Page 11 of And They Were Roommates

Ms. Nallos blows her whistle. “One minute. Go!”

Xavier latches onto the tallest bar and pounds out pull-up after pull-up, keeping a perfectly parallel angle. I stare in awe. His muscles are bigger than I even imagined. If I stole his lucky spoon, would I sprout muscles like that?

The whistle goes off again, and Xavier’s feet hit the asphalt. His cheeks are flushed, but there isn’t a drop of sweat on that chiseled face I could only dream of having. He twirls his spoon over the top of his knuckles before shoving it into his pocket. “Verdict?”

“Um,” I say. “You had nice form?”

“No, my number of pull-ups.”

My shoulders hitch. I forgot to count. “Fifty?”

Xavier’s head tilts. “The pull-up world record for our age is forty-four.”

“Switch partners!”

I approach the medium-height bar. Maybe someone like Jasper Grimes, who magically achieves success at everything he touches, could hit the same number as Xavier. Not me. But if I don’t, will Xavier figure it out?

The whistle blows.

A fire ignites within me. I pull myself up as Xavier watches.

Then I come flopping back down like a dead fish. Stomach first, then head, a sharp pain zapping through me. I flip onto my back and squeeze my eyes shut. How many human sacrifices do I need to make to pass PE?

Ms. Nallos does the rounds with her clipboard, asking each pair for their numbers. She reaches us quicker than I’d like.

“I got twelve, I think,” Xavier tells her. “Charlie got two.”

Ms. Nallos inspects my limp body that very much got zero, then moves on to the next pair. Once she’s gone, Xavier offers to help me up.

My instincts warn me to decline so he can’t compare our hand sizes, but I’m in such a daze that I accept, only for my oversized tracksuit sleeve to get in the way. Slapping the sleeve back up to my shoulder, I try again. “Thanks.”

“You know they sell our gym uniforms at the campus gift shop, right?”

“We have a gift shop?”

Xavier’s brow pinches. Naturally, a gift shop was built since I was a camper, and I still know nothing about Valentine. “Yeah?”

“I didn’t know,” I mutter. “Why did you lie? About my score.”

He studies me in a way that makes my heart race. “Hey, we alltook a break during summer. Let me know if you’re ever looking for a trainer. I train mornings and nights in the workout rooms here.”

On top of PE? “Thanks…,” I say again.

“Either way, I’m sure you’ll make some gains back soon, man.”

How am I supposed tomake gains backwhen I never had gains to begin with?

Chapter 5THE PRINCE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

The universe does me a favor by keeping my new roommate away from my PE class, but the favors run dry after that.

“Charlie von Hevringprinz!” Jasper waves from the back of my chemistry classroom. No blazer or tie on him—only a red dress shirt with three buttons undone like last night. Already breaking dress code on day one. A mural of the periodic table of elements stretches behind him.Gefor germanium,Nifor nickel,Ufor uranium, andSfor sulfur are bolded above his head.

He chose that seat on purpose.

Two people hovering around Jasper follow his wave toward me at the door. Must be his friends. A few others by the whiteboard stare. Spotlight number three.

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