Page 29 of Didn't See That Coming

The next morning, I keep my chin up as I walk inside my classroom, steadfastly averting my gaze from Jonas’s corner. As I put my bag down on my chair and start unloading books and sliding them into the open mouth of my desk, I overhear Jonas talking to Tristan.

Jonas:“…swear, that asshole was on me the whole night. It made the game unplayable.”

Tristan:“That sucks. Did you report him?”

Jonas:“Of course I did. Do you think I’m a moron? But of course the mods did nothing. They don’t care about these things.”

Tristan:“Well, I guess it’s hard because, technically, the opposing side is supposed to kill you, so…”

Jonas:“Yeah, but this was different. He wasn’t doing it to win the game. He was hunting me down and camping on the respawn point.”

Tristan:“Why didn’t you just kill him?”

There’s silence, then Jonas says, “Ugh, you just don’t get it. He was in freaking stealth mode the whole time! How the hell was I supposed to see him, never mind kill him?”

Heh-heh. Ah, this conversation is sparking such joy, as Marie Kondo would say. I imagine myself joining in and helpfully suggesting that Jonas use his warrior ability to strike around him in a whirlwind, which would render the shadow stance useless. Oh, to see the look on his face when he gets taught how to play better by a girl. But I need to focus on my goal, which is not to troll Jonas but to make myself a couple of friends. Right.

I look around. There’s ten minutes before the first period starts, and half my classmates have already arrived. Most of them are chatting with their friends, but a couple of them are sitting quietly at their desks, reading. Introverts! Yesss. Okay, that came out a lot more creepy than I intended. Better still, one of the quietly reading ones is none other than Peishan. Surely a girl with the bad luck of sitting next to Jonas would be sympathetic toward me.

Here goes. I take a deep breath and tap Peishan on the shoulder.

“Hi, Peishan.” Good. My voice comes out the perfect balance of chill and friendly.

She turns around and—get this—does what I swear is a tiny grimace. Gah! Not a good start. Still, I press on.

“Um, read anything good lately?” I say, nodding at her book. Oh god, that sounded so pathetic, like a pickup line some creep would try at a bar. Okay, maybe not at a bar. Iwouldn’t know, I’ve never been inside a bar, but I imagine they’re full of creeps approaching women with stupid one-liners. Much like the one I’ve just approached Peishan with.

“No,” she says. She shows me the cover of the book she’s reading, and of course it’s one of our textbooks.

“Oh, right. Yeah, studying hard, huh?” Inside, something shrivels up and dies. I believe it was my soul. Because could I sound more dadlike?

Peishan narrows her eyes at me. “What do you want, Kiki? I’d rather not chat with you for too long.”

Wow, okay. That was very straightforward. “Uh, I just—I—” Eleanor Roosevelt’s little matchmaking project jumps to my mind, and I hurtle toward it. “A couple of friends and I are starting this really cool app.” That sentence is sort of, kind of misleading, I realize, because I’m not sure that Eleanor Roosevelt and Sarah Jessica count as “friends.” I mean, are you even allowed to be friends with people four years your junior? It’s definitely not going to help me rejuvenate my reputation, that’s for sure. But nobody needs to know that the friends in question are only thirteen. “Basically, it’s a matchmaking app for teens, and we were wondering if you’d be interested in joining?”

One side of Peishan’s upper lip curls up, and she looks at me with the amount of disdain one might reserve for a particularly fat, wriggly earthworm. “Uh, no? Dating? We don’t have time to date, Kiki.” She says this really slowly, like I’m hard of hearing. “We’ve got exams and college apps to prep for. And not to mention dating’s forbidden?”

“Right. Of course. Well, you know, if you wanted to beinvolved in the business side of things, it could be good on your college apps?” Why am I even still trying? Part of me is shouting at myself to retain what few shreds of dignity I have left and leave already. But the other part of me is panting with desperation.

“No,” she says simply, and returns her attention to her textbook.

Shot down, just like that.

Liam arrives then, plopping down on his seat and depositing his heavy backpack on the floor with a thump. He catches my eye and raises his chin. “ ’Sup?”

Ugh, did he catch the tragedy that was me trying to chat up Peishan? My face feels hot, so I turn away. I hope I’m not visibly blushing. I still haven’t quite figured Liam out yet. I mean, at first, I thought he was one of Jonas’s stooges, but yesterday he told Jonas to back off, so I don’t know what his deal is. Whatever it is, I am not in the mood to try to figure out the horrible mess that is my group mates. I need a fresh start, someone who’s completely new to me.

Okay. I look around. Thankfully, no one else has given us any attention. I want to thunk my head down on my desk until school is done for the day, but no! I’m not one to be so easily thwarted. I eye another student. A boy named…uh, I believe it’s Jeff, or it might be Tobin. Wildly different names, I know, but he has a very Jeff/Tobin vibe. I saunter over, pretending like I’m perusing the bulletin boards at the back of the classroom. Luckily, Jeff/Tobin sits in the very back row. When I’m a couple of steps away from him, I summon up a smile and say, “Hey.”

He looks up in surprise and smiles at me. “Oh, hey.” Okay, this is a good start.

“Hey, what’re you up to?”

He gives me a sheepish grin and leans back in his seat so I can see that he’s got a textbook open, but hidden inside the textbook is a graphic novel.

“Cool!” I smile back to show that I’m definitely not the kind to rat out someone reading a graphic novel in class. Unlike Peishan, who is definitely that type. “Yeah, I’m really into graphic novels myself.”

“Really? No way! Which ones have you read?”

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