s a r a h n . h a r v e y & r o b i n s t e v e n s o n
24
“You’re right,” Claire said. “But only because I’m horribly
allergic to them.
And
to celery. Which is a shame, since I’m
a vegan.” She smiled, scanning the circle. “Okay. So you see
how this works?”
A few nods and some more eye rolls. A yawn from Chad.
“Rahim, why don’t you go next?” Claire suggested.
The exercise dragged on painfully. We learned that
Rahim had a master’s degree in social work and was
diabetic; that Warren played football and had his appendix
out last year; that Imogen had sixteen piercings and a tattoo
of a tiger on her thigh; and that Tara—the tall skinny timid
girl with the heart-shaped birthmark on her cheek—had
almost drowned as a child and was terrified of water. Jason
lied about being a marathon runner but told us that his dad
was Irish, which explained his accent: apparently his family
had moved back to Belfast for most of Jason’s childhood to
avoid some bookie who wanted repayment on his father’s
gambling debts. Jason’s hero was an outlaw called William
Brennan, who sounded like an Irish version of Robin Hood,
stealing from the rich to give to the poor and all that. Nick
played violin and spent a lot of time looking after his eight-
year-old cousin, and Chad seemed to miss the point of the
game completely and made up a bunch of stupid stuff.
Mandy liked clothes and hated math. And Caleb stuck to
the sports-related facts he’d already shared on the Zodiac—
rugby, soccer,
blah, blah, blah
.
Then it was my turn. “I’m Alice,” I began and cleared my
throat. I’m not shy, but I really would prefer never to have
