This Is My Brain on Boys by Sarah Strohmeyer Page B

unusual. She’s not normally that way.”
    â€œWell, we kind of went through hell and back on that flight.” He tried wrenching free, but Tess McGrew had the talons of an eagle. “Imminent mortality has a way of bringing strangers together.”
    She released him abruptly. “Yes, I know. Interesting. So you were scared?”
    â€œUm, the plane lost an engine, there was smoke in the cabin, we dropped fifty feet in a matter of seconds, the woman next to me was giving herself last rites, and I started hyperventilating.” He pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head as an ominous black clouddrifted by. “You might say I was more than uncomfortable.” What was Tess after? He felt like he was on the witness stand and she was the prosecutor.
    â€œAnd how did Addie react?”
    He shifted feet, trying to remember. “She read. And we talked about the brain. That’s what got me through the turbulence, actually. There was something about the way she speaks that’s so logical it was kind of . . .”
    â€œCalming,” Tess finished for him. He got the impression she did that a lot. “Yeah. I’ve had the same experience. She’s the yin to my yang or the yang to my yin. Which is it?”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter. Yin balances out yang and vice versa.”
    â€œUh-huh.” Tess seemed lost in thought. Kris wondered if he could go without her sinking her claws into him.
    Nope.
    â€œOne last thing,” she said, grabbing his sweatshirt again. “What were Mindy and Fiona talking about in Chinese?”
    â€œMandarin,” he corrected. “I don’t know exactly. Going to Harvard, I think. There’s some guy . . .”
    â€œOh, no. I knew it. David?”
    â€œDavid? Um.” Kris scratched his head, feeling slightly uncomfortable, as if he was snitching. “They didn’t mention a name.”
    â€œThe tour group leader said that under no circumstances are we to allow Mindy to meet up with David at the Harvard summer session. Their parents have both forbidden it.”
    â€œAnd this is relevant to me because . . . ?”
    Tess wagged a finger. “Because you better make sure that if you hear anything of a meeting with David that you tell Mr. Foy immediately. If Mindy runs off with David or whatever, it could cause an international incident. For real. Her dad’s a diplomat. Like, the president would have to get involved.”
    Kris almost burst out laughing, it was such an absurd concept. “Isn’t she fifteen? That’s a little young.”
    â€œSixteen next week. Haven’t you read Romeo and Juliet ?” Tess frowned when he started laughing at that. “It’s not funny, Condos. You’re in hot enough water as it is. If you add aiding and abetting an international kidnapping, forget ever coming back to school. Foy will throw you in prison.”
    She hoisted her bag over her shoulder, flashed him one more stern look, and trudged to the administration building, leaving Kris to wonder if the entire world had gone crazy—or just him.

SIX
    T he Agnes B. Whitchurch Marine Biology Laboratory—aka the Whit—was tucked into the cliff overlooking the roiling Atlantic Ocean and happened to be exactly a 10.5-minute walk from Addie’s dorm room in Wren, provided her forward progress was not impeded by unexpected, if well-intentioned, interlopers.
    Tess said it was more polite to refer to them as “friends.”
    An hour alone in her room, sorting, organizing, and cleaning, had done wonders to settle Addie’s brain. First, she had unzipped each item of clothing from its individual Ziploc bag and placed them in drawers or hung them in the closet.
    Then she arranged her toiletries by necessity and sizein her plastic caddy and took them down the hall for a quick shower to rinse off the grime of the airport. After blow-drying her hair, she combed it smooth into a ponytail and