Let's Play a Game

Let's Play a Game (14)

“Maxynn!” a familiar voice called out from above me, but I still didn’t open my eyes to see if I was dreaming or not. “Maxynn, it’s time to wake up!”

I didn’t even open my eyes before rolling over and pushing my head into my pillow even more. I could just tell that it was way too early to wake up on a Saturday morning.

“Maxynn!” the person now shouted, and it caused me to groan. “Wake up!”

I finally rolled back over to glare at Kate, but I stopped when I saw that she wasn’t the only person in my room. Both Johnny and Zach were standing on either side of her, and I could see Aveline behind them starting to go through my stuff.

“Hey!” I shouted when she reached for the drawer that I hid the gauze in. “Aveline, don’t go through my stuff!”

“Oh, what’s the worst I could find?” she asked, rolling her eyes and thankfully going for another drawer. “What, is this where you hide your diary or something?”

I couldn’t help but scowl at her. “No, I just don’t want you going through my things!”

She shrugged, but didn’t stop. “I’d like to see what you have in here.”

“She has Disney movies hidden under her bed,” Zach informed the brunette girl, and I almost jumped right out of bed and slapped him.

“What are you guys even doing here?” I demanded, placing my feet on the ground and blocking Aveline when she tried to dive under my bed in search of my embarrassing movie collection. “And wait, why is Aveline here? She’s… she’s not supposed to know…”

I stared at the girl that had been making my life miserable, unable to speak now. She was the last person I wanted knowing that I lived in the same house as Zach! She would tell everyone and spread a bunch of rumors that weren’t true!

“Ethan told her,” Zach shrugged, and I knew I was going to strangle that little bug one day. “I invited her over, and Ethan told her how you were still upstairs sleeping. When she asked why you’d be upstairs, he told her.”

“Have I ever told you that I hate your brother?” I growled.

Zach shrugged, waving it away. “Something along the lines, yes.”

So Aveline knew. She knew that I lived in the same house as Zach, but I seemed to be the only one out of all of us that thought that that was a bad thing. We all knew that Aveline absolutely hated me! Why didn’t anyone else think that this was a bad idea?

“I made her swear to secrecy,” Zach now said with a shrug, and Aveline made a face. “I said I’d never talk to her again if she told anyone.”

“And I love Zach way more than I hate you,” Aveline scowled at me, and I seemed to be the only one out of all of us that noticed that she had used the word love. “So I’ll keep my mouth shut about it. But don’t think it’s because I like you or anything.”

I rolled my eyes at her before turning toward the rest of them. “Like I asked before, why are you all here?”

“We’re going on a trip,” Kate informed me in excitement, nearly jumping up and down as she did so. “So you need to get out of bed and get dressed so we can hurry up and go!”

“A trip?” I questioned, swatting at her hand when she grabbed for me. “What kind of trip?”

“A skiing trip,” Johnny informed me with a smile, and it almost made me melt. I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to wake up to that smile. “Kate’s uncle has a cabin up in the mountains that he’s letting us borrow for the weekend.”