Love Match Read Online Free PDF Page A

accessory rather than an expensive piece of technology. Yes, Renee and Maya came from vastly different sides of campus.
    Several stories were bookmarked, but Maya didn’t need to read any of them. Both the planes she’d taken had Wi-Fi, as well as the airport she stopped in for the brief layover. She’d spent the entire trip reading her own press. She would never admit that to her friends because she didn’t want to be obnoxious about it, but all the stories had been very positive.
    Maya opened up a particularly effusive blog post and pretended to read it for the first time. “Oh, this is nice.”
    â€œBut the best part is how they’re totally trashing Nicole.” Cleo grabbed the computer. The pastel design clashed with her black leather jacket and shredded jeans with the artfully placed gray paint splatters. “Check this out.”
    Maya took the computer back. It was another article she’d already seen, written by Maxwell Lexington—or
Maxie
, as Dona had called him. It was about Nicole’s disappointing struggle to win the final against a player she should have shut out of the game from the start.
    Maya didn’t feel like celebrating over the article. Aside from the fact that it was mean, it was also just plain wrong. Maya had been there. Nicole played well. She was certainly better than the writer led anyone to believe.
    â€œWas she really that bad?” Renee asked with concern in her voice. Renee and Nicole had been friends and roommates since before Maya came to the Academy. Technically they were still friends even though Renee didn’t like all the stuff Nicole had put Maya through.
    â€œNo, actually. It was a good game. It’s just …” Maya was about to say something about Nicole’s wrist but decided against it. Gossip was a powerful weapon at the Academy. If Nicolewas hiding an injury, there were definitely people who would use that information to their benefit. Maya trusted that Cleo and Renee would keep any secret she told them in confidence, but she didn’t want to run the risk. There was enough tension between her and Nicole. She didn’t need to add more.
    Once it became clear that Maya wasn’t going to finish her thought, Renee bounced up off the squeaky springs of Cleo’s bed. She reached for the small pink box she’d brought with her.
    â€œI got something to celebrate your homecoming.” Renee lifted the lid, unveiling a trio of red velvet cupcakes with fluffy white frosting. “They’re Vegan Velvet cupcakes, from that new café by the villas. The healthiest cupcakes outside of California.”
    â€œâ€˜Healthy cupcakes’ is an oxymoron,” Cleo said, eyeing the small pastries skeptically.
    â€œJust try it!” Renee prompted.
    Cleo sneered at the cupcake as she lifted it out of the box.
    Maya was suspicious of them also, but she smiled politely as she took her own. It smelled okay and certainly looked and felt like a cupcake. But she was with Cleo on the idea of healthy cupcakes. What was the point?
    Renee had enough enthusiasm for all of them. She raised her cupcake into the air as if she was giving a toast. “To victory,” she said. “Whether or not you actually won.”
    â€œTo victory,” Maya and Cleo echoed as they “clinked” their cupcakes together.
    Maya pulled at the wrapping and took a small, tentative bite. The burst of flavor on her tongue was immediate and intense. The Vegan Velvet cupcake was disgusting. The drycake sat in her mouth like a stone. She was too afraid to swallow it and spread the horrifying taste through her body.
    Cleo spit her mouthful of cake into a tissue without bothering to hide what she was doing. She’d taken out half the cupcake in one bite and wasn’t shy about retching from the taste. “Oh my God, that’s awful!”
    Cleo shoved the box of tissues in front of Maya. She didn’t want to be rude to