Page 35 of The Beta Test

“Av—“

“And thirdly, even if Jake was ‘moving in on me,’ you wouldn’t have to worry about it because I love YOU.”

He sighs. “I know. I’m sorry. I trust you and you’re absolutely right.”

That was almost too easy. I take a deep breath and allow the awkwardness of the argument we just had to settle.

“Anyway, tell me about what’s going on with you. What’s been your favorite part about college so far?”

The pause on his end lasts so long that I pull my phone away from my ear to make sure the call hasn’t been dropped. When his voice finally breaks the silence, it nearly scares me because it feels like such a sudden change from the quiet.

“It’s getting really late here, so I’m going to let you go,” he says.

His voice sounds… almost sad. It’s difficult to interpret because Braden is typically a happy guy, so my mind immediately wants to start churning over the possibilities. It’s also the second time I’ve encountered this emotion lately with the people I least expect it from.

“Oh, ok,” I say, trying to keep my tone upbeat. “Can we talk again soon?”

“’Course, babe. I’m super busy so it’s hard to say exactly when.”

“Alright. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Chapter Fourteen

If only all problems came with a neat little 'x marks the spot' like solving for x in algebra. Unfortunately, my conversation with Braden left me on a muddy path leading deeper into hazy shadows, more confused than when I naively picked up the phone. It was great to hear his voice (SO great!), but there was definitely something off about the entire thing, though the exact 'thing' is hard to pinpoint. Thanksgiving is next week, which means Braden and my dad will be home, though I didn't actually get a chance to confirm that with Braden on the phone. It totally slipped my mind after our conversation got derailed over Jake.

Today is Saturday and, thankfully, my mom is off and has already taken Hunter out to run errands and meet up with one of his friends for a playdate. I'll have the house to myself most of the day. So, I do what I love most: organize. The laundry gets sorted, the living room gets tidied, and my mom's grocery list gets optimized by section of the store and color-coded. She doesn't ask me to do that, but I know she appreciates it. After that, I finish some homework and polish up some college application essays. The entire morning flies by, and I'm shocked to see it's already late afternoon.

Just as I’ve typed the last word on an essay, my school inbox refreshes with a new email from Coach Kim. The subject line is “Swim Team Captain.” A tremor runs through my hand as the cursor hovers, then clicks. For a beat, the lines refuse to stay still. After a couple of hard blinks, the words sharpen. Wondrous snippets from the email materialize, such as “recognize your leadership” and “your commitment to the team” and “I would like to schedule a time to discuss your potential as team captain.”

Squee! All my goals are coming true!

My fingers fly over the keyboard as I hit reply to let Coach Kim know I’m thrilled to be chosen and confirm her invitation to meet next week to talk about our plans for the spring swim season. The organizer is updated with a cute ‘meeting’ sticker on the scheduled date, and then “swim captain” gets moved from my “goals” list to my “achieved” list on the vision board. That may be a tad premature, but it feels ‘in the bag’ to me.

I shoot off a quick text to Braden to share my exciting news with him, which he immediately responds to with a sweet “I knew you would, babe,” melting my heart. Maybe I was overthinking our issues earlier—he’s so supportive.

To celebrate this victorious ascension to Swim Team Captain, a king-sized candy bar from the Halloween stash is clearly in order. Delicious! Chocolate is life.

My school tablet pings with a Connection Services message. Expecting something ridiculous from Mr. Pi—maybe another poem?—the message catches me off guard. It’s Analiese. Well, I’m 100% positive now after I read it.

55378: Avery, this is Analiese. FYI, I was never going to tell anyone what you said about Braden. I know you tend to super stress about stuff, so don’t worry about it. Some of us have moral standards.

Moral standards? This girl covertly burned my science fair project because she was jealous, which is unhinged behavior. But ok. Sure. Setting that aside: one, Analiese reached out to me and is being nice about it. Two, she's talking about me as if she knows me. Three, she's right. The only possible response:

80085 [Me]: Ok.

She replies instantly.

55378: Geez, I already knew it kills you to notice anyone else, but are you allergic to the word “thanks” too?

And there she is. Suddenly, my king-sized chocolate bar isn’t settling so nicely. Thanks, Analiese.

80085 [Me]: Are you incapable of doing anything other than assuming the worst about me?

55378: I mean, if the shoe fits…

55378: And we both know it does.