"I already ate."
"Please don't tell me you had the staff meal?" Ashton remarks with a horrified expression.
"No. I went out to eat."
Lance's attention flashes to me. He knows. Before either Ashton or Brendan can ask who I went out with--I see the question dancing in Ashton's eyes--Lance asks, "Did you open the present from your mother?"
"Uh," I eye him suspiciously. "Not yet. But I will when I get back to my room."
Ashton and Brendan glance between us, picking up on the not-so-subtle private message Lance is trying to convey about the gift I received from Niall this morning. Now I'm pretty sure we all know it isn't from my mother.
"So," I say loudly, to redirect the conversation. "What's everyone doing tomorrow? Are you going to Stefan's?"
"That's right!" Ashton exclaims, her eyes lighting. "It's the first party of the summer! His parties are always so amazing." Then she flops back in the chair, deflating just as quickly. "But I don't know how we can get there. I usually secure a ride from someone at the club."
"I can ask Lily," Lance offers. I bite my cheek to keep from smiling like an idiot now that I know I'll get to see Grant tomorrow. Seriously, what is happening to me?
"Let us know what time," Brendan chimes in, my excitement evaporates a little with the realization he'll be coming too.
"Lance, can I ... talk to you?" I ask.
"Sure," Lance replies, a hint of curiosity in his voice. He stands and I follow him outside. "What's up?"
"You know about my off-campus conditions, right? That I have to be with you or one of your brothers?"
"Yeah. My dad told me."
"I hope that doesn't make things awkward for you. But I see you the most, and right now, you're the only brother I can tolerate for any length of time."
Lance laughs. "No. It's fine. Seems like we're going to the same places most of the time anyway. I'm sure we can work it out if something comes up. My dad trusts me, but I am at Blackwood for a reason."
"Because you covered for your brother."
"Exactly. So if you ever need me to cover for you, I'm an expert."
I grin. "I won't get you in trouble. That's not why I wanted to talk to you. It's just that we don't have a way of communicating without phones. You and I don't have classes together, and you don't work at the country club, so ... how can we make plans to go off-campus?"
"Uh, right." Lance quietly contemplates this for a moment.
"You can always hide notes," Ashton suggests from the other side of the top hat-shaped topiary.
"Ashton, what about be quiet and listen did you not understand?" Brendan scolds. The two of them emerge from behind the shrubbery. I cross my arms and glower at Brendan.
"What?" Ashton defends. "It's not like she's telling him something we didn't already know. And I can help. It's actually something I've always wanted to do since I started coming here, but everyone I mention it to thinks it's stupid. They prefer to pass notes, which is so 1990."
"And hiding them probably puts us back another century," Brendan says with an exhausted sigh.
"But this way, we can all see it," Ashton sneers playfully at Brendan. "Like a group text. Especially since most of the time, we'll be going together anyway. Like tomorrow, Lance can leave a note letting us know when Lily's picking us up ... if she can."
Lance looks to me for approval. I shrug. "It's better than the no idea I had."
"Where?" Lance asks Ashton. Her Cheshire smile emerges, and I know she already has a spot picked out.
We follow her to the birch forest. I can't say I'm surprised by this. Nor am I surprised when she pulls out the vape and sealed box from within the hollow of a birch tree. The hole is small, barely large enough for Lance to fit his hand inside. And because it's so small, it blends in with the rest of the black marks on the trunk. But it's also deep, hiding whatever's inside below the line of sight.
"How do you possibly remember which tree it is?" Lance asks, looking around at the trees that all blend together in their scattered white and black pattern.
"I remember the number five," Ashton explains simply.