Page 73 of Didn't See That Coming

I bite my lip. “It looks like you’re about to have a stroke?”

That breaks the awkwardness, and we both start laughing. Then the laughter ebbs away, and we’re left with a heavier, more expectant silence. There’s so much unsaid between us, and I don’t quite understand it, because I’m the only one with something to hide here.

“So, uh,” we say at the same time.

“Sorry,” I say quickly. “You go first.”

“No, you go.”

“Okay, um…” Of course, by then, I’ve forgotten what I was about to say. No doubt it was something stupid anyway.

“You look really nice,” he blurts out. Then he clamps his mouth shut like he hadn’t meant to say that.

My entire face bursts into flames, and I’m glad that Mami insisted on having me slather on a thick layer of foundation at home. “Thanks. You look nice too.” Then guilt overwhelms me. I don’t want to be the kind of person who hits on someoneelse’s date. “Um, so does Peishan. That color looks amazing on her, right?” I say desperately.

Liam’s eyes soften. “I didn’t come here with Peishan.”

My breath lodges in my throat, a pocket of air that I have to cough out. “You didn’t?”

He shakes his head.

“Who did you come with?” My mind is flailing, throwing random thought after random thought at me.No wonder she was with that band guy! What’s his name again? How could you have forgotten it? You only heard it, like, two minutes ago! It doesn’t matter what his name is. Randy. It was Randy. It was not Randy. Oh my god, stop freaking out internally!

“Nobody, actually.” Liam clears his throat and takes a single step toward me, and I’m suddenly struck by just how close we are standing to each other. The air between us turns electric. “Um, can I ask you something?”

I can only nod, not trusting myself to speak.

“Are things between you and Jonas serious?”

Somehow, I manage to shake my head. “In fact, I’m pretty sure tonight is our last night as a couple.” The words feel slimy coming out of my mouth, even though they’re true, but it feels wrong being, like,Hey, I’m about to break up with my boyfriend (even though said boyfriend is basically a fake boyfriend), so please be ready.“I mean, I didn’t mean that to be, like, ‘So let’s get together.’ Not that I don’t want to—uh, not that I necessarily want to either—but—” Oh my god, somebody stop me, please!

“I’m really glad to hear that.”

His words stop me dead. Our eyes lock, and for the first time, I sense nothing in our way. Just us, and the naked truth between us: that I like Liam, and he likes me back.

“I don’t want to be the sort of asshole who comes in between a couple,” Liam continues, “but since you said you’re breaking up with Jonas, I, uh, I just wanted to say, I’ll wait.” He smiles and looks down at his feet for a second before looking back at me. “I’m good at waiting.”

I swear I’m about to float away. Everything feels so light, my limbs weightless, my hair flying up. I’m like Peter Pan, soaring through the clouds and playing among the stars. Dimly, I sense myself nodding. I don’t know the words to convey to him how brilliantly happy I’m feeling, and I don’t think there’s a need to say anything, because we understand each other, we get it. We smile so hard at each other that my cheeks start to ache, and I don’t care, because I’ve never felt this joyous, as though my insides have been replaced with bubbly, sparkling glitter.

Just then, the music stops abruptly. The spell breaks, and Liam and I blink and look around, as confused as everybody else seems. Someone taps on the mic.Thud, thud.As one, our heads turn to face the stage, where Jonas, of all people, stands.

“Hellooo, Xingfa!” he calls out, completely comfortable with all the attention.

My mouth drops open. Honestly, just when you think Jonas couldn’t possibly be more obnoxious, he proves you wrong. I bet he’s going to start singing or, worse, rapping.

Jonas swings one hand dramatically and a screen descends from the ceiling. Or maybe he’s about to do a presentationon all of his fancy cars. He puts the mic back up to his mouth—probably touching his lips, ew—and says in a husky voice, “This is a tribute to my girlfriend, Kiki Siregar.”

Goose bumps erupt all over my skin. Dread uncoils deep in my guts. Oh no.

“Hit it, guys!” At that, a video starts playing, cast onto the giant screen. And it’s so much worse than I expected. Because it’s a recording of ourWarfront Heroesgameplay. Jonas starts narrating in this stupid, deep narrator voice. “Some of you may know what this is. But for those who don’t, it’sWarfront Heroes,an online shooting game. That’s my character you’re following. And here it comes—” On the screen, a rogue suddenly appears out of thin air and stabs Jonas’s character in the back. There is a collective gasp from everyone. The rogue stabs Jonas’s character until Jonas’s HP bar is empty, and as soon as he collapses in a lifeless heap to the ground, the rogue begins to dance over his dead body. Jonas rolls his eyes at us. “That rogue is Dudebro10, my archnemesis. As you can see, Dudebro10 started to follow me around in-game, killing me whenever he found me.”

“I can’t believe this,” Liam mutters.

I should ask him why, but I’ve lost the ability to speak. My mouth is a desert, my throat feels like someone has put their hands around it and started squeezing, and I swear my heart has clawed its way into my stomach and is continuing to dig for the floor. This is bad. This is so bad. I should go up there and—I don’t know—tackle Jonas off the stage or something. But my feet refuse to move.

“I know that guy,” Liam continues, more to himself than to me. “Dudebro10, that’s my friend. This is so weird.”

“At first,” Jonas continues, “I was so mad. Every night, I would log on toWarfront Heroesand hope that I wouldn’t run into this assho—uh, this guy. Heh, sorry, teachers.”

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