“I can tell you that Lyra Stormclash would never take lip from some scrawny percussion players like Brody or Max,” Madisyn says.
“Huh?” Rosa asks.
“That’s my fighter!” Madisyn replies with an eye roll.
“My orc would flatten them. Easy,” Yori says.
“And then my elf could elegantly dance over their flattened bodies,” Keira adds.
There’s a small prick of guilt at hearing them trash the percussionists, but I push that away. No matter the motivation, the guard sounds excited. Determined, even. This is exactly what I’ve been hoping for.
“This is great!” I exclaim. “Let’s keep the talk of ‘flattening’ people away from Sire and Faith, but I love this momentum. Wecanwin this—we just need to dedicate ourselves. Which means we better get started. Which of your characters is going first as DJ?”
Yori raises her hand immediately. “I already searched on Spotify and found a whole playlist for my orc. Rage Against the Machine feels appropriate for the first song.”
I nod appreciatively. “Perfect choice, Oof.”
The changes aren’t immediate, but each day I notice small differences. Members self-correcting when they see they’re off from the group, drop spins that are in sync for once, and even Callie and Keira practicing throws without me asking.By the time we get to our home game the following Friday, I’m actually excited. And more importantly, the others seem excited as well.
Of course, that could be because our homecoming game is tonight. Students are going all out—wearing school colors and face paint and decorating the halls with balloons and garlands. Our show tonight is easy since we’re basically just standing in formation and performing to Ariana Grande while the homecoming court walks across the field.
“Hazel, are you going to homecoming tomorrow?” Li asks as we leave the band room for our break between school and the football game.
I shake my head. “Not this year. Nova wasn’t interested and I didn’t have a date, so we decided to skip. We’re going to spend tomorrow shopping, watching movies, and eating too much food.”
“Oh, that sounds fun!” She nervously adjusts her glasses. “I’m going with a few friends.”
“You’ll have a great time.”
“What are you doing now? Do you want to hang out?”
“Um, actually, I’m going to grab some ice cream with Max. But only because I lost a bet to him and I have to pay him back,” I add when she lifts an eyebrow.
“I thought you could barely tolerate Max?”
“That’s usually how it feels.”
Li eyes me. I always think of her as young and naïve, but she might be more observant than I realized. “So the fact that you aren’t going to homecoming has nothing to do with the fact that Max refuses to go?”
“What? No.” My stomach flutters at the news. Max isn’t going? Up until this second, I haven’t thought at all about whether Max was attending the dance or not, but now I want to know everything. “How do you know what Max is doing for homecoming anyway?”
She shrugs. “I heard people talking about it. I guess girls keep asking him and he’s refusing everyone. He wouldn’t even get a smoothie with Erika.”
Li’s gossip has the same effect on me as marching during a freezing-cold downpour. Girls are asking him out? I shouldn’t be surprised. Max is the hot new guy in band. And even though he’s the same age as us, knowing that he takes college classes during the day makes him seem older and cooler than all the other guys we’ve grown up with. Still, I didn’t realize that so many people were interested in him. I’m mortified by the way jealousy claws up my throat at the mere mention of it.
“He and I don’t talk about that kind of stuff.”
She grins. “But you do go out for ice cream together. Even though he doesn’t go out with anyone?”
“Oh no, don’t start. I’m paying off a bet, that’s it.” My cheeks are red, and she knows she’s got me. “Speaking of, I’m supposed to meet him now.”
She giggles. “Of course you are.”
“Oh my god,” I groan. “Listen, please don’t say anything or make a big deal about it with the guard members, okay? It seriously means nothing, but I don’t think the guard will like it if they find out.”
“They’ll hate it, for sure. But I promise I won’t sayanything.” She gives me a knowing wink and my cheeks warm even more.
I can’t get Li’s words out of my mind as I climb into Max’s car a few minutes later. I already wasn’t sure what to make of this outing, and now my mind is spinning with possibilities. I try to push the questions away. It’s entirely possible that the girls who asked Max out weren’t his type and that’s why he said no. Or maybe there’s still someone from his old school that he’s hung up on. There are a million explanations that don’t involve me and Max together, and it’s not doing me any favors to let this get to my head.
