Page 48 of Didn't See That Coming

SJP:No, you don’t. And what about Peishan? Does she have someone in mind?

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An hour later, I’ve managed to kill Jonas about seven times on three different battlefields. Each time, he’s raged at me and threatened to, (1)Report me to the mods, (2)Hunt me down IRL, and (3)Beat the shit out of my scrawny loser’s ass. Oh, Jonas. He’s nothing if not predictable.

I log off, still wearing my villainous smile. Then I check the notifications on my phone, and my smile falls off my face.

Peishan:Hey, come out for coffee. We’re setting up my matchmaking profile.

Technically, Peishan has done nothing wrong. In fact, she’s turning out to be pretty cool. But I can’t ignore the fact that she wants to be matched with Liam. The idea of Liam being set up with Peishan is making me want to curl up in a dark corner and inject chocolate straight into my veins while listening to emo music. But I know I’m just being selfish. There’s nothing between Liam and me, and there can never be anything more than being friends. And it’s all my fault. It’s all because I’ve been so deceitful. Maybe I could’ve come clean to him the moment I found out that he’s Sourdawg, but now it’s way past the acceptable window of time where I could be, like, “Guess what? I’m your online bestie, Dudebro!” and not have it be massively weird.

Zoelle:Come to Kopi-Kopi. You live in Senayan, right? It should be abt 5 min from ur house

Whaaa? I’m about to say no when I realize that this is exactly what I’ve been aching for. A group of girlfriends I can hang out with after school. It’s just that it’s happening so quickly I have no idea how to react. No, wait, I know exactly how to react. By behaving like a normal person and saying yes! To hell with Liam. I need girlfriends more than I needmy online crush. I type out a quick “OK” and change into my jeans and a shirt in record time. As I rush down the stairs, Mami’s head pops out from the kitchen.

“Oh, Kiki! I didn’t even realize you were home. Where are you off to?” There’s a vinegary smell from the kitchen, which tells me she’s making kombucha again.

“To see some friends from school.” She looks surprised before she smiles, and anger leaps in my chest, because she doesn’t get to be happy that I finally have friends again. None of this was her doing. I duck my head and make my way to the door.

“Have a good time!” she calls out.

I ignore her and make sure to close the front door extra hard on the way out.

When I get to Kopi-Kopi, I find not just Peishan and Zoelle but Trissilla, another classmate, and a girl I don’t recognize.

“This is Renata. She’s from Eleven Diligence,” Zoelle says. “She wants to sign up too.”

Renata rubs her palms together. “Oh yeah, I’m ready to be matched up with all the hotties!”

That gets a laugh out of me. I sit across from them.

“Kiki here has all the inside intel about this app,” Zoelle says, putting an arm around my shoulders and squeezing me. “You’re going to help us make our profiles appeal to whoever’s running the app, right?”

“Um…” I hesitate, because it sounds like they think the people behind the app are seasoned pros instead of two thirteen-year-old kids. I want to tell them who’s behind it, but I also don’t want to risk getting Eleanor Roosevelt and SarahJessica into trouble. The more people that know who the Lil’ Aunties are, the higher the chances of the school finding out. “I’ll help. Although I’m sure you guys have everything under control. And the matchmaking app is definitely not foolproof. I was set up on a date with Jeremiah, and he could not get out of there fast enough.”

Zoelle’s mouth drops open. “Wait, what happened with Jeremiah? And are we talking about Jeremiah Riady?”

“Yeah. And nothing happened. We were…” My voice trails away, and I hesitate. “Wait, I signed an NDA. That means I can’t talk about the date.”

They all stare at me. I shrug. “It’s contractually binding!”

“We won’t tell,” Peishan says. “Come on, spill.”

I sigh. “Okay, but if anyone decides to press charges, you guys are gonna have to pay for my lawyer.”

Zoelle laughs. “Done.”

“Okay, so Jeremiah showed up, took one look at me, and said, ‘I’m not going on a date with Crazy Kiki.’ And that was it. He left right away.”

They all look horrified. After a stunned silence, Trissilla says, “What the fucking fuck?”

“Triss!” Renata says.

Trissilla glares at her. “No, but seriously! What a little asshole. He’s one of my twin’s best friends. I can’t believe he’s such a jerk. Next time he comes over to our place, I’m going to…” She narrows her eyes. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do, but it’s not going to be good.”

“Okaaay,” Renata says.

Peishan chews on her lip as she watches me. Then, in a small voice, she says, “I’m sorry.”

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