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Carsonwith the effort of holding in his laughter, but he failed He burst out laughing, and even Ethan, next to me, couldn’t help himself Traitor

Tiny crystalline tears collected in Carson’s eyes as he struggled to speak I wouldn’t be surprised if they dropped from his eyes ice-cold like his heart “Well, did you, Mia? Did you cry? Or did you—"

I slouched down inhim off

“Ow,” he hissed, and I turned upto Mrs Brooks

Poor Mrs Brooks She avoided ht I was ele her son with my bare hands If I only I would’ve had more time

I grunted sona intothat htest bit better hen Mrs Brooks swatted the boys with the salad tongs on the back of the head for still laughing, warning them they’d better eat their supper

After dinner, Carson cleared the table while Mrs Brooks wrapped up the leftovers, and I helped Ethan load the dishwasher

He handedforward to working with Carson?”

I groaned “That’s like askinga tooth pulled Only there’s no Novocain where Carson’s concerned”

“Come on It didn’t look like you tere all that unco pretty close It actually looked kind of—”

“Like I was trying to keep the contents of my stoym class?” I smiled at him sweetly

He shook his head and laughed “You two never change What’ll I do next year without you guys? It’ll be so boring”

“Transfer high schools for your senior year to Durham?”

“Still hoping to get into Duke?”

“Yep”