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VP Rivera: Wonderful. And if you don’t mind checking on the school website, too? I would really appreciate it.
Double groan. At least the school website isn’t so bad. Still, it’ll take time away from working on my app, and I can’t afford that.
Willow: Will do.
She’d better write me a stinkin’ good letter of recommendation when I apply to MIT next year.
***
I used to sort of dread school lunch because it was awful sometimes. But Ava’s parents, Easton and Dani Knight, who practically own the school, have finally made some changes around here, starting with the school lunch. The results? Yum. The school has also implemented some healthier meals, but every so often they like to spoil us.
Today is spaghetti and meatballs. The previous cook’s meatballs were as hard as rocks and the spaghetti was so mushy it tasted like wet paper. But the spaghetti and meatballs that I just devoured? Delicious.
“What do you think, Chef Liam?” Chloe asks.
“Not as good as mine,” he jokes. “But pretty good. What do you think, Sous Chef Chloe?”
“Nothing can ever compare to yours, my awesome boyfriend who freakin’ got a scholarship to culinary school! I’m still so proud of you.”
“We all are,” Lily says as she wraps an arm around her twin brother.
“Can’t wait to eat at your restaurant one day,” I tell him. “You’ll be so famous you won’t even remember me. You’ll be like Willow who? Oh, is she the half-Korean kid I used to hang out with in high school?”
Liam frowns. “I know you’re just teasing me, Willow, but I’ll never forget you or the rest of you guys. Even if I do become a famous chef, which I won’t.”
“Of course you will!” Ava pushes her beautiful dark wavy hair off her shoulder. “You’ll win two Michelin stars.”
“Three,” Chloe corrects. “That’s the highest accolade a restaurant can get.”
“Oh, my bad. You’ll winthreeMichelin stars.”
Liam’s face turns pink. “Thanks, guys. I know you’ll be with me every step of the way. Even if we live in different parts of the country.”
“Until we all settle back in Edenbury,” Chloe says.
“You think so?” I ask.
“Heck yeah!” Ava says. “We’ll all raise our kids together like our parents.”
“You, too, Willow,” Lily says. “Even with a career in tech.”
“I hope so.”
Aidan, Ava’s boyfriend, is about to say something, but a sudden hush falls over the cafeteria. When I glance at the doorway, I find that Colton Andersen has just entered the room.
Some of the students who are not part of the popular crowd whisper to each other. Like this is a reality TV show and they’re at the edge of their seats. The people seated at the popular table are the usual crowd, but things are different now because the IT couple is no longer together. Which means Colton goes to sit at an empty table.
Ava’s jaw falls open. “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Colton sitting by himself like that.”
“And three, two, one…” Chloe says. Right on cue, the male members of the popular crowd pick themselves up from the table and join their king at his lonely table. Which is no longer lonely. Actually, his table is now the popular table.
Vanessa frowns as she watches her table shrink. She tosses her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder and steers the attention of whoever remains at the table back to her.
“Can you believe it?” Lily asks with wide eyes. “Their breakup is breaking up the popular crowd.”
“The girls are with Vanessa and the guys are with Colton,” Ava says. “I’ve never seen that before.”
“Intense,” Chloe adds.
