Page 34 of Dungeons and Drama

She’s silent for a few moments and I think I’ve lost her, but then she quickly kisses the top of my head. “We’ll see. Don’t get your hopes up.”

I grin and sit up straight. “I promise.”

When I walk into the store, Sophia is standing at the register in the middle of what looks like an intimate conversation with Nathan.

I cluck my tongue. He’s clearly useless without me. I roll my shoulders back and walk behind the counter. “Hi, Sophia. Nathan.”

“Hey.” He barely looks my way, then does a double take. “Oh, I mean,hey.”

Good Lord, he isn’t selling this at all.

“What are you guys talking about?” I ask.

“Just gamer stuff.” Sophia looks me up and down. “That’s quite the outfit.”

“Thanks,” I say, even though I know it wasn’t a compliment. “You too.”

Both of us would stand out in a crowd. Sophia looks like she’s about to go live her best cottagecore life in a billowy flowered dress cut low enough to pull all eyes to her chest. Meanwhile I’m sporting my favorite black and white checkerboard pants, a chunky orange sweater, and yellow smiley face earrings. Elegant and demure I am not.

I glance significantly at Nathan, waiting for him to compliment me. Instead, his eyes linger on Sophia. I push down a sigh. He’s clearly forgotten all about the plan in the presence of her dress.

I lay a hand on his arm. “Lunch was fun today.”

I say it to remind him that I’m standing there, but it’s also the truth. The guys have started sitting with Hoshiko and me, and at first I wasn’t sure if she’d like adding anyone else into our tight twosome, but she’s been cool withit. This afternoon we all got into a weirdly hysterical debate over whether frosted Pop-Tarts are better than unfrosted ones. I stand firm that frosted are superior because more sugar isalwaysbetter, but Lucas and Anthony strongly disagree. Something about getting more filling in the unfrosted ones. We were practically in food fight territory by the end of lunch.

“Team Frosted forever,” he replies, and high-fives me.

“Forever.” I chuckle. “If I had a car, I’d run to the store and get a few boxes just so we could slowly eat them during the game to troll the others.”

“We should do that! I can drive.”

I blink in surprise. I was only kidding, but he seems totally serious. “Um, I mean, I doubt my dad will let me go, but I love your enthusiasm.”

I glance at Sophia, who is frowning, clearly confused by our inside joke. I almost feel bad about the way I’m trying to exclude her—and the fact that we’re trying to make her jealous in the first place—but then I remember how dismissive she’s been to Nathan (and me) and my sympathy fades.

Nathan looks at the time on his phone. “The game is going to start soon, but there’s a grocery store down the street. I bet we can make it. Want to?”

“Sure, if we can get Dad to agree. I call strawberry.”

“You better share.” He grabs his keys. “I’ll go talk to your dad.”

He dashes off for the stockroom and Sophia and I eye each other uncomfortably. After a moment she walks off without another word. I wander over to Fred and Arthur and chat for a few minutes about their kids and grandkids.

Nathan comes back out looking triumphant. I follow him out the door rather than ask questions.

“We have to pick up diet soda for the store. Don’t let me forget.”

“I can’t believe you got Dad to agree to this,” I say as I click my seat belt and try to find a comfortable place to put my feet where they won’t be directly on top of discarded fast-food bags. At least the car doesn’t smell bad. “I thought I wasn’t allowed to ride with anyone but him and Mom.”

“Well, you might not want to mention this to your mom just to be on the safe side. But your dad trusts me implicitly.”

“Yeah, clearly. And Dad wants diet soda? He hates that stuff.”

“I know,” Nathan says with a shrug. “But his doctor told him to start exercising and cut his sugar, and this is the closest he’s gotten. At least he’s trying to be healthier.”

I bite my lip and nod. I didn’t know anything about that. Dad is under doctor’s orders to change his diet? And he’s telling Nathan about it, of all people? Maybe the better question is why he isn’t telling me. I guess Mom is right about trying to build a better relationship with him.

Nathan starts the car and a song blasts my eardrums, startling me. He quickly shuts it off, but I’ve heard enough to recognize the music.

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