Page 76 of The Beta Test

“Let’s talk about it when school starts again,” I add quickly. “I’m going to my dad’s tomorrow for a couple days.”

His face perks up, and he nods. “Yeah, great. I mean I know you’re busy and everything. I’ll text you?”

“Sure,” I say, and it comes out softer than I mean it to. It makes me happy to see Jake happy. I won’t promise him anything, but I’m sure we can find a time to hang out at some point. That seems like an acceptable compromise for now.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

80085 [Me]: Analiese, please answer. Swim practice starts next week, and we need to be a united front.

People lightly bump my shoulders as I try to navigate the busy hallway and message Analiese at the same time. The speakers blare with an announcement, something about not using inappropriate words on Connection Services.

With the beginning of the spring semester the swim class is officially over, and we are no longer in the same period lit class. Our paths won’t cross until swim team practice begins next week. I need to fix things with Analiese before then—Coach Kim will not be happy if her co-captains can’t even hold a basic conversation.

Jenna has also pestered me a few times since our chat in December to see if Analiese and I were ‘besties’ yet. She’s like a dog with a bone and she can’t let it go. Maybe that’s for the best. We may never be best friends, but I’m not happy with how things have been left between us.

But as I stare at the unresponsive Connection Services conversation on my tablet, it’s sinking in how deep a hole I’ve dug myself with Analiese. The entire thread is only my CS handle, message after message, all left on read.

I pause at my locker and sort through my backpack to make sure I only have the books I need before lunch, then slam it shut. I nearly jump out of my skin as Analiese appears, looming behind my locker door. Her dark eyes burn with intensity.

“Analiese! Hi! Good. You must have gotten my message. I wanted to⁠—”

“Oh yeah. I got your messages.”

She brings her tablet to my eye level with one hand, screen pointed towards me. My contact is pulled up on Connection Services. With a theatrically slow tap, she hits ‘Block Connection.’ Though no one in the hallway could even hear it, it hits me like a gavel. I flinch.

“And now I won’t get any more.”

She pauses—like she’s waiting for me to explode. Instead, I gape like a fish.

Unbelievable! What does she think she’s doing?! This won’t fix anything. Analiese is as goal-oriented as me and wants to crush being swim captain as much as I do. She’s sabotaging us just to get back at me. It’s the science fair all over again, but this time without fire. So far, at least.

But she’s already gone. Her glossy, dark hair swings with every punctuated, determined step she takes through the crowds. Since she’s so tall, my eyes can track her over the other students until she rounds a corner. When she’s finally out of sight, I clamp my mouth closed and attempt to process what just happened.

“That was brutal,” a deep voice says behind me. I twirl around, feeling unstable. The past two minutes have been emotional whiplash. Jake leans against the lockers, opposite from where Analiese was standing earlier. What is it with people lurking around my locker this morning?

“You know it’s generally considered rude to eavesdrop on other people’s private conversations,” I snap.

Jake’s hands fly up in surrender. “Sorry, I didn’t realize the main hallway in a large high school counted as ‘private.’”

“Yeah, well, it’s better to be safe than sorry and all that.”

I heave my backpack over both shoulders and prepare to leave, but he speaks again.

“Look, it’s none of my business,” he says. His eyes catch mine for a beat too long. “But maybe she needs the Avery TLC special.”

A jagged sigh—half amused, but mostly exasperated—releases. “The what?”

He smirks. “Ya know, bake something delicious and show up on her doorstep?”

My lips purse as I imagine myself standing on Analiese’s porch, holding a homemade cake with ‘I’m sorry’ in looped frosted letters on top. It feels utterly ridiculous. Although… not entirely off brand for me, apparently.

“Not sure that will fix anything this time, Jake.”

He shrugs as the bell echoes through the hallway, signaling we have sixty seconds to get to class. “Didn’t think you were a quitter, but ok. Just an idea.”

He walks backwards for a couple steps, keeping eye contact with me, then turns and walks away. I watch his confident gait for a moment, then turn in the opposite direction to hustle to class.

Maybe his suggestion has merit. It worked with Mrs. Patel. This seems like a whole new level of humiliation; it’s a very real possibility that Analiese will dump the cake over my head and slam the door in my face. By deleting my contact in CS, she’s really hamstrung my options, so maybe I have no choice. Am I really going to do something that ridiculous?