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CHAPTER ONE
My life was a wreck, and this was my current state of chaos.
I glanced around the gymnasium at my fellow classmates as I pulled my strawberry-blonde hair up into a messy bun. It was hard to be invested in any class when it felt like your life was crumbling around your feet. As if this period weren’t useless enough, there was a sub today, which meant gym was pretty much a free-for-all. Mr. Gorby, a frequent sub at Sweet Water, was notorious for maintaining a consistent lack of control in the classroom.
The boys were currently playing a rather barbaric game of basketball—grunting and shoving, checking other guys into the ground. Meanwhile, a smattering of girls did their hair on the bleachers while the rest of us walked laps around the gym, pretending to “exercise” when really most of us were just gossiping and ogling the boys on the skins team. Myself included.
And don’t forget to add the pleasurable bouquet emanating from the cafeteria across the hall to the ambiance. I mean, who doesn’t like the smell of sweat and hot dogs? Am I right?
Still, that didn’t deter me from making my assessment as I strolled beside Harper and she chattered on about the Snowflake Ball, to which I had yet to snag a date.
I allowed my gaze to drift over the boys—my prospects—mentally checking off the roster in my head. Lucas Addington—taken. (Besides, I preferred jocks.) Ky Andrews—double taken. Wes Schultz. . .my gaze took an extra second to ponder his physique. He had the dark hair blue-eyed thing going for him, which I loved, but Lauren Carmichael snatched him up earlier in the year when they ended their family feud. Dang.
Who else. . .? My gaze drifted right over Jett. Harper’s presence beside me served as a reminder that he, too, was unavailable. That left…
I made a final round with my gaze and paused when my eyes zeroed in on Carson Brooks, then I groaned. Not him. Anyone but him.
“Mia, hello?” Harper snapped her fingers in front of my face. “I asked you a question.”
“Oh,” I tore my gaze away from Carson, grateful for the distraction. The last thing I wanted was for him to catch me staring. He might think I liked the view, which I most certainly did not. “What’d you ask me?”
“Still no date yet, to the Snowflake Ball?” Harper asked, blinking down at me.
“Nope. But I have more important things to worry about, like the fact that I have yet to hear back about early admissions at any of the schools I applied to.” Or the fact that my parents were on the verge of divorce. My family was falling apart, and I was helpless to stop it—just another cherry on top of the rapidly melting sundae that was my life.
Harper scrunched her nose and tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear. “Early admissions? I didn’t realize you applied for any of those.”
I grunted. Harper was great, but right now, I really needed my best friend, Ethan. He’d understand that when I said I’m worried about college admissions, what I really meant was I needed some good news—something, anything to lift the mood at home, which was currently set to epic levels of despair. My parents were fighting on the daily, turning what started as little spats into brutal screaming matches, and if I could just get some news worth celebrating, maybe I could bring us together again. Maybe I could stop the war. Worst-case scenario, an acceptance letter meant I had an escape come fall.
The fight from this morning flashed in my head. The one I overheard on my way out the door. My mother had gone on one of her shopping sprees again, and Dad was not happy about it. Though I had no idea why. My family had plenty of money. Maybe we weren’t rich like the Schultzes or the Carmichaels, but we did well. Who cared if Mom blew a few hundred on crap she didn’t need? At least she wasn’t drooling over her new assistant at work. Or, at least that’s what Mom accused him of the other night during one of our fun-filled family dinners.
“Yeah. They start letting people know this month,” I said, returning to the present.
Harper’s brow furrowed. “Where’d you apply again?”
“A couple different places, but Duke is my first pick.”
“Nice. Close enough to home but far enough away you have an excuse to stay on campus.”
Yeah. Maybe two hours, too close.
I snorted. “Tell that to Ethan. He’d rather I just go to the community college here.”
“Well, you two have been attached at the hip since the Brooks moved here in grade school.”
