Alex recovered fast. She closed her eyes, exhaled slowly, then leaned toward Sofia and whispered something into her ear. Sofia's expression immediately shifted through three different emotions in rapid succession: confusion, understanding, then resignation.
The girls split naturally. Sofia headed toward Maya and Chloe. Alex grabbed Magnus by the wrist and pulled him away before he could pretend he wasn't already panicking.
They stopped around the corner of the beach house where the guests were unlikely to wander to.
"Okay," Alex said. "Which one?"
Magnus blinked. "Which one what?"
"Which one did the System pick?" she asked. "Maya or Chloe?"
"Oh." He hadn't really thought about the fact that, from Alex's point of view, it could have been either girl. "Maya."
Alex visibly relaxed. Then, after a second, she groaned and rubbed both hands down her face.
"Okay. That's... actually both better and worse."
"Those seem mutually exclusive."
"They aren't."
Magnus waited.
"The good news is Maya's bi," Alex explained. "So at least it's probably not a hard no."
"Probably?"
"Probably."
He did not appreciate that answer. Alex ignored him.
"If it had picked Chloe, things would've been much more complicated. We'd first have to figure out whether she's even into guys."
"And Maya?"
"Maya flirts with everyone."
That sounded promising. Then Alex immediately ruined it.
"But Maya is also Maya!"
Magnus stared. That explained absolutely nothing!
Seeing his expression, Alex sighed.
"Maya's fun. She's loyal. She's genuinely a good person."
"That sounds like all good things."
"It is. The problem is that she's also a wildcard."
"A wildcard?"
"She's chaos."
"Chaos? Like Sofia?"
"No. Sofia is organized chaos. There are actual goals and logic behind her brand of chaos. Maya is what happens when chaos gets bored and starts improvising. There are no goals. There's just Maya doing whatever Maya wants."
"…That's concerning."
"It's why Sofia and I didn't invite her."
"You deliberately excluded certain people from your friends' group?"
"No, we only deliberately excluded Maya."
"Fair."
"Which, in retrospect, was probably exactly why she invited herself." Alex groaned into her hands. "Nothing we can do now, though."
"Also," she added after a moment of consideration, "she flirts with everyone. But she doesn't sleep with everyone she flirts with."
Alex glanced toward the driveway where Sofia was trying to extricate Maya from the group and lead her and Chloe to their room — which she'd just had to arrange on the spot per Alex's request.
"I'll see what I can do," she said. "In the meantime, try to relax."
A pause. "What's the power this time?"
Magnus focused to bring up the menu. He stared at the power's description and rubbed a hand down his face:
"I'm just going to read it out loud again."
Alex nodded.
[Oppositional Resistance Alteration Lv1 (Trial): The bearer may modify the resistance arising between bodies in relative motion. Through conscious exertion, opposition may be diminished or intensified, permitting passage where impediment once existed or stillness where motion would otherwise prevail.]
Silence.
Alex blinked. "Okay, I have no idea what that meant."
Magnus stared at her. "But you always knew before."
"I'm not a translator for your System, babe," she said. "Sometimes, I can be confused too!"
"Okay, okay. Let me read it again."
And he did, but it didn't help. They both frowned.
Then, from behind them, a voice spoke up:
"Well, that's a really roundabout way to say 'friction control.'"
They both jumped—well, Magnus actually jumped, Alex more or less just stiffened, then turned around.
Ethan Zhang stood a few feet away from them, holding a can of soda.
"Sup?" he said casually. "Why were you two talking about friction anyway?"
Alex recovered first. "What do you mean by 'friction control' anyway?"
Ethan put the soda can down on a nearby stool, raised both hands. "Two bodies."
He pressed them together, then slid them against each other. "Relative motion. Which creates friction. The 'resistance between them' part? That's friction. So, modifying that just means, 'friction control' in English."
"And all that stuff about passage, impediment, stillness, motion…" he added after picking up his soda again, then waved vaguely. "Just a fancy way of saying you can make things more slippery or stickier."
"How did you even understand that?" Alex asked.
He shrugged. "Engineering major, remember?"
"Well, in comic book terms, it's usually called 'friction manipulation' or 'stick-and-slick.' One of the most well-known uses of it would be…" Ethan snapped his fingers. "Spider-Man."
"That's how he sticks to walls." Magnus slapped his forehead. "Of course!"
"You're a fan?" Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"Big time!"
"Good taste." He took a sip of his soda: "Why were you two talking about friction control, though?"
"It's about a book." Alex said.
"It's about a movie." Magnus said at the same time.
They looked at each other. Then Alex said:
"It's a movie adaptation based on a book."
"Right…" Ethan looked between them, unconvinced. "And if I ask which movie adaptation?"
He let the question hang for a few seconds before holding up his hands. "Relax. You don't have to tell me whatever it is you're actually trying to hide—very badly, I might add. It's none of my business. I was just curious, that's all."
"Anyway." He pointed at Magnus with the same hand holding his soda. "I was actually looking for you."
"Me?" Magnus blinked.
"Yeah, you, bro," Ethan confirmed. "I was thinking of starting a beach game together or something between all of us guys—us boyfriends, I mean."
"Why?"
"Why else, bro? It's Spring Break, we're next to a beach, and there's exactly four of us—perfect for 2v2. So, you in?"
Magnus glanced at Alex.
She immediately nodded. "Go, have fun!"
"You're sure?"
"Babe, there's nothing we can do about the other… situation right now. You should try to relax, make friends, and enjoy yourself."
"Alright, let's go get the other guys!" Ethan said.
***
Fifteen minutes later, Magnus found himself standing on the beach holding a spikeball. Miguel was helping Ethan adjust the net. Aaron stood nearby with his arms crossed.
Somewhere along the way, over half of the girls had followed them outside. Most of them settled into beach chairs. Some spread towels across the sand. Others wandered toward the water and started games of their own. A handful apparently decided spectating and cheering for the spikeball match was a good way to spend their afternoon.
The game started shortly afterward. At first it was actually fun, until both Ethan and Aaron got overcompetitive, in very different ways.
Aaron took every game rule very seriously, while Ethan played to win but ignored about half the rules because "it's just a game." So naturally, about ten minutes into the match, the first argument broke out:
"Point."
"It wasn't."
Ethan turned. "What do you mean it wasn't?"
Aaron pointed. "You hit it twice."
"No, I didn't."
"Your hand hit it and then your wrist redirected it."
"That was one motion."
"It was two contacts."
Ethan looked toward Magnus. "Was it two?"
Magnus thought about it. "…Maybe?"
"Traitor!"
Miguel rubbed a hand down his face.
Five minutes later, the second argument broke out. Then three minutes later, a third.
After a while, Aaron and Ethan spent more time arguing over the game than actually playing it. Until eventually…
"That was a point."
"It wasn't."
"It absolutely was. Don't be a sore loser!"
"It doesn't count according to the rules."
"Oh my God." Ethan spread his arms. "It's spikeball. It's just a game!"
"Yes, and games have rules." Aaron shot back.
"Geez, bro. You don't have to take every rule so seriously."
"First, I'm not your bro," Aaron snapped. "And second, this is so typical of you!"
"What?"
"You're incapable of taking anything seriously, aren't you? Oh, who am I kidding — you can't even use your brain properly to think things through before you speak."
"Wanna say that again, nurse boy?"
"What? Touched a nerve? Isn't everything just a joke to you?"
"Better than being a stickler for rules with no personality."
"I'd rather be that than be a clown."
"Of course you would. Because that's what you are."
They were in each other's faces now. And Magnus didn't see who started it, but they were shoving each other.
Miguel rubbed a hand down his face. "Idiots!"
Then he stepped in between them with the resignation of a man too used to being the only adult in the room and held Aaron back. Magnus moved too, putting his hands on Ethan's shoulders to keep him in place. Aaron and Ethan glared at each other across the gap, but nothing else happened.
Eventually the tension broke. Mostly because several girls started openly mocking them.
"Seriously? They fought over a game?"
"They've known each other for—what—less than an hour?"
"Boys will be boys."
All of them went back inside to their respective girlfriends after that.
Hours later, around the late afternoon hours, Maya loudly announced they all should start Spring Break strong with a BBQ Party.
Everyone else either loudly cheered for that or understood the futility of arguing with Maya Torres. So, barbecue was collectively decided on as an "excellent idea." Then everyone unanimously decided the boyfriends should go shopping for meat, alcohol, and whatever else they were still missing. Magnus suspected the vote had been rigged, especially when nobody actually volunteered themselves, but he had no proofs.
And that was how the four boyfriends were now walking to Miguel's car: Miguel would be the designated driver, Magnus and Aaron were old enough to buy alcohol, and Ethan?
Ethan had already named them collectively as "The Boyfriends Squad — Foot Soldiers of the Beach House Council of Women."
Honestly? It seemed like the perfect start to something horribly wrong.