The Hit List by Nikki Urang

punches.”
    She turns to look at me. “Holy shit. That’s insane.”
    “No kidding.” I lean back against the wall. The Hit List needs to just disappear.
    “I’ve heard some crazy shit about that game.” Her eyes widen.
    “Like what?” I roll onto my side and prop my head onto my elbow.
    “Like the things some of those boys have done. I heard one of them slept with like five girls in one night. I have no idea who it was though.”
    I crinkle my nose. “That’s gross.”
    How can people do that? It doesn’t take any kind of connection to have sex, but it should. Are they that desperate for status that they’re willing to do whatever it takes for the points?
    She shrugs. “I think it’s kind of fun to be at the top of the list.”
    “Why?” I can’t even imagine why that would ever be a good thing.
    “Think about it. You have tons of guys trying to be with you. You’d basically be able to get them to do whatever you want. You have power.” She rolls onto her stomach.
    “No, thanks. I don’t want that kind of power.”
    No one should want that kind of power. It’s sick. And it’s not any better than the boys playing the game.
    “I’ve been trying to figure out who’s behind it. There are so many options. For instance, Luke.”
    I sigh and roll onto my stomach. “What makes you think it’s Luke?”
    She narrows her eyes. “Have you met Luke?”
    Has she? The real Luke, not the one that flirts with every girl he comes into contact with. The one who tries to get to know me outside of that stupid article. The one who does his best to take care of me after I almost passed out in rehearsal.
    “I don’t think it’s Luke.”
    She lies on her stomach and kicks her legs back and forth. She kicks faster as light dances in her eyes. “Okay. How about Nathan? Have you met him yet? He’s a dick, too.”
    “No.”
    One of her legs hits the wall. Someone in the room next door knocks back and she glares at the wall behind her. “No he isn’t behind it, or no you haven’t met him?”
    I bury my face in my pillow. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.
    “I guess it could be him. I still think it’s Luke though.”
    I hold up my hand. My head feels like it’s going to explode. “Please stop.” It’s bad enough that I can’t seem to escape the topic of The Hit List outside of my room, but I shouldn’t have to deal with it here.
    “Fine. How was rehearsal?”
    I roll my eyes, not really excited that out of everything, she chose to talk about this instead. “Terrible. I almost passed out.”
    She narrows her eyes at me. “Why?”
    “I think I forgot to breathe.” It doesn’t help that I’ve been worried about everything since I got to
    L. A.
    “How exactly did you forget to breathe? That’s like an automatic response. You shouldn’t have to think about it.” She stares at me like she’s expecting something more believable.
    But I don’t have a better answer. “I’m not really sure, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
    She slides off the bed and walks to her computer. “You’re stressed. You shouldn’t be this stressed.”
    I couldn’t agree more. “I’m fine. I’m just adjusting.”
    “I know it’s hard to dance with someone new and this might sound insensitive, but you kind of have to get over it.”
    I glare at her. Just because we had a moment of sharing doesn’t mean she knows anything about me. “You’re right. That sounds extremely insensitive.”
    She sighs. “That’s not how I meant it. If you’re having problems, we need to find someone else you can dance with. Then you can practice and be okay when you’re in class.”
    She makes it sound so easy. Because I have so much extra time in my ten-hour days filled with dancing and other classes. Those few spare minutes at night when I half-ass my homework don’t really matter. I’m sure I could spare some of those.
    “I don’t have time to dance with someone else. And I don’t need to dance with someone