“Not at all. I didn’t even know her name until just now.”
I groan. I know Janelle from class but we aren’t really friends. She hangs out with the band and none of her friends overlap with mine. “Then what makes you think we can trust her?”
Mark shrugs. “She had photo evidence, and she seemed like she wanted to help.”
“Yeah but everyone wants to win,” I say, continuing my pacing from one end of the closet to the other. I get about ten steps each way, but it’s better than standing still. “People are going to do crazy things to get points—or to demolish the people at the top. We’re prime targets right now.
I reach the wall and turn around, only to be stopped by Mark standing right in front of me. He puts his hands on my shoulders. “Breathe,” he says.
But he’s so cute it’s hard to breathe under normal circumstances. It’s even harder to breathe now, when I’m in the middle of a freak out and can practically visualize that car slipping from my grasp. I stare up and look into his dark eyes. For a few moments, I totally forget to breathe.
Mark’s lips turn up into the smallest little smile. “Inhale,” he says softly.
I do, slowly pulling air into my lungs.
“Now exhale,” he says a moment later. His hands are still on my shoulders and we’re standing so close in such a small space. My heart is positively going wild.
With great concentration, I manage to exhale without going into full on hyperventilation mode. “Again,” Mark says. I breathe in and out a few more times and it does actually help me a little. I don’t feel like I’m on the verge of panic anymore, but I’m not exactly happy about this whole thing.
“We should tell on her,” Mark says. “We can do it anonymously.”
“But what if it’s a trick?”
Dropping his hands from my shoulders, he scrunches his face up in disbelief. “Eh… that’s a long shot.”
I suddenly miss the warmth of his hands. But I will not think of that. I swallow. “I don’t want to risk it. If we tell, and it really was a trick and Annabel and Janelle were partnering up to take us out of the competition, then we’re over. We’ll be kicked out and we won’t get the car.”
“Okay, but what if Janelle was telling the truth?” Mark says. “What if, no matter how many volunteer hours we put in, or how many nice things we do, we’re still always five thousand points behind her?”
“As much as I want to believe that, I can’t,” I say after a moment of thought. “I just have to trust that the best person will win. After all, the video said it’s a special algorithm. There’s no way it got hacked.”
“Everything can get hacked!” Mark says, throwing up his hands. “I’m giving you the opportunity to do with this with me and share the glory, but if you don’t believe it, then I’ll tell. And I’ll get tons of kudos when everyone finds out that I outed a cheater.”
“You can’t tell anyone!” I say, glaring at him. “Janelle knows she told both of us. If it’s a trick then we’re both going down.”
Mark rolls his eyes. “You are—” he starts, but then he lets out an annoyed sigh and shakes his head. “Whatever.”
“I’m what?” I say, folding my arms across my chest. “What am I, Mark Caputo? Please tell me.”
“It’s nothing,” he says, walking toward the door. I hate it because this conversation is not going anywhere, but I still don’t want him to leave.
“Tell me,” I demand.
He opens the door and then turns back to me. “I was just thinking it’s too bad you’re my competition because in any other circumstance, I would have totally asked you out.”
And then he leaves.
Just like that, he walks out and closes the door behind him.
I stare at the door for a long time. I can’t believe what I just heard. What he said. It’s really messing with me. I almost call Jules a dozen times and tell her what Mark said, hoping she can help me translate it because maybe I interpreted it wrong.
But… he said he wanted to ask me out! Holy crap. Why, oh why isthatstuck in my head now?
And then it hits me. He’s lying.
This app has transformed the entire student body at Brazos High School. We’re all playing this phycological game and pretending to be nice to each other. Mark Caputo is playing the game as well. He’s saying whatever it takes to get into my head and trip me up so he can prevail and win that car.
This is war, and he is my number one enemy who just tried to trick me.
