Page 7 of Wicked Games

“God, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry. And… I’m sorry for even bringing her up.”

“You don’t need to keep apologizing. It’s okay. I like talking about her. It helps me feel better when I’m really missing her.” April paused and smiled. “She would’ve liked you.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked, brows lifting.

“Your whole coding skills thing.”

“Oh, was she good at that too?”

“No. Not at all. But she and her friends were obsessed with that Gossip Girl show. Remember it?”

I nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“They wanted to start a Babylon version of GG with an app. But none of them knew how to do that. So I bet Abby totally would’ve roped you into building the app for her,” April said. She laughed softly and shook her head. “An app like that would never have worked at a place like this, though.”

“How come?” I asked.

“Gossip spreads here like wildfire. No app necessary. You could drop a pen on the fourth floor and everyone on the first floor would probably know about it within five minutes.”

“Oh, wow.” I swallowed hard. “So, um… speaking of the social scene here, what’s it like apart from the gossip? Is it hard to make friends?”

April grimaced slightly. “You should be fine. But some advice—be careful about who you trust. Like, really,reallycareful. People will pretend to be nice to your face and then totally stab you in the back as soon as it suits them.”

“Should I be wary of you, then?” I said in a joking tone.

April grinned and pretended to swipe at me like a cat. “Yeah, totally,” she said. Her smile suddenly faded. “Seriously, though, be careful. Some people here will act like your friend, and then you’ll find out that they secretly hate you and just want to mess with you. Or they’re just trying to use you for something. See her over there in the third row? Brown ponytail.”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“That’s Regina Barnett. We used to be friends. Or so I thought.” She grimaced again. “One day I accidentally saw a text on her phone to one of her other friends. It said, ‘Did you convince April to get it yet?’”

“Get what?” I asked, raising a brow.

April sighed glumly. “Turns out she was only hanging out with me and having sleepovers at my house so she could try to sneak into Dad’s study and steal English exams. That way she and her real friends could cheat.”

“That’s horrible.”

“Yup.”

I wrinkled my forehead. “Why would anyone here even want to cheat at tests? Can’t rich kids just buy their way into most colleges?”

“Yeah, you’re right, but it’s a status thing, I guess. Attending an elite school like Babylon is one thing, but being able to say that you were the top student at Babylon is another thing entirely.”

“Ah. That makes sense.” I smiled wryly. “At least that’s one good thing about not coming from money. Who would ever try to use me for anything?”

April laughed. I laughed softly alongside her until a flash of movement caught my eye. Instinctively, I turned my head slightly to the right to glance at the door and spotted a newcomer to the class. My heart instantly sank.

It was the angry asshole from earlier, and he was looking right at me with the same scowl on his face; a face that I had now decided wasn’t just handsome butannoyinglyhandsome.

April noticed the sour look on his face and frowned. “Um… do you know him?” she asked. “He’s totally glaring at you.”

I shrugged. “Not really. I sort of bumped into him earlier in the hall, and I guess he has a problem with me now.”

“Weird.”

“Who is he?”

“Maverick Reinhart.”

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