“What are you doing here?” she asks, crossing her arms under her chest.
“Daisy has an appointment,” I say.
“You don’t have to lie to Ms. Drake.” Daisy returns and pulls her backpack away from me to shove a messy-looking book inside. “She’s the only cool teacher in this school.”
“Oh.” I nod. “You must be proud of that distinction.”
“Quite,” Rhea beams. “It’s hard work to get a bunch of teenagers to admit you’re cool, don’t be sour because I earned it and you’re just someone's dorky dad.”
“Dorky?” I huff, feeling lighter than I have all day. “Take that back.”
“She’s right, you are kind of dorky. You own like thirty maps…” Daisy grumbles under her breath.
“At least they’re organized, look at this place,” I say, pointing lazily to the chaotic classroom.
“Freedom of expression,” Rhea and Daisy say in unison.Weirdos.
“I’m outnumbered here,” I admit defeat.
“We’re going for tacos,” Daisy tells her, handing her bag back to me.
“Jealous,” Rhea playfully hisses at her, and I watch the interaction with a foreign smile on my face. “Although Mr. Crockett is kinda cool,” she argues.
“Yeah, but he teaches Gym, andsmellslike it.”
“Fair point,” Rhea laughs with her, “don’t have too much fun.”
Daisy dips out of the classroom, but I stay rooted for reasons beyond my comprehension. Rhea stares at me like I’m insane, and for a long moment, the world feels a little less suffocating.
“Do you need anything else?” She asks me after a second.
I shake my head, shaking the feeling off at the same time, before digging into my pockets, “Here.” I hand her the set of keys I promised her.
“Oh, thank you.” She takes it, and her fingers brush against my palm. “Say hi to Bobo for me.”
“On it,” I note, backing out of the classroom but never taking my eyes off her.
“That one,” I say, lifting the beer to my lips and pointing with my other hand to the board. “I put my axe between his eyebrows.” Cosy waits for me to roll my dice, and it hits a seventeen with a plus three advantage. She takes it as a death blow and moves on to Sunday, who’s making faces at Adeline through the laptop.
“How’s couch surfing?” she asks me after Sunday takes her turn.
“Actually, I found a room to rent,” I say, sliding Kaia a note under Cosy’s nose. Cosy eyes me, suspiciously. “It’s nothing…” I smirk.
Kaia unfolds the paper and cackles before looking over the board and flipping through her notes from the last session.
“You did?” Adeline’s eyebrows lift on the screen.
“Yeah—Bri’s letting her stay in his spare room,” Sunday says before I can. After Brighton had caved and said yes, the first person I’d called was Sunday. I wanted to make sure it was okay with her before I moved in with her older brother, but she hadn’t seemed bothered. If anything, she encouraged the idea, saying that it would be good for everyone, including Daisy.
“You’re living above the Hollow?” Jensen’s voice comes from the background, and Adeline mutes her camera, scowling at him, and then smiles. “Sorry, leaving,” Jensen says, his voice becoming nothing but an echo as Adeline returns to the conversation.
“At this point, you should just let him play,” Cosy says with a soft smile.
“Yeah. For the time being, I just hope that the renovations don’t take as long as they’re predicting,” I say, as Kaia enacts our plan. Cosy has us pinned down in an abandoned house that Adeline justhadto explore, and now we are being attacked by a horde of goblins.
“What’s the timeline?” Adeline asks.
“Six months minimum,” I groan.
