That afternoon Cass and MK were cleaning up the zen garden, one of their weekly tasks. They raked the stones smooth, and pulled up the few weeds sprouting on the edges. Cass was heavily silent, and eventually MK grabbed her rake and made her sit down on the bench at the edge of the rocks.
“Girl, we are going to talk right now,” said MK. “I know you’re moping, and I know why you’re moping, and so I’m going to tell you something I should have told you before, and you’re not going to like to hear it, but it’s important.”
“What?” said Cass.
“A week ago—a week before he got kicked out—Matti Persson asked me if I wanted to spend some time with him. He asked if I wanted to . . . be involved.”
Cass blushed much harder than before, and held herself very still. “And I told him I wanted nothing to do with him,” said MK. “I told him that as far as I knew you two were together, and that was that.”
Cass was silent for a minute. Finally she said, “how did he take that?” “He just grinned at me,” said MK. “In his pretty way. And then he left.” Cass got back up to rake the rocks for a minute, erasing her footprints as she backed into a corner, waiting for the lump in her throat to ease. “You’re a good friend,” she said, and walked back toward the dorm.