Page 21 of Stop and Seek
Noah raised his eyebrows, rolling the name tag between his palms. “I like magic.”
“You should use your eidetic memory for something worthwhile, Kyran.” Benji snapped his phone shut. “You’d make more money than you do now.”
Kyran let out a dramatic sigh. “Imake money.And thanks for ruining the mystery. Shut up and gimme your wrist.”
Noah shoved the sticker into his pocket, his fingers brushing lint and an old gum wrapper. He wiped the residue on his shorts.
Not like it was the worst thing on his clothing.
“You call someone a cunt and suddenly you’re banned from like, three platforms. I fucking hate social media,” Max groaned, her blonde head popping up from her phone. “The kids are losing their shit.”
“It’s a ton of money,” Noah said, as gently as he could.
Leave it to the rich girl to not get it. He’d seen her drop that much on a shopping trip.
“Hand,” Kyran ordered, wiggling his fingers at Noah. “You wanna go find some people or get lost?”
Noah shrugged. “It’s only practice, so it doesn’t matter. Did the A/V guy finish set up?”
“Eddie,” Kyran corrected. “And yeah, he did. He’s a programmer now.”
“Which means… he’sstillthe audio-visual guy.”
Noah grinned, but Kyran didn’t return the smile.
Kyran’s eyes flicked to Benji, then back. A silent shift. Barely anything, but Noah caught it.
Yikes. So much for jokes.
“You can…” Kyran trailed off, chewing on one of the lip rings. “Play catch. Ben-Ben is hiding. That way, I can make sure the game is running smooth on both ends. Sound good?”
“Stopcallingme that,” Benji hissed.
A plastic cup soared through the air, spinning mid-flight. Kyran ducked, and it smashed into the wall with a wetsquelch. Something sugary slid down the paint.
Noah eyed it. Glanced back at Kyran hesitantly. “Uh. Yeah. That sounds cool, man. My knee’s a little wonky today, but I’ll suffer for the greater good.”
Not really the truth, but it wasn’t like he could say,Sorry, still sore from railing some dude a few hours ago.He’d already gotten an earful about missing last checks from Max.
He held out his wrist, and Kyran snapped one of the red bands around it.
Well, it looked like his plans of sitting this one out were off the table.
The first few rounds of Stop and Seek would be crazy—screaming, running, the whole nine yards. Three hundred people in a school the size of a sandbox didn’t sound like his version of fun.
“Happy pill?” Max asked, rummaging through her purse.
She shoved things aside. Finally pulled out a gold-embossed box.
Noah squinted at it, rolling the idea around.
“Icould,”he muttered. He scrunched his nose. “Makes me kinda dizzy, though. If the grass is damp…”
Max dropped the box into her purse like it was poison. “That settles that. No pills for you. I need you in Venice Beach with me.”
They’d all been stuck in Eunice for a week, and getting out sounded amazing right about now.
Venice Beach was Max’s idea, though he remembered being more set on Sweden—ski resorts beat out beach resorts every time.
