Thursday arrived with a kind of energy Cass could never describe, the kind of air that felt charged with things she wasn’t ready for. She walked into school with Lena at her side, both of them holding warm coffees and barely awake, but the second they stepped through the doors the noise hit them. Students were running everywhere wearing jerseys, painting faces, waving banners, hyping the tournament like it was the Olympics.
Everyone was acting like this day mattered more than any assignment or test.
And Cass couldn’t shake the feeling that something was waiting for her at the end of it.
Lena nudged her. “You look nervous.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re lying.”
Cass sighed. “It’s the game. Jace versus Marvin. I can already smell the chaos.”
Lena took a sip of her coffee. “I’m not worried about
