MasukOne loud beep pulls me out of my sleep.I groan and fold myself, turning toward the other side of the bed like a burrito. Then the ringtone starts at full volume, filling the room. And I already know who is calling before I even open my eyes.I blink up at the ceiling, arms and legs spread wide across the mattress like a Christmas turkey. The phone keeps going until I finally drag it to my ear.“Isn’t it too early for this?” My voice comes out dense with sleep.I have had one of the longest terms. This entire week was supposed to be dedicated to sleeping. A full, uninterrupted, restorative sleeping until my body remembered what it felt like to be a human being again—“It is midterm holiday, Chancé.” Her voice is sharp and bright. “We have plans. Or did you forget?”Right. The plans. The ones we’ve been building since the beginning of term. The fun, and also getting back at Sasha. Finding something on her. Making her fall completely.“You know what — never mind. Just come outside. I’m
***~~~CHANCÉ~~~***I’m walking into the house when my phone beeps.I stop in the doorway, eyes dropping to the screen.Sasha Mackline and River Dawson have called it quits.My brows pull together. I close the door behind me slowly, still staring at my phone. Just last week they were photographed together. Her hand on his arm, his hand at her back, the whole performance. And now this?What happened between them?I kick my shoes off and drop onto my bed, reaching for my phone to call Cortney. The past few weeks have been exhausting for both of us in different ways. Me running after buses with Cort, sharing my lunch money with her, barely seeing her because she has to go straight home after school or straight to play rehearsal with barely a minute in between.She picks up on the second ring.“Hey.” I sink back into my pillows. Today’s exam was good. I could feel it — the answers coming cleanly, none of the blankness from last two weeks Thursday. “How are you doing?”“Tired. Bored. What
All of this has been haunting me.On the drive home, my mind won’t stop turning it over — Sasha, pregnant, in Paris. And the father being Marcus. My friend. Her stepbrother.My phone buzzes relentlessly the whole way. Sasha’s name flashing over and over until I finally turn it off completely and drive the rest of the way in silence.I pull into the driveway and sit in the parked car for a long moment. Then I reach for the papers again and read through them one more time. Slowly. Carefully.I’m certain. But my mind keeps pushing back against it. So I turn my phone back on. The messages and calls have stopped for now. I scroll through my old messages, looking for the number, and when I can’t find it fast enough I just type it in directly.It stares back at me from the screen.I click on it. Scroll up through the history.Marcus. It’s his. It has always been his.I groan and press my hand over my face.I don’t even want to picture it. The two of them fucking. It makes my stomach turn. I
I’m shocked. I’m confused.I stand on the stairs, hands in my pockets, and watch Sasha from a distance. She’s laughing with a group of girls near the far wall — head thrown back, perfectly timed, completely at ease. I wonder if any of it is real. If that laugh belongs to her or to the person she built in Paris to replace whoever she was before.Paris. Wasn’t that the trip Cortney and her girls took that summer? The one she came back from talking about for weeks? Did Cortney know?She couldn’t have. Rue said almost nobody knows. Sasha buried it too well, too completely. And then the hair came. The personality. The armor she put on and never took off.Now I understand her. Not in a way that excuses anything she’s done — not even close. But I understand the architecture of it. Why she needs to control everything. Why she keeps people close enough to use and far enough away to never actually see her. Why the meanness come so easily. It’s easier to make people afraid of you than to let
Rue still hasn't reached out.It’s been four days. Nothing!But I'm holding onto the hope that she'll find something on Sasha — something real, something I can actually use. And then this whole thing ends. We end it with the sex she wants and then life goes back to whatever normal looks like for me.What's the worst that can happen?Cortney still isn't speaking to me.Every time I try, she walks away like I'm invisible — like I'm furniture she's learned to navigate around. Dad still hasn't given her back her car or her card.And Chan—Chan shows up to every tutorial session completely professional. She doesn't bring up Sasha and the dating news. The picture of us kissing. She doesn't bring up us, or what happened in the storage room, or any of it. She corrects my work, sets new assignments, apologizes for the smallest things “Sorry, I should have explained that differently, sorry, let me go over that again.”— and I hate every second of it. It's like we've been reset. Like we're back t
I pick up my phone and hesitate for the ninth time.This is a good idea. Reaching out to Rue. I need her. She's the only one I know who can help me get out of this mess. Get Sasha off my back for good.I finally grab the courage and press call.Just pick up. Please.It rings. And rings. I end the call before it goes anywhere and try again, pacing the length of my room. This time it goes straight to voicemail.Hey, it's Rue. Don't call me if you don't want to fuck me. And I'm talking to the hot boys specifically. As for the girls — I'm not a lesbian.I sit on the edge of my bed and stare at her name on the screen.Normally she'd have picked up before the ring. Back when we were sneaking around behind Cortney's back, she'd answer before my phone even had a chance to buzz on her end. She was the one chasing me then, head over heels, relentless about it.And speaking of Cortney, she still hasn't said a word to me since what happened in the hallway this morning. I want to explain it to her
***~~~RIVER~~~***If I knew the tiredness and sneezing that came out of me would lead to me being sick, I'd not have fallen asleep.I wake up feeling a little better than I was a few minutes ago. But my blanket is gone away from me. The air conditioner is turned to the highest setting, and I'm ou
What is this smirk about? Did he already know I agreed to tutor him?I tear my eyes away from him and smile at Cortney. She hands me her key. "I'll meet you in the car.""See you later, Chan." River winks at me.I swallow hard.I watch the twins walk off together. Just as I'm about to leave, my pat
***~~~RIVER~~~***The whistle blows as we get onto the ice. On Friday, we have another school to battle. If we beat them, our rank goes up and we have a chance to enter Regionals. Just 29 more schools to go. "Focus!" I yell at my teammates as we take our positions. At least this time, Ricky know
I decide to stay under the radar for now.The wicked smirk I saw on Sasha’s face earlier still lingers in my mind. It instilled real fear in me. I can’t be the reason another accident happens to my family.And then there’s Cortney, still giving me the silent treatment because I chose a birthday par







