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Rolling my lips in, I cringed partly in embarrassment and partly with pride. She squealed, drawing the gazes of the dozen other high schoolers gathering to put together the Winter Ball. Immediately, I hunched my shoulders and shushed her. The last thing I needed was for this to get out.
“Yes, we kissed. You don’t need to alert the media.”
“How was it?” Charlotte was barely holding in her excitement behind her gritted teeth.
“It was...” I inhaled deeply and then released it. “...amazing. I didn’t think anyone could kiss like that. I think I’m out of my league.”
“Ridiculous.” Lexi swatted me on the shoulder. “He’s lucky to be kissing you.”
My cheeks flushed a bit. “Whatever you say. But that’s not why I came to tell you. He actually asked me out to the dance on Saturday.”
This earned squeals from both of them. I rolled my eyes and refused to make eye contact with any of the other decorators curiously looking our way once more. Apparently, I couldn’t keep this on the low down, even if I tried.
“This is just perfect.” Lexi clapped her hands. “My mom told me last night that she’d rented a limo for our dance as a surprise. We can all go together.”
“But—” I swallowed down my nerves. A limo did sound nice. Especially if I imagined Gabriel sitting next to me, both of us sipping on sparkling juice from fancy glasses. If only.
“And Hunter’s mom can do our hair,” Charlotte blurted, her grin infectious. “She’s awesome at stuff like that. I know she’d love to be included.”
“That’s cool. But first—”
“The only thing left to do is get you a dress.” Lexi’s fashion critical eye moved over me. I tried to resist
the urge to cover myself with my lanky arms. “I saw something just a week ago in the mall that would fit her perfectly. I wonder if they still have it. We’ll go straight over there tonight and find it.”
They were moving so fast. I couldn’t slow them down. If I didn’t rein them in, I’d find myself wearing a dress, heels, and fake nails before I could even blink. That all sounded ridiculously scary, but there was one thing we had to do before then.
“Wait!” I stomped my foot for emphasis and it made a louder noise than I’d meant. Charlotte and Lexi both blinked at me in shock. I held up my hands in surrender, begging them to let me talk. “You forgot all about the gaming tournament on Saturday.”
Lexi squirmed with a guilty frown. “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that.”
“Someone else didn’t forget.” I held up my phone, showing them the latest message I’d received from Battlescar13.
Battlescar13: Can’t wait to finally see you in person this weekend.
We’ll celebrate our victories afterwards!
A sour taste filled my mouth as I slipped the phone back into my pocket. I hadn’t even replied to the messages Gabriel had sent to my secret profile after I’d left the skating rink. I didn’t have the heart to lie to him anymore. Not after what just happened.
“Yeah...that’s a problem.” Lexi grimaced. “What’s the plan?”
“The plan is to drop out.” I nodded firmly. “I made up my mind. I don’t want to ruin this thing between me and Gabriel. And besides, there’s always next year to win the tournament. This way, he never has to find out that I catfished him. It’s better this way.”
Lexi and Charlotte exchanged concerned glances. It frustrated me when they did that. It was like a bad omen. Whatever they were going to say next was not going to make anything easier.
“Are you sure you want to start off your relationship with lies?” Charlotte asked in a low and careful tone. I’d seen her use that same voice with some of the wild horses at the ranch she spent all summer riding at.
Crossing my arms tightly over my chest, I fought back my irritation. “I’m not lying. I’m just not telling him the whole truth.”
“Sounds like lying to me.” Lexi softly placed a hand on my elbow. “Come on, Beth, you know you have to tell him the truth. Might as well be now. We all know you’ve been dying to win that tournament and make your mark on the gaming world. You shouldn’t have to give that up for a boy.”
I pulled away from her, frustration building in my chest. “If I remember right, you were the ones that encouraged me to catfish him from the beginning.”
“Yeah and that was before we knew he wasn’t the bad guy.” She pressed her lips together and grimaced at me. “Whatever you decide to do, we’ll stand behind you. But I think we know you well enough by now to know that you’re not a liar. And the guilt of this is going to eat you up inside.”
I ran a tongue over my dry lips and thought about Lexi’s words. Could she be right? I already felt guilty enough about lying to Gabriel and using my online personality to extract information from him. Would I be able to keep that a secret for much longer? Was that fair to him?
“I just don’t want to drive him away,” I said in a small voice.
