Page 23 of Evil King

He smiled. “Okay. I’ll leave because Cherri keeps pinching me.”

She scoffed. “You’re… That’s not how that’s supposed to go, you brat.”

“Bye, Deon.” He didn’t even wait for my response, just bounded out of the frame and scuttled off.

“Wow,” I said. “He’s huge.”

Cherri stuck out her bottom lip. “I know. I want him to stop growing.”

What followed after that were several continuous hours of talking about everything that came to us. Whether because she was afraid to know or already did, Cherri didn’t broach the subject of where I’d been, and I was glad not to have to discuss it just yet. She told me all about her father’s promotion, moving, and meeting The Royal Court, and though I couldn’t get too much into what my last four years had been like, I was perfectly happy to just sit and listen to her talk. She had that same crooked grin when things really amused her, and she snorted when she laughed. The more she carried on, the more I just wanted to listen. It was Cherri—myCherri.

God, I’d missed her so much.

I wasn’t sure exactly when I’d fallen asleep, but when I woke up, I could see that my phone was still on, and the call was still going. A corner of Cherri’s hair and face were visible in the frame, but I could hear her snoring lightly on the other side. If I couldn’t wake up next to her, this was probably the next best thing.

“Cherri? Hey. Cherri.” She groaned a little bit and stretched, and then she realized I was still on the phone. “Hey, beautiful.”

She started to laugh. “Oh my god. We stayed on the phone all night.”

“That we did.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “I have to go get ready. Avery’s picking me up today, and she’ll be here soon.”

“Okay. I have to spray paint my hair green, apparently,” I said, disappointed, and it broke Cherri out into loud laughter.

“I can’t wait to see that.” She smiled at me. “Can we do this again soon?”

My heart soared at the question. “We can do it whenever you want.”

10

Cherri

“Oh my goodness. You look so cute!”

I did a little spin in the living room so that my mom could see my outfit. “Yeah?”

It was Thursday, which meant it was officially twins and triplets day, and I, of course, was going as a triplet with Avery and Colette. Because Colette had really short hair, we decided to go with pigtails for the hairstyle, and we’d gone shopping the night before to get three different colors of the same romper. Mine was light blue, Avery’s was dark green, and Colette’s was pink. We bought short-top converses that matched our rompers, and though none of us required glasses, we got a few pairs of cheap ones and popped out the lenses, just to add an extra accessory to the look.

“Yes! Will you allow me justonepicture when they get here?” my mom begged. “I promise not to go too crazy.”

“Sorry, Mom. I’m picking them up today, but we’ll take lots of pictures, I promise. I’ll text you one during lunch.”

My mom clapped her hands. “Okay, good.” She held out a tinfoil-wrapped sandwich for me. “A breakfast sandwich. Bacon and guac, just like you like.

My stomach was already growling as I snagged the sandwich from her hands. “Thanks, Mama.” I ran over to the nook where Gus was eating his breakfast, gave him a kiss on the forehead, yelled “Bye,” and made my way out the front door.

Avery and Colette looked just as adorable as I thought they would, which was the main reason why when we got out of the car, everyone stopped to stare at us as we walked toward the school. Apart from the subtle color differences and the obvious fact that we were of three different ethnicities, we looked identical. A few people had us stop for pictures, which I asked them to text to me, and it was difficult to keep the confidence from flooding into my body as even the teachers seemed to stop and stare at us.

“Mission success, I think,” Avery said.

I laughed. “No kidding.”

Avery and I parted ways with Colette and turned down the hallway toward our lockers. Several students stopped us to compliment our appearance, but it was far from my mind. I’d been anxiously awaiting a few minutes alone with Avery to discuss my now nightly conversations with Deon, thanks to her interference.

“Pulled another all-nighter last night,” I said to her with a smile on my face.

Avery smiled. “You’re welcome.”