Chapter 7 Math, Physics, Chemistry
All at once, the way everyone looked at Leo shifted — eyes lit up, calculations running behind every glance.
Good-looking, family loaded — did grades really matter?
Not even a little.
So was his pursuit a burden?
Obviously not. Half the school would kill for it.
But the way everyone looked at Chloe had changed.
Luna arched a brow. "Is that so? Have you paid him back?"
"I'll pay him back next week." Chloe's teeth caught her lip.
Luna patted Leo's shoulder. "Make sure she pays."
Leo looked uncomfortable. "I don't need her to—"
The rest of that sentence died under Luna's killing stare.
His throat bobbed. He shut up.
Luna turned to Mrs. Sinclair, who looked green around the gills. Luna's mouth curved — no warmth in it. "Next time you talk to your daughter's creditor, I'd suggest a different tone."
Mia couldn't help herself: "Chloe, didn't you say your mom bought you that dress?"
The second she spoke, Chloe rounded on her like a pressure valve releasing. "What does this have to do with you? Shut your mouth."
Mia flushed crimson in front of everyone.
She was the one who'd always been chasing Chloe's friendship.
Hatred coiled in her chest. She couldn't get a single word out.
The farce was finally over.
Ryder looked at Luna with shining eyes. "Luna, that was badass."
Luna raised her eyebrows at him. "Cool, right?"
"So cool." Ryder nodded like his life depended on it.
Leo nudged his shoulder. "Go back and eat."
"Got it." Ryder read the room and took off.
Just the two of them left in the hallway.
Leo reached for a cigarette out of habit, then remembered — no smoking here. He pulled his hand back.
"Weren't you supposed to be at a banquet with Hayes tonight? What are you doing here?"
"I came for the show." Luna said.
Leo: "What show?"
Luna answered with perfect sincerity: "The show where you simp."
Leo: "..."
His jaw muscle twitched. It made him look dangerous — eyes dark, menacing.
Luna wasn't scared in the slightest.
No matter what Leo was now or would become, to her he'd always be the dumb little brother trailing behind her in diapers.
Her total shamelessness made him laugh through his anger. "I'm simping? What about you?"
"I am." Luna nodded.
Leo said from the bottom of his heart: "You have zero shame."
Luna crossed her arms, hair sliding forward over her chest. "Hayes might have a screw loose and terrible taste, but at least he's hot and loaded. What exactly do you get out of Chloe?"
"The lying? The two-faced act? The bragging?"
Leo was quiet for a long moment. He was only sixteen now — looked rough, acted tough, but compared to the Leo of his twenties — silent, sullen, the guy who faded into the background of every crowd — the difference was night and day.
"I know." Leo's voice dropped. "I've always known what she's like."
He'd grown up in old money. He'd met too many people, seen too much.
The greed in Chloe's eyes — she hid it well, but he could see it.
"Then you..." Luna's eyes went wide, her tassel earrings swaying — a measure of just how stunned she was.
She'd assumed her dumb little brother had no idea what Chloe really was.
That he'd been played, thought she was a good person.
"She's nice to me. She cares about me." Leo shrugged, like it was nothing. "That's enough."
Luna didn't speak for a long time.
She'd thought Leo couldn't see Chloe for what she was.
Turns out — he was starved for affection.
Anyone who showed him warmth — even with an agenda — he'd grab onto like a lifeline. Hold on tight. Refuse to let go.
Her eyes stung.
She pressed her lips together hard. "I know."
-
After dinner — a cheerful one, all things considered — Ryder rubbed his nose and asked: "Lee, you heading home or coming to shoot pool with us?"
Leo: "Pool."
On break, he always stayed out until dark.
A family of four, but the house was dead quiet.
Luna said, half-apologetic: "I need to get back. Haven't touched my weekend homework."
Monday was tomorrow.
The rainbow crew chorused in unison: "Bye, Luna!"
They watched her get into a rideshare.
The moment she was gone, the crew unloaded every question they'd been holding in.
"Lee, is Luna your real sister?"
Leo answered without thinking: "Yeah."
Ryder: "Is she in high school? Which one?"
Leo kicked him. "Why are you talking so much?"
Ryder chuckled. His over-bleached red hair stuck up in every direction. His bangs were too long, and a dark birthmark covered a good chunk of his forehead.
"Just asking. Luna's really nice — first girl who's ever been cool to me."
Leo ran his tongue over his teeth. "That elite prep school behind ours."
"What?" The crew gaped.
Kingsley Prep High sat right behind Lincoln High. But from the buildings alone, you'd think Lincoln High was a servant — crumbling classrooms, the science building swallowed by ivy, standing in the shadow of its master.
Ryder said: "So she goes to school with Jax?"
The city bus pulled up.
Leo boarded first, asking offhand: "Which Jax?"
"I told you about him before. My neighbor. Total genius — full ride, tuition and board covered." Ryder said it with pride, like it was his own accomplishment.
Leo snorted. "Almost thought you were talking about yourself."
"Hey, I'll take the reflected glory." Ryder beamed.
-
Luna got home.
Her bedroom was exactly as she remembered.
A floor-to-ceiling window. A desk. The bookshelf beside it crammed with figurines and novels — her favorites, she'd buy by the stack.
The bed was made with fresh pink checkered sheets. Against the wall, a pile of plushies she'd collected.
Every inch of it was comfortable, cozy — except for the weekend homework.
Luna was a god at some subjects. A disaster at others.
English and literature — top of the grade. Biology — passable. Math and chemistry — scores so low they'd make you wince.
Physics? She'd guess the multiple choice, then stare blankly at the rest.
Forty points was a personal best.
Add the fact that she'd graduated years ago — whatever she'd learned, she'd already given back.
Luna breezed through the English paper, took a deep breath, and pulled out the math.
A few seconds later, she took another deep breath and decided to start with chemistry instead.
She pulled out the chemistry paper. It might as well have been hieroglyphics.
Luna closed her eyes.
Her hands were shaking as she held the paper.
They'd scrapped the old arts-versus-science track. The new system was 3+1+2 — three cores, one focus, two electives.
Which begged the question: what possessed her to go full STEM?
All Hayes's fault.
Luna forced her eyes open and faced reality.
She set the chemistry paper down and picked up the last one — physics. Glanced at it.