"Where did they go?" I whispered urgently.
Nina scanned the crowd. "I think they headed toward the concert area."
"Okay."
And with that, I ran.
I had to stop embarrassing myself. Enough was enough. Today, I was ending this curse. No more awkward stares. No more freezing like a malfunctioning robot.
Where the hell are they?
Suddenly—bam—I almost crashed into someone.
"Whoa, girl," Brian laughed. "Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Nothing," I said too quickly. "I was looking for you, dude."
He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah… I can see what happened."
I sighed. "Do you mind telling me where the guys you brought earlier are? The science-major guys?"
"Yup," he said slowly. "But why are you suddenly so interested in them?"
"Nothing," I replied smoothly. "Just… research material."
Brian smirked. "Uh-huh. Sure. You'll find them near the stage. Some of them are performing."
"Thanks, buddy," I said, already walking away.
And then—
There he was.
The love of my life.
And as usual, my brain decided to shut down.
I walked with my eyes half-closed like an idiot—
CRASH.
I slammed straight into someone so hard I nearly saw my past life. For a few seconds, my vision went blurry. My head hurts. My dignity? Gone.
I swear the whole crowd stopped to watch.
So embarrassing.
Then I heard laughter. Not mean laughter—amused laughter.
Someone reached out a hand.
I looked up.
Of course.
It was him.
He was laughing openly now. "You seriously have a talent for embarrassing yourself in public."
Kill me.
I took his hand, letting him pull me up. "I'm—sorry. I'm really, really sorry."
The guy I had crashed into—one of his friends—groaned. "Girl, please watch where you're going. You almost broke my hand."
"I'm so sorry," I said again, wishing the ground would swallow me whole.
The tall guy smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Shawn."
Then he pointed at his friend. "And this is Mathew—the victim."
Mathew rolled his eyes.
I laughed awkwardly. "Hi… I'm Eerika."
Shawn tilted his head. "I think I've seen you before. Outside the library, right?"
My heart skipped. "Yes… I've seen you too."
"You're Brian's friend, right?" he asked.
"Yes," I nodded quickly. "Of course."
"Why don't you join us?" Shawn said casually. "Brian's coming too. It'll be fun."
Fun?
Oh, it was definitely going to be fun.
And dangerous.
And absolutely not good for my sanity.
But I smiled anyway.
"Yeah," I said. "Sure."
And just like that,
the game officially began.