I thought they only had like… maybe three games leftifthey don’t mess up the next one. Eden mentioned something last night while we were waiting for his cupcakes to bake.
Wait, why would they only have so few games left? Oh, maybe he meant this year, not their hockey season.
Honestly, I had no idea. Perhaps I should ask him to explain it to me again later.
“Alana won’t sit with you, though,” Asiya said, crossing her arms over her chest. “She already has a group she eats lunch with.”
“Isn’t your brother on the team?” Lousia asked, cocking her head at my best friend. “I’m sure he won’t mind if you join us, too.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Asiya,” Louisa began, dragging her name out in a sigh. “You should know that we have an image to maintain. The guys can’t afford to turn into the next punching bag for Tori Caldwell’s blog, especially because of a relationship. They’ll get in serious trouble with their coach, perhaps even their agents, and it’ll be onlineforever. Most of those guys want to go pro, so their partners will have to play the part to get them there without problems. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I turned to my best friend, already regretting the words I was about to say. “Especially Eden. He’s been the punch line in way too many of her blog posts already. Imagine what she’ll writeabout him if I spend all my lunch breaks with you instead of my boyfriend.”
Eden told me I had to get Louisa to like me, to claim me as trustworthy. It still felt awful to talk to my very own best friend like this just to earn Louisa’s approval. What kind of good friend was this rude?
Asiya glanced between Louisa and me, a flicker of annoyance passing over her features. She knew I was right, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
With a resigned sigh, she finally relented, her arms dropping to her side. “I get what you’re saying, but I still think it’s ridiculous.”
Louisa’s smile faltered for a second. “Look, I know it can seem like a lot, but trust me, it’s for the best. We need to stick together to make sure our boys succeed onandoff the ice. I’m aware you’re not dating someone on the team, but it won’t hurt to support your brother or your friend who wants to support her boyfriend. And who knows, maybe we’ll become great friends in the process, if you decide to join us.”
“I’m not interested, and neither is Alana, but thanks,” Asiya snapped, grabbed my hand, and pulled me up on my feet.
Oh, God.
I knew Eden would’ve wanted me to disagree, but I couldn’t. I took my friendships seriously, and while I was sure a real girlfriend would’ve spent a lot of time with her boyfriend, I was still allowed to spend my lunch breaks with my best friend. Perhaps I was going to see Eden occasionally for lunch, but not every single day.
God, this sounded like some fucked up high school shit.
Before I knew it, Asiya had pulled me toward the exit of the arena and far away from Louisa.
Well, if she was going to hate me, so be it. I wasn’t really interested in making friends with Eden’s friends anyway. Asiyawas the only one I knew I could count on no matter what, and I wasn’t going to put our friendship on the line for a stupid boy.
That still didn’t mean I could tell her about Eden and my deal. Keeping it a secret wasn’t only going to prevent other people from finding out, but it also meant Asiya would stop trying to make me do things I didn’t want to do.
I knew she meant well, but right now, it was bad enough that Eden was forcing me out of my comfort zone.
16
EDEN
By the time the mid-January came around, I thought my baking skills had improved. They were still pretty mediocre, but better.
Alana was getting more attention on campus, and she started to learn not to flinch every time a stranger walked up to her. She hated it nonetheless.
Each time a guy walked up to her, tried to speak to her, she would text me right after, telling me that this was all my fault. Guys were hitting on her with awful pickup lines, which she hada lotof opinions about.
I warned her, but she didn’t believe me.
The good part was that she was slowly starting to understand her body wasn’t the problem.
Well, obviously Alana was still doubting that, trying to find reasons as to why these guys were suddenly interested—bet reasons, mostly. She wasn’t too far off, I had to admit. They just wanted her because they believed I had her.
If I saw something in her, they wanted it, too. It was so ridiculous and disgusting, but at least Alana was taking a few steps forward, right?
And about Austin… well, he had his eyes on her. I could tell. Every time I walked past him, he would stare at me more than usual. He was waiting for me to mess up so he could have her, but that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. He could have her after Brooke’s baby shower.
