“Nice to meet you, Robbie.”
He drops his eyes to my shoes and smiles. “Ah, you didn’t disappoint me. Prada?”
It takes me a moment to grasp what he’s asking me. I look at my shoes too, and then it hits me. “Yeah. How did you know?”
“I’m obsessed with fashion. Project Runway? Life. I want to be a designer for A-listers.”
“That’s cool.”
“What about you? Why did you come to DuBose?”
“I want to work in the filmmaking business, though in what capacity I don’t know yet.”
“Not an actress?”
I twist my face into a scowl. “God no. I’d be a horrible actress.”
He shrugs. “You have the face though. You look like a fresh Scarlett Johansson but way prettier.”
His compliment makes me blush. “Thanks.”
“All right. First, let me see what classes you have.”
I pull my cell phone out, and after a few clicks, I show him my schedule.
“Oh, we have creative writing together, yay. And AP math. Meh. Those are back to back, by the way, and first and second periods. I don’t need to show you their location right now, as you’ll come with me.” He pauses for a second and then continues. “We also have the same lunch period. Awesome. I’ll introduce you to everyone who’s worth knowing in this school.”
“Uh, thanks?”
He lifts his gaze from my phone. “God, am I being awful by saying that? My mothers always tell me I’m too blunt. I guess it’s a Gemini thing. What’s your sign?”
I’m still caught on the plural mother thing, so it takes me a moment to reply, “Aries. I’m an Aries. My birthday is April 14.”
His lips widen into a bright smile. “Perfect. Aries and Gemini get along fabulously.”
“I trust you. I don’t really follow the horoscope.”
“Girl, you should.” He returns his attention to my phone, and after a moment, he says, “Okay, so we have four classes together and lunch. Are you good in math, physics, and biology, by any chance?”
“Yeah, I’d say so.”
He presses his hand to his chest in a dramatic fashion and glances up. “Thank you, Lord. I’ll be forever grateful.”
His antics make me laugh. “What was that?”
He returns my phone. “One thing to know about me. I’m the shit when it comes to fashion, arts, and such. Exact sciences? Not so much. We’re in math, physics, and biology together, which means you got yourself a side of rice.”
“A what?”
“A side of rice.” He shakes his head. “It’s a Brazilian thing. Basically, I’ll be stuck to you like glue, but I’ll never be more than a side of rice to your steak because I only drink one type of wine and you’re not it.”
“That’s an elaborate way to say you’re gay.”
“I know. What can I say? It gets boring after a while.”
“Are you Brazilian?”
“One of my mothers is.”
“Cool. I love Brazil. I’ve been to Rio and Salvador.”
His eyebrows shoot to the heavens. “Shut up! My mother is from Salvador. You need to come for dinner. She’ll love you. By the way, where are you staying?”
“At an apartment a block from here. The school helped me out.”
“Oh, you’re at Brandywine Hall, right?”
“Yeah.”
“A lot of out-of-town students live there. That’s cool. There have been some epic parties in that building. If the walls could talk.” He shakes his head, laughing. “We’d better get started with this tour or we’ll be late for class.”
Good on his word, at lunch break, Robbie introduces me to a bunch of people. Trying to memorize all their names is impossible though, even when I apply the trick of repeating their names back.
We grab our food from the cafeteria and then head out to eat at the beautiful park next to the school building. A couple of Robbie’s friends from the drama program are waiting for us under the shade of a big oak tree.
“How do you like school so far, Chiara?” a freckled guy wearing thick-rimmed glasses asks me.
