LostAxis:Honestly, the most fun I’ve had today. You and me, we’re going to take over the world, one egg at a time. Did youknow baby platypuses are called puggles? And so are beagle/pug mixes.
GreenEggsAndSam:Lol. Catch you tomorrow.
That night after dinner I did some research online on the game-dev competition so I’d be ready to ask MissZhao to be an adviser. I already knew my grades would be good this year—my grades were always good. And now I had a stellar extracurricular lined up. Even without math club. I could do this. I could salvage this year. A messy breakup hadn’t derailed me at all.
Wednesday morning started out okay. Mrs.Singh came to my English class first period to tell me that the family shelter wanted me to come by after school the next day to start the baking volunteer job-thing. That was good—I’d get my community service hours sorted.
After second period, I was walking toward the quad when I got a text from Cass saying they were with Aimee in the cafeteria, and that I needed to go see them right away. And they said not to go on social media until I was with them.
Damn.What was it now? The social media comment made me think Earl’s Whispers was posting about me again. But honestly, whatever the account was saying about me now didn’t matter anymore. I was over Devin. I was still riding the high of telling him off.
But I changed course and headed to the caf anyway. I even made it as far as the cafeteria door before I couldn’t resist and opened my Instagram.
And holy hell—I thought I was going to puke.
Earl’s Whispers had a new post.
Image: Handsome Brown boy with gold-framed glasses and long legs sitting in front of one of the moss-green lockers on the lower level of Earl Jones High. Sitting on his lap is a small Brown girl wearing white jeans and a floral blouse. Her long, wavy dark brownhair is draped over the boy’s shoulder, and she’s nuzzled into his neck. The boy’s arm is around her waist.
Caption: Get a room, kids! This is too much PDA for the first day of school. But is anyone really surprised at this outcome? With Devin Kapadia returning to the western hemisphere looking like a complete snack, we knew he wouldn’t be Earl’s most eligible single for long. Can’t say we blame Hana Dawar for sinking her claws into that as soon as possible. New power couple? A pairing like this could catapult Devin, one of the top academic students at Earl’s, to new heights of popularity. Could we be looking at both this year’s valedictorian and prom king and queen? Or maybe being associated with Devin will bring Hana into the influential academic golden circle at Earl’s. Look what Devin did for Samaya Janmohammad, after all. Only time will tell.
This school was easily the tenth circle of hell.
Cass and Aimee were suddenly in front of me, snatching my phone from my hands and guiding me to a table. My vision blurred. I started reciting the digits of pi in my head, hoping to tune out this whole situation.
“You weren’t supposed to look at Instagram,” Aimee said as we sat down.
I tried to think of a defense for myself, but instead wiped my eyes.
“Ugh,” Aimee said, cringing. “Your makeup. Here. Let me fix it.” She rustled in her bag and pulled out a packet of makeup-remover wipes.
“You carry those wherever you go?” Cass said.
Aimee nodded as she gently wiped at my eyes. “Makeup emergencies are surprisingly common. Why did you look, Samaya?”
I shrugged. “Eventually I would have seen it. Or heard about it.” I took a deep breath. “What’s going on in the quad? More of this?” I indicated toward my phone.
“I’m assuming. Hana texted me saying we should join the gang there,” Cass said. “Suspicious to do that right after this post went up.”
Meaning Hana was hoping I’d come and see her there with Devin. Which was why my protective friends had told me to meet them here.
“She’s got some nerve,” Aimee said with a final swipe over my eye, removing the eye makeup I’d done myself this morning. It was probably a good thing. Why the hell did I wear all this stuff anyway? Aimee held up an eyeliner pen. “This is brand new. You want me to reapply?”
“What’s the point?”
Aimee shrugged. “I mean, it would distract attention away from the puffy-redness thing you’ve got going on.”
I frowned, looking at Cass. “When was that picture taken?”
“No idea. Maybe yesterday after school?”
It figured. While Mr.Persaud was gushing about perfect Devin, Devin was apparently hooking up with my nemesis in the hallway.
Aimee was still holding up the eyeliner pen. “So ... yes to more eyeliner, or no?”
I sighed. “Fine.” I closed my eyes and let Aimee do her magic.
“How long do you think this has been going on?” I asked while Aimee worked. The scent of her strawberry hand sanitizer was filling my nose.
