I feel a little niggle of frustration when I hear a knock on the door. It's still locked; we don't bother unlocking it until about five minutes before the first meeting. With a sigh, the boys brush the crumbs off their uniforms and disappear into the meeting room, leaving it cracked behind them, just in case.

What I don't expect to see when I open the door … is Aster Hayes smiling back at me.

“What is this crap about more girls coming to the school?” I snarl, storming into my dad's house without bothering to knock. He looks up from the dinner table with an almost bored facial expression, waiting until I come around the corner to see the rest of his dinner guests. “And postponing the Student Council elections just for them? That’s total toilet water.” Should’ve said bullshit, pretty sure toilet water is not a commonly used phrase.

Girls.

Three girls.

Aster being one of them.

She'd just stopped by the Student Council room to introduce herself today.

And to announce that she, too, was actually going to be running for Student Council President.

What. In. The. Actual. Fuck?

“When I told you that I'd be treating you as a headmaster would instead of a father—at your request, I might add—I was serious. Bursting into my home unannounced is worth a write-up, at the very least.” I just stand there fuming, looking between the three confused faces sitting around my father's table while Ranger guards my back, waiting just outside the open front door. “Girls, this is my … son, Chuck Carson.”

“Pleased to see you again, Chuck,” Aster says, tucking a strand of curly red hair behind one of her ears. She glances down the length of the table toward my father, her other hand poised on a fork that's currently resting on a plate of tri-tip, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. That's, legit, like my favorite meal, and Dad could barely be bothered making it for me, but he can make it for three strangers?! Three new guinea pigs to do his bidding.

I'm furious.

“We met at the Valentine’s Day dance, as well as in the Student Council room today,” Aster explains, smiling prettily. The other girls smile at me, too, and one of them even blushes and bites her lower lip. Spencer and Ranger act like I make such an ugly guy, but apparently, I don't have a ton of trouble getting female attention.

“Ah,” Dad says, eyeing me with no small amount of displeasure. “Well, you'll be sorry to learn then that Chuck is now engaged to our current Student Council President, Church Montague, and is presently off-limits.” His voice is as dry as sand and twice as grating. We glare at each other for a moment before he pushes away from the table. “Excuse me for a moment, ladies.”

Dad carefully folds his napkin and heads in the direction of his office, fully expecting me to follow. For once, I actually do. But mostly just so I can yell at him and try to get to the bottom of what's going on here.

I pause briefly to move over to the screen door and gesture for Ranger to step inside for a minute. The boys and I have been rotating partners, so that nobody is ever alone, not even when they're showering. I mean, nobody quite shares a shower stall the same way that Spencer and I did that one time, but …

Ranger moves into the dining room, and all three girls exchange looks. Yeah, yeah, I know he's handsome, but he hates most people, and you wouldn't understand the naked baking thing the way I do.

“Go talk to your dad, Chuck,” Ranger whispers in my ear, this big, intimidating presence over my shoulder that I've come to really like. It's comforting, having him standing there, like I know I've truly got someone that's willing and able to watch my back. “And let me deal with the girls, okay? They're nowhere near as cute as you, and you know how much I like cute things.”

My cheeks flush, but I refuse to give into the compliment.

“I thought you said I made an ugly guy,” I whisper back as I turn to look at him, well-aware that the girls are staring right at us. Ranger's sapphire eyes sparkle, and the edge of his mouth quirks a bit. Not into anything as obscene as a full smile, but close enough for him. His sugar, vanilla, and leather scent wraps around me, briefly knocking the common sense straight from my head.

When he captures my chin and leans in close, the girls squeal.

“Oh my god, they're having an affair,” one of them whispers, sounding far too excited about her discovery.

“While she's wearing the Student Council President's ring and everything!” another gushes, grabbing onto Aster's arm. Her green eyes twinkle excitedly as she grabs her friend right back.

“It's like a yaoi come to life,” she breathes, and Ranger rolls his eyes. Yaoi is the name for a genre of Japanese comics and TV shows featuring guy-on-guy action, but intentionally made for women to enjoy.

“Our love isn't for the female gaze,” Ranger snaps, and then he kisses me hard and fast, spins me around and pushes me in the direction of my father's office. It occurs to me as I stumble away that we've just had our first kiss. I feel drunk as I slip into the room and put my back to the door, pushing it closed.

“Did you come all the way up here just to act like a fool in front of my guests?” Dad asks, and it takes me several seconds of blinking to clear my head. Ranger is … such an unexpected treat, isn't he? He always said I was ugly in my glasses and baggy uniform and mussy hair, but he thought I was fucking cute.

“Huh?” I ask, blinking again to clear my vision and staring at Dad, sitting behind his desk like he thinks the big, old wooden antique is some sort of shield against me and my ridiculousness. “No, I … Why wouldn't you tell me you were planning on adding more girls to the school?”

“I've been working on this all summer, which, you might've known if you'd been willing to have a conversation with me. Everly and Adamson are working on an exchange program to test the waters. We're sending three boys to them, and vice versa. But we can't bring the girls over until they have a proper place to stay. We plan on starting them here during the second quarter, after the girls’ dorm is cleaned up and ready.”

“I see.” I can't decide if I should be angry, relieved, whatever. “What about Jason? What about Eugene? What about Jenica? I saw a dead body in those woods, Dad.” I look him straight in the eyes, and for the first time, I realize what all his anger is about. He's afraid for me. “Where is Mr. Dave?” I decide to ask, and Dad blinks back at me a few times, like he's surprised by the question.

“He had the flu, but he'll be back on Monday,” he says, and this time, it's my turn to look surprised.

“You've spoken with him recently?” I ask, because we haven't seen nor heard from Mr. Dave since the, err, stabbing incident. At this point, I've been choosing to trust Church, despite the evidence. I'd love to get Mr. Dave's point of view from that fateful morning. And isn’t it interesting how he never reported the attack to anyone? Not my dad, not the police.

“Just this afternoon, why?” Dad asks, standing up from his desk. He's decidedly calmer today than he has been since I called him a boomer. Heh. I mean, he's technically Gen X—I think—but you can call anyone a boomer that's acting like an asshat. Every Millennial and Gen Zer worth their salt in online slang knows that.