“Yeah, I think so. If it hurts, I’ll watch you play.”
But I honestly needed a break fromDragon Arena. I smiled. “Or maybe you can teach me to playHockeyStars?”
He laughed, then nodded. “Yeah, let’s do that. You’ll love it. Just imagine the opposing team are unicorns or elves or something.”
Like old times, Cass and Aimee were waiting for me at the bus stop on Monday. I immediately told them about how much fun I’d had playingHockeyStarson the weekend.
“Seriously, the game is amazing. There’s this tournament mode and—”
“So, one cute boy and you’re, like,donewithDragon Arenaand switching to sports games?” Aimee asked, giving me her trademark eye roll.
“Uh, no. I was just trying something new. And I enjoyed it, so I decided to tell my friends about it.”
“Yeah, well, you can’t completely give upDragon Arena,” Aimee said. “We didn’t finish the Diamond run, so Jayden’s rescheduling. He was so pissed that we couldn’t get it done on Friday. He’ll need you as Light Mage again.”
I raised a brow. Last year, getting Aimee to join us forDragon Arenaparties was like pulling teeth, but now that she was dating Jayden, she was telling me when my services as Light Mage were required? And she accusedmeof changing for a guy?
Had Aimee’s loyalties always been to the boy she was dating rather than her oldest friends?
“So what exactly happened after we left the shelter anyway?” Cass asked. “And how did it lead to you playing hockey video games with your fake boyfriend this weekend?”
I blushed. “Yeah ... um, we’re not exactlynotreal anymore.”
Cass raised one brow. “English, Samaya.”
“Fine. Daniel and I are kinda sort of really dating now.”
“So you got all hot and heavy after rescuing a lost kid?” Aimee asked. “At the shelter? That’s weird.”
“We kissed. Long after he found Yasmin. And he admitted he’d caught feelings, too.”
Cass smiled. “Of course he did. I’ve been telling you that for a while. This is amazing ... I’m so happy for you.” Cass gave me a knowing look. They were probably thinking this meant we would go to hockey games together more often. Last I’d heard, Cass and Owen were still frustratingly pretending to be just “friends.”
I was kind of excited to go to more games though. Daniel and I had talked about it while baking on Friday, and decided that we’d go to Owen’s next game with Cass. Since Daniel couldn’t play until his wrist healed, he wanted to watch as many games as possible for his hockey fix.
Aimee huffed. I wasn’t sure why she seemed so put out by me actually dating Daniel. Then I remembered Jayden’s comment that Danielwasn’treally my boyfriend. I’d forgotten about it because of all the commotion. Was that something Aimee had told him?
I didn’t even ask her. I didn’t want any dark clouds over my head today. So I let it go and read over my physics notes for my test the rest of the way to school.
I had physics second period and finished the test before anyone else, so the teacher excused me from class early. I was sitting alone in the quad working on English when Cass suddenly sat next to me.
“There you are. I left calculus to find you. Why’s your phone off?”
I frowned, turning my phone back on. “Whoops. I had it off for a test.”
“So ... you haven’t seen Instagram?” they asked.
“No, like I said, physics test.” I opened Instagram, but I didn’t have any notifications. Then I saw it.
I cringed. “Whispers, again? I thought they were done torturing me.” I’d blissfully almost forgotten the account existed. I looked at the picture.
It was me and Daniel at Jayden’s on Friday night. I didn’t even remember anyone taking this shot. Daniel was sitting next to me at the big table, and I was looking in his direction with total disdain. I knew I’d been looking at Jayden, who was sitting on the other side of Daniel, and probably yelling at me that I was too slow for a level fifty-five Light Mage or something. But the picture really looked like I was making that face at Daniel.
“This is ridiculous,” I said. “Who took this picture? This is completely out of context!”
“Read the caption, Samaya.” Cass looked like they were barely controlling their rage.
If there’s one thing we pride ourselves on at Earl Jones high school, it’s integrity. And we expect it more from the upper echelons of our student body more than anyone.
