Page 28 of Operation: Ogre

“Already?” We hadn’t talked to anyone. We hadn’t even looked around much. Craning my neck around, I spotted Peter, a gnome, who was dancing with a fairy that I didn’t know. Clearly, I needed to be introduced and get the skinny on the tall, lovely fairy. Or Mort, one of our resident celebrities. What was he doing? Had the Alpha Claw Omega squared everything with their charter being threatened? Or the orc who was giggling, who was he? And was that fucking Tate kissing the devil, Luc? This place was a research and connections gold mine.

“Yeah.”

“I guess.” I couldn’t believe those words came out of my lips. But… I guessed I did have homework that I needed to do. Besides, we could spend more time alone, which I liked the sound of. He pulled me through the crowd and out the door, all while I followed, smiling.

Chapter Twelve

Jaxon

Isat in the stands on Tuesday morning, skipping one of my classes—something I almost never did. Today was one of Chris’s first home games of the season. None of the other ones had been on campus, so I hadn’t gone. I supposed I could’ve, as none had been overnight games. Maybe I should have. However, Chris hadn’t acted upset.

But I was here today, watching him. I’d tried to learn some of the rules, and it hadn’t gone well. I had basically just stared at the screen, utterly confused. Sports didn’t make sense. At all. No matter how long I read and tried to learn, nothing had stuck. Perhaps I should’ve looked for a tutor.

Currently, Chris was sitting on the bench, watching from the sidelines. From here, I could see the tension in his body as he followed the play. He would tense and react as people moved. Cheering and jumping up when our team scored. Shouting when the other team did.

I hadn’t truly watched soccer before this moment, but I’d assumed it was slow like football or baseball—it wasn’t. At all.

The ball traveled from one end of the pitch to the other faster than I would’ve guessed possible. It was hard to follow what was going on because everything happened so fast. I was struggling to keep up.

From what little I’d gleaned, our team was decently good. I thought. Perhaps. Honestly, I truly didn’t know. However, Aaron was a phenomenal goalie and blocked the ball more times than he let it through. The other team was winning, though. Their team consisted solely of monsters, whereas ours was evenly mixed with monsters and humans—something I’d gathered was unique about Creelin U.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and took a drink from the water bottle I’d brought—glass and reusable, of course. It was hot, and I wasn’t a fan of the sun, the morning, or sports. Why couldn’t this be inside or at night? I shook my head. I had to really like Chris to put myself through this torture. And not only was I here, I was also wearing a shirt painted with his number on the back.

I’d tried to order the correct numbered shirt from Tengu, but I couldn’t find it, so I’d just painted his number on the back of one of my shirts. I’d also made a glittery sign with the school colors saying “Go, Team!” I felt like an idiot, but I truly hoped Chris liked the effort and could see that I was trying to woo him.

The ref blew their whistle, and Chris shouted along with everyone else when a flag was thrown. I assumed it meant something bad—a foul, though I couldn’t even guess what that might be—and booed along with all the other Creelin U students watching.

Sam, who sat on one side of me, started hissing and screaming obscenities as she jumped up and down. Carter, who was on my other side, boxing me in, was much calmer, but he’d crossed his arms and was glaring murder at the ref, like he was plotting their murder.

Once the ball was in play again, Carter said, “I’m glad you came today.”

Sam piped up before I could respond, “It’s funner with you here.”

“I didn’t realize you both came to support Chris.” I’d never gone to one of his games before, and he’d never asked after I’d turned him down the first time last year. Now I felt bad. Chris always supported me with my company, talking to people, and just in general, and I’d never made an effort to come before because it wasn’t my thing.

“Of course,” they both said at the same time in the exact same tone that said they couldn’t believe I thought they’d miss their brother’s games.

“You look nice in his number.” Sam poked my side, grinning.

“Very couple-y,” Carter added.

I swallowed. I didn’t know how much Chris had told them—we hadn’t talked about it—so I just nodded.

“We know, by the way,” Carter added, like he could read my mind. “About the fake dating plan.”

“Stupid idea,” Samantha muttered before screaming at the ref about missing a foul.

“It was Chris’s idea.” I hadn’t liked it, but now, I was glad. It gave me an excuse to move closer and try to become more. So it really was working out. Hopefully.

Carter just watched me squirm for a few seconds before asking, “Are you using Chris to get Aaron?”

I glanced around, but no one was paying attention to us, not in the slightest. I took a deep breath and tried to figure out what to say, but nothing came out. Should I be honest with Carter and Sam? In some ways, it would certainly help me, because they were exceedingly close to Chris, and I was almost positive that they would help me. Or would they tell Chris before I was ready for him to find out?

Finally, I settled on something simple. “No.”

“No?” Carter asked, glancing at Sam, who wasn’t paying attention. The game had picked up, and she was screaming about the ref, the players, and how they should just listen to her if they wanted to win. I wasn’t even sure which team she was yelling at anymore. It probably didn’t matter.

“No,” I said firmly. I wasn’t using Chris to get Aaron, not anymore.