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“You two, follow me,” the man says. “You’re getting a nice, private dinner.”
A dinner? I glance at Jayden, and he lifts his shoulders. We get up and follow the man out of the room. Is the society really trying to do something nice for us or is it a trap? The man leads us into a small room. There are candles everywhere, and a table with covered plates in the middle.
“Enjoy,” the man says, and then he closes the door behind him.
We take our seats across from each other, and I glance around the room, looking for any cameras, because there’s no way these people would set all this up and then just let us have dinner without watching or listening in on us somehow. But I can’t spot anything obvious, which doesn’t really mean anything.
“What’s all this?” I ask, keeping my voice low. “What are they even doing?”
Jayden lifts the cover off his plate and shrugs. “No clue. I guess everything we do here gets graded somehow. Like, they’re deciding if they actually want us or not, and every little thing counts.”
“Right.” I glance at the walls again. “Do you think they’re watching us right now? Maybe recording us too?”
He follows my gaze around the room. “Maybe. I have no idea. Or maybe they just want to see if we’re... I don’t know... interesting.”
A laugh slips out of my throat, because... interesting? Yeah, right. Okay, maybe Jayden is, but me?
“What do you think counts as interesting?” I ask.
Jayden tips his head. “We could ask them for some ice cream.”
“What?” I let out a laugh. “Ice cream? Asking a secret society for ice cream? Really?”
He gets to his feet and pushes his chair back. “Why not? They said it’s our reward, right? So I’m claiming the reward.”
“Jayden, they’re not goi—”
He knocks on the door, and I press a hand over my mouth. This is insane. I mean, he wants to order ice cream as if this is a diner. The door opens, and a masked figure appears.
“Hey, could we get some ice cream?” Jayden asks.
I bite on the inside of my cheek so hard it almost hurts, because I’m super close to laughing. The masked person dips their head, and the door closes.
I stare at Jayden, my eyes wide. “You did not just do that.”
He returns to the table, grinning at me as he takes his seat. “I did. And it worked.”
When the door opens again, a masked person enters and sets two bowls of chocolate ice cream on the table. I snort a laugh as the person leaves.
“They actually brought it,” I say. “I can’t believe it!”
“What?” Jayden picks up his spoon as if it’s no big deal. “It’s our reward. I’m just enjoying it, like they said we should. They’re promising us perks if we join, so they have to show it, right?”
As we eat, I’m still grinning between the bites. When I glance up, I realize Jayden’s watching me instead of his bowl, his gaze trained on my mouth.
“What?” I ask, my spoon halfway to my mouth. “Do I have something on my face?”
“Yeah,” he says quietly. “Right there.”
He leans across the little table, and his thumb brushes the corner of my mouth, wiping something away. I go still, staring into his eyes as warmth spreads through me. What is it about him? Am I just lonely? Or do I actually like him?
I pull away before I have to decide.
Chapter 19
JAYDEN
I LIMP INTO COACH’S office before practice and give him a story about tripping and twisting my ankle, and my dad booking me into a private clinic because he won’t gamble with my future.
