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down in the back.
    “ How was your first day?” Jace asks
me, as we take off.
    “ Okay, I suppose. A little boring,” I
say.
    “ Did you make any friends?” he
asks.
    “ Well, I met this guy named Austin
Yang in my math class this morning, but Noah ran him off,” I
answer, frowning as I think about it. “Austin was sitting by me and
Noah made him move so he could sit there.”
    “ Is Noah bothering you?” Alfie
asks.
    “ I can handle him,” I say.
    “ Anybody else talk to you?”
    “ Nope. Just you guys. And Elliot,” I
say. “I am surprised that you guys don’t hang out with
Elliot.”
    “ We do,” Alfie says. “Sometimes.
Everybody in the school is in the same circle, so we all hang out.
Except maybe the scholarship kids.”
    “ That’s what Austin was,” I say. “He
thought I was a scholarship kid for some reason.”
    “ Most new students are scholarship
kids. People with rich parents usually start there during their
freshman year,” Jace says. “He probably just assumed that since
you’re a senior that you are there on a scholarship, especially
since you were in an advanced class.”
    “ Maybe,” I say.
    “ Hey, you want to help me with my
math?” Jace asks. “I barely passed with a C last year. I need to
make good grades this year.”
    “ Sure,” I say. “Alfie, you need help
too?”
    “ No,” he says.
    “ Alfie is good at math. He could use
help in his English Lit class,” Jace says.
    “ I’m a good English tutor,” I say. “I
helped my English teacher in Korea. I went to a small school and
our English teacher could hardly speak English herself.”
    “ I don’t need help,” Alfie says. “I’ll
figure it out on my own.”
    What a grouch.
    “ I have a question,” I say. Nobody
says anything, so I continue. “Why don’t you guys like
Noah?”
    “ He’s just not a good guy,” Alfie
says.
    “ I know you say that, but why isn’t
he?” I ask. “I mean, he made me mad earlier when he made Austin
move, but he apologized for that. I just… I don’t know, I thought
it would be nice to have a friend besides the two of
you.”
    Alfie stays quiet.
    “ Noah has had a lot of girlfriends,”
Jace tells me. “Last year, he even stole a girl that Alfie was
dating. He never dates a girl long. Never longer than a couple
months. The girls always end up heartbroken. You deserve better
than that.”
    “ You never told me you dated
somebody,” I say to Alfie.
    “ You never asked,” he replies. “I
didn’t know if you dated anybody in Korea either.”
    “ I didn’t,” I say.
    “ Good,” he says. “When you find a guy
you’re interested in, I want to meet him.”
    “ So you can punch him?” I ask, in a
joking tone.
    Jace and I both laugh. Alfie, after a few
seconds, finally laughs with us.
    It feels good to laugh with my brother. It’s
been way too long.
    Maybe, just maybe, Alfie is coming
along.
     
    Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
     
    Later that afternoon, I sit in my room and
do some homework. When I pull my English book out of my bag, I
notice a folded up piece of paper. It has my name on the front of
it, but it’s not my handwriting.
    “ Huh. Wonder what this is,” I
say.
    I pull the note out and unfold it.
     
    Gracie,
    If you know what’s good
for you, you’ll go back to where you came from. Don’t say I didn’t
warn you.
     
    — X
     
    X? Who would sign a note with just an X?
    For a moment, I think maybe Alfie did, but
it’s not his handwriting. But maybe he got somebody else to write
the note for him. I sigh and crinkle up the note, tossing it in the
trash. I really thought Alfie and I were getting along better, but
it seems like he hates me now just as much as always.
    My phone vibrates on the nightstand,
distracting me from my negative thoughts.
     
    Unknown number: Since you won’t text me, I’m going to text you.
     
    Me: Who is
this?
     
    Unknown number: I’m hurt. You didn’t save my number to your phone? It’s Noah.
Feel free to save my