His phone is in his hand now, and he’s tapping.

She picks up on the first ring:

“Hello?”

“S?”

“Jus? Is everything okay?”

“S, I got in.”

“What?”

“I got in, SJ!”

“What are you talki— Wait…you got IN?”

“YES!”

“Like, GOT IN, got in? Like you’re IN?”

“YES!”

“OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD!”

Justyce reads the computer screen again, and it really hits him.

“S, YA BOY IS A YALIE!”

“HOLY SHIT, JUS. HOLY SHIT!”

“I can’t even believe it.” Jus drops his head back and closes his eyes. All the bad stuff that’s happened in the past few months falls away.

After a pause, he hears, “Mom, Dad, Jus is going to Yale!” and then: “Wow! Congratulations, Justyce!” (from SJ’s mom) and “Attaboy, Jusmeister!” (from SJ’s dad—who’s been calling him that since the first time he showed up at SJ’s house to work on debate stuff).

“AAAAACK! JUS! This is the best Hanukkah present ever! You realize this means we’ll only be an hour and a half away from each other, right?”

That’s when it smacks him again.

The feeling.

The one that makes his heart beat faster and his head go fuzzy when he’s talking to her sometimes. It’s different from how he felt about Melo…and that’s what scares Jus. It occurs to him that he dialed SJ before he called his mama. Which says way more than he wants to hear right now.

“S, I gotta go,” he says.

“Okay! I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m so EXCITED!”

Justyce smiles, very much in spite of himself. “Me too.”

Yeah, this has to stop.

“Thanks for calling to share the news,” she says. “Means a lot to me that you did.”

“Means a lot to me that you’re so amped.”

(Damn, prolly shouldn’t have said that.)

“Are you kidding? How could I not be?”

Justyce clears his throat. “I hope you have a nice night, SJ.”

“You too, Jus. Sweet dreams.”

—

But Justyce doesn’t dream at all. He can’t sleep. Too much on his mind.

Yale, for one. (Hello, dream come true!)

And then SJ. How could I not be? she said.

What is he supposed to do with that?

He called Mama as soon as he and SJ hung up, but it went to voice mail. And since he couldn’t bring himself to leave such big news in a message, he went to bed with the weight of SJ knowing before Mama on his chest.

The next morning, he’s standing near the omelet station in the dining hall when he hears his name shouted from across the room.

It’s her. And she’s bounding in his direction.

“S!” Justyce shouts, throwing his arms wide without thinking. She leaps into them and wraps her legs around his waist. It’s…a lot.

She’s also in uniform, which means…“S, you know you’re in a skirt, right?”

“Crap!” She scrambles down. “Oh my god, I’m so embarrassed.” Her face is all red, so she covers it with her hands.

It might be the cutest thing Jus has ever seen.

He pulls her hands down. Smiles. “That was prolly the best hug I’ve ever gotten in my life.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t believe I attacked you. I just got so excited.”

Jus laughs. “Me too, S. Hope you’ll come see ya boy every now and then. I’ll definitely come see you.”

You would think Jus had just proposed, the way SJ’s face lights up. He should not be saying this kinda stuff…And he definitely shouldn’t be meaning it.

She smiles.

He smiles back.

She stares.

He stares back.

He realizes he’s still holding her hands and looks at her lips—

“Umm…Hey, Jus.”

Jus’s head snaps to the right.

Melo.

He snatches his hands away from SJ’s. “Uhh…”

When he turns back to SJ, her smile is melting off her face.

He watches Melo’s green eyes shift back and forth between him and SJ. SJ’s smile has melted so thoroughly, it’s officially a scowl.

Melo clears her throat.

“Oh, uhh…’Sup, Melo?” Jus says.

“I was hoping you could tell me, Justyce.” Except her eyes are on SJ.

No one speaks.

Then: “Okay! Umm…Guess I’ll see you in class?” SJ says. Tongue-tied, Justyce watches her pivot and walk away without looking back.

When he faces Melo again, she’s smirking in SJ’s direction. Justyce coughs to get Melo’s attention.

She turns to him and crosses her arms. “So I hear you got into Yale,” she says.

“Yeah, I did.”

“That what SJ was so excited about?”

“Yeah.” Justyce gulps. “She’s going to Columbia. It’s pretty close by.”

Melo shifts her focus to the doorway SJ disappeared through. “So you two are a thing now?”

“What? No!”

“I saw her jump on you, Justyce.”

“It’s not like that, Mel.”

Except it is, obviously.

“We’re just good friends,” he says to the air. “Debate partners. You know what I mean.”

“Good.” She takes a step closer. He can tell she’s not convinced, but that’s the thing about Melo: if she wants something, she’ll do whatever it takes to get it. “I was hoping we could hang out soon.” She runs a finger down the center of Justyce’s chest and hooks it into the waistband of his pants.

“Uhh, yeah.” His voice cracks and everything. “That’d, uhh…That’d be cool.”

“Awesome. I’m actually pretty sad you’re gonna be leaving me. You sure you wanna go so far away?”

Jus shifts his attention over her shoulder and scratches his head.

“I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Aiight,” Jus says.

She squeezes his biceps and kisses him in the little nook where his jawbone meets his neck. “Bye, Jus.”

Jus doesn’t say a word. Just stares at Melo’s butt as she saunters off.

Justyce is still in a daze when he gets to Societal Evolution two periods later. He knows he messed up—just can’t figure out exactly what went wrong with which girl.

When he steps into the classroom, Manny comes forward and drapes an arm around his shoulders. “Dr. Dray, allow me to introduce you to Justyce McAllister, soon-to-be Yale undergrad and my very best friend.”

“My man!” Doc says, lifting his hand for a high five. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

It makes Justyce smile.

Unfortunately, the minute he takes his seat, SJ comes in and won’t even look at him. And hot on her heels is Jared Christensen, who glares so intensely, it’s a wonder Jus’s head doesn’t burst into flames.

The bell rings, and Doc closes the door and turns around to face the class, but before he can say “Good morning,” Jared’s hand is in the air.