I snorted. “That’s seasonal.”
The Virus was the world’s new terror alert. And it had already happened to South Korea. One day, the Internet simply went away. Like someone ran a demagnetizing strip over the entire country. It took the South Koreans a month to get a bare-bones Internet back up and running after the blackout. During that time, chaos reigned. That was five years ago. Since then, most countries had channeled a lot of their military spending toward tech military branches. That’s where Sharma was headed after high school. She would have gone already, except the US military wasn’t like CB or Goog. It didn’t accept high school dropouts.
“Why have you been thinking about the Virus?”
“First, because that’s what it feels like not being normal with you.” Mac blinked a lot and looked away. “Second, I keep thinking if the Virus strikes, what will I be left with? Like will I have good people around me to be stuck in the dark with? I screwed up the other day when I asked you to be my girl. I’d been waiting for the right moment for a long time, waiting until after I proved myself. That was definitely not the right moment. I’m sorry.”
“And I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. Just…if you’ve really liked me for the past three years, why didn’t you act sooner? I mean, September was the first time we even spoke.”
Even if he’d asked me out last year, that would have ruled out half a dozen other girls. We would have been dating for over a year. Which actually? Just didn’t seem possible.
The twitch of his lips said, Isn’t it obvious?
“Have you seen yourself walk Park Prep? With that high ponytail and that frowny pout. Intimidating doesn’t describe it. Every time I saw you, you acted like I was plague. I figured you were way out of my league. Plus, I was busy kissing, like, a lot of other girls.”
Now I did shove his shoulder.
“And then I cut class and saw you in that lunch line this fall and kinda, like, saw how you looked when you weren’t pretending to be scary and I had to go for it. I figured if I could get you to smile, I’d be aces. And you did smile.” The very act of remembering made his eyes light up. Then that glimmer went away. “But I think you’re right. If the Virus strikes, the best way to assure you’re in my top five lost contacts is probably by doing your friend thing. I won’t ask you out again. Está bien?”
I swallowed hard. “Está bien.”
“Friends?”
“Siempre.”
Mac turned my present over and over in his hands. When Mac was twelve, he gave himself a homemade tattoo on the soft flesh between his thumb and pointer finger on his left hand. He’d done it for a girl he liked, named Marrakesh. “Lucky we had the same first initial,” he laughed when he told me the story. Staring at that spot always made me proud we had the relationship we did. I mean, where was Marra now? But today, I suddenly got why Mac had asked me out right after he saw the Mr. E. vid. It was terrible imagining him attached to anyone else. I wanted to indelibly leave a mark on him. And not because we had a great friendship.
“Nothing says gift time like awkward silence,” I said in my Mac accent.
He groaned. I scooted closer, holding my hands out. He pulled my hat down over my eyes. When I fixed it, his gift was in my lap. I opened it quickly, fearing that at any second I was either going to cry or tackle him. We were back to being friends. I’d never felt more miserable.
Inside the paper bag was a tiny jewelry box. Inside the tiny jewelry box was a pair of delicate woodlike earrings.
“Are these 3-D printed?” I asked, holding one up.
They were stunning.
“Nope.” He smiled shyly. “They’re made by hand of natural materials. I bought them in person at the holiday market in the city.”
“Macky.” I swallowed heavily. “I love them.”
He looked down at his feet. “Yeah, well, I knew you would.”
Patting me once on the arm, he stood up. I shielded my eyes against the sun so I could better see his expression when I said, “And all I got you was a preordered copy of KillCrush Eight. You can download it at midnight.”
His eyes widened. He whooped loudly. Holding on to the porch rails, he swooped in to kiss me on the cheek. More out of surprise than anything else, I leaned away. Mac and I roughhoused so much, retreat was my go-to defense. Still, it stopped Mac cold. He pushed off the railing, his lips a flat unhappy line.
“Good job, Rodriguez. I can’t even keep my word for one minute before I go pillaging again. Sorry, Kyla. Tell your family I said Happy Twenty-Five Percent Bump in the Economy Day.”
“Tell yours I said Merry…”
My mouth felt like it was filled with glue. There I was, the queen of debate, and I couldn’t think of a single example of anything Merry right at that moment. So I just shook my head and got up to go inside. When I got to the top of the steps, Mac was already gone.
moi All I want for Christmas is for you to take down the video.
It was close to midnight. My family was sprawled on the sofa. Mom was sleeping. Dad was on his Doc. Kyle was now on the sixth episode in a row of Cloaked Games. I’d just messaged Jessie for the nine thousandth time, asking her to talk, when moments later AnyLies responded.
Can’t have it all. I’m sure you got everything else you wanted.
moi Yeah, tho I kinda miss the years when I didn’t.
Meaning?
moi Meaning I guess I kinda miss the years when my mom got it wrong.
Hmm. Because when your mom got it wrong, it at least meant she still knew you enough to guess what you might like?
Yeah. That was it exactly. After days of feeling misunderstood by everyone who knew me best, somehow my hater kept getting it right.
moi You’re pretty all right. If only you’d stop ruining my life.
AnyLies and I aren’t friends, I quickly reminded myself. AnyLies understood what I was going through because she—I mean, let’s be honest, it had to be a girl—because she’d put me there. Maybe I was txting my hater in the hopes that she would take down my video, but why was my hater txting me back? I reminded myself of the sheets of paper with my name written on them a hundred different ways and I almost called it quits on the whole enterprise.
But then AnyLies txted this:
You know, you aren’t the only one.
moi The only one what?
The only one who’s been through this.
moi This what?
I waited. But that was it. The only one…who had grown apart from her mom? The only one…who was questioning every single relationship in her life? The only one…who hated the holidays? Missed her grandma? The only one who…
I quickly sat up, crunching Kyle’s feet in the process.
“No, that’s fine, girl-Kyle, I didn’t need to walk ever again anyway.”