“No idea,” Aimee said. “How long has he been back in town?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know. Can’t be more than a week.”
“Hana moves fast,” Cass said.
Clearly. Hana had obviously had a thing for Devin for a while, but seeing her draped on his lap almost the moment he got back into town hurt, even if I was over Devin. Hana and I weren’t as close as we once were, but she’d been my friend. We used to play Barbies together,connect our Game Boys at school in grade seven, and we even did a science project together in grade nine on the cooling effect of South Asian spices.
It felt like Aimee was doing something much more elaborate on my eyes than what was there before. “I think he was trying to tell me this when we went for a walk yesterday,” I said. “I told him off first, though.”
Cass shook their head. “I still can’t believe he expected you to forgive him.”
“Maybe he wanted to smooth things over because Jayden wants to start up theDragon Arenaguild again,” Aimee said.
I raised one brow at her. I’m not sure she noticed because she was working intently on my other eye. “First of all, no,” I said. “I’m not going to play anything with my ex. Second, since when do I care what Jayden wants?”
Aimee put her hand down and gave me a look. “No one is saying you have to play.”
“Then why do you keep bringing it up?” I snapped.
Cass tilted their head, looking at me. “This is upsetting you more than I thought it would. Don’t tell me you wanted Devin back.”
Aimee was still on pause, presumably curious to hear my answer.
“Believe me, I don’t. Iamover him,” I said. “Seriously. This reaction is shock, not despair or devastation. We were together fortwo years; it’s jarring to see him with someone else.” Especially Hana.
Aimee nodded, then finished my eyes. She handed me a small mirror. “There. You look fierce.”
“Nice,” Cass said.
“Not bad,” I said, closing one eye to admire Aimee’s work.
Aimee tilted her head, smiling. “He’s going to forget what’s her name’s face as soon as he sees yours.”
“Nah. Remember? He always hated me in makeup.” Me, on the other hand? I liked the new Samaya.
The Samaya who stayed up late last night texting a guy without even knowing his real name. I didn’t need Devin anymore. I’d moved on. I opened theDragon Arenamessaging app and sent a quick message.
GreenEggsAndSam:We still on tonight?
The response came immediately.
LostAxis:Absolutely.
GreenEggsAndSam:Can’t wait. Did you know there was a horse named clever Hans who was said to be able to do simple math?
LostAxis:Seriously?
“Who are you texting?” Aimee asked.
I put my phone away. “Just confirming that I’m playing with LostAxis tonight.”
Aimee grinned. “Excellent. He’s much better than Devin.”
The rest of the day was hell. Everyone I saw asked me if I’d seen the Earl’s Whispers account. People stared at me. Angela in my functions class asked me if Devin was already dating Hana when he dumped me. Andre in physics asked me if I’d had threesomes with Devin and Hana. And Britney asked me at my locker at the end of the day how it felt to be dumped for the most popular girl in the school. Britney was tight with Hana, so no surprise there. But the worst was the kid I didn’t even know who asked me on my way out the door if Devin had done all my schoolwork for me last year.
I’d never been happier to be on a TTC bus when the day was over. Cass, Aimee, and I were sitting together near the last row.
“Shit,” Aimee said, staring into her phone. “You’re on another Whispers post.”
