“I wish,” she says with a sigh. “Jacobi’s never had a girlfriend…that we know of.”

Lily averts her gaze from Sara and surveys the room. The walls are off-white. There’s a single rectangular window obscured with a white blind, and the only color in the room comes from the beds, covered in bright blankets and pillows.

“Are you going to the game like that?” Lennon asks me.

I look down at myself—tights, Nacoma Knight uniform, balled-up hair with ribbons… “Yeah.”

Everyone in the room is quiet. I don’t really need to dress up. I hope to sneak off and find my coin. Its absence has been itching at my skin more every day, coating me with a strange guilt I don’t understand but feel to my core.

The girls continue to stare until finally I say, “What?”

“At least let me do your hair a little better. We could curl it and then put the ribbons back in.”

I laugh. “You don’t have enough time.”

“At least change,” Sara suggests with a smile. “No one wants to wear a uniform to the game. I have a shirt you can wear.” She goes to her drawer and pulls out a jersey with Shy’s number on it.

“No,” I say quicker than I intend. “I mean…that’s okay. I’ll just wear my uniform.”

Sara’s eyes widen. “Why don’t you want to wear it?”

“Because…” I’m having a hard enough time blending in with the crowd, and wearing Shy’s jersey will just keep those whispers circulating.

It’s Lily who speaks up. “I’m sure you won’t be the only one wearing the jersey. They’re from state last year.”

“Yeah, we all have one,” Sara says.

Encouraged, I take the jersey from Sara and a skirt from Lennon. Sara also convinces me that wearing glitter and smudging a couple of lines on my cheeks isn’t such a bad idea. By the time we head to the field, I blend in pretty well with the girls.

Lennon takes me by my hand and pulls me onto the field where a group of students, cheerleaders, and the band have gathered in front of a large, inflatable blue tunnel. A flap over the front is sealed and has the school’s initials, NKA, across a shield with a rose on the front. We aren’t there long when the drumline starts to play and the cheerleaders chant. Our team runs onto the field from the locker room, disappearing into the tunnel. I stand on the tips of my toes, looking for Shy. When I can’t find his number, I think I might have missed him. I turn to Lennon, who matches my stance, straining her long neck. “Did you see Shy?”

“No.” She frowns, shaking her head.

Chapter Fifteen

Shy and the Order

I should have known Roth wants the Eurydice.