Authors: Natalie Whipple

Relax, I'm A Ninja (28 page)

BOOK: Relax, I'm A Ninja

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“Shh.” Marty sat next to her and pushed her messy hair from her face. “It’ll be okay, Court. Give it time.” He pulled her into a hug. This time she didn’t fight it, and for a moment I thought I saw…I shook my head. No, it couldn’t be. I was on serious meds.

“So, what next?” I asked.

Mom stood. “You train so you don’t almost die again. We won’t have more than six months before we see more.”

I nodded. Training. That sounded wonderfully boring. I wouldn’t mind a little boring.

I stood on Amy’s doorstep waiting for someone to answer. When Eddie stood here, I was jealous. Now everything was how it should be. Even though I was still sore from last weekend’s events, I couldn’t wait to be an average nerd with her tonight.

The doorknob turned, and her coral-orange shirt threw me off—in a good way. She must have thought we’d be safe if she was wearing such a bright color. She slipped on an indigo leather jacket and smiled. Her hair was pulled back halfway. She looked sexy.

“You look beautiful,” I said.

“Thanks, you look pretty good, too.” She gave me a quick kiss and then we hopped in Stu’s car.

“Maddie! You look gorgeous!” Amy said as she buckled her seat belt. Maddie did look nice for Maddie. She wore a tight blue shirt, and Stu could barely keep his eyes on the road.

“Thanks.” She smiled at Amy, but then turned back to Stu. “I’m serious—you have to read it. It will change your life.”

“But it’s so…so girly!” Stu whined.

“So?” Maddie hesitated, but then put her hand on Stu’s arm. He went rigid, and I prepared to grab the wheel just in case he passed out. “I still bet you’ll like it, and then we can talk about it.”

“Fine. I guess it won’t kill me.” Stu’s ears were bright red, and I could see the smile on his face in the rearview mirror when Maddie didn’t let go. At least one of my friends got the girl he wanted.

“So much for the double date. They’re going to ignore us.” Amy grabbed my hand and laced her fingers with mine.

“Best of both worlds. They won’t be offended if we don’t talk to them.” I kissed her hand.

We pretty much had Great America to ourselves that night. The rest of our class was there, but two hundred students spread out over a huge park made the paths look abandoned and the lines perfectly short. It was a pretty fun amusement park when you could ride the roller coasters, but I couldn’t with my stitches. Amy was nice enough to hang out with me instead of riding the
cool rides. We saw some of the cheesy shows, and Amy thought it would be funny to go on kiddie rides.

The student council had set up a feast at a pavilion, so after a couple of hours we headed over there. They’d decorated it nicely, streamers and balloons everywhere. The tables were covered in red and white checkered tablecloths. It was like a carnival. They even had all the classic carnival foods—corn dogs, lemonade, watermelon, funnel cake, cotton candy, hamburgers, and more.

“Let’s sit for a second,” Amy said after observing my half-limp. It was hard to move fast. All the walking was getting to me. “You look kinda pathetic.”

“Hello, stabbed?” We laughed and sat down on a bench to watch our classmates dig into the food. Music blared, and a few people bounced to the beat.

Then someone caught my eye. It wasn’t him that surprised me, but the fact that he was actually looking at me. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. With his messy head of brown hair, enough gut for two people, and a crooked smile, Eddie came toward me, followed by Stu and Todd. I didn’t know what to say, but my hopes had never been higher.

“Hey, man.” Eddie put his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground. “Heard you got hurt. Sorry.”

“Eh, could be worse. What have you guys been up to?”

“Not much, just studying for finals and stuff.” He pulled something out of his bag. “Got this for you. Get well present and all.”

I took the comic book from him. As I read the cover, it suddenly made sense why he’d been disappearing into the back room of that comic book store. “Dude, this is awesome!”

Eddie beamed. “I commissioned an artist to draw that mad scientist campaign we did last year. Your super-sized dwarf was hilarious. I was going to give it to you earlier, but then …” He looked down, and I wished he wouldn’t feel bad. It was my fault.

“Thanks, seriously. It’s been way too long since we played.”

He nodded. “I have three campaigns written out. Sarah gave me some really good ideas.”

“We should start one tomorrow.”

“That would be awesome!” Todd said. He and Stu grinned from ear to ear. The universe was at peace again.

“Sounds good,” Eddie said. “Your house?”

“Of course.” We hung out for a while. They caught us up on what was happening in their online games. Amy and I were so behind it was hard to follow. But I had a feeling our nights would be spent living the games, so to speak. No free lives or heals. Just ninja skills.

Amy’s friends drifted over once Eddie sat with us. Eva and Todd threw food at the cheerleaders when they weren’t looking. Stu and Maddie talked books. Eddie and Sarah discussed D&D campaigns. Amy and I tried not to laugh at our crazy friends.

I watched the crowd, catching Courtney’s gaze. We smiled at each other, but then my grin dropped as she came toward us. Our friends stared—we all stared. What was she doing coming over here when we were supposed to hate each other?

“What do you want?” Amy said with convincing venom.

Courtney looked down, appearing perfectly humble. “I…I heard how you guys got mugged and I felt terrible. I’ve been so mean to you. We’re all people, you know? I wanted to apologize for everything.”

“Oh.” Amy put on her best shocked face. I couldn’t help but smirk. Courtney must really like us if she was writing us into her cover life. Maybe she’d never had a real friend.

“Can you forgive me?” Courtney asked, seeming truly ashamed.

“Yeah, of course. That’s really big of you to apologize. I’m sorry, too. It’s terrible what happened with Logan,” Amy said. She was the nicest person in the world—her friends would totally buy it.

Courtney smiled. “Cool. I hope we can be friends or something.”

“Sure.” Amy seemed more excited than I expected. I couldn’t tell if she was faking it.

“I guess I’ll see you around. Get well, Tosh.” She headed back to her friends, but I couldn’t let her leave yet.

“Courtney-
sama
, thanks.” I used the most respectful Japanese tag I could so she’d understand how deeply grateful I was for everything she’d done. She turned, eyes wide with shock, and nodded.

“That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Sarah said.
If only I could say the same.
Our friends laughed, but Amy and I just smiled. Who would have ever guessed we’d end up being friends with Courtney Petersen?

When our friends went to get more food, Amy leaned on my shoulder. “Can you believe we’re here?”

“Yeah, if things had gone bad last week …” I shuddered to think how it could have ended with the Akuma. I’d never admit it to my mom, but it was probably the dumbest thing I’d ever done in my life.

She laughed. “No, not that! I mean us, as in we’re at the Stomp together. And we’re in love and stuff.”

“Why is that hard to believe?” I probably shouldn’t have asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Think about it. At the beginning of this school year did you ever think you’d be dating me? I sure didn’t think I’d have a boyfriend, let alone a soul mate.”

“True.” If someone had told me in August that Amy Sato was my other half, I would have laughed in the person’s face. “But I’m glad it happened, minus all the hospital stuff.”

“Let’s avoid that.” She snuck a quick peck to my cheek.

“Definitely.”

They had fireworks planned to end the evening, so after an embarrassing turn on the merry-go-round we went to a green field and stood with our friends. I wrapped my arms around Amy. We stared at each other as the colorful explosions glittered above and the
kami
lit us from within. I could feel Amy’s soul tied to mine, comprehend what she felt as we kissed. We didn’t have to speak—everything had already been said.

Acknowledgments

This book has been a long time coming, and there are so many people to thank as a result. First is my husband, Nick, who loves all the nerdy things I do and inspired me to write about them. Also a big thanks to my family—Mom, Dad, Mark, Ariel, Kenna—for cheering me on.

I owe a lot to my former agent, Nathan Bransford. Thank you for believing in me and this book—you taught me what I needed to know to be published. And to Erica Sussman, for her perfect feedback that took this story to the next level.

I am forever grateful for my incredible writer friends and critique partners. Kiersten White, Kasie West, Renee Collins, Jenn Johansson, Sara Raasch, Sara Larson, Candice Kennington, Shannon Messenger, Stephanie Perkins—you guys keep me going. Thank you times infinity. A huge thanks to Carrie Harris for clearing my ninja moves and Amanda Sun for making sure my Japanese was as right as possible.

A special shout out goes to my friend Michelle Argyle, who helped me wade the indie waters and turn this book into a real thing. I couldn’t ask for a better sensei. Also, thanks to my awesome editor Diane Dalton, who understood this book in a way I thought no editor would. You guys all rock.

Natalie Whipple, sadly, is not a ninja. Though she probably wouldn’t ever tell you if she was. She lives in Utah with her husband and three kids, and keeps the local Asian market in business with all her attempts to cook Thai curry, pho, and bulgogi
.

In addition to this book, she is the author of the TRANSPARENT series and HOUSE OF IVY & SORROW.

Coming Soon!

Follow Tosh and Amy’s Adventures in the sequel to RELAX, I’M A NINJA in TRUST ME, I’M A NINJA

Follow Natalie Whipple on Twitter
@nataliewhipple
for updates