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I was ready for a change of pace, something different. Fresh faces and new perspectives. Some distance from all the memories Adam and I shared. Though Lakeview Preparatory had given me an amazing education and a world of opportunity, I was tired of the same people and the elitist attitude that came along with such a high caliber private school. Sometimes it felt as though the students here were disconnected from the rest of the world, only concerned with themselves and their own lives, but it was the rest of the world I couldn’t wait to experience.
A familiar tightening constricted my chest. The same choked up feeling I got every time I thought about leaving Mia at the end of the summer. I worried my lower lip with my teeth just as my sister burst through the double doors, her strawberry blonde hair blowing in the breeze as she turned back to speak with someone behind her.
A boy.
I straightened, pressing onto my toes to get a better look at him while a tiny smile tugged at the corner of my lips. She had yet to date anyone seriously, and I’d been waiting an eternity to see her get serious with a boy. As a junior, just one grade below me, I wasn’t sure if she’d ever had a proper boyfriend. If she had, she’d certainly done a great job of keeping it a secret.
But as he stepped out from behind her and I got a clearer view, the smile slipped from my lips, and I groaned.Ethan.They’d been glued at the hip for as long as I could remember. He waved goodbye, and when Mia finally spotted me on the stairs and joined me, I said, “How do you expect any boys to ever be interested in you when you’re constantly hanging around with Ethan?”
“He’s my best friend.”
“Right. But why can’t you be best friends with a girl?”
Mia arched a brow. “Now you sound like Dad.”
“Maybe he has a point.”
“Dad never has a point,” she said.
I tilted my head to the side as if considering. Dad actually liked Adam—loved him, in fact—and look how wrong he’d been there. “True. So why were you late?”
I waited for her answer as I took a step toward the parking lot, and she followed, rummaging in her bag as she went. “I got into a conversation with my AP English professor aboutThe Poisonwood Bibleand how the character’s experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how it illuminated the meaning of the work.”
“Uh huh.” My eyes bugged out of my head, because I didn’t understand half of what she said. While I was smart—I mean, hello, Columbia?—Mia was next-level. It kind of reminded me of Barry from my chem class.
“Never mind,” she said, dismissing me with a wave as she snatched a pack of gum from her bag and held it out toward me.
I shook my head. “No, thanks.”
She slid a stick out, unwrapped it, and was halfway to her mouth when she froze, her eyes locked on something in the distance. Pausing in front of my silver Audi, I clicked the key fob as I followed the direction of her gaze, trying to see what captured her attention. And then I saw him. Carson Brooks, who just so happened to be Ethan’s brother.
I watched him say something to Luca, then pat him on the back before turning and locking eyes on Mia. Immediately, she turned her head like she hadn’t been staring and crammed the gum in her mouth, busying herself with the zipper on her bag.
Interesting.
“Ethan’s brother is pretty cute. What’s his name? Carson, isn’t it?”
“Um, yeah. I think it’s short for Satan’s Spawn.”
I snorted out a laugh. “You don’t like him?”
She glanced at me with wide, incredulous eyes, like I was the dumbest person she’d ever met. “Clearly you don’t know Carson. He’s only the cockiest boy to walk the planet. I mean, look at him.” She motioned to where he was now sliding into the driver’s side of a Royal’s car. “I think his company speaks for itself.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Luca isn’t all that bad, actually,” I said, thinking of the conversation we shared when he walked me to second period. It was the first time since Adam I’d even entertained a new relationship. When you wasted half of high school on one boy only to have him to turn around and smash your heart to smithereens, you were kind of reluctant. But maybe it was time to dip my toes back in the dating pool.
“It’s JT and Mikey who are the jerks. Luca’s kind of . . .” I trailed off, wanting to call him sweet, but knowing Mia would only snort in derision. “Anyway, I’m starting to think you just don’t like boys at all.”
“I like boys. Of course, I like boys,” she said in a huff.
I flashed her a look that told her to prove it.
“I just happen to dislike narcissists who think the world revolves around them. I swear Carson and Ethan aren’t even biologically related, they're so different.”
“So what kind of boywouldyoube interested in?” I asked, pleased with the trajectory of our conversation.
“I don’t know. Someone smart and funny. Someone with ambition and goals. A boy going to a good school because they worked hard to get there. Someone who values education. A boy who doesn’t attend any lame high school parties which serve only one purpose, to hook-up or get drunk. Someone unconcerned with being popular.”
“So a nerd.”
