I shook my head. “Google Maps says my bus will be there in three. I’m literally running. See you Thursday!”
I bolted out of the room before he could say anything else. And I didn’t post our new selfie on Instagram. I needed to think.
15
He’s More Myth than Boyfriend Now
Ispent all Sunday working on my proposal for the game-dev project. My concept was still an RPG puzzle game in a modern setting. After jotting down my ideas and making some terrible sketches, I looked at my work. Was this idea unique enough? It needed to be amazing, not just to convince the others in the team to vote for it but also to make a splash in the competition.
In the evening I texted my friends.
Me:For the mobile game, what do you think about the characters being fairies instead of people? Living in the forest
Cass:Could be cute.
Aimee:I love it. I’ll bring my sister’s Tinker Bell books to school tomorrow. We can use them for research. Anyway, got to go! I have a date!
Cass:Yeah, I’m out too. We’ll talk tomorrow.
I shrugged and put my phone away. I had time before I needed to finish this proposal, since the whole game-dev team wasn’t meeting to vote on the game proposals for another week.
“You two look cute,” I said to Aimee.
I was riding the bus to school with Cass and Aimee the next morning, looking at an Instagram picture of Aimee and Jayden that I’d missed from the day before. It seemed they actually went bowling for their date.
Aimee grinned. “Everything is going so well with him. I don’t know how I never noticed how sexy he is. This year is going to be the best ever—mark my words.”
Aimee looked so happy. Like, literally glowing. I found it hard to be mad that she was with the guy who’d been such an ass to me at that game-dev meeting. Cass raised a brow at me, though. I knew they didn’t approve of Aimee brushing Jayden’s bad behavior at the meeting last week under a rug.
“How come you don’t have a selfie with Daniel from the weekend?” Aimee asked.
I cringed. I still felt weird about posting one of those pictures. I told Cass and Aimee all about running into Hana at the market and said I hadn’t posted because I’d been hoping she would post the picture she took.
“Don’t wait for others to tell your story!” Aimee said. “Control the narrative yourself! I mean, I think it adds to your credibility that Hana saw you in public together, but don’t wait for her. Do it now. The hour before school starts is the busiest time on Instagram. Post something before Devin or Hana post something about their weekend plans.”
She had a point. But still.
Maybe it was because I’d had such a great time on Saturday with Daniel, or maybe it was that weird moment when I was leaving the shelter and realized I’d developed a bit of a crush on him. Whenever I looked at the pictures we’d taken, all I saw was my smile. My joy at that moment. And I knew I wasn’t feeling that way because of the Jamaican beef patty in my hand—or at least notonlybecause of the beef patty.
Daniel’s face? It was full of joy, too, but his face always radiated happiness. It wasn’t because of me. I wondered if it was genuine, orwas his constant cheerfulness a mask? Maybe he was pretending, like I felt I always was—except I hadn’t been pretending when these pictures were taken.
It felt wrong to post this picture as part of our fake relationship when there was nothing fake about my feelings at that moment. But I had to.
Before I second-guessed myself, I uploaded three pictures, one of us before taking a bite of the patty with our eyes wide, one of us biting, and one of us laughing with my head resting on his shoulder and him looking down at me. Again, I kept the caption simple, just a heart emoji.
“There. It’s done,” I said.
And of course, Aimee was right: everyone seemed to be scrolling Insta right now. It got likes right away. Even a few comments. Things like,Goals,awww, and the heart-face emoji. Hana even commented something about how cute we were when she bumped into us that day.
It was fine. People were talking about me, but for good reasons.
That’s when I saw a comment from someone whose name I didn’t recognize.
I frowned. “Who’s @GamesLost?” I asked my friends. “They commentedNice hat trick.”
Aimee looked over my shoulder at the comment. “I dunno. You aren’t even wearing hats. I don’t get it.”
Cass shook their head. “A hat trick is a hockey thing. It means the same player scores three goals in a game. I’ll bet it’s one of Daniel’s friends. GamesLost sounds like a hockey fan’s name.”
