Image: Very angry, short South Asian girl with black hair wearing a dragon T-shirt standing at the front of a classroom.
Caption: No one can be sure what Samaya Janmohammad’s endgame here is, but word is that all her happy pictures at hockey games and farmers’ markets are as fake as Aimee Whelan’s nails. Apparently, there is a lot of turmoil behind the scenes between the math genius and her new hockey-playing himbo, and Samaya has been taking out her relationship woes on her game-dev teammates. Yelling at your teammates is not leadership behavior—although it was always questionable whether Samaya had the skills to match those of her ex, who everyone knows is a born leader. Whispers has learned that several of her teammates are considering speaking to the staff adviser of the club about her inability to be a real team captain. This account will be watching her closely to see what else cracks beneath her surface.
I stared at the post, reading it at least three times, while feeling like throwing up. Finally, I reopened the chat and wrote to my friends.
Me:What the fuck.
Before Cass or Aimee answered, a FaceTime call with both of them appeared on my screen. I answered it.
Aimee, looking extremely annoyed, was the first to speak. “What the fuck indeed.”
“I think that’s a good question for your boyfriend, Aim. How do you know he’s not behind this? He’s the one who wanted that sniper battle.”
Aimee shook her head. “It wasn’t him. He is not Earl’s Whispers.”
“I don’t think he’s Whispers,” Cass said. “I do think he’s the one who sent in the picture and tip, though.”
“He would never,” Aimee said. “You don’t know him like I do. Plus, why would he make that crack about my nails? Jayden knows they’re real.”
“Maybe to deflect suspicion?” Cass suggested. “Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past him. You need to see him for who he—”
“Can you guys stop?” I interrupted. “I’m really not in the mood for more arguing.” My lousy day had just gotten lousier, and I wanted to go to bed.
Cass and Aimee were quiet for a moment. Finally, Cass spoke. “Samaya, we need to report this to the school. They’re harassing you.”
“How? By telling the truth? I’m not going to be the bitch who snitches after a tiny bit of pressure. The best revenge is living well, remember? I need to show MissZhao I can handle this. Lead the team to work together instead of fighting.”
Aimee frowned. “But it’s not true. You and Daniel aren’t having problems.”
I snorted. “Me and Daniel aren’t real, remember? Just like the post says.”
“Yeah, but no one else knows that. Why does—”
“Crap,” Cass said, interrupting Aimee. “There’s a GamesLost comment on it.”
“What does it say?” I asked, bracing myself.
“She knows squirrels are the cause of most power outages, so why does she care about shooting some up.”
Now I was sure I was going to throw up.
“What the hell does that mean?” Cass asked.
I frowned, the sour taste not leaving my mouth. “It means LostAxis must be in the game-dev team. The squirrels-causing-power-outages thing is a fact he once told me.”
“Fuuuck ...,” Cass said.
My sentiments exactly. I hadn’t been trying to figure out who LostAxis was anymore—because as Cass said, it didn’t matter. But now it did. If LostAxis was in the game-dev club, and was angry at me for blocking them and dating Daniel, could they sabotage the club? I was really enjoying the game-dev project—when the club was getting along. I didn’t want to give up the forest-fairy game. And Ineededthe reference from MissZhao. This was my only extracurricular right now. As Mrs.Singh had told me, I needed the leadership experience for my scholarship applications.
“Who do you think it is?” Aimee said.
I bit my lip, thinking. “I really, really don’t know. I’ve only eliminated Jayden and Omar. So that leaves”—I named the remaining members of the team—“Carson, Kavita, Nabil, and Alex. Wait, I doubt Kavita would be LostAxis. She played croquet with Daniel and I, and she seemed impressed with him. She didn’t seem mad that he had stolen LostAxis’s identity.”
“What about the others? Did they talk to Daniel?” Cass asked.
I shook my head. “Carson was there when Omar accused me of cheating on Devin, but he didn’t say anything. It could be him. Alex and Nabil weren’t even at Hana’s, were they?”
Aimee nodded. “Nabil was. Not Alex.”
