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Chapter One
Willow
All three of my best friends have amazing, loving boyfriends, and I kind of feel like the seventh wheel. Not that any of them would make me feel that way because they’re the most awesome people who have graced this planet. But standing in Edenbury High School’s hallway near Chloe’s locker after she and Liam just got detention for making out, it’s a little hard not to feel that way.
The five of us—twins Lily and Liam Hastings, Chloe Barrington, Ava Knight, and me, Willow Park, have been best friends since we were in diapers (maybe even before that, since our parents are best friends and we were guaranteed to be best friends since we entered this world).
Ava and Aidan became a couple last month, and Lily and Xavier earlier this year. Liam and Chloe were in love with each other for years, but were too scared to admit it to each other. They finally got together a few days ago and have been inseparable. Thankfully, the dynamic of our friendship hasn’t changed much. Probably because they’re perfect for each other.
Now, I’m the only single one left in the group. Not that I mind it because I don’t think it’s logical to find my soulmate in high school. Even though all of our parents have fallen in love in high school and are still together, I don’t think it will happen to me. Which is fine by me because the only thing I can focus on right now is my app.
As my friends, their boyfriends, and I discuss random topics, there’s a commotion down the hall.
“What’s that about?” Lily asks with curious gray eyes. They’re nearly identical to her twin brother’s. They also have the same brown hair. Liam is as tall as a tree, though.
Xavier, Lily’s boyfriend and captain of the basketball team, informs us that the IT couple at school, Colton Andersen and Vanessa Maywood, has broken up. Apparently, it’s a huge shock to the student body because no one thought they would ever break up.
“Why in the world should we care about them?” I ask as I adjust my glasses. “We never care about the popular kids.”
Lily shrugs. “True, but theywerethe hottest couple. Well, except for us.”
I scoff. “I don’t give a crap if some popular boy and his girlfriend broke up. I have better things to worry about. Like my darn app.”
“Any progress?” Liam asks.
I sigh. “It’s getting there, I guess.” The coding competition is less than a month away, and I still have loads to do before it’s ready.
Colton marches down the hallway with his dirty blond head raised like it doesn’t bother him that every single student is whispering about him. But there’s no mistaking the uneasy look in his green eyes. I don’t envy him one bit. Most of the popular kids at Edenbury High think they’re better than everyone else and pretend “nobodies” like my friends and me don’t exist.
He stops before me and says in an extremely annoyed voice, “Can I pass?”
My huge backpack stuffed with all my tech stuff blocks his way. With a frown, I step aside and mutter to my friends, “Those popular kids think students like us should move for them like they’re royalty. He could have moved.”
“Willow, are you okay?” Ava asks with wide brown eyes. “You seem a little touchy today.”
“Sorry. I know he didn’t personally do anything to me.” I shrug. “I just hate kids like him. He walks around like he owns the place.”
“Well…heisconsidered king of the school,” Chloe says.
I scoff. “He’s notmyking.”
I turn around and head for English, one of my favorite subjects. Okay, all of the subjects are my favorite because I love learning, but English class is special because of the teacher. Ally Hastings, Lily and Liam’s mom, loves reading so much that her classes are beyond compare. She makes me see things in a whole new light. If I get anything less than an A plus on an essay or a test, it’s basically a fail for me.
After settling down with my school laptop, I join in my friends’ conversation about the book we’re reading for book club. Our moms started their own book club when they were our age and became best friends, coining themselves the Four Musketeers. Lily started the book club a few months ago when she sensed the five of us were drifting because we were all caught up in our own things. Book club, thanks to Lily, might have saved our friendship. I’ll forever be grateful to her and the club because if I lose my Junior Musketeers, it’ll feel like I’m losing my limbs.
The book we’ll be discussing at the club is a thriller with zero romance, much to Lily’s dismay. That girl is a hopeless romantic just like her mom. Even though I appreciate a good romance here and there, I think variety is good.
Ally walks in and starts the lesson. The class flies by in the blink of an eye, and I feel both enlightened and disappointed. Enlightened because Ally has managed to yet again make me see things in a different way, and disappointed because I wish English class was longer.
As I follow my friends out of the classroom, my phone dings with a text.
VP Rivera: Willow, you mind checking on the school app? Students are complaining that it’s glitchy.
I try not to groan as I adjust my glasses again. The freakin’ school app is always acting up. Never mind that I spent the beginning of the semester getting the darn thing to work right. I wish I was the one who built it from scratch because whoever did it? Not sure they knew what they were doing. I never saw so many bugs before in my life.
With a sigh, I text the vice principal back.
Willow: Sure. I’ll take a look at it when I get home.
