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I’d been accused of a lot of things, but being too pure wasn’t one of them. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. And when Mason saw me pouting at his suggestion, he began to chuckle, sending a thrill down my spine that was altogether confusing.
“Maybe being pure’s not such a bad thing,” I said, crossing my arms.
So what if I couldn’t lie? There were a lot of other things I could do that most teens couldn’t.
He shook his head. “Never said it was.”
The brief defense I’d thrown up crumbled and my shoulders drooped. Mason was so good at making me feel like I’d just gotten off the tilt-o-whirl. It was hard to tell what was up or down around him.
“Well, I just came over to tell you good game.” I didn’t like how unsure my voice sounded.
“Uh...thanks.” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “See you later, then?”
“Yeah, later.”
He threw me one last frown and then turned toward the locker rooms. I watched him leave, my feet planted to the waxed gymnasium floor. It wasn’t until I felt two arms drape across my back did I realize I hadn’t moved in nearly a minute.
“Yep, totally just a friend that’s a boy,” Mandy said in a teasing tone as she appeared on my right.
“Definitely. Nothing to worry about here,” Audrey said from my left. “It wasn’t like he was totally eating you up with his eyes or anything.”
Mandy snorted. “Not at all. And it’s not like you can’t keep your eyes off of him.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes, draping my arms around their shoulders. My best friends could tease all they wanted, but Mason was still just a puzzle to be solved. I would get to the bottom of his problems, just like I did with any new friend I met. I had my ways.
And none of that involved dating the boy.
Chapter Seven
“Why can’t we be like normal families?” Beth complained, leaning over her algebra homework and growling at the figures she’d just scrawled in barely legible handwriting. “Why can’t we sleep in on a Saturday and eat pancakes drizzled with maple syrup and watch cartoons all day long?”
I looked up from my own math and laughed. It wasn’t uncommon for us Frye kids to take our homework to the hospital on a weekend and sit in the lobby. When we were littler, it had been easier to keep an eye on us if we were nearby, and the nurses would help. Now, I was pretty sure my mom insisted on it because she wanted us to feel at home in our future careers.
This morning Mom had been pulled in on an emergency appendectomy and Dad insisted he had some research to catch up on, so here we were at eleven a.m. on another Saturday.
“I don’t think any families sit around watching cartoons all day,” I said, chewing on the eraser end of my pencil. “I’m pretty sure Audrey’s mom makes her dust and vacuum the apartment and Mandy helps with yard work. Would you rather do that?”
“Anything but this.” She dragged her fingers down her cheeks. “Seriously, my guys are grinding quests right now and if I don’t get out of here soon, the campaign will be over.”
I stared at her, trying to comprehend the words coming out of my little sister’s mouth. No luck. It was like trying to translate an alien language. She slammed her book shut in anger and pulled a pair of air pods out of her backpack to simmer with a game on her cell phone.
Sometimes, I seriously questioned whether Beth had been switched at birth. She was so snarky, so quick to express her emotions. There was no questioning what Beth felt about anything. As for the rest of us Fryes, we were much better about buttoning up our complaints.
Even when it meant our whole future was being planned without us.
It was best to let Beth cool down after one of her moods, so I left her to her game and went to get a drink from the water fountain. As I took a cool sip, I looked up to see Mason appear around a corner and walk in my direction. Shock jolted through me. He was here? Again? Did he live at the hospital?
The surprise caught me so off guard that I jerked and water sprayed me in the face. I rushed to clean it off as Mason neared, hoping he hadn’t seen it.
“Hi, Trina,” he said in a low voice. “Forget to take a shower at home this morning?”
My cheeks heated. Yep, he definitely saw that.
“There’s nothing like freezing water in your face to wake you up,” I said with a confidence that I did not feel. “What are you doing here? Does your mom make you do homework at the hospital on Saturday mornings, too?”
He shifted uncomfortably, as if thrown off b
y my question, and glanced around at the people walking past us. “Sometimes, I guess. But not much anymore. I’m heading home, actually. My mom just started her shift in the oncology ward.”
