I shook my head. “No. We broke up.”
She frowned. “Right. Ask MissZhao to advise the club. She’s the new computer teacher. Are you still intending to study math at the University of Waterloo?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Excellent. Now, about those community service hours ... You’re aware that Earl’s students need seventy-five hours to graduate, more than other schools in the area. You’re only short twenty, so catching up shouldn’t be a problem. But it’s more than that. The summer volunteer position at the math camp won’t be easy for you to replace. As well as giving you volunteer hours, the math camp would have provided you with a valuable reference and leadership experience for your applications.”
“I am aware,” I said. “My mother and I were hoping you would know of another similar opportunity I could do during the school year.”
Mrs.Singh flipped through a binder. “The Scarborough Animal Shelter is still looking for volunteers.”
“I’m allergic to cats.”
“Many of our students work at the seniors’ center. It’s a little late, but I can probably get you in. Can you play euchre?”
I raised a brow. “Is that a game?”
She frowned, continuing to flip pages, then stopped on one. “What’s this? The family shelter is looking for someone?” She stood. “Mr.Croft might know more about this.” Mrs.Singh left the room.
While she was speaking to one of the other counselors, I watched my friends in the quad. Ugh. Aimee was now talking to Hana Dawar. I’d blissfully not thought much about that person all summer.
I’d been friends with Hana a long time. Hana and I, along with Cass and Aimee, had been inseparable in grade school, but Hana and I had had a special bond, probably because we were the only two South Asians in our friend group back then. Somehow in high school we’d shifted from friends to frenemies, though. I guess I wastechnicallystill friends with Hana, even though all through grade eleven, she’d been saying things like, “Wow, Devin has really filled out! He’s borderline too good-looking for you now, Samaya!” and “It’s not fair that you got the only decent Brown kid in the school—my parents would love it if I had a boyfriend like Devin.”
Hana was at the top of my list of suspects for the true identity of Earl’s Whispers, although she denied it. I thought she was full of shit—mostly because Hana and her friends were total mean girls and gossips, and Earl’s Whispers had been calling Devin “Earl’s most underappreciated hottie” for months, and Hana clearly had eyes for my boyfriend.
Ex-boyfriend.
I remembered what Cass said earlier and agreed again. This place was a complete hellhole.
Mrs.Singh returned smiling. “I got the details and it’s perfect.” She sat back at her desk. “So, do you know the family shelter over on Kingston? You remember—some Earl’s students went there last fall for that multi-school build-a-playground project?”
I nodded. I remembered that project—but I hadn’t gone. I wasn’t exactly a DIY construction type. I was pretty sure Devin and most of his friends went, though.
“The shelter started a new fundraising initiative last spring,” Mrs.Singh continued. “They use the big commercial kitchens in the facility to make cookies and pastries that they sell in a stall at a farmers’ market downtown. It’s all to raise funds for children’s programming at the shelter. Two young people were heading the project, but one left for university, so they’re looking for a new volunteer to bake and coordinate the selling efforts. It’s minimum three hours a week, with the opportunityfor more if you want it, and they’re hoping someone will stay for the duration of the semester. This is perfect for you, Sam! Working at a family shelter will lookso goodon your application.”
I frowned. I wasn’t much of a baker. Or a cook, actually. “The culinary arts aren’t really my thing.” Or any arts, really.
“Let’s keep an open mind, shall we?” said Mrs.Singh. “It’s a great leadership opportunity. And it’s just baking. You may have free time there, so you’ll be able to use it to study. Like when cookies are in the oven! I’ll call them and tell them all about you. At least check it out, okay?”
I knew I didn’t have a lot of options left. I needed those hours. I put on my go-getter face. “Okay. I’ll give it a shot.”
It couldn’t be that bad. No animals. No card games. And I might not be much of a baker, but I did like toeatbaked goods. And with only one other “young person” to work with, at least I wouldn’t be surrounded by other Earl’s students.
I thanked Mrs.Singh and walked out of Guidance thinking maybe today wasn’t turning out that bad after all. And walked right into Devin Kapadia.
Nope, today still sucked monkey balls.
3
The Golden Boy Makes Me Want to Puke
Devin. Was. Here.
Like, right here. Like, so close I pretty much slammed my head into his chest. Or at least I would have if he hadn’t put his arms out to stop me, so now his hands were on my shoulders like we were dancing at the grade-ten fall formal again.
He dropped his hands and I took a step back.
My heart pounded. My hands curled into fists.
