Page 54 of I Don't Need Your Romance

I follow him to the next arcade with a scowl. I sometimes get super competitive, too, but he’s taking this way too seriously.

This time, he does indeed cream me. And he gloats about it like he won an Olympic medal.

“Nice job,” I tell him with a forced smile. “Can you show me the game you’re best at?”

“I’m a master atCrossy Road,” he says as he leads me to the machine. “I can practically do it blindfolded.”

I stand next to him and watch him do extremely well in this game. Even though he seems preoccupied, I decide to go forth with the Operation. “Do you like being a scholarship kid here?” I ask.

“Whoa, did you see that?” He whacks the button repeatedly like a hammer. “I was this close to getting run over. What do you mean about the scholarship?”

“You know, it’s hard for us scholarship kids to fit in with all these rich people. You don’t seem to hang out with other scholarship kids.”

He chuckles lightly. “What does it matter how much money anyone has? It’s my parents who can’t afford to send me here. I applied for a scholarship and got in. No one cares.”

“Really? My friends and I always feel like the rest of the school turns up their noses at us.”

With his eyes glued to the screen and not glancing at me once, he says, “That seems more like ayouproblem.”

Okay, I’ve had it with this guy. I march over to where Raven sits on the couch and plop down next to her, folding my arms over my chest with a huff.

“I couldn’t stand him, either.” She tilts the controller to the side as her ball of light tries to evade an enemy that looks like a creature from a nightmare. “Sorry for making you come all the way here. Maybe we shouldn’t trust Addie’s list. She’s only been in this school for a few months and doesn’t know the kids like we do.”

“She’s so hopeful, though,” I say with a sigh. “I don’t want to crush her dreams. She genuinely wants all of us to have the kind of love she has with Caleb. But we can’t all experience what she has. Life doesn’t work that way.”

“I agree.”

I lean back on the couch and watch her game. Too bad I didn’t bring a book with me. I guess I hadn’t considered that this guy would be a top-tier jerk.

“Want to join my game?” Raven asks.

I shake my head. “I kind of want to think.”

“Thinking is good.”

“Proving Damian wrong is a nice thought, but what does that say about me if there’s not a single guy here I can connect with? I mean, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I won’t find anyone as good as William King, but what if…I don’t know.”

“You’re worried you’ll end up alone,” she says.

“I guess.”

“I’m worried about that, too. I know we’re young and have our whole lives ahead of us, but what if there really isn’t anyone out there for me?”

“What about Camp Lover Boy?”

Her chest inflates. “Why do you guys always bring him up? Whatever happened with him is long over.”

“Okay, fine. When Damian said to me that everyone around me will find love and I’ll be living my fake romances in my books, I didn’t care. I guess I was stubborn and didn’t want to admit that he might be right. But now that all the guys have been a bust…”

“You don’t want to admit to yourself that maybe the reason you’re insisting you prefer the romances in your books is because you’re worried you won’t ever be able to experience romance in real life, even if you desperately want it.”

“No, I still think book romance tops real romance, and I’ll prove that to Damian, even if I do have an epic romance with a guy here. But maybe there is some truth to his words. Maybe I am worried I’ll end up alone while everyone else around me builds wonderful lives for themselves.”

“Impossible. You’re too awesome for that.” She pauses her game and slides her hand into mine. “But if that does happen, you’ll always have us. We’re never going to leave you. Remember how lonely I was in ninth grade? I thought I wouldn’t have a single friend during my high school years. But there you were with that contagious smile. I knew immediately that we were meant to be best friends. And we’ll remain best friends with Carly and Addie for the rest of our lives. We’ll even be in the same nursing homes.”

I laugh. “I can imagine us bickering and teasing each other in our old age like we do now.”

“Exactly! But you seriously don’t have to worry. You’ll meet the perfect guy one day and maybe Damian will proveyouwrong.”