The post-exam party. Someone suggested Never Have I Ever.
Neal James went first.
"I got an early admission recommendation to Northbridge University. Didn't even sit the college entrance exams."
The karaoke lounge erupted in cheers.
Senior year, the Olympiad competition—make the national team and you walked straight into an early admission recommendation. I'd prepped for the better part of a year, then an allergy attack floored me right before the exam and I never made it to the competition at all.
I folded down a finger without a word.
A few rounds later, only Neal and I still had one finger left.
He grinned, all sunshine and confidence.
"I have a girlfriend!"
The room went dead quiet, then exploded.
My eyes went straight to Ellie Pruitt, sitting in the corner.
She'd told me so many times: "Bert, once the exams are over, we'll be together."
She was leaning back against the couch. She never once looked at me.
Someone called out, "Prove it! How do we know you've got a girlfriend?"
Neal smiled, stood up, and walked over to Ellie.
He took her face in both hands, bent down in front of the whole room, and kissed her.
She didn't push him away. Didn't so much as glance in my direction.
I lowered my head, folded down my last finger.
I lost.
And not just the game.
——
Whistles, screams, and applause crashed together into a wall of noise.
"Holy shit! I knew those two had something going on!"
"When did you get together?"
Neal straightened up, face flushed and beaming.
"Made it official the day exams ended!"
Every pair of eyes in the room was locked on the new couple.
Not one of them landed on me.
I watched them.
Watched Ellie raise her hand and drag the back of her wrist across her lips, lazy, like brushing away crumbs.
"Come on, tell us how it happened!"
"Who confessed? Details! We want details!"
The crowd kept pushing, wave after wave.
Neal shot Ellie a bashful look, then started talking.
"Honestly, it was nothing special. The day exams ended, I asked her to come out…"
He spared nothing. How he'd texted Ellie, how he'd gotten her to meet up, how he'd reached for her hand, the exact moment he'd said, "Let's be together."
With every new detail, the laughter in the room got louder.
With every new detail, another pair of eyes drifted toward me.
"Wait, aren't Ellie and Bertram a thing? They grew up together!"
"Says who? When has Ellie ever given Bertram a second look?"
"Oh, Bertram—you mean the sad little puppy who follows her around? That one?"
"Right, and who'd date a guy like that? Ellie's not into charity cases!"
"That meal that gave Bertram his allergic reaction? Ellie made it with her own hands—on purpose, so he'd miss the competition."
"Well, Neal needed that recommendation spot, and Bertram was the only one in his way. What else were they gonna do?"
"Genius move. Bertram was just a stepping stone."
Neal ducked his head, playing sheepish, but every line of his face was smug.
"Bertram, I'm sorry, man. I mentioned the whole recommendation thing to Ellie, and she just… she cares about me too much, you know? If you're going to blame anyone, blame me…"
So everyone had known.
Everyone except me.
Or maybe I should have known all along.
Freshman year of high school, Ellie started pulling away.
If we crossed paths on campus she'd drop her head and walk right past me, like I was no one.
I caught up with her once and asked why. She said, "Don't give people the wrong idea."
I told myself she was just shy.
In the hallway she'd lean against the wall talking to Neal, eyes bright, laughing like she couldn't help it.
The moment I walked over, the laugh died. "What do you want?"
