My phone goes flying across the room and onto Anna’s bed.
“Why are you so dramatic?” Anna asks next to me.
“Says the theatre kid.”
She shrugs. “It was only a dare.”
“It was a dare to text someone I haven’t spoken to for six years,” I say. It’s not like I was going to bail out of the dare. We made rules for Truth or Dare in middle school, and we haven’t broken them since. One of those rules is that if we don’t do the dare, we have to pay the other person one dollar. I’ve gotten five dollars safely pocketed in my jeans from Anna today. She has nothing from me.
Anna laughs. “Okay, but—” A buzz interrupts her and we both freeze. Then, simultaneously, we scramble off the floor and pile onto her bed. My heart beats faster, which makes no sense because there’s no way I’m nervous.
I grab my phone and flip it over. Nick messaged me back. “What did he say?”
Nick: Hi
I show Anna the message and she blows a raspberry. “Boring. He should at least ask how you’re doing.”
As if on cue, Nick sends another message.
Nick: How are you?
Anna peers over my shoulder and says, “I stand corrected.”
It takes me three tries, but I finally manage to text, good, wbu?
Nick: Good
Nick: What are you doing?
“What do I say?” I ask, panicking, as Anna reads the text.
She puts her hands up in the air. “Don’t ask me! I’m not the one texting a cute guy!”
I ignore her comment and type, nothing
Me: wbu?
Nick: Helping my brother with his math hw
Me: oof, what’s he learning?
Nick: Dividing fractions
Nick: I’m starting to give up
Me: what? why?
Nick: He’s not listening and I can’t explain it well
Anna pokes me in the side, and I scoot around to face her. “Well? What did he say?”
The door opens, and one of Anna’s moms, Nancy, pokes her head into the room. “What did who say?”
I elbow Anna in the ribs before she can say anything. “It’s nothing,” I say.
Nancy raises an eyebrow. “Sure. Anyway, Juliette and I will be watching a movie in the basement if you need us.”
“Okay,” Anna and I say in unison. Nancy leaves, shutting the bedroom door behind her.
Anna falls back onto her bed, her hair a halo of blonde waves. I lie down next to her. “So, what did he say?” she prompts, rolling onto her side to face me.
“Basically nothing. He said he’s trying to help his younger brother with his math homework or something like that. I think he said he’s having a hard time explaining it though? I’m not sure.”
Anna sighs. “You know, Jackie, I don’t really remember Nick ever being good at math—heck, I don’t really remember him at all. He’s probably changed a lot since primary school. We should see how much he’s changed...” She trails off, and a devilish grin spreads across her face.
Before I can react, she lunges towards my phone, snatching it out of my hand in one smooth swipe. It hasn’t automatically locked yet, so my conversation with Nick is still on display.
“What are you doing?” I shriek. I’m flailing, trying to get my phone back while Anna grins and holds it out of my reach. She leaps off the bed to the other side of the room, and I hear the sound of an outgoing call. “Anna! What are you—”
“Hey, Nick!” Anna says, holding up my phone to her face. Oh no. Oh, hellno.
“Oh.” Nick sounds surprised. “You’re not Jaclyn.”
“Well obviously not.” Anna’s smile grows wider.
Nick sounds confused as he asks, “So you catfished me?”
“What? No! Jaclyn’s here, she’s just too—”
“Sorry about that,” I say, my cheeks burning as I finally yank my phone from Anna’s grasp. “That’s Anna. She also went to school with us.” Anna scampers away and onto her bed, grinning.
A look of recognition crosses Nick’s face. “She was the one who broke her arm on the monkeybars, right?”
“That’s me!” Anna chirps.
A muffled voice from Nick’s end of the screen asks, “Did I get it right?”
“Hey, sorry, just one second.” Nick gives me an apologetic look. He disappears from the camera, but I can still hear him. “Um…no. You didn’t change the fraction again, Davis.”
Right, he was supposed to be helping his brother with his homework. I mute myself on FaceTime and tell Anna, “Why did you call him? He’s busy right now!”
She winces. “Sorry. I didn’t think it through.”
I sigh, “It’s fine. Just please don’t do it again.”
Her face falls, but only for a second before it lights up again. “But he picked up, didn’t he? He definitely likes you!”
“What? No, I—” My phone buzzes with a text from my mom. Face burning, I say, “I got to go, my mom’s here,” and I practically run out of the room, Anna cackling behind me.
“Hey, I’m back,” Nick says, and I nearly jump out of my skin. I forgot we were still on a call.
I unmute myself. “How’s math with your brother?”
Nick lets out a long sigh. “I think I’ll just have him ask his teacher tomorrow. I’m sure she’ll explain it better than me.”
Putting on my shoes, I say, “I might be able to help, but you’ll have to give me a few minutes to get home.”
“No, you don’t need to,” he protests. “I’m sure I can either get him to understand it, or ask his teacher. You really don’t have to.”
“I’ll call you back in five minutes,” I say, not giving him a choice.
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