Liam
“It’s this weird thing, where you want Liam on your team because you want to win but you also don’t want to be anywhere near him,” Matthew comments like I’m not standing one foot away from him.
We’ve finally finished the remaining activities and are close to getting to the best part and the only part I care about: eating. But before that, we’ve been instructed to line up and wait for Alana to finish speaking with someone and give us our little pep talk at the end.
I slowly slide my arm around Matthew’s neck, very much in a “You’re my best bud” way, but with slight pressure to inform him that I could cut off his source of life with ease.
“Jesse… Jesse, please save me,” Matthew says.
Jesse eyes the situation. “I just… I really want to, but I need Liam’s help on an exam, and I don’t want to get on his bad side.”
“Everyone in life is on his bad side!” Matthew objects. “There’s not a single person who is on his good side besides Gabriel.”
“That’s because Gabriel was birthed from the womb of perfection,” I declare… rather loudly judging by the way Alana, who’s just stepped to the front of the room, looks at me.
“Let’s give ourselves another round of applause,” she says, quickly overcoming the fact that she can never be as perfect as Gabriel. “You all did a fantastic job today! I saw the way you were all willing to work together to accomplish what you needed to do. I’m very proud of all of you and you should be proud of yourselves.”
“I’m proud of you, Matthew,” I say as I squeeze his neck just a little more.
“Careful or you’ll make his neck even longer,” Jesse tells me.
Matthew’s head snaps around to look at him. “You told me my neck wasn’t long!”
Jesse just laughs and pats his shoulder. “I’m teasing. I stopped growing in middle school, so I have to get my kicks somehow. You could be like Liam, who has absolutely no excuse for his personality. He has the looks, the smarts, and the athleticism, but still…”
“Gabriel, Jesse is flirting with me. I feel gross inside,” I cry.
“Gross my ass!” he says as he tries to get me in some kind of headlock like I have Matthew in. This is when I catch Michaels’ eyes and can tell that he’s strangely nowhere near as amused when the chief of police waltzes in to check to see how things are going and sees the three of us in some kind of tango. Honestly, we should just commend Alana for how close she got us over the span of the last couple of hours.
I come to the conclusion that Chief Taylor is merely jealous that she doesn’t get to be squeezed between two men while choking one of them—that part is the most important part of it—because she pretends to see none of this.
“How did things go?” Chief Taylor asks.
“Excellent! We had teams that just worked flawlessly together,” Alana says as she waves at some team that is oddly not ours. “And teams that were very inventive.” She looks at us then decides not to wave at us at all, as though she’d prefer not to draw attention to us.
“Liam, please don’t choke Matthew. You shouldn’t choke your friends,” Gabriel says, so I’m grudgingly forced to let go of him.
Michaels’ phone rings and he answers it before drawing still. We are supposed to be rewarded with a good lunch, but I have a feeling that an unlucky group is about to be forced to skip it. I make sure to avoid eye contact like I did in school when I didn’t want to read out loud in the hope that Michaels won’t pick me.
But karma is a bitch and Michaels beelines right over to us.
“Paige, you’re needed. Hyde, Nye, and Fields, go along too,” he says.
“Is he sending off his favorites or the ones he’s tired of looking at?” I muse.
“Definitely the latter,” Gabriel determines. “I’m a favorite, for sure, but as your partner, I’m given no choice but to go along with you.”
“I can smell the food from here,” I say, staring longingly at it while we’re ushered out.
“I’ll eat it all for you,” Jesse promises us as we head out.
“Sometimes I feel like I would like to toss his tiny body and see how far it goes. Like a paper airplane,” I state. “Matthew would like to throw his body in a whole different way. Like onto a bed.”
“I do not… I mean… I am… a strong man… who controls my urges,” Matthew says.
“What about you, Chris? Have you cried on any ladies lately?” I ask.
“I save my tears for you, Liam,” Chris says. “All for you.”
