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Prologue
Delilah
Age Sixteen
Sophia was complaining about our math class as we walked out together. With an exuberant sweep of her arm, she imitated our math teacher in a high falsetto. “You don’t appreciate now how much you’ll always need algebra! It’s not meaningless!” In her own voice, she said, “That’s exactly what you’d say if it were going to be meaningless for ninety percent of us.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see the math teacher staring after Sophia stonily.
I ducked my head in embarrassment but couldn’t hide a grin. Sophia moved through the world noisily, bold and unafraid. She felt like my exact opposite. I hid in the shadows…except for when I was with her.
Sophia heaved a sigh and linked her arm with mine. I froze a little as I always did, but a lot of the girls were physically affectionate with each other, so it wasn’t entirely weird. It just felt weird for me.
“Of course, you’re brilliant at math just like everything else,” Sophia went on. “I don’t know why a smart girl like you would even look twice at an idiot.”
“What idiot am I looking at?” I demanded.
Sophia shot me a mock-severe glare. “My idiotbrother?You’re much too good for him, you know.”
I laughed, but that was a lie. Half the school was in love with Stellan.
“I don’t think he likes me,” I said, thinking of that kiss we’d shared in the rain. And thinking of how he ignored me in the halls of our school. He could have almost any girl and probably most of the boys, too. He was a star soccer player, but that wasn’t really what made Stellan so magnetic. He was charming and funny and, unexpectedly given his popularity, kind and easygoing.
Sophia huffed and rolled her eyes. “I wish he didn’t. Maybe you’d look around for someone who isn’t an idiot instead of falling for him like every girl in school.”
“Thanks for always being my hype team, sis,” Stellan drawled as he walked up alongside us. His hands were jammed in his pockets, and he shot me a bright smile.
Sophia’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed. For a second, she looked at him as if she hated him—it was the briefest flash across her face—and then she smiled. “Well, she’s my best friend. I like her better than I like you.”
“You’re never going to get over that time I locked you in your closet when you were eleven, are you?”
“Nope.”
“She was awful when she was eleven,” Stellan confided to me. “Sophia, tell her what you did to me first.”
Sophia rolled her eyes. “I know how desperately you want to talk about yourself.”
“She found the dirty story I’d written about my crush and carried it off to our sweet little Southern Baptist grandma.” Stellan shook his head, then teased. “I’m just saying, I might be an idiot, but my sister has a mean streak. You should consider being my best friend instead.”
I laughed because I didn’t know what to say as Stellan laced his fingers through mine and tugged me away from Sophia. I thought he was just pulling me away from her to be playful, but then he kept holding my hand.
“She’s mine now,” Stellan told Sophia. Sophia frowned at him and dove for my other hand. “My new bestie.”
Stellan swung my hand as if we were in some rom-com strolling through the fair, and everyone in the halls looked at us. Undisguised jealousy was written across the faces of other girls as we passed by. Everyone would hear about this. Stellan had to know that, right?
He was probably just messing with Sophia and me. I shouldn't take this too seriously. It didn’t mean anything.
“Will you come to my game on Saturday?” Stellan asked. “Given how my sister’s been running me down, you could come see what I’m halfway decent at. And then we could get dinner.”
“You’re just going to ask my best friend out on a date in front of me?” Sophia wrinkled her nose at him. “Gross, Stellan.”
He shrugged.
They were both still holding my hands, and I cast a glance between the two of them.
“Are you okay with it, Sophia?” I asked. I didn’t want to lose my friendship with her.
“God, if I’d known I’d need her permission to date, I would’ve been nicer to her,” Stellan muttered.
