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He turned slowly to look up at Seth.

Seth, who looked horrified by what he’d just done. “I—uh—Holy crap, I’ve got to go.”

Nick watched as Seth walked backwards, staring wide-eyed at Nick. He walked into a girl who told him to watch where he was going, and then into a bookshelf, knocking books onto the ground, much to the consternation of the librarian who looked like she was about to descend into an apoplectic fit.

Nick stared, dumbfounded, as Seth finally turned around and ranfrom the library. Nick couldn’t be sure he’d ever seen Seth move that fast in his life.

He reached up and pressed a finger to where Seth’s lips had been just a moment before.

“Huh,” Nick said to no one in particular.

“I will see youbanned,” the librarian whisper-shouted.

Jazz and Gibby found Nick an hour later, staring forlornly at his laptop. The internet had never betrayed him like this before. He didn’t know how to handle it. From not giving him blueprints to a nuclear power plant to finding out if friends kissed each other goodbye on the cheeks if they weren’t French, it was useless.

Gibby ruffled his hair as she slumped gracefully into a chair next to Nick. “Where’s Seth?”

“Animal shelter emergency,” Nick mumbled, feeling his face grow warm.

“Animal shelter emergency?” Jazz asked, standing next to Nick, looking at his computer screen. Thankfully, he’d already closed the tab with the searchwhat are you supposed to do when your best friend kisses your cheek.“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You look very pretty,” Nick told her, because she deserved to hear it on a regular basis. She was wearing her cheerleader uniform, the Centennial Fighting Wombat grinning from where it was stitched on her chest. Also, he hoped it would prove to be a distraction so she wouldn’t see the Seth-kissed-my-face expression he most likely wore.

“Thank you. Animal shelter?”

“Flooding, apparently.”

“Flooding,” Gibby repeated slowly. “Um, excuse me for a moment.”

She stood and walked away quickly, pulling her phone from her back pocket.

Nick stared after her. “What is with everyone leaving in a dramatic fashion today?”

Jazz took the seat her girlfriend had vacated. “We’re friends with a bunch of drama queens. What’s that?” She pointed at his laptop.

“Generic blueprints for a nuclear power plant where I was supposed to get hit with radiation to give me superpowers.”

Jazz sighed. “Drama queens. All of you.”

“Hey!”

“Probably not safe.”

“Now you sound like Seth.”

“That’s a nice thing to say. He’s pretty smart.”

“Yeah, except for when he ditches me.Again.”

Jazz frowned. “I’m sure he didn’t want to. You know there’s nowhere he’d rather be than with you.”

“Then why isn’t he here?”

She kicked his shin underneath the table. “Because the world doesn’t revolve around you, idiot. Other things happen, even if we don’t want them to.”

Nick groaned as he reached down to rub his leg. “I deserved that.”

“Probably.”