"Not bad," he says. I'll have you know the school newspaper staff gave me an award for it by the end of the year.

[God, they're such nerds. But Belle's tone is light, a little nostalgic. It's been a long, long time since she thought about her teenage years—now Luke makes her look back on it with a smile.

And also the quiet gratitude that she wasn't quite as bad as he was.]

He is nice. Prickly like a cactus on the outside, but really deep inside—he's a good kid. So're you. [Just also spoiled as all hell, but that's okay, that means he has normal person problems.]