“Who’s your girlfriend, Max?” said Sakura, her face flush from too much champagne.

“She’s not my—”

Casey stood up straight and gave a small bow to Sakura.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Golden Blade Sakura,” said Casey.

Sakura scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “Aw, there’s no reason to be all formal. Any friend—or girlfriend!?—of Max’s is family to me too.”

The music suddenly came to an end and the lead singer of the band on stage said, “Alright you beautiful climbers, let’s slow it down a little...”

Sakura blushed and put her hands together, cooing, “Ooh, slow dance! You two should dance!”

Both Max and Casey looked awkwardly at each other, then smiled, and walked out to the dance floor together.

They stopped walking to find a spot and Casey said, “I guess we should dance here?”

Max wasn’t sure what to do or say, so he just lifted up his hands and approached Casey with the caution of someone defusing a powerfully explosive bomb.

Casey took a step forward and closed the gap between them, lifting up her hands and resting them behind Max’s neck.

They were so close to each other, their chests were almost squeezed against one another, but not quite. But they were close enough that he felt like he could feel Casey’s heart beating and her body breathing in and out.

They gently moved to the slow rhythm of the song.

Just over Casey’s head, Max could see his academy instructor trying to convince Sakura to dance, but she had her arms crossed and had an unimpressed look on her face.

Was there something there between those two...he wondered.

Casey moved closer to him so that her head was resting on his chest as they swayed to the music.

Focus on your dance with Casey, Max said to himself.

Casey was looking up at him now, her green eyes sparkling, her cute mouth slightly parted.

Did Casey want him to kiss her?

He moved his head forward towards her and suddenly stopped.

Across the dance floor, he saw Samuel Archer and the climber president arguing with each other. Samuel Archer then marched out from the banquet hall in a huff.

“Casey...” Max said, softly.

“Max...” said Casey.

And then he purposefully made the biggest faux pas of their friendship:

“How would you feel about secretly stalking Samuel Archer?”

66

Casey pulled away and gave Max a strange quizzical look.

They may or may not have been about to kiss when Max had seemingly out of nowhere suggested they stalk Samuel Archer, the father of their enemy and rival at school, Cyrus Archer.

In hindsight, Max realized, it probably wasn’t the best thing to say to a girl you may or may not have been about to kiss.

A creepy expression like “stalking” probably didn’t help things either.