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halfway down her back. Despite a tan, her face seemed drawn, emphasizing the bone structure she shared with David.
    He was wearing a thin, white T-shirt and faded black jeans, cut off at the knee. I had a sudden realization that he’d been in my dream last night. The details were fuzzy. Still, I couldn’t meet his eyes.
    “Hey, Celeste,” I said. “I’m really sorry about your accident.”
    “Yeah, it sucks. For you, too. Right?” She hopped over and gave me a wiry-arm hug. “David told me you didn’t even know until you got here. What assholes.”
    “It’s not a big deal. It’ll be fun.”
    She let out a little snort. “You say that now.”
    I didn’t know how to respond.
    “Much as I like hearing you charm people,” David said to his sister, “I’m gonna get going. Once you thank me for setting up your stuff, that is.”
    Celeste glanced around distractedly. “Oh, crap,” she said. “Did I forget to pack the beetle photo?”
    “No,” David said. “It’s in the closet. I thought Leena might not appreciate having it hanging.”
    “Leena doesn’t care,” Celeste said as if she could possibly know this. “The RISD admissions woman loved it.”
    “Fine.” David sounded exasperated. “I’ll hang it later. Now, are you going to thank me? Or what?”
    “Thank you. You did a very nice job. Sure you aren’t gay?”
    He turned to me. “If she acts up, I’ll loan you my Taser.” He smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back way too widely, both because David was so cute and because as Celeste’s lab partner, I’d definitely have taken him up on his offer a few times.
    “Call if you need anything,” he said to Celeste. “And don’t make Leena regret letting you live here.”
    He held out a fist. Celeste bumped it twice, then they pressed their palms together, hers tiny next to his. A small hollow opened in my chest, the place where a sibling would fit.
    David left. As I listened to his receding footsteps, I had an irrational impulse to call after him, to tell him not to leave me alone with his sister.
    “Pretty room,” Celeste said, sitting down on her bed. “Too many windows, though. Like being in a fishbowl.” She sucked in her cheeks and made fishy lips.
    “Oh, well . . .” I said. “No one’s ever in the backyard. Did you see the smaller room with our desks across the hall? And we’ve got our own bathroom. The fixtures are old and funky, but the water pressure is good.” I caught myself before droning on. “Sorry, I sound like my mother, the realtor.”
    “Anyone else on the first floor?”
    “Just Ms. Martin, our house counselor. Her apartment takes up the whole front.”
    “I had her for history freshman year. She’s kind of a twat. Who’s upstairs?”
    “Abby Brenner and Vivian Parker-White.”
    “Not sure if I know them. I’m terrible with names. What did I always call you in chem?”
    “Lisa.”
    “Oh, right. Leena’s much better.” Celeste reached back and began twisting her hair into a knot. “I like your glasses,” she said. “They counteract the dumb-blond thing.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Not that you’re dumb. Just that with your big boobs and blondie-blond hair you could look it. Black glasses help.”
    I refrained from saying thank you, the way I should have when she made the comment about my butt that first day of chem. Anyway, my hair isn’t that blond—sort of a caramel color. And as for my boobs, they’re only a C—hardly enormous.
    “David’s noticed you,” Celeste continued. “I can tell. Do you like him? Or do you already have a fuck-buddy?”
    Fuck-buddy?
    “Uh, no.”
    “You don’t think he’s hot? I was kidding about that gay thing.”
    She talked this way about her own brother?
    “I meant, no, I don’t have a boyfriend.”
    And didn’t want one this semester, for numerous reasons, even if he wasn’t related to my nutty roommate. Not that I would have minded if Celeste was right and David had noticed me. No objections