Page 107 of Call the Shots
King faced away from us, still frozen to the ground. “What isthat?”
Elijah brought out a woven bracelet, his Gladiator band. I smiled. “Cleo’s bringing the tradition back. The hockey players give them to who they’re seeing. They’ll be arriving in a couple of weeks, Elijah only has one because he was here last year.”
With the shipment delays, there was a chance I wouldn’t get to see the new players get theirs. For the first time all summer, I counted down the weeks with the team, and I felt…
Apprehensive?
The buses roared, and I started to ask King a question before he left us entirely, right behind Willow. Like, so close, herbackpack hit him. I’d never seen him do anything like that but there he went, practically elbowing people on his way to her.
“King?” I called after him, confused, but he disappeared inside the bus. “King?”
On the bus, King and Willow were clearly in the middle of a conversation, but he couldn’t steal all her attention. I wanted to say hi too.
“Hey!” I smiled. “I’m usually so on top of this—hi, I’m June—and you have to be Willow. I hear you’re Jasmine’s new favorite.”
Willow flushed. “King’s kidding?—”
“Oh, no. I talked to Jasmine and she told me to myface. I asked if there was any way I could earn that top spot back.She said no.”
She shot me an embarrassed grin, and we exchanged small talk while I slid into my window seat. It was time to begin my week of debauchery.
My phone buzzed with a message from Bear.
forty
plant sitter duties
The picture popped up. It was Bear with his gaming headphones, relaxing on the couch, next to…my potted esperanza bush?
me
what are you doing with my plant
forty
were gaming together
shes been stuck in the room too long
I had to hide the giggle. That boy could be so ridiculous.
forty
hey did elijah say anything to you lol
me
yeah he said my horoscope means my clouds are hilarious i dont know he was laughing a lot
why?
forty
just wondering he seemed off
me
did you type lol?
