Page 24 of Finding My Charming

When lunchtime finally arrived, Sherrie turned and spun my chair so I had no choice but to face her.

“What’s wrong?”

She could be so blunt sometimes. No lead-up. Just straight to the point.

I bit my lip and concentrated on not losing it. “I found out… something.”

Her eyes bore into mine until I couldn’t take it any longer.

My fingers found the charm, almost on reflex. “Grandma and Mom told me something about this.”

Sherrie’s eyes dropped to the necklace then back to mine. “And?”

No beating around the bush with her.

“And I have a time limit.”

Her eyes narrowed. “How long?”

“A lunar month.”

Her eyes became slits. “What does that mean?”

“I have two weeks.”

Her eyes widened, but she composed herself quickly. “Elise, we have to find this guy now!”

I dropped my head into my hands. “Yeah. I just don’t know how.”

Papers shuffled near me, but I didn’t open my eyes.

“We’ll start at the beginning.”

I peeked open one eye and saw her sitting with a pen and pad of paper in hand. She was serious.

i pulled up to Ari’s house with a list of as many people as I could remember. Since I hardly knew any of the guys’ names, Sherrie had helped me come up with nicknames based on what they’d been wearing or any distinguishing feature. It didn’t seem like enough to figure this out, so I was praying Ari was able to get people to post pictures so I could match guys up with my description. Sherrie and I had spent almost the entire day working on it, but finding them was going to be an even longer process.

I knocked on the front door, and Ari opened it seconds later.

She smiled and immediately looked down at the necklace. “Wow. I still can’t believe it.” She opened the door wider and waved me in.

I nodded and headed up the stairs to her room; we had a routine.

She followed me and closed the door while I settled on her bed next to her laptop.

“I mean, you and your sisters talked about it all the time when we were little. We all made up stories about how each of you would meet your Prince Charming. I can’t believe no one knew about the time limit. This was never one of the plans, Elle.”

“I’m aware, but really. Would you expect anything else from me? I’ve always been the screw-up.”

“You’re not a screw-up! You got an academic scholarship to Lincoln! Not even Beth can say that.” She flung herself down on the bed next to me and held out her hand.

I passed off the list I’d made and waited for her reaction.

“Hat Boys, one and two? Mysterious Beanie Man? This is what I have to go off of?” She finally sounded as panicked as I felt.

“What did you expect? A full list of names and addresses?”

She laughed and sighed. “I guess not. So, no one stands out? Not even a little?”