Page 119 of Zero Chance

“Yeah.Definitely,” I encouraged, only to immediately realize I wasn’t usually the type to encourage people.

Well… Look at me.Breaking my own cycle.

Kind of felt good.

“Huh,” Xander said.“You know what.I think Iwillchoose that theme.Thanks.”

I nodded, writing in an answer just as the professor cleared his throat and called for class to begin.

I set my pen down and put my calculus away while Xander turned to face the front of the room as if she meant to actually listen to the lecture today.

But a mischievous bug bit me, and I leaned toward her to whisper, “Oh, and Keene knows.”

Xander spun back to me as if I’d just poked her.“What?”she shrieked so loudly and so full of shock that everyone in the room turned to look our way.

Even the professor paused in the middle of talking to lift his eyebrows.“Everything alright, Miss Union?”

“Huh?”She glanced at him distractedly, only to realize who was actually addressing her.“Oh!I—uh, yeah.Sorry, I just—sorry.”She cast him an apologetic cringe and fluttered out her hand, encouraging him to get back to his lesson.“Please continue.”

I snorted out a laugh under my breath, but no one heard because half the class tittered along with me as Professor Gleek frowned at her in reproach.“Thank you so much for your permission,” he droned dryly.“Now, as I was saying…”

When he finally took his attention away from her, Xander shot me a threatening glare and snagged her phone from the side pocket of her backpack before typing madly.

Seconds later, my own phone buzzed with her message.

You are so dead.I can’t believe you told me like that.When did this happen?Did you tell him or did he find out?What did he do when he found out?Are you okay?Do I need to hurt him?You look surprisingly okay.Seriously, Frankie, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

I sighed and glanced her way to find her sending me a stern look and motioning toward my phone to prompt me to reply.Posthaste.

So I heaved out another breath and told her everything, finishing it up with:

Oh yeah, and thanks for not telling me ghosts are REAL, by the way.That was super fun to learn because Keene’s mom did NOT like me shoving him.She tried to kill me with an avalanche of books.But he stopped her.I still ran off in total fear, though, and he had to track me down on the other side of campus to tell me everything about her.Which actually worked out okay because we ended up talking the rest of our problems through, too.And somehow we went away from it as friends.

After I pushedsend, I chewed on my lip and watched Xander’s expressions as she read.

I could tell when she got to each new sentence because she went from eagerly relishing my gossip, to wincing over not warning me about Ghost Mom, then letting her mouth fall open through my death-defying part, to blinking in confusion and shaking her head.

Friends?

she demanded, only to start typing again.

And shit, I’m sorry about the ghost thing.Alec told me in total confidence, so it really wasn’t my secret to blab, especially since both Oaklynn and Faith don’t want people to gossip about their abilities.But I still probably would’ve told you if I’d remembered.It just…never came up.

After she sent me that, she gasped and added,

Crap.Did he tell you about Faith and Oaklynn?Or did I just spill the beans on them?

He explained them.No worries.You didn’t tell someone else’s secrets.

Oh, thank God.

Her fingers flew as she added,

What does FRIENDS mean though?

I scoffed under my breath.

Honestly?No clue.

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