Chapter 4

Suzie

This had to be a joke.

I stared out at the same small crowd in the computer science room after school the next day.

It was the same small group…plus one.

He had to be kidding, right? Luke’s smug smile mocked me from where he lounged at the back table. That’s right, lounged. Feet up on the table and everything. The guy truly was like Fonzie. The thought had me battling a smile even as I glared at him.

His smile grew in response, as though my glare was hilarious. Oh, I was so going to hurt this guy.

“Everyone, please give a warm welcome to Luke Warner,” our advisor said.

I drew in a deep breath as a few of the underclassmen glanced back at him with wide-eyed awe. I supposed it wasn’t every day that a computer club was graced by the presence of one of Grover High’s most popular seniors. They typically had more important things to do, like play a sport, or flirt with cheerleaders, or…oh, who the heck knew what guys like Luke got up to during their off time. All I knew was, it probably wasn’t spent logging hours on a video game like MageLand.

“Suzie will be distributing the rules and regulations on this competition. After we’ve reviewed you can split into the teams you decided on yesterday and get started.”

Mr. Marsico sounded just as excited as I felt. This was it. It was happening. The competition I’d been angling to get my club in on was actually a thing.

My rising excitement was cut down quick by Mr. Marsico. “Suzie, since you’re the only one without a partner, why don’t you and Luke team up?”

I looked at him in horror and then back to Luke, whose grin hitched up on one side giving him that devilish grin that made girls everywhere drool. But not me. It made my fists clench at my sides.

He’d done this on purpose.

Of course, the voice of reason felt the need to point out that he hadn’t been here yesterday when the group had divvied up into teams of two, and he probably had no way of knowing that we’d had an odd number of participants prior to his joining.

I narrowed my eyes as amusement flickered in his eyes. But this was still his fault. I mean, what was he even doing here?

That was the first thing I asked him after I’d finished reviewing the rules and going over the deadlines with the group at large. He pulled out the seat beside him at the table in the back when I headed in his direction, but I ignored the gentlemanly gesture and yanked out the chair across from him instead.

“What are you doing here, Warner?”

He held his hands out in innocence. “What does it look like, Bryers?”

He said my last name teasingly, a response to my use of his name, but I didn’t mind. It was better than Suzie Q, and a heck of a lot better than babe.

I studied him. What did it look like? Crossing my arms over my chest, I met his smile with a scowl. “It looks like you’re up to something.” I looked around as if seeking out his friends. “Is this some sort of prank? Are you setting me up for another #GeeksGoneWild tag or something?”

His smile faded and the amusement in his eyes was gone when I met his gaze once more. “You know I had nothing to do with all that.”

He sounded so serious, so…not like Luke. I found myself swallowing a sudden flicker of guilt. I shoved it aside. Why on earth should I feel guilty for accusing him of something that he was a part of?

Sure, he hadn’t been one of the people posting the hashtag or cruelly calling out the nerdy kids in our class with ugly photos—but his friends had. And that was just as bad, right?

He hadn’t done anything to stop it, and he hadn’t taken our side. With that thought I tilted my chin up and met his gaze evenly. “So then what are you doing here?”

He held his hands up, his smile once more in place. “Can’t a guy take an interest in gaming around here?”

“Not you,” I said. “You’re not into video games so why would you want to be a part of this?”

“Ah, see that’s where you’re wrong,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

He sat upright in his chair and his intense gaze clashed with mine. “I am into video games. MageLand, in particular.”

I blinked rapidly, my mind trying to register this new fact while simultaneously replaying every interaction I’d ever had with him—including yesterday’s. At lunch. When he hadn’t so much as dropped a hint that he hadn’t merely heard of the game, but played it. I crossed my arms. “Since when?”

He crossed his arms too. “Since it came out about a year ago.”

I opened my mouth and shut it. The fact that he knew when it was released meant nothing. “What’s the secret to beating the first level?”

“You have to score the Shield of Akron to make it through the final gate.”

I stared. No, I gaped. Gawked, even. I had not been expecting him to know the answer let alone rattle it off like I’d just asked him to give me the answer to two plus two.

“Fine,” I said, trying to hide my shock and failing if his smug look was anything to go by. “How many times can you cross the Bridge of Nydor before you have to start the level over again?”

It was a trick question. You can’t cross the bridge, but most newbies get stuck on that level and never move on.

He scoffed. “Oh please. There’s no getting over that bridge.”

He was right.

Crap.

He arched one brow. “Convinced?”

“That you’ve played the game? Yes.” I arched my brows in return so we were sitting there with matching poses and expressions—a standoff. “But I still don’t understand what you’re doing here.”

He let out a little sigh that surprised me. “Is it so hard to believe that I might actually be into the idea of coding?”

“Yes.” I said it so quickly that I felt a flicker of guilt at his disappointment.

“You think I’m too dumb for this kind of thing, right?” He was using that teasing voice but I got the unnerving impression that he was actually serious. He spread his arms wide. “Don’t hate me ’cause I’m beautiful, babe. Not all who are pretty are dumb.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or apologize. He covered it well, but I had this nagging thought that I might have actually hurt his feelings.

Which was crazy because I wouldn’t have even guessed he had feelings to hurt.

Nevertheless, I found myself hedging the question. “I didn’t say I thought you were dumb,” I said. “But do you have the time to commit to this? I mean, I know you’re on the basketball team, but this competition is in a matter of months and I need to work with someone who can—”

“I’m not on the basketball team.”

For the millionth time I found myself staring at him. Temporarily speechless. “Since when?”

“Since this morning when I told the coach that I wouldn’t be playing this season.”

He was serious. But he couldn’t be serious. No one who played varsity just walked away senior year, especially not when the player in question was beloved and revered like Luke was.

Does Dale know?

I shook my head. Didn’t matter. What mattered was that I was rapidly running out of excuses to avoid working with this guy. He knew it, too. That smirk was back as he leaned forward over the table, entirely too close to my face. “So, you see,” he drawled. “I have all the time in the world for you.”

My breath got trapped in my throat. I blamed his scent—he smelled too good. Far better than the average teen boy. How did he do that? And how did he manage to make a simple comment like that sound so freakin’…flirty? Sexy, even.

I forced myself to exhale and it came out as a strangled gasp. Not cool, not flirty, and not even close to sexy.

Just like me.

“Please, Suzie Q,” he said quietly. “Just give me a chance to show you that I’m serious about this.”

He looked serious. He sounded serious.

How do you make someone see that you’re serious? Act serious.

That insanely awkward chat last night came back to me with a jolt but I shook it off. Now was not the time to reminisce about how pathetic I must have come across. Sure, it had all been true but there was no reason for DataG to know just how unpopular I was, or just how unattractive to the opposite sex. Granted, he knew about the whole #GeeksGoneWild thing, so clearly my lack of social status was a known factor.

It was the fact that he probably thought of me as some hideously ugly troll that rankled. I wasn’t as pretty as most of the other girls in our class but he didn’t need to know that. With him I could keep up the fantasy that in real life we’d be together. If only we were ever in the same room—or the same state, for that matter—we could be a couple.

That was one of the reasons I’d never asked him about a girlfriend until last night when he’d brought the topic up. It was why I’d never asked where he lived, too. The beauty of my crush on DataG was that it was all fantasy.

Not our friendship, obviously, but the whole requited love part. If I didn’t know he had a girlfriend, for example, then it was that much easier to daydream about what if.

What if we met someday? What if we fell in love? What if I liked him just as much in person as I did online…and what if he felt the same?

Luke was watching me closely and I bit my lip hard to get my focus back on him. Luke was the one sitting here in front of me and it was Luke who was acting serious right now.

Of course, it could all just be for show. I narrowed my eyes as a new suspicion took hold. “This is just about the scholarship money, isn’t it?”

He met my gaze evenly. “Would it make a difference? Do my intentions really matter if it means that I’d be taking this seriously?”

“That seems like an awfully philosophical response for a very simple question.”

His lips twitched a bit and I saw humor spark in his eyes. He squelched it though. “Aren’t you interested in the scholarship money?”

Yes. I totally was. I had great grades and my parents had set some money aside for me and Dale, but it wasn’t enough and I could use all the help I could get. “Do you know anything about coding?”

Some of his smugness faded and he gave a little grimace. “Not much.”

I arched one brow.

“Okay, nothing at all.” He got that serious look going on again and it made my belly do a flip-flop. Serious looked good on Luke Warner.

“I’m a quick study, though,” he said. “And I want to learn. I know I’m behind since I’m coming in late to this group and all but—”

“You need to catch up,” I said.

He nodded. “I will.”

“I’m not going to do all the work, you know,” I said. Although, in all honesty, I was kind of hoping I’d be the one doing all the work. That was the whole reason I’d wanted to be on my own. But I still held out a tiny bit of hope that if I made this sound difficult, like actual work, he might still walk out of here.

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” he said.

“Uh huh.”

“You don’t believe me.” His lips did that little twitch again like he was trying not to smile.

“Is it that obvious?” I deadpanned.

“Give me two weeks,” he said.

“What?”

He leaned forward again and this time I braced myself against his particularly yummy scent that had blindsided me last time. “In two weeks we have to present our ideas to the club, right?”

“Right,” I said slowly.

“Then give me two weeks to prove I can be useful to you. If you decide I’m not, I’ll bow out.”

“Two weeks,” I echoed. “And if I say you’re not up to snuff?”

“If you use the term up to snuff I will mock you for the rest of your life,” he said solemnly. “But I will also walk away from the project with no hard feelings.”

I stuck my hand out. “Two weeks.”

He shook it, his lips curving up ever so slightly as his warm hand enveloped mine. “Two weeks,” he repeated.

Two weeks, that wasn’t so bad. Of course, if I was wrong about him and he actually proved to be serious about this, then there was a good chance we’d be working on the presentation for the entire student body together two months from now. And if we won that, as I planned to…

That was when it dawned on me. If Luke surprised me—if he proved to be more useful than I originally gave him credit for—then there was a possibility that he and I would be joined at the hip for months.

The original creators of the project would be the ones to travel to the final competition if it made it that far, and they would split the prize money and the glory.

I drew in a long deep breath and let it out with a sigh. This could be a very long two weeks.