“God, don’t even joke about that!”
The two of them walked together toward Art class, but the usual trek through one of Riya’s favorite hallways, with bright natural light, was tainted by the uncomfortable probing of dozens of eyes.
Was this how people like Quin lived every day? Onpurpose?
“Or maybe,” Mel giggled, “the spell you cast did work after all! Except when you cast the love spell, you accidentally cast it on the entire school instead.That’swhy everyone can’t take their eyes off you.”
Riya gripped her AP Psych textbook to her chest.
Mel was joking, of course. But sometimes Riya wondered. Had Mel really not noticed anything? There were moments—quick glances filled with unspoken questions about Kian. Riya tried to ignore them, anyway.
Maybe she should just tell her the truth. Rip the Band-Aid off. But she hadn’t even told Mel about the Incident.
And if she did... would Mel start walking on eggshells, too?
“Speakingof being lovey-dovey,” Mel pivoted, “has our esteemed Student Council landed on a prom theme yet?”
Riya bit back a sigh. “Not yet.”
The thought of planning Prom on top of everything else made her shoulders sag.
“What about the Fall Talent Show? Have enough people signed up?”
“...Not yet.”
Another thing she still needed to handle. She’d already spent hours posting flyers and chasing down club leaders. And somehow, it still wasn’t enough. Not to mention the Talent Show itself was on the 26th—the same day as the next full moon.
Mel gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure once you put up some more flyers, people will be lining up. Oh, what about Kian? Does he have any talents?”
“Other than reciting awful poetry?”
“Doesn’t he play guitar?” Mel grinned. “Maybe you could ask him. I’m sure he’d do it, if you asked. He’d probably doanythingyou asked.”
Riya’s stomach soured. The worst part was, Mel wasn’t wrong.
Mel giggled. “God, can you imagine? Sometimes I worry if you told Kian to jump off a cliff, he’d—”
“That’s not funny.”
Riya’s voice came out sharper than she’d intended, but still. It wasn’t funny.
Mel blinked, startled. “Oh... you’re right. I’m sorry, RiRi. That was thoughtless.”
“No, I’m sorry.” Riya rubbed at her brow. “I overreacted.”
Mel studied her. “Hey. Are you okay? I know you’re stressed, but—is there something else going on?”
Riya met her gaze. There it was: her chance to finallyopen up. All she had to do was say it.
Just say it.
Her heart hammered; she could almost feel the words clambering up her throat. She opened her mouth—
“Talking about me?”
Kian slid into step beside them so smoothly it was as if he’d always been there.
Riya flinched. Had the curse installed some kind of homing beacon? No matter how much she tried to avoid him, healwayssomehow materialized. Just this morning, he’d appeared so suddenly around a corner that she’d dropped a pile of Student Council printouts. He’d immediately dropped to his knees, apologizing loudly as if he’d personally insulted both her and her ancestors. She had to yank him back up to get him to stop.
