With Marie no longer taking jobs, and her socials dead silent, math class was the one place Luc saw her. She’d never had a harder time focusing in class than she did now, staring at the back of her head, hair done into a severe knot at the base of her skull. Her whole outfit was subdued. Still steps above what most people wore to school, but on Marie, it may as well have been sweat pants or pajamas.

  There was an assignment on the whiteboard, and everyone else had textbooks open, but Luc didn’t bother. She continued to stare at the back of Marie’s head, willing her to turn around. Math class wasn’t exactly the place to confess, spill her feelings to the girl she…

  Luc squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to let the word form even in the safety of her own mind. It wasn’t something she was allowed. It wasn’t something she’d ever been given, except by Marie, and then she’d gone and ruined it. How could she undo the damage she’d done?

  Everything Luc wanted to say sat on the tip of her tongue, waiting for release but at the same time jumbled. Nothing she could say seemed adequate to fix what she’d had with Marie, if anything could.

  The bell rang, muffled slightly by the closed classroom door, signalling the end of class. Luc stayed in her seat as Marie gathered her things, turned without glancing her direction, and marched toward the door.

  “Marie…” Luc reached out for her.

  Marie dodged to the side, avoiding her hand without missing a step, and disappeared through the door.

  Luc slumped into her seat and let out a sigh. How was she supposed to fix things between herself and Marie if Marie didn’t want to speak to her?

  Gathering her things, Luc made her way to her next class, trying in vain to form a plan.

  Luc made it to lunch without seeing Marie again, despite scanning for her as she walked into the cafeteria. She sat down at their designated table, feeling strung out and empty.

  She groaned as she slumped against the table, laying her forehead against cold plastic.

  A hand landed on her back, rubbing smooth circles against it. “Bad day?”

  “Marie won’t talk to me,” she said, the words muffled as she spoke them into the table. “She won’t even look at me. How am I supposed to fix things if she won’t look at me?”

  She sat up, holding out her hands in front of her. “I can fix everything else, anything I’ve ever set my hands on, and build wonders out of scraps and trash. There has to be some way I can fix this. I just have to find the right pieces.”

  “Or maybe, people aren’t puzzle pieces,” Tobias suggested.

  “I mean…” Mason trailed off with a shrug. “They can be, but they usually aren’t still alive at that point.”

  Maisey’s nose wrinkled in disgust as she looked at her brother. “You watch too many crime shows.”

  “You watch them with me,” Mason pointed out.

  “Only because you monopolize the TV!” Maisey sucked in a deep breath, batting her wavy blond hair away from her face before giving her full attention to Luc. “What you need is a big romantic gesture. Actually, I was just reading about one that could be good…”

  She dug into her bag, pulling out a hardback romance novel as Tobias shook his head.

  “You want Luc to copy something from a book?”

  “It’s really romantic.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “In the context of the book.”

  “Well, what would you propose?”

  “To just talk to her,” Tobias said. “That seems like the simple thing to do.”

  “Easier said than done,” Luc said. “She won’t talk to me at school, and she’s not taking jobs anymore so I never even see her when I’m working.”

  “You could go all Romeo and Juliet and talk to her from outside her window,” Tobias suggested.

  “I know you’re a fan of climbing through windows, but most people would consider that breaking and entering, if not stalking.”

  “Did I say climb through her window? You just have to throw rocks at it and get her attention.”

  “Or you could pull the whole boombox confession thing,” Maisey suggested. “What movie is that from?”

  “Say Anything.”

  “No, it’s from a specific movie,” Maisey said, glaring at her brother.

  “Oh my god,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

  “You can just go full Grey’s Anatomy for a moment. Pick me, choose me, love me.”

  Luc cringed, even as she considered it. She’d never begged before, anyone for anything, but she might just beg Marie to take her back.

  “Just talk to her,” Mason said, making eye contact with Luc even as Maisey and Tobias continued to riff off each other and find new ideas to suggest. “I know her feelings are hurt right now, but really, it’s not like you did anything worse than get paid to be her rival. That has nothing to do with you dating her, though.”

  Luc bit down on her lip, staring pointedly down at the table.

  “You didn’t do anything worse than that, did you?” Mason asked, though he clearly didn’t want to.

  “I might have said, in the heat of the moment, that everything was because the commissioner was paying me.”

  Mason stared at her, and even Tobias and Maisey stopped talking to join him.

  “No wonder she doesn’t want to talk to you,” Maisey said, shaking her head. “But no fear. I will get my girlfriends back together if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Luc gave her a flat stare even as a grin stretched across Maisey’s face.

  “I even have an idea.”

  “And that’s my cue to leave,” Mason said, sweeping up his things and standing.

  “What, why?” Luc asked.

  “Because I just know this is going to be bad.”

  “Don’t be a spoil sport,” Maisey said, sticking her tongue out after him as he began to walk away. “It’s not bad. It’s genius.”

  “Now I’m scared too,” Tobias said. A grin stretched across his face as Maisey glared at him.

  “What’s the plan?” Luc asked, doing her best to keep the desperation out of her voice. It hardly mattered. Everyone at the table, and probably half the people in the school at this point, knew just how desperate she was to get back with Marie.

  “Meet me at the football field after school, and I’ll tell you everything.”

  “Or you could tell me now?” Luc tried, but Maisey just smiled, remaining silent until the end of lunch. Reluctantly, Luc headed to her next class, doing her best to get through the day without bursting. By the time her final period ended, she’d managed to chew up all of her fingernails, only stopping when she began to pick at the skin around them.

  Not bothering to grab her things, Luc slipped out of school and around to the football field behind it. She’d never actually been to the football field, her work as a magical girl and other jobs besides leaving her with no time for sports, much less an interest in them.

  It was empty, aside from Maisey, the girl standing there in her magical girl attire with a roll of string in hand. She tossed it at Luc as she approached, and Luc snatched it out of the air.

  “What’s this for?”

  “We are going to spring a trap,” Maisey said. “A trap for a magical girl.”

  “I really don’t think Marie is into that,” Luc said, nose wrinkling. She’d do a lot to get Marie back, but essentially trapping her and kidnapping her wasn’t one of those things.

  “No, not like that,” Maisey said, rolling her eyes. “I was just thinking, you two need to work together again, and we need a good comeback for our socials. What we need is something big, flashy. So, since we can’t anticipate an event like that, we just have to make one.”

  Luc raised an eyebrow. “How do you plan on doing that?”

  “Well, you made a magic repellant for the farm,” Maisey said. “You just have to do that, but reverse it. Attract the magic. Maybe we can even get Tobias some powers, while we’re at it.”

  “Why would that make Marie come back? You told me yourself she’d quit.”

  If possible, Maisey’s smile widened, growing more devious. “Because you are going to be the bait.”

  “Yeah,” Luc said, glancing down at the roll of twine in her hand. “I’m with Mason. I’ve got a bad feeling about this, but what the hell. This is a better romantic gesture than anything else you suggested. Help me string this thread.”