Page 35 of Popular Boys Don't Fall For Geeky Girls

Willow steps into the room, her eyes on the screen. “You’re supposed to be studying.”

“You’re no fun. We’re taking abreak.”

I hold out the controller to her. “Why don’t you take a swing at it?”

Mia rolls her eyes. “My sister’s too busy forfun.”

Willow takes the controller from me. “No, I’m not. Watch me destroy this game.” She lowers herself next to me.

“It’s not something todestroy,” Mia grumbles. “You have to move your monkey across the platforms to—”

“Mia, I know how a platformer works.”

Mia slides her controller into my hands. “Play together. Let’s see who the better monkey is.”

Willow narrows her eyes at me. I narrow mine at her. Then we start grabbing as many bananas as we can while trying not to fall into the lava pit below us.

“And Colton wins!” Mia cheers as she waves her hands over her head. “Nice!” She holds out her hand for a high-five and I give it to her.

“Whose side are you on, Mia?”

“Yours, of course, big sister.”

Willow frowns. “Suuure.” She stands, dropping her controller. “I’m going to order the pizza.”

“Don’t run away because you’re asore loser,” Mia calls after her.

Willow turns around. “I’m not a sore loser. I’d just rather spend my time doing something more fun. Like reading.”

Mia sticks out her tongue. “Sore loser, sore loser, sore loser.”

I hold up her controller. “There’s a setting in the game for 1v1. Wanna try?”

“Really? I didn’t know that,” Mia says. “Where?”

“It’s a little hard to find,” I tell her as I send my monkey into a small cave. “You go in here and there’s a bear that makes the monkeys turn on each other. See? You have to give him honey…there. You found the honey on another level. So give it to him and…there we go. He turns crazy and makes you and your friend hate each other.”

Mia watches with intrigue. “Ooh! So cool. Come, Willow. Play against Colton.”

Willow narrows her eyes at me again.

I grin. “Just a friendly-not-so-friendly match.”

“Fine. I’ll play as we wait for the pizza.”

“Yes!” Mia says.

Willow faces her. “Now whose team are you on?”

Her sister gives her a cheeky grin. “Whoever wins.”

Willow shakes her head as she sits down near me. “One game, then we eat lunch and you go back to studying.”

“Okay!”

Willow and I pound our controllers as we try to grab as many bananas as we can. The floor cracks and the platforms shift, trying to drop us into the lava. My monkey falls many times and so does hers. When we fall, we lose five or ten bananas, depending on the distance. We also try to knock each other down.

Mia cheers and shouts as we play. I’m so close to the exit, and have twenty more bananas than Willow. But she comes out of nowhere, shoves me into the lava pit, and rushes to the exit. Whoever finishes first is awarded fifteen bananas. Considering I lost about ten when I fell, she wins.

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