Chapter 31: Wingman
My eyes flickered from the blue mission screen to Jake’s face, then back to the screen.
[Penalty for Failure: Acute Social-Triggered Spasmodic Diaphragmatic Flutter (Uncontrollable Hiccups) for 72 hours.]
’Hiccups?’
My brain just stalled on that one word. Socially-triggered hiccups. I pictured it. Standing next to Nina, trying to be cool, and then just—hic!—like an idiot. Trying to answer a question in class, and—hic!—everyone laughing. It was a nightmare. It was a weapon designed by the goddess specifically to destroy the fragile peace I had just found.
’No way,’ I thought. ’Absolutely not. I’d rather die.’
The classroom door opened, and Miss Foibe walked in, a stack of papers in her hand. The chatter in the room died down as she walked to the front. "Alright, everyone, settle down. I have your life science tests from last week."
Her voice was calm, but my internal monologue was a siren. ’Don’t do it, Kofi. Don’t accept. You don’t owe him anything. This isn’t your problem.’
Miss Foibe started calling out names. "Ronnie, 78." "Selma, 85."
My eyes, against my will, were locked on the mission window floating in front of me. The timer wasn’t visible, but I felt it ticking down.
"Kofi, 99. Excellent work."
A few kids looked over at me. I stood up, my body feeling disconnected from my brain, and walked to the front to get my test. On autopilot. The whole time, I was just thinking, ’Decline. Just say no.’