I lowered my head and tried to focus on my notes. After a few minutes, Jake let out a heavy sigh. “This is a stupid study guide.”

“It has every question that’ll be on the quiz. How is that stupid?”

“Then these are stupid questions.”

I couldn’t argue with that, so I smiled but didn’t say anything.

“Which three phyla are the largest in the kingdom animalia?” Jake read. “How am I supposed to know?”

“He wrote them all out last week,” I said with a pointed stare. “Do you seriously not pay attention?” Jake grumbled, and I pushed my notebook toward him. “Here. I know it’s somewhere in my notes.”

That seemed to cheer him. “Thanks.”

I watched him flip the pages of my notebook and said, “How are you and Finn friends again?”

“Math, physics, and computer science,” he replied without looking up. “Those are the things video games are made of.”

His mom breezed into the room carrying a large tray. Whatever it was, it smelled divine. Garlic, peppers, onions, and, if I wasn’t mistaken, some ginger. My stomach rumbled, a loud demand to be fed. Thankfully, Mrs. DeSantos didn’t acknowledge it and placed the food onto the table between Jake and me.

“That looks amazing,” I said, but that was an understatement. I could finally see what his mom had been cooking in the kitchen since our arrival from school, and my mouth was watering at the sight of the spread. It took everything in me to keep from drooling.

She smiled down at me. “Thanks, Talia.” Mrs. DeSantos pointed at each of the sections. “Garlic shrimp, pork siomai, longaniza, fried tofu, and lumpia.” Jake reached for a toothpick and then the food, but she slapped his hand away. “Guests first, anak,” she said.

He gestured at me with his toothpick. “Her? She’s practically family.”

“Let Talia choose what she wants before you take anything.” She flashed him a dirty look before she left the room.

I reached over and stabbed a piece of sausage with a toothpick and sighed contentedly as I bit into it. After three years of French, I was ill-equipped to read a Filipino menu, but I’d hung out at Jake’s house enough times to know anything out of his mom’s kitchen was heaven on a plate.

“These are my favorite,” Jake said, spearing a couple of shrimp and dipping them in a clear sauce before he popped both into his mouth. “You need to have some.”

I looked closely into the little bowl and studied them. They were shriveled, like they had closed in on themselves, and looked nothing like the grilled prawns I was used to eating. These looked more like little rubber balls.

“You know shrimp are arthropods, right?” I said, pushing them toward him.

“Um, okay.” He popped another into his mouth. “What are arthropods?”

I tilted my head and glared at him. “Arthropods? As in arthropoda? As in the largest phyla in the kingdom animalia?” I leaned forward. “As in you need to know this for Thursday?”

“Fine, fine,” Jake said, spearing another one. “They’re arthropods. Tell me why I should care.”

“Arthropods include beetles and spiders and lobsters and stuff.”

He stopped chewing and looked at me, like he was waiting for me to deliver a punchline. When I didn’t add anything, he swallowed hard and said, “Lobsters are related to beetles?”

I nodded. “Yeah. That’s why Ally won’t eat them.”

“I thought that was because they weren’t kosher.”

“The Katzes don’t keep kosher,” I said with an annoyed shake of my head. “No, she got all wigged out after Freddie told her they were like sea bugs. So she calls them the Roaches of the Ocean.”

“Gross,” he said, frowning at the shrimp before him. “See, this is why we shouldn’t have to study biology. I’ll take chemistry and physics any day.”

I picked up a piece of tofu and said, “It’s almost enough to make you go totally vegan.”

Still peering into the bowl with the garlic shrimp, Jake said, “What do you think would happen if a roach had sex with a lobster, anyway?”

I snorted and was still laughing when Mrs. DeSantos came into the room with Mia in tow. “We’re going to gymnastics,” she announced. “You kids behave.”

Jake waggled his eyebrows at me, but I ignored him. “Will do,” I said. I waved good-bye to his mom and sister and watched as they disappeared into the garage. “Mia will be a freshman next year, right?” I said to Jake.

He closed his eyes and shuddered. “Don’t remind me. She can’t wait to start at Westgate. Says she wants to try out for cheer.” I raised my eyebrows. “I’m going to need to ask Brady for pointers on how to scare everyone away from her,” he said, referring to Bianca’s older brother.

“She’ll be fine.” I took an egg roll and was about to bite into it when my phone chirped beside me. Without glancing at it, I pressed a button to send the call to voice mail.

“Who’s that?” Jake sounded concerned.

I kept my eyes trained on my laptop as I took a bite. “I don’t know,” I said, my mouth full. “Probably my dad.”

That was a lie. I knew it was my dad. He’d texted me the night before, and I’d chosen an annoying chirp as a ringtone for a call from his number.

“Your dad?” Jake tapped my laptop until I looked up at him. “How?”

“It’s…complicated,” I said, growing annoyed as I remembered the real reason I couldn’t tell him as soon as my dad showed up at my house. “You know how Mom got remarried? I guess it means changes to their divorce settlement or whatever.”

“Is this why you came over last night? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Why aren’t you telling me about Clover? I wanted to say, but instead I frowned and said, “I’m not exactly super psyched about it.”

“So he’s back.”

“I guess.”

“Why didn’t you answer it?” he pressed. “Don’t you want to know what he wants?”

“Mom says he wants to spend time with me,” I said. “He wants to get to know me again.”

“And you don’t want to.”

“No.”

Jake nodded once and reached across the table to squeeze my hand. My annoyance almost immediately began to melt away. Jake was the only one who knew what really happened when my parents split. Well, not counting my mom and dad, the courts, and Dr. Brinkley. But out of my friends, Jake was the only person I could talk to about it.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. “He was at my house when I got home yesterday,” I said. “I didn’t talk to him. But Mom gave him my phone number and I’m just….” I let out a heavy sigh.

“Overwhelmed?”

“Kind of.” I frowned. “More like I can’t deal with this.”

He watched me silently before he said, “Maybe you should give him a chance.”

I pulled my hand from his grasp. “Are you crazy? No.” My phone dinged to let me know I had a new voice mail message. As if I’d even listen to it. I flipped it over and pushed it away.

“You can’t run from him forever,” Jake said.

“I’ll face him when I’m ready to.”

He looked at me a few seconds longer before he shook his head and began typing on his laptop.

I watched him as he worked. His brow knitted together in intense concentration, and he had to reach up every so often to push the hair out of his eyes. There was something sort of endearing about it. Sitting in his dining room studying for our biology quiz, Jake seemed almost…cute.

And that realization seriously weirded me out.

“I have to go,” I said, jumping to my feet. I closed my laptop without bothering to shut it down and shoved it into my backpack.

Jake rose from his seat. “Are you sure? I’m not done with your notes.”

“Keep them,” I said while I finished packing my stuff. “You can give them back tomorrow.” I zipped up my backpack.

He didn’t look convinced. “Um, okay.” He helped me with my peacoat and walked me to the door.

We stepped onto the front porch. The sun was just starting to set, turning the clouds pink and orange, slightly tinged with purple. The light cast a gold hue around us, and Jake’s skin looked almost bronze.