“You’re here!” I say the second I’m through the door. Georgia sits up, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“Was I supposed to be somewhere else?”
“No, but I have things to tell you.” I dump out my bag on the bed, grabbing all the pieces of paper I took from Coach Murphy’s office, telling Georgia at the same time about the primary vote.
“If neither you nor Kory had a chance to ask the coach to make the vote private, then who did? Too much of a convenience for her to have just done it.” I pause, searching for the last few scraps of paper that I tossed into my bag. Georgia has made a very good point.
“Damn, I don’t know.”
“So, she lost.”
“What?” I snap back to the papers, having gotten lost in why the coach had done the vote that way.
“She loses if these are all the votes.” She waves her hand over all the pieces of paper, and she’s right.
“The coach freaking lied about that count!” That’s freaking crazy.
“It’s not shocking.”
“Really?” I’m shocked to hell and back. “Why take a risk like that for Lana?”
“But is it really a risk for her? No one is outwardly going to admit they didn’t vote for Lana. Also, this isn’t hard proof, plus you’d have to admit you broke into her office.”
“You’re right.” I drop down to sit on my bed.
“But hey, at least you know where the coach stands.” That’s true. It shows just how far Lana’s reach goes. Well, not hers but the power that comes with her family’s name. My phone starts to ring. It shows the last name Locke, and I know the dean isn’t calling me. Unless Luke did snitch! It still seems weird for him to call me.
“It’s Luke,” I tell her, clearing the call. I give her a quick rundown of our run-in.
“He was probably following you trying to catch you doing something so he could hold it over your head.”
“That was exactly my thought. That little shit.” My phone rings again, and I clear it. He can wait. I’m not at his beck and call. A text dings a few seconds later.
Luke:You’re the one being blackmailed. How are you not answering when I call?
I show Georgia the text. He’s not backing down.
Me:Sorry, call again.
The phone rings, and I clear it before firing off another text.
Me:Like that.
Chapter Ten
LUKE
When this game is over, I need to find out what the hell is going on with this Ice Crew. I swear they have changed things up. I don’t recall any of their stuff in past games, but now they’re all I can see, and it’s distracting.
“Are you with us?” Coach Ken shouts at me.
“Right here.” Yeah, I missed whatever he said; my attention was going to Madeline. I can pretend it’s the Ice Crew as a whole that is distracting me, but we all know it’s only her that has drawn my attention.
“Is there an issue I need to be aware of?” Coach pushes.
Yeah, I think Madeline hired one of those Etsy witches and cast a spell on me, but I don’t think the coach can fix that.
“He’s good,” Grant cuts in. I grunt my response.
