Page 20 of Hex You

He slid into the booth, grabbing a wad of napkins to wipe the sweat from his face. “Ran here,” he explained. “Got sweat all in my mouth on the field, but figured I should keep it going and do something active since I’m missing practice.”

A wobbly smile twisted Hunter’s lips.

“You look green. You didn’t get a dairy shake again, did you?” He shook his head. Droplets of sweat fell from his hair and dotted his T-shirt–clad shoulders. “Isn’t that why you’re vegan and not vegetarian? The whole mucous, pooping, cow milk thing?”

Hunter’s cheeks flamed with the memory of a twelve-year-old Jaxin the woods next to Goode Lake frantically clawing at the dirt to make sure she had a proper hole in which to release all the demons warring in her stomach after they’d shared a whole bag of string cheese.

“I have to tell you something.Things,actually. I—” Hunter’s confession was cut short when Alex returned to set a plate of hot fries on the table between the friends.

Hunter watched Alex’s white sneakers as she and Jax discussed their latest biology assignment, finally looking up when Alex departed, her shoes squeaking against the black-and-white-checkered tiles.

“So,” Jax began around a mouthful of fries. “Since I called this meeting, I feel like it’s only fair that I go first.”

Hunter nodded. Unease trudged up her back with weighted boots, rounding her shoulders.

“This is harder than it was in my head.” He took a drink of his shake and flattened his palms against the table. “Amphitrite would have killed Em and me if you hadn’t been such an intense fire-breathing dragon.”

Hunter dragged her pendant along its thin rope cord and frowned.

Jax held up his hands. “I mean that in the most badass way possible.”

She smiled and cautiously popped a hot fry into her mouth.

“You’ve clearly been dealing with some heavy things, but…”

She swallowed and felt the mushy fry slide down her esophagus in slow motion. Here it was. Theyou’re a terrible human, and I don’t want to be friends with youspeech. And she deserved it.

Jax leaned forward, his chin nearly touching the tip of his paper straw. “The spell with Kylie…” He paused and offered a quick smile to Alex as she passed with another table’s milkshakes. “Not okay. I feel…” He grimaced. “Wrong. What we did was wrong.”

As if planned, his phone buzzed, and a picture of Kylie glowed up at them from the screen, her eyes closed and round face tipped toward the sky.

He stared at it unblinking until her photo vanished and a missed call notification was added to the tally on the screen. “She’s obsessed,” he said, his glass leaving a slug trail on the table as he pushed it back and forth between his hands. “It’s not normal. Yesterday she started crying because I said I didn’t like Whoppers. Somehow that meant that, because shedoeslike Whoppers, I must hate her.”

Hunter blinked. “You love burgers.”

“Malt balls not burgers!” he shouted, blushing as the couple at the counter turned to look at them. Clearing his throat, he whispered, “But that’s not the point. The point is—whose identity is wrapped up in malt balls?”

Hunter hiked her slumped shoulders. “Who even eats malt balls?”

With a sigh, Jax leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m serious, H. That spell didn’t let out feelings she already had. It turned her into a stalker who thinks trips to the bathroom require a partner. The Kylie I liked had her own thoughts and loved her independence.”

Again, his phone vibrated, and Kylie’s influencer-worthy pose stared up at them. He winced and flipped his phone facedown on the table.

“Maybe something’s actually wrong.” Hunter grabbed his phone and answered it, the perverse desire for a car accident to have taken place making her feel like an even shittier human. “Jax’s phone!” She grimaced at how high pitched and fake her attempt at cheer sounded.

“Where’s Jax?”

“He’s—” Jax flailed his arms and shook his head as if being attacked by spiders. “In the bathroom.”

“The locker room bathroom?” A shrill firework of giggles erupted in the background followed by the squeak of door hinges and hushed silence. “I haven’t seen him on the field. I want to make sure he’s okay.”

“At Shake It. We’re having a good ol’ fashioned best friend roundup.” Hunter dropped her face into her hand and groanedinwardly at the ridiculous word vomit her guilt kept spewing past her tongue.

“Oh…”

Hunter swore she heard Kylie sniffle. “The stuff with his mom.” She bit her bottom lip as another surge of regret tightened her throat. “He just needed to talk.”

“It’s fine, H. I get it.” In the background someone sharply called Kylie’s name. “I have to go. Tell him I’ll talk to him after cheer practice.”