Page 69 of Don't Hate the Player
“I don’t want to,” I say as kindly as I can manage. “You should tell her yourself.”
As I’m turning to walk back through the library and meet back up with Penny and Matt, Connor calls out one last time.
“Wait. You said you had something to tell me.”
Right, I did. Telling him I came here to break up with him is pointless now, so I say the first thing that comes into my head.
“There was a popcorn accident with the machine in the student lounge. It’s cleaned up now.”
Allow me to accept my award for “worst parting line in history” in absentia, and please, have the plaque sent to the Team Fury green room at the Wizzard-Claricom Arena.
When I talked Step 2 over with Penny and Matt, I figured it would feel like just another task on my pre-victory to-do list. I didn’t care about my relationship with Connor, so ending it should have meant nothing. Did we not suck as a couple? Is the riddance not, in fact, good?
I’m supposed to be awash in catharsis by now, but knowing that Connor noticed how poorly I treated him makes me feel, ugh . . . It’s one of thosemultifacetedfeelings. I’ve had a lot of these since I started talking to Jake, and I can’t say it’s my favorite part of being willingly vulnerable.
I feel like . . . ?I’ve been tweaking the sliders on a character creator trying to get everything right—the face, the body, the base skills and strengths—and when I finally thought I was done and hit confirm, the character rendered way uglier than I expected and can’t pass a skill check to save her life. Making her into something I can actually play is going to take a lifetime of grinding.
But that’s the point, right? Just like Jake said, I owe it to myself to try. It’s the only way I’m going to have a shot at the life I want.
Emotional honesty is exhausting, man. This is a lot for one forty-five-minute free period. I need to eat a baked good, hydrate, and get my butt to bio class. And warn Penny about Connor and Audra, that’s important too. I said he can tell her himself, but let’s be real; he’s not going to. She needs all the advance notice she can get to find a new VP candidate today.
I’m trying to figure out how I can smush everything that just happened into a few pithy sentences when I get to the library door. Penny and Matt said they’d wait for me in the auditorium, but as it stands I’ve only given them a few minutes to get to their next class. I wouldn’t blame them if they weren’t there anymore, but when I push the door to the library open, they’re standing right outside in the hallway—and so is Principal Klein, with my mom.
“Emilia, you’re okay. Thank god.” I’m barely out the door when my mom barrels past everyone else to give me a hug. This feels . . . ?extreme. Did Penny bring her over from the athletics office?
“I’m fine, Mom, it’s just a breakup. I’ll live. You didn’t have to come all the way over here.”
“Breakup? What breakup?” My mom pulls away far enough so I can see the confusion on her face, then buries my face back in her shoulder. “Your father offered to drive over, but I’m taking you home.”
I twist to look over at Penny and Matt, who both look like they’ve just come down with a stomach flu. This entire situation is wrong. I have no idea what I’m supposed to be panicking about, but I start anyway, just to stay on top of things.
Principal Klein, who seems to be the owner of the missing piece of information that completes this shitpuzzle, clears his throat.
“Miss Romero, the school received a call ten minutes ago. Several calls, actually, and there are more coming in as we speak. It appears your name and information appeared on a website calling for threats against you and your family.”
“It’s a misunderstanding,” my mom interrupts. “Dad’s working on getting it taken down. No one has any idea who these people are or how your picture ended up on the site.”
No. No, no, no. This can’t be happening, not now. We haven’t had a chance to move on to Step 3: wipe my social media and mass-untag any pictures that could tie me to friends and family members. We would have made it Step 1, but I thought we’d have more time. I should at least have been able to do an Insta story for school election day. I lock eyes with Penny over my mom’s shoulder. She needs to know about Connor. That’s the normal person problem I’m supposed to be dealing with right now. Not this; this wasn’t what we planned. It’s too soon. This was supposed to be a controlled demolition, not an unexpected explosion!
I open my mouth, but I can’t get any words out. Mom does, though. She looks ready to claw her way through an army of anonymous internet fiends and leave zero survivors.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this. It’s ridiculous,” she says fiercely. “I’ve never even heard ofGuardians League Online.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Team Unity Chat, Monday Night
BobTheeQ: I’m going to need everyone to calm down.
JHoops: she’s not answering my texts, she’s not online, she wasnt in school, i dont know where she is and you want me to CALM DOWN???
JHoops: i DMed matt and penny and they won’t answer me
ElementalP: our matty?
JHoops: different matt
shineedancer: you ever notice how every man in america is named matt
