The Duke’s Dirty Secret: well, that one just made me happy.
“Let’s see how Howl goes?” I finish.
The bell on the restaurant’s door dings, and I glance over on instinct, not expecting to see McNair’s three closest friends: Adrian Quinlan, Sean Yee, and Cyrus Grant-Hayes, presidents of the chess club, the robotics club, and the Anime Appreciation Society, respectively. McNair is notably absent, which immediately raises alarm.
I used to go to school with these guys, I think, because after today, it will be true. Seattle will be full of used-to-be’s.
“I’m going to get more food,” I say, pushing out my chair and getting in the buffet line behind them.
“ ’Sup, Rowan?” Adrian says, scooping basmati rice onto his plate.
“Hey, Adrian. Where’s McNair?” I ask as casually as I can.
Individually, his friends are decent humans. As a group, they’ve assisted him with the Roth-McNair war on a number of occasions. There was the time he stacked student council with them to swing the vote his way, and once they did, they immediately dropped out. Then there was the time they teamed up to mess with the curve on a calculus test. Most of the time, though, they just shake their heads and smile, like we’re a show they’re not that invested in but that entertains them just enough to keep it on.
Cyrus goes for the saag paneer. “Already missing your other half ?”
The question throws me. Other half. I’ve always hated being paired with McNair, but there’s something about the way Cyrus says it that makes me hate it less than usual. Almost like it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“Miss him? I just want to make sure he’s ready for Howl. I don’t miss him. I saw him a couple hours ago,” I say, forcing a laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of Cyrus’s suggestion. “And I’ll probably see him again in another hour. I definitely don’t miss him.”
“Chill,” Adrian says. “Dude’s not here. There was some emergency, and he had to pick his sister up from school.”
“Oh.” An emergency? “Is everything… okay?”
I should have just sucked it up and signed his yearbook. We’ve exchanged so many jabs over the years, and yet it’s only now that I managed to hurt him with a single word. That hallway version of McNair seemed oddly vulnerable, a word I’ve never associated with him simply because he’s never shown any vulnerability. No cracks in his armor.
Sean shrugs, adding a couple samosas to his plate. “He didn’t say much about it. He’s… not the most forthcoming about his personal life.”
“Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I was at his house,” Cyrus says.
Adrian gives him a pointed look I can’t interpret. “He doesn’t really have people over much.”
I take stock of what I know about McNair’s personal life. He must live near Westview, but I’m not sure where. Evidently, he has a sister, but until Adrian said that, I would have guessed he was an only child like me because he’s never mentioned siblings. Not the most forthcoming about his personal life. What could be so, well, personal, that he wouldn’t share it with his friends?
Even confronted with this emergency, it’s impossible to picture McNair in any role except capital-R Rival.
“But he’s still playing, right?” I ask.
“Oh yeah.” Sean flicks black hair out of his eyes. It’s doing this swoopy thing I’ve always found cute. McNair’s hair could never achieve that kind of effortless swoop. “He said he wouldn’t miss this.”
That helps me relax. The emergency can’t have been that serious. I won’t let it distract me from my new goal, the one that fills me with a familiar rush of confidence.
I’m going to destroy McNair one last time.
Maybe then I’ll feel like myself again.
HOWL: Official Game Rules
Property of the junior class of Westview High School
TOP SECRET
DO NOT SHARE.
DO NOT DUPLICATE.
DO NOT LEAVE UNATTENDED ON THE COMPUTER WHILE YOU GET A CHEESY PRETZEL FROM THE STUDENT STORE EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE “PRETTY SURE” YOU SAVED IT. (THAT MEANS YOU, JEFF.)
HOWL is a citywide scavenger hunt with a twist: you’re being hunted by your classmates.
OBJECTIVES
Find and photograph 15 scavenger-hunt clues located around the city.
Send to the junior class for verification.
Don’t die.
At the beginning of the game, you will be given the name of your first target. You can only eliminate your target by removing their blue armband. Once you eliminate your target, you will assume their target.
Anyone using real weapons will be immediately disqualified and reported to the police.