Sophie, whose head had been lowered as she fumbled with the straps of the canvas bag, instantly looked up. Mira exchanged inquisitive glances with Jessica.

  The girl who’d shouted the love confession out into the garden space was standing under a tall tree several feet away. Facing her was a tall boy with his back to Mira and her friends, his hands in his pockets.

  She recognized him right away—even at this distance, his electric blue hair stood out.

  He was Cole Tempest, the ‘playboy’ love interest in Waiting for Fireflies. Daisy’s first real encounter with him in the game was fun and silly, although Daisy certainly didn’t seem to think so. They were only in the first week of the game, so he hadn’t met Daisy yet.

  Whatever words were being exchanged between Cole and his admirer were now at a more reasonable volume, so Mira couldn’t hear any of it. However, she didn’t need to hear it to know what was happening. Cole always turned down the love confession of any admirers. His playful and approachable personality, combined with his good looks, drew girls to him like bees to honey, but he was emotionally unavailable deep down.

  Jessica and Sophie seemed thrilled at the piece of gossip that had just landed in their hands.

  Jessica abandoned her attempts at pulling out a cardboard takeout box from her canvas bag. “Isn’t that Katherine?”

  Sophie was transfixed on the distant scene. “It is most certainly Katherine. Did you know about her feelings for Cole?”

  Mira tried to pull up an information window on the girl to confirm her identity, but nothing happened. It seemed that people that were too far away for her to see properly were out of range for this ability. She’d have to take her friends’ word for it.

  “No,” Jessica whispered, the exhilaration on her face obvious. “But I suppose it’s not shocking—so many girls think he’s quite charming.”

  Taking advantage of her distraction, Mira took the canvas bag off Jessica’s lap and pulled out the three takeout boxes. The eventful day had taken a toll on her; now that she was in a safe place away from Magnus, her appetite had returned in full force. None of the boxes were labeled, so she began opening each one to check for her promised grilled steak.

  “Didn’t you think he was so wonderful until Clyde started talking to you?” Sophie teased, clearly not in a hurry to uncover the juice bottles.

  The first box contained breaded pork chops with roasted broccoli and carrots on the side. Mira closed it again and checked the second one.

  “Blythe, do you think Sophie has the right to say that after all that stuttering and blushing at the royal ball last year?” Jessica’s voice was saccharine.

  Sophie let out a loud, offended gasp. “Excuse me?”

  Mira couldn’t help it; she laughed as she looked down at the shrimp and egg fried rice in the box. Despite the petty, malicious nature of these two girls portrayed in the game, they were still just teenage girls who roasted each other as friends. It was nice listening to their inane quarreling.

  “It’s okay to admit that he’s charming,” she said, grinning up at both of them as she closed the box. “There’s a reason Cole receives so many love confessions in a year after all.”

  They both gaped at her.

  “Who has the breaded pork chop?”

  After Sophie reached out to accept the box Mira was holding up, Mira passed the other box to Jessica.

  “This is the first time I’ve heard you call him charming,” Jessica said, her amber eyes so wide Mira thought they might pop out. “We always thought you were immune to the charms of anyone who wasn’t His Highness.”

  “Oh.”

  She’d messed up. The original Blythe apparently had eyes for no one but Magnus. If they weren’t suspicious before, they would definitely be suspicious now.

  Quick! Say something else to distract them!

  “And you’re so different today. You’ve been speaking so …”

  Was there more? Her heart nearly had a seizure.

  “So … ?” she prompted when Sophie hesitated.

  “So informally.” Her words came out in a whisper, like she was afraid of making the wrong observation.

  Great. Another mistake. She knew the game dialogue between some of the aristocrats was a little stuffy sometimes—in an effort to emulate nobility, she assumed—but she had hardly ever used formal speech in her life and wasn’t used to it.

  Say something now! Anything! Appeal to their sycophantic side!

  “W-well, I was thinking,” she said, her stomach tightening as she held onto the last takeout box that contained her food, “it’s fine when it’s between us friends, right? I mean, we’re best friends, aren’t we? We should be able to talk more casually with each other.”

  Right as Sophie’s and Jessica’s eyes sparkled, a notification window popped up.

  The relief that crashed over her was like a tidal wave. At least she’d said something right.

  “Yes! I totally agree,” Sophie squealed, bringing her hands together in a clasp under her chin. “Because we’re best friends!”

  Nodding, Jessica covered her mouth in a show of being overwhelmingly moved. “This makes me so happy. I want to talk comfortably with you too.”

  An idea struck her like a lightning bolt.

  “Can I call you guys by a nickname? Like, Jess and Soph? You guys can give me one too.”

  In the game, some of the love interests would call Daisy ‘Daze’ once they got close enough. Sometimes, Daisy would give them a nickname as well. It always seemed to be received well when their relationship points were high, so Mira took a chance on suggesting it. Her favorability points with these two girls were quite high, at least in comparison to her relationship with the others—family members not included.

  Another flash of green.

  The gamble had paid off.

  “I love it!” Jessica squealed.

  “Me too.” Sophie’s gaze was eager. “What should we call you?”

  Beaming, Mira grabbed the metal cutlery from the canvas bag and handed them out to her friends. Her fork easily pierced through the tender grilled steak. She lifted a piece to her mouth.

  “Have any suggestions?”

  Jessica opened her own box of food. “Your name is hard to shorten because it’s just one syllable.”

  “True.” Mira chewed on her steak, which melted in her mouth. It was so perfectly seasoned she wanted to go back to the dining hall and order another portion. She spooned a chunk of mashed potatoes into her mouth. It was perfectly smooth and buttery, with a trace of garlic in it.

  With food like this, why wouldn’t Blythe want to board here?

  “Maybe we should think about it and get back to you,” Sophie said before taking a bite of her roasted broccoli.

  “Sounds great. Let me know when you’ve come up with something!”

  “So, since when have you found Cole charming?” Jessica practically sang the words, leaning closer to Mira.

  It was as if their agreement to be more casual with each other had broken down an invisible barrier between them—her body language was much more relaxed now. It was the same with Sophie.

  Playfully shoving her away, Mira snorted. “Who in this school doesn’t find Cole charming?”

  Even if the original Blythe had never admitted it, Mira was sure she had eyes to see that he was handsome.

  “Too bad he turns everyone down.” Sophie passed on the bag of fruit juice bottles for them to pick their preferred bottle. “He hasn’t shown interest in anyone, ever.”

  Assuming the light purple one was grape juice, Mira chose it and passed the bag on to Jessica. The thin layer of condensation on the outside of the bottle wetted her fingers as she carefully uncapped it. The cold, refreshing juice went down her throat smoothly. It was perfect for the lightly warm weather they were in—the sun shone gently down on them. Her lungs happily savored the fresh, clean air she was taking in.

  “Why? Do you want him to show interest in you?” Mira asked, deciding to join in on the ribbing.

  Spluttering, Sophie choked on her pork chops and covered her mouth to keep from coughing everywhere. Taking pity on her, Mira lightly rubbed her back.

  Jessica swallowed her own mouthful of fried rice. “He’s a pretty good choice, though, if you’re just looking at his status as the eldest son of the Duke of Ecralon. He’ll stand to inherit the duchy.”

  It was true. After Magnus, the crown prince of the Beryllian kingdom, Cole belonged to the richest family among all the other love interests in the game. It was stated that many girls were attracted to not just his looks but also his social rank and fortunes. It was part of what turned him off from pursuing anything serious with them, although he still enjoyed some harmless flirting.

  Upon recovering, Sophie drew herself up somewhat haughtily. “Even if I don’t become a botanist, my father can take care of me. Besides, I only want marriage proposals from guys who like me, not someone I’d have to chase after.”

  Mira loved that. It frustrated her to no end when she would watch a show or read a story, and a character would act so desperate for a relationship with someone who wasn’t even that interested. It was a pity that the original Blythe seemed to be like that with Magnus.

  “Good for you.” She continued eating. “You deserve someone who wants to be with you.”

  She received a new notification pop-up.

  Sophie beamed. “Thanks, Blythe.”

  Their attention was diverted from the conversation when Katherine went running past them out of the school garden.

  “Oh, she was crying.” Jessica’s tone was tinged with sympathy, surprising Mira.

  After all, she’d shown a complete lack of empathy to Daisy’s tears back in the dining hall. Maybe that callousness was exclusively reserved for Daisy given her role in the game’s story.

  “I’m sure she expected to be turned down,” Sophie said, equally sympathetic in her gaze that followed after Katherine’s retreating back. “Everybody who confesses to Cole does at this point.”

  Cole was slowly walking towards the entrance of the school garden as well, drawing closer to their group with every step because their chosen bench was near the entrance. Mira assumed he’d been called out to the garden for this particular love confession, which was a common occurrence according to the game.

  When he got within earshot of them, he glanced over. For a moment, when he locked eyes with Mira, he paused. Mira expected him to ignore her and continue walking, but he smiled and nodded at her instead.

  Before she could register what she was doing, she’d already nodded back.

  He seemed to smile at her two friends as well, after which he turned his head away and left the garden.

  She was suddenly reminded of her encounter with Noel earlier that morning, where he’d unexpectedly greeted her. As with Noel, it made sense that, as Magnus’ betrothed, Cole would have interacted with Blythe at balls and other similar social events.

  The moment he left, Jessica and Sophie launched into excited chatter about what they thought had happened between those two. They dissected the interactions Cole and Katherine might have had over the last semester in classes, wondering which of it had led to Katherine being bold enough to declare her love for him.

  Mira eagerly listened in on the gossip, something she’d never been privy to back in her original world. She’d always been on the outside of things, bits of rumors finally trickling down to her when the drama had reached its peak and everyone else at school had already known about it for the longest time.

  After they finished eating, Jessica snapped her head up at the large, round analog clock affixed to the thick trunk of the tallest tree in the middle of the garden. Mira was amazed—she hadn’t even noticed it when they’d first gotten here—that there truly were clocks everywhere on campus.

  “We should get going,” Jessica said, collecting the cutlery from her friends and putting it into her canvas bag alongside the now empty glass bottles. “If we go now, we’ll still have time to grab stuff from our lockers for class.”

  Sophie helped to stack the empty takeout boxes together. “It was so nice eating in the garden today. Can we do it more often?”

  Mira grinned, holding out the canvas bag for Sophie to dump the takeout boxes into. “Honestly, that sounds great. We should.”

  They returned to the dining hall, where Mira learned had drop-off metal boxes in one corner for the return of takeout materials. There was one for the glass bottles, one for the metal cutlery, one for the canvas bags, and one for the disposal of takeout boxes with food waste in them.

  She followed her friends’ cues, hovering the stack of empty takeout boxes over the bright green lid over the top of the box. It slid open, revealing a small trough she could place the takeout boxes in. Once the items were settled inside, the lid slid shut again.

  “Time for art.” Jessica spoke with a light groan. “And we have it with Willoughby. So annoying.”

  Dread pooled in Mira’s gut. She didn’t know how to face Daisy.