Page 125 of The Scientist

“Irrelevant!” Louis shouted. “How is light going to travel out three feet and then stop? It makes no sense!”

“All I’m saying is the physics of it is completely plausible,” Stuart said.

Louis set his plate down angrily. “That’s the problem. You’re completely disregarding the engineering aspect.”

Stuart turned to face us. “Lex? You want to chime in here?”

“No, thanks,” Lex answered. “I’d rather not let my girlfriend know exactly how nerdy I am.”

A thrill shot through me at hearing him call me his girlfriend.

“She already knows,” Stuart remarked. “We need you to settle this or it’s just going to keep going.”

Lex sighed. “You’re both right. Photons can collide at very high energies, but you would need a mirror or some other object for the light to bounce off of or it would just keep going.”

Stuart grinned smugly. “I told you.”

“Hejustsaid we were both right, dipshit,” Louis shot back.

“Can we talk about something else?” Dan interjected. “You guys are boring me.”

“Actually, Hadley, I wanted to ask you something,” Jace said, changing the subject.

“Sure,” I said through a mouthful of food.

“I wanted to see if you might be interested in giving me a few guitar lessons,” he said, surprising me. “I’d really like to learn, and Sarah said you were an amazing guitarist.”

I made an“aww”face at her, and she flipped me the bird.

“I didn’t know you played the guitar,” Lex said, surprise coloring his tone.

“Do you guys ever actually talk or do you just spend all your time fucking?” Sarah asked while the other guys started to laugh. I shot her the bird back, and she smirked at me.

“No seriously, she’s incredible,” Sarah said. “She’s a musical mimic. She can hear any song and play it right back to you.”

Louis scoffed incredulously. “Bullshit.”

Sarah shot him a look like she was ready to throw down. “You want to put money on it?”

“What did you have in mind?” Louis asked, grinning.

“Hundred bucks says you can’t give Hadley a song that she doesn’t already know,” Sarah said, narrowing her eyes at him. “And if she doesn’t, then she only gets a minute of hearing it before she plays it back perfectly to you.”

Louis extended his hand. “You’re on.”

She shook his hand, staring him down, and said to Jace, “Go get your guitar, baby.”

The other guys started laughing and saying“oooooo”like a fight was about to break out. When Jace came back, he handed me his guitar.

“This is really beautiful,” I told him, tuning the strings.

“Thank you. It was my grandfather’s,” Jace said fondly. “That’s why I wanted to learn.”

“Okay boys, do your worst,” Sarah said confidently. “I already know what I want to do with my hundred bucks.”

She winked at Louis, and he laughed before saying, “I’ve got to see this.”

“Stevie Ray Vaughn,Pride and Joy,” Peter said, throwing out the first song.