I had no idea how long the nice moment of understanding between us could have stretched on for. All I know is when the words left her mouth, we were hounded by an incessant pounding on the door. The door rattled in response–punctuated by the groans of whoever was behind it–marking what would undoubtedly have been the beginning of a zombie apocalypse had we been the main characters in a dystopian novel. Since we weren’t though, I crept over to the door, fairly certain I wasn’t about to be devoured by a horde of hungry zombies.

About 98.6% certain if I had to put a number on it.

Nora shoved her way past me, streaking straight toward Rika. She scrambled up another stair, startled by the other girl’s hasty approach.

“Nice to see you too,” I grumbled.

Her eyes locked with mine, and she turned on me, lips curled. A snarl. She actually snarled at me, pacing around like a crazy person. “You!”

“Yep, it’s me. No need to apologize or anything by the way. I forgive you,” I said, sarcasm thick enough no amount of social awkwardness could block it out.

“I could’ve kicked her ass! But no, you let her walk all over you. Pathetic.”

I held up my hands in surrender, caught off-guard by the topic. “Hold on. You’re talking about Sara?”

“Of course, I’m talking about that bitch!”

“Sorry, sorry. Forgot I could read minds for a minute there.” Based on her snarling again, my attempts at humor were doing little to defuse the situation, so I stopped. “Look, I appreciate the thought, but it’s dealt with already.”

“You call this dealt with? No wonder she took advantage of you.”

“Nora”–the addressed girl spun on Rika so fast that her voice hitched, causing an awkward pause–“we were just talking about this. I don’t agree with how he handled it either, but we can’t make his decisions for him.”

“We should be able to if this is how things get handled when he’s in charge. Lily thought so too when I was talking with her.”

That name sounded familiar like I’d heard it in a passing conversation before, but I couldn’t put a face to it. A student at Asheville no doubt. She must have spilled everything about Sara to Nora after the game.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What’s done is done. Let’s move on.”

Rika didn’t bother saying anything, having agreed to drop it earlier. The same graceful assent could not be applied to Nora. She snorted and plopped herself down by Rika, refusing to acknowledge my presence any further.

The sound of more knocking drew my attention to the door. And why wouldn’t we have another person joining us? Might as well invite the whole school to hang out and call it a day. It was a much daintier noise than Nora’s hammering, but it was just as unrelenting. I swung the door open to reveal Amelia. She gave off the impression of someone who clearly believed their eyes were playing tricks on them.

Clearing her throat, she stepped forward, allowing the door to close. “Josh told me you all would be here. I didn’t believe him, yet it seems like I was wrong. You know you could get in big trouble for being in here without permission.”

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“I know.”

“Don’t give a shit.”

“I didn’t really have a choice,” I answered her, not surprised in the slightest by how different our responses were.

“Is that so?”

That was the politest deflection for ‘you’re all a bunch of absolute morons’ I’d heard in my life. She didn’t push it any further, though, “I wanted to invite you all to go to the aquarium this Saturday.”

“And you couldn’t wait?” Nora asked.

“I could have, but I wanted to catch everyone when Ethan wasn’t around. I have a favor to ask.”

That intrigued me since Amelia wasn’t one to ask for help; Ethan always told me she’d sit and stew until she solved the problem herself or was forced to give up. So for her to come to us, it must have been important.

“What do you need?” I asked.

“I want it to be only Ethan and me.”

I blinked in confusion, and I was positive I wasn’t the only one. “Come again?”

“Sorry, that came out wrong,” she explained. “At the aquarium, I want to spend some time alone with Ethan even if it’s only for a short while.”

It made much more sense when she rephrased what she meant, and I didn’t see a problem with her request, but I refrained from saying as such. Nora or Rika could answer her since they were both aiming for his affection as well. No use butting in when it wasn’t my business. I at least learned that much from this whole ordeal.

“I don’t care what you do, wasting my time like this…” Nora trailed off.

Amelia gave her a small grin, showing great restraint in resisting the temptation to bait her into an argument. It was so easy for those two to fall back into their usual routine. This must have meant a lot to her.

Inclining her head to Rika, she asked, “And is that ok with you?”

Rika waved her off. “I don’t have a problem with it if you’ll do a tiny favor for me in return.”

Her eyebrows knitted together, likely not expecting to be returning the favor so soon. “And what would that be?”

“Let Chloe also have a little bit to be alone with Ethan.”

She seemed to carefully ponder that. I was surprised Rika would be so upfront about helping Chloe, but it wasn’t like the girl’s crush on Ethan went unnoticed by the rest of them anyway. It was probably for the best to put it out into the open.

“I have no problem with it.”

“Alright, then I agree. A pleasure doing business with you,” Rika said, bouncing over to fling her arm over the blonde’s shoulder. “An aquarium though. I can’t wait!”

A deal was struck, to the glee of those two and the disinterest of Nora. I wasn’t confident about what I was getting roped into this, but I couldn’t find it in me to complain. A trip to the aquarium could be enjoyable, and at least it gave me plans for this weekend. It might even offer me some new plot threads for my web novel.

“Yeah, it should be fun,” I said.

Rika sputtered as though she choked on air or something. “Are you sick? You’re never excited for anything.”

“Seriously, knock it off. Your enthusiasm’s gross,” Nora said.

And this was probably why I never got excited about anything in the first place. Because the moment I did, the two of them would be all over me and call me gloomy or whatever. But I wasn’t going to let them ruin this for me. Nope, two could play at this game.

“I’m only so excited because I get to go with such beautiful girls. It’s every guy’s dream, after all.”

The cold stares they sent my way told me my smooth remarks didn’t have the intended effect. Actually, forget the intended effect. Instead of embarrassing them, I somehow managed to achieve the opposite of my goal.

Their mutual disgust.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted to hurt someone so badly in my life,” Nora said, having to speak over Amelia’s giggles.

Rika sighed. “That was lame, even for you.”

Amelia couldn’t help but giggle some more. “Seems like this trip could be good for the three of you as well.”