Page 45 of Love in Development

“That’s what friends are for.Promise me you’ll tell us when you’re worried?”

I nodded, wiping the tears and snot away on my sleeve.

“And one more thing.”

“What?”Lin was a chatterbox tonight.Maybe it was just that Charisse was quiet.

“Stop hiding.You have a little wiggle room now.Let Charisse and me take you shopping for a few things.She has a great eye for style.You don’t need to change your wardrobe completely, but I think a slightly new look would go with your new confidence.”

“What a great idea,” Mom said as she joined us.“Some of your clothes are getting threadbare in places.I was hoping to take you myself, but things have been crazy at work lately.”

I cut her off.Overwhelmed by my relief, I broke my cardinal rule of social etiquette—I hugged her in public.Right in front of my friends.Not the coolest teenage reaction, but I didn’t want Mom to blame herself.

“I’ll go.”I smiled back at Mom, then at Lin and Charisse.I might even buy something.

“C’mon, ladies.Let’s get home and get some shut-eye.”Mom led us triumphantly out of the auditorium.

The scholarship had relieved me of my financial worries—at least temporarily.More importantly, sharing my concerns and my success with my friends had removed a wall within me I hadn’t even known was there.

I got another glimpse of Ni as we headed into the crowded parking lot and wondered why he had been here.Could it have been for me?

That wink would keep me awake for hours.

Chapter 14

Days had passed, andI still couldn’t believe I’d won.I was better at game development than I’d thought.My hard work was paying off, literally.Banners, blue-for-first streamers, and deflating balloons still hung along the walls from the party Buzz had thrown for me several days ago, celebrating my first-place win, which had been sweet but uncomfortable.However, I owed him so much.With Buzz, Lin, and Charisse checked off my list, it was time to turn back to IK.

I’d known it would not be easy to find theDragon’s Eye Opal.I mean, obviously IK hadn’t done it yet.After days of searching, I hadn’t found a single clue that had panned out.The clacking, yells, and overall hubbub of my surroundings made it hard to think.I tried to come up with ideas of where to look as I worked, shuffling food and drink around DragonByte.

The aroma of pizza mingled with the smell of gamer sweat—made more pungent by the heat wave—turned my stomach.Or maybe it was the frustration of not finding clues about the opal.The biggest problem was that the armor was so rare; few people had heard of it—except those who knew IK.I was beginning to wonder if it was a custom item made for him by one of the devs.

But wouldn’t they have given him the whole set?And that would be kinda cheating.I cleared the cache of computer number thirty-nine and wiped up a sticky brown soda spill.My irritation rose.If he had won that tourney with one-of-a-kind dev armor...I shook my head and looked up at another call for service.IK wasn’t like that.I’d give it a couple of weeks before I asked VerdantArcher and ShadowImp about the armor.He knew them IRL and they might spill the tea either way.For now, I had a few more tricks up my sleeve.

With the scholarship to SCAD settled and Lin’s place to stay, there wasn’t much for me to do but pack and spend more time with Mom.

Ni had been coming in almost every day.He sat in the corner with his friends, relieved, like I was, that our AP tests were over.He really wasn’t a bad guy.I could enjoy him from a distance.He just triggered my sensitivities.Every girl who met him had a crush on him, except Lin.She was devoted to Maddox.I still didn’t know why.She was a closed world where, if given permission to enter, you were only allowed to explore certain places.