Mom steps aside to allow Cai into the tiny foyer. Don’t do it, I scream internally. Never invite a vampire into the house! But it’s too late. I watch in horror as Cai steps over the threshold. The invitation cannot be rescinded.

There’s an awkward pause and Mom nudges me. “Aren’t you going to introduce your friend, Rowan?”

I look at her with what I imagine is a pleading, if not desperate, look in my eyes.

Cai takes a step forward and holds out his hand to my mother. “I’m Cai Xian, ma’am. It’s really nice to meet you, Mrs. Knox.” He shoots her his election-winning smile. She takes his hand and nods at him with just as much showy cordiality. I fume at the display. He’s like an infection. Just spreading his charms wherever he goes. I hope Mom washes her hands after this.

Dad calls Mom for help in the kitchen, unknowingly throwing her a rope so she can escape from the awkward quicksand that’s swallowing the foyer whole. “It was great to meet you, Cai,” Mom says before jogging away toward the kitchen.

“Seriously, what are you doing here?”

Cai flashes his brilliant smile. “We need an edge.”

“Pardon?” I ask.

“Look-alike day is in a couple of days so…”

I pull back in shock. “Look-alike? You and me?”

“I mean, yeah, you’re my partner.” He places a hand on my shoulder and grips it tightly. My arm feels like it might fall off from the electric sensation it causes. “Unless of course you want me to tell the whole school about—” I squint at him bitterly. “Didn’t think so.” He pushes past me and walks farther into the house. “So, let’s see what you got.”

“Excuse me?”

“What should I wear? Let’s see what you got,” he repeats.

I’m too stunned to stop him from further invading my home. So, I lead him into my bedroom, trying my absolute best to pretend that none of this is actually happening.

***

Cai looks around, taking in every inch of my room. “Wow,” he says. “You’ve really got this whole sci-fi thing bad.”

Trying not to sound defensive, I say, “I enjoy the science behind it.”

“I get it.” Cai raises his hands in surrender. “It’s pretty cool, honestly.” I study his face to see if he’s joking; he seems sincere enough. I could count the number of times on one hand I’ve seen Cai Xian without that stupid smirk on his face—this was number three. “Oh, man, Crystal was right, you do have a ton of action figures!” The smirk is back as he studies my carefully constructed display shelf that holds all thirty-seven of my figurines.

I cross the room and snatch my 1977 Luke Skywalker X-Wing Fighter Pilot out of his hands. “That’s vintage,” I say, placing it carefully back on the shelf.

“Sorry, it just looked really cool,” Cai says, lifting his hands in surrender.

I can’t tell if that’s sarcasm or…sincerity. I’m not used to seeing Cai out of his element of Westview. “Why are you here, Cai? Is this some kind of prank?” But Cai is only giving me a very confused look.

There’s no rational reason why Cai would come here. Why he would choose me, of all people, as a partner. Despite the absurdity of it all, Cai says, “Because you’re my partner.”

“About that. Why?” My voice rises one octave. “You can have any person you want as a partner. There’s gotta be a better way to blackmail me, you know.”

Cai takes a lap around the room, eyes glazing over my Lord of the Rings posters, the katana I found at a garage sale and paid off in installments for three months hanging above my desk, the basket of dirty laundry that—of course—is currently topped by my sparkly green space suit, and finally my bed. I’ve never been more thankful to have retired my Star Trek comforter from middle school in exchange for a plain navy blue one.

“You’ve always been the smartest kid in class,” Cai finally says. “You’ve always known what you want to do. You work hard. Why wouldn’t I want you as a partner?”

“I don’t want to be anyone’s partner,” I say quickly, dumbstruck.

“That’s your problem, isn’t it? You hide behind all the work and stuff. But now it’s time for the brains behind the best activities to actually join in on the fun… You do like fun, don’t you?”

“I have plenty of fun,” I say. “I’m fun,” I repeat pathetically, probably more for myself than for him.

Cai shrugs, turning back to the wall of action figures. He’s stretching his arms behind his back, interweaving his fingers and clasping his hands tightly; the movement lightly flexes his muscles. “If you don’t want to do it, I can always ask for something else. Something more difficult, in exchange for keeping my mouth shut.” He releases his hold and his arms swing at his sides. “Your choice. I guess I just thought we could be a power team. You know Prez and VP, I thought it would be…fun.”

Am I seeing things? Hearing this? Or does the literal King of Westview sound super sincere? If I wasn’t being blackmailed into this I might even feel a little bad. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

He shoots me the biggest Cai Xian smile of all and I think I feel my heart skip.

“Great.” Cai motions toward my closet doors. “Let’s find an outfit.”

Resigned, I throw the doors open and Cai steps inside. After a few seconds of poking around, Cai steps back, as if looking at it from another perspective will illuminate some item of clothing he missed. “It’s all a little…generic,” he admits, tugging at a blue pullover. “Like, anyone could wear this. We need something that reads Rowan.”

“Well, this is how I dress,” I spit out defensively.

He places a hand on my shoulder again, this time much softer. “We’ll make it work.”

***

Practically the whole school is out on the track field behind the school when I park in the lot adjacent the next morning. That’s when I remember—and panic—today’s the Spirit Week relay race. How could I forget? It was originally my idea. Of course, when I’d come up with the idea, I’d had no plans of participating. Now I’m not only participating, but participating alongside my arch nemesis and the president to my vice, Cai. Reluctantly, I head for the locker room.

It’s not until I open my assigned mini locker cubby that I realize I don’t have any gym shorts. I know for a fact they lay right under that wretched costume in the laundry hamper in my room. When I approach Coach with this particular sob story, he does nothing but nod his head toward the lost and found. I fish out a neon green pair. They’re that same shade that, without fail, lends my skin a sickly flushed tone. That fact, along with the already growing sense of queasiness I’m feeling about this event, is sure to make me look like I’ve just stumbled off of a carnival ride after hogging down four corndogs and a Slurpee. I’m suddenly relieved I skipped breakfast.

When I pull on the shorts, they’re way too big. Without another choice, I pull the draw strings as tightly as I can and hope for the best. Pathetically, I jog out to the field with my head sinking between my shoulders. A horrific thought strikes me as the mass of students come into view. This is it. This is how Cai is planning to humiliate me. A sporting event in front of the whole damn school. I have to give him props, it’s diabolical. It all makes sense. Everything last night was an act. I shouldn’t expect anything less from a supervillain.

“Woohoo! Rowan!” Tanisha cries from behind me, pulling my attention back to the present. “Aw! I’m so proud of you for actually competing. It’s about damn time.” Her twin afro puffs bounce just a little as she jumps up and down excitedly. I can’t even get a word in before she’s running away from me toward her Spirit Week partner, Diana. “Go get ’em tiger!” she hollers behind her.

I don’t have a moment to collect myself before Cai comes jogging over to me. As he does his black hair flops against a baby blue Westview Academy sweatband that wraps around his forehead. With his smile in place, he comes to a halt just in front of me. “I was worried you were gonna chicken out,” he says.

I say nothing as Cai grabs hold of my shoulder and the zinging numbness spreads through the limb just like last night as he directs me toward the field. When we stop, he bends down in front of me, and I recoil, feeling his fingers wrap around my calf. “What are you doing,” I croak. His grip tightens, and he begins tying a rope around my ankle.

“It’s a three-legged race,” he says, fastening the knot.

“But—what happened to the relay?” I ask frantically.

“The council decided this would be more fun. We voted in the meeting the other day, remember?” He chuckles when he looks up to see my totally distraught expression. They must have voted on it while I was still panicking about Cai. Ironic.

When Cai stands, we are linked together. His bare, muscular calf brushes up against mine, which I can’t help but note feels very naked next to his sufficiently hairy legs. We hobble over to the starting line, and Cai throws up an arm, waving at Crystal on the sidelines. She hoots a cheer, and several other girls around her follow suit. I look down at her T-shirt, which reads in a perfectly screen-printed font President Cai—I recognize it from his campaign. Handing out free T-shirts was a cheap shot, but I know that even if I’d done the same, I still wouldn’t have won.

I take a deep breath. I’m having trouble swallowing. Is it possible to develop sudden onset asthma? Before I can panic about my windpipes constricting, a gunshot is fired and Cai is dragging me down the track. All I can think about is keeping my own skin glued to his, and somehow I manage to fall in sync with him, our calves working together as one unit.

“Come on, Rowan, we’ve got this in the bag,” Cai mutters to me at one point and for some reason, I believe him.

And just as suddenly as the shot was fired, we are still again. I can faintly hear cheering as I turn to Cai. “What happened?”

“We won!” He kneels down and unties us, pulling his calf from mine and grabbing my arm, hoisting it up into the air.

A rush of adrenaline fills my body as I turn to Cai and scream, “We won? We won!” I throw my arms around him and envelop him in a hug. He lifts me into the air. All I can feel is this crazy sense of euphoria. Until the cheering shifts into mass laughter, the kind you only hear in nightmares. The ones where you forget to wear pants to school. Cai releases me and I suddenly realize a soft weight around my ankles. Those damn neon shorts. Around my ankles.