Page 48 of The Pucking Kiss

The test results stared back at me. I had passed.

“What…” my tone betrayed the surprise I felt.

“You did it, Bryan,” Mrs. Johnson smiled warmly at me. “I have to say, I had my doubts about you. But you’ve really improved yourself these past two weeks. Well done!”

It felt strange to be at the receiving end of praise from Mrs. Johnson for a change. I tucked the envelope away in my pocket, finally letting myself feel happy about my accomplishment.

“Thanks, Mrs. Johnson.”

“If you keep this up, then you’ll be able to get your grade average up considerably,” she said in her departing words. “I want to see you keep doing well like this.”

“I’ll try my best,” I promised. But her praise felt misdirected.

I’d only gotten here because of Romai. And right now, all I wanted to know was to share the news with her and let her know how thankful I was.

As I walked out of her office, I was on a mission to track Romai down. She’d been ignoring me all week, and I didn’t know what was going on with her.

Besides, I needed her help if I was going to keep my grades up.

I called her.

“What do you want, Bryan?” she sounded annoyed.

“No, hello?” I replied, raising an eyebrow. “You still didn’t tell me why you’re so mad at me.”

“I’m busy,” she shot back. “Is it urgent? Because I really need to go my biology lab.”

“I got my test results back.”

She was quiet for a moment. She knew how much it meant to me, and even though she was pretending to be cold towards me, even she couldn’t fight the curiosity to know if her tutoring had paid off.

“And? What is it?”

“I’ll tell you if you agree to see me today at practice,” I wagered. “Come on, Romai. You can’t keep avoiding me forever.”

She huffed at the other end of the line. “Fine, I’ll come see you.”

“After school, at the ice rink. I’ll see you there.”

When I hung up the phone, I was feeling satisfied with myself. It was time to find out what was really going on with Romai once and for all.

During practice, I kept missing the goal because I kept looking back to see if Romai had come or not. It was unusual for me ever to miss, so my teammates were finally beginning to grow curious.

“What’s going on, Captain?” Karl was the first one to point it out as we took a small break from playing. “Seems like you’re pretty out of shape.”

“I’m allowed to have an off day,” I shot back. “You should focus on your own game.”

“I am,” he replied, his tone mildly threatening. “Good for me, though. If you keep this up, Coach is going to lay you off as Captain in no time.”

“You’re delusional, Karl,” I rolled my eyes at him and then finally spotted Romai making her way into the stadium. “And frankly, I don’t have time for it.”

I didn’t bother waiting for what Karl had to say in response as I rushed over to Romai. Immediately, I noticed that she looked a bit different.

She’d cut her hair and worn makeup. And while she looked great, she wasn’t the same Romai I knew.

“Hey,” she walked up to me, noticing me staring at her from a distance. “Congratulations. You’ve successfully managed to blackmail me into coming here. Now, spill the tea about your test results.”

“I wouldn’t call it blackmail,” I replied. My mood suddenly perked up now that she was finally here. “I thought I should let you know about the fruits of labor. It paid off.”

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