heard me when I said crap under my breath, so when Keene swerved an arch glance my way, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Just keep scanning, Frankie ,” he commanded.

“Oh, hey! The Book Thief ,” Alec exclaimed, noticing the hardback Xander had just returned on the counter. “I loved that movie.”

Xander whirled to gape at him. “There’s a movie for it ? ” Her gaze veered to me in condemnation, and I only shrugged. “Oh, that’s it.” Glancing back at Alec, she announced, “We’re totally watching it. Tonight.”

“Really?” He brightened in pleasure. “Okay.”

Only for Keene to dash his dreams with a snort. “Yeah. That’ll be fun, what with the party taking place in our living room.”

“Oh, right. Crap.” Xander deflated. “I forgot about that.” With a sympathetic glance toward Alec, she revised, “Tomorrow night.”

While he nodded, agreeing, she pointed between both guys. “That reminds me. Will you two please tell Frankie she has to come to the party? I need her there.”

While Alec opened his mouth, looking put on the spot, Keene laughed outright. “Yeah, right,” he scoffed.

Xander shot him an icy glower. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Skimming his gaze over me, Keene merely smirked. “Nothing,” he murmured. “Just that you’re delusional if you think this antisocial piece of introvert would have any interest in attending an actual party.”

I mean, he was absolutely right. I was antisocial, an introvert, and had no interest in attending an actual party. But something about the way he said it—as if all those points were actually bad things—just pissed me off.

“It’d be like a vampire stepping into the sunlight,” he went on, still laughing over the idea. “She’d freaking combust in the doorway.”

“Or maybe she’d sparkle,” Xander countered encouragingly as she motioned to me. “Like the vampires in Twilight .”

Keene snorted, only to lean toward me and taunt, “Combust,” in a low, intimate tone that caused butterflies to stir in my stomach. “Poof. Right up into flames.”

Narrowing my eyes, I flipped him off.

Xander laughed. “And you say she’s not social. Oh, hey. Speaking of socializing.” Whirling toward Alec, she pointed. “I had this idea for an epic reel I want to post, and I think you could edit it to perfection.”

“Really?” Eyebrows arching with interest, he said, “I’m listening.”

“Okay, so it starts with this girl in the dark, like she’s totally afraid, right?”

“Alright. I see it,” he murmured, tipping his face down to absorb the idea as Xander hefted her book bag from the floor where she’d had it sitting, resting against the side of her leg. “Whoa, hey. Let me carry that for you.”

Alec easily swiped the backpack from her grip and swung it over his shoulder along with his own backpack, so he was carrying two.

Xander had told me Alec had really been pampering her since she’d donated a piece of her liver to save his sister four months earlier.

And that was another thing about Xander Union.

She was apparently caring and altruistic enough she just donated vital parts of her body to non-relatives she’d only known for a few weeks.

While she and Alec started away from the checkout station together, deep in conversation, Keene lifted his hands to let them know they were leaving him behind.

“Uh, ex cuse me,” he called, except they were too far away to hear. “Yeah, just go ahead and abandon me, like some kind of useless third wheel. Wasn’t like Younger and I came in here together or anything.”