But this time, I was skipping school because I was just angry. I couldn’t face them all. Face Aimee and Jayden, face everyone who saw the post and now knew personal information about Daniel that he hadn’t even wanted me to know. And I didn’t want to see Devin again after finding out everything he’d done and why.
Ugh. I still couldn’t believe Devin was LostAxis. LostAxis! The guy I’d secretly stayed up all night with to fight unicorns and orc hordes with. The guy with the quirky animal facts—though I still didn’t get why he’d told me so many of those. LostAxis was the guy who helped me forget the pain Devin caused. It was Devin all along! It didn’t make sense to me.
And now, school was a nightmare, and Daniel was doxed. My final year of high school was already an epic disaster, and I wasn’t even two months in.
At least I still had Daniel. I hadn’t told him about Devin being LostAxis yet. He hadn’t texted me after his hockey practice last night, so I assumed he’d gone out with his friends afterward. I spent the day catching up on homework and tinkering with the game-dev code, glad I had work to keep my mind off everything. I texted Daniel a few times over the course of the morning and the afternoon, too, but didn’t hear back. Which was fine—he couldn’t always text when he was at school.
Mom got home around five. I’d told her and Dad I needed a personal day. I wouldn’t dare tell why—that I was still reeling after learning that Devin, their perfect boy, had lied and catfished me.
Mom had just started making dinner when there was a knock at the door. I figured it was a delivery or something, so I was surprised to see Cass and Owen in the doorway.
“Oh, hey, Cass, you have homework for me or something?”
Cass shook their head. They had a grave look on their face. They glanced at Owen a moment, then looked at me. “Have you talked to Daniel today?”
Had something happened to Daniel? I clenched my fists. “What’s going on?”
“Let’s talk outside,” Cass said, glancing over my shoulder at my mother cooking. I guided them to my backyard. It was pretty warm for October, and someone, probably Tahira, had put out massive pots of fall flowers on our deck. I’d actually spent a ton of time here with Tahira and Rowan this past summer when I wasn’t working at the ice cream shop. Rowan was really into gardening and had inspired Tahira to put some effort into the backyard, even though she was allergic to a lot of plants. But she called this gardenallergy proof, because she’d done some research and chosen plants with fewer allergens.
Owen and Cass sat at the outdoor sofa. I took the seat opposite them.
“Okay, tell me.”
Cass looked nervously at Owen, then at me. “Why weren’t you at school?” they asked.
“I texted you why. I needed a personal day. After the fucker ...” I stopped. I did like Owen, but I hadn’t known him that long. He didn’t know about the history between me and Devin, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to get into the whole thing now.
“So it’s because of Devin?” Cass asked.
I nodded.
“You haven’t heard from Daniel? You don’t know where he is?”
I shook my head. I was starting to get scared. Really scared. “What’s going on?”
Cass sighed and looked at Owen again. “You tell her.”
He nodded at Cass, then looked at me. “So I have a good buddy on Daniel’s hockey team, yeah? Austin. I got a call from him—he knew that I knew your best friend, and he thought I might know where to find him.”
My spine straightened. “Find him ... Where is he? He had hockey practice yesterday.”
Owen shook his head. “Apparently yesterday on their team’s Discord, Daniel told them all that he wouldn’t be coming to practice. He said he was quitting the team and moving.”
“What? Why?”
“He said he got into a fight with his uncle about some Instagram post, and left home. No one has heard from him since.”
My hand shot to my mouth. “Oh my god. Where is he?” I picked up my phone.
“Austin said he hasn’t responded to texts or their group chat all day,” Cass said. “His team is worried.”
I texted Daniel.
Me:Please respond. I’m worried about you. I heard what happened with your uncle.
There was no answer.
“Where doyouthink he is?” Cass asked.
