“Hi, uh, Brother,” Luke said awkwardly.

He lifted his right arm tentatively, to shake hands if that’s what Smits wanted to do. Or if Smits stepped close enough and reached out, Luke could probably force his arms to wrap around Smits in something like a hug. If he had to.

Smits didn’t move.

His cold gray eyes looked straight at Luke— straight through him, it almost seemed. For a horrible second Luke was afraid that Smits was going to refuse to acknowledge him, maybe even yell out, “This boy’s a fraud! He stole my real brother’s name!” Then Smits’s gaze flickered away, and he mumbled, “Hey, Lee.”

Luke exhaled, only barely managing not to let out an audible sigh of relief.

Smits looked at the chauffeur.

“My luggage?” he asked.

“Of course, sir,” the chauffeur said, and walked to the back of the car.

Luke let his half-extended right arm fall back to his side. It was clear that Smits didn’t want Luke to touch him. While Smits was watching the chauffeur, Luke got the nerve to peer past him, into the car. If Mr. and Mrs. Grant were in there, he wanted to be prepared.

“They didn’t come,” Smits said.

Luke jumped. “Huh?”

“Mom and Dad,” Smits said. “They had no interest in accompanying me here.” He sounded so smug saying that, Luke wanted to punch him.

“Oh,” Luke said. “Well, why would they?” He was trying to sound casual, the way he would with his own brothers. His real brothers.

“Because of me,” Smits said. “Because they might have wanted to say good-bye to me.”

CHAPTER 4

By dinnertime the rumors were flying through the school. The new boy had brought four suitcases, his own computer, and a giant TV. The new boy had taken one look at the room he was supposed to share with five other boys, stalked down to the office, and demanded a room of his own. A big one even. The new boy had wandered into the dining hall, gotten one whiff of the evening meal, and instantly ordered that all his meals be privately catered, brought in from the city, an hour away.