Griffin may seem like a grumpy ass most of the time, but he’s aggravatingly selfless … and nosy.
Dean tries to play it off. “Oh, no one. It’s nothing.”
His attempt fails miserably, and Griffin slides closer to us. “Does it have anything to do with your guys’ absence at the party? You vanished for, like … hours. A lot of time to do a lot of things …”
“Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dean groans, clearly affected, which only encourages Griffin more.
“Oh, it’s definitely about the party!” Griffin confirms. “So, who is she?”
“That’s kind of our problem … we don’t know,” I admit honestly, wanting to be done jumping through hoops to avoid Griffin. He’s the most stubborn dog when he gets a whiff of something.
Dean joins in. “We tried going through the guest list, but no one on there checks out as our girl.”
“Ourgirl?” Griffin smirks. “Kinky.”
Dean rolls his eyes. “Shut up.”
A serious tone finds Griffin’s voice. “Okay, so the guest list didn’t work out. What next?”
“Go door to door?” Dean chuckles.
Griffin’s face lights up. “I have an idea, but it’s not necessarily a good one.”
We both sit up and look at him, waiting for him to continue.
“It could get you suspended or expelled.”
“Doubt it. We’ll just donate for another arena and building.” I smirk, leaning forward, my elbows on my knees.
Griffin rolls his eyes before continuing, “You guys remember Blair’s ex, who sent photos of her out to the entire school, using the?—”
“The automated messaging system. Yes!” I hop off the seat, a burst of energy shooting through me. I pump myself up and down, rising up onto the balls of my feet. “Why didn’t I think of that? That’sgenius.”
Dean waves his hands like he’s trying to cool me off. “We don’t know for certain that she’s a student though. And that’s a big step to misuse the system if we’re wrong.”
“You just don’t want to get in trouble, D.” I chuckle. “Look, I get it.”
He squints at me, fighting a smile. “No, I don’t think you do. Or have evergotten it. You love trouble.”
I point at him. “That may be true, buuuut this is different. Wehaveto do this.”
He sighs—contemplating the risks in his mind, I’m sure. “It might be worth a shot.”
A Legends staff comes in, announcing five minutes left before lineup.
“Let’s talk more after the game,” Dean mutters.
“Deal,” I agree with Dean before turning to Griff. “You’re a genius. Thank you.”
“Anytime.” He chuckles. “Now, let’s go kick some Gargoyle ass.”
“Fuck yeah!” I shout, amped up to get back on the ice with a newfound fire.
Kicking Gargoyle ass isexactlywhat we end up doing, beating them four to two by the time the third period runs out.
We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. No fights. No injuries. The perfect ending.
Now let’s hope our search will end the same.
