Page 18 of The Facade

“Sadly,” she agreed.

Then looking around at the eight students who sat on the last two rows and seeing Ben among them, I turned back to Elyse with a half-smile on my lips and whispered, “But maybe the universe will smile down upon me and I’ll draw Ben’s name.”

“Well,” Elyse said. “If you get that lucky, then I better get partnered with Addison because I’m pretty sure she’s the only one back there who can follow a recipe.”

Mrs. Johnson had the front two rows gather in a line. One by one, we each pulled a small slip of white paper from the glass bowl she held to determine whom we’d be sharing a kitchen with for the rest of the semester.

I was third in line, and as the red curly-haired guy ahead of me pulled out his partner’s name, I made a wish in my head.

Please let me pick Ben. Please let us be partners so he’s forced to notice me.

After the guy ahead of me moved away from the line, I reached into the jar with a slightly shaky hand. Touching a few slips of paper with my fingertips, I closed my eyes and pulled out the one that felt right to me.

I didn’t look at the paper right away. Instead, I went back to my seat so I could open it without all eyes on me. Once seated, I opened the folded-up slip of paper. And written there in Mrs. Johnson’s elegant cursive were three letters that made up the most wonderful name in the world as far as I was concerned.

Ben.

My stomach immediately flipped, and I couldn’t keep a huge smile from taking shape on my lips as I caressed his name with my gaze, hardly believing my wish had come true.

I get to work alone with Ben for over an hour every other day for the next several weeks.

The universe had finally heard my wish of getting on my dream guy’s radar. And I hadn’t even had to use my Kelana costume to do it.

If I didn’t have a whole classroom full of people around me, I’d probably jump around and do a little dance to celebrate how excited I was to finally,finallyspend some one-on-one time with Ben.

Elyse slid back into her chair beside me and after looking at my face, a knowing smile slipped on her lips. “You picked Ben, didn’t you?”

“Yes!” I whispered, my smile widening. “Who did you get?”

Elyse unfolded her paper, revealing the name.

“You got Mack?” I said with a smile, figuring he was probably the next best choice in our class after Addison since Elyse and Mack knew each other.

But when I looked at Elyse’s face to catch her reaction, it had gone pale. Under her breath, she whispered, “No.”

I frowned. “You don’t want to be partnered with Mack?” I asked in a low voice, glancing around us to make sure Mack was oblivious to our exchange. He was currently leaning back in his chair and talking with the guy next to him.

Elyse just shook her head, a solemn look on her face as she said, “Things are just kind of weird right now.”

Oh.

Yeah, I guess they probably would be.

While she and Mack hadn’t ever gone on a date or anything like that, they had flirted a ton before they found out they shared the same father.

They were making the best of the situation right now, and I knew their parents were trying to help make the transition to integrate their families go as smoothly as possible given all the circumstances. But I could understand how it might be a little weird to work alone with a guy whom you were trying to see in a different light than you had originally.

Elyse folded up her paper again and released a long sigh. “Maybe it’ll be okay. Maybe it’ll turn out to be some good brother-and-sister-bonding time.”

But when I studied her eyes, I knew she wasn’t quite ready for something like this.

“Now if you will all go introduce yourselves to your new lab partners—” Mrs. Johnson’s voice sounded loudly from the front of the room after everyone had finished drawing their names, “—then we can get started baking.”

Elyse scooted her chair away from our table as everyone else on the front two rows made their way back to their new partners. But before she could stand, I snatched the paper with Mack’s name on it from her hand and slipped the piece of paper with Ben’s name into its place.

“What are you doing?” Elyse stared at me, her eyes wide.

“I’m helping you out,” I whispered back.

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