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CHAPTER ONE
All my life, I’ve stood out from the rest of my friends. I’ve always craved the independence and responsibility adults seem to have. Every Monday, when I wasn’t at school or working, I’d be with my mum, food shopping and paying bills. I loved it.
As soon as I finished school, I went straight into work, waitressing at a local restaurant, to save up enough money to attend university. With my mum being a single parent, she always worked her arse off, and I guess it brushed off on me because I’m finally where I worked so hard to be.
Blinking away the blinding flash, I turn my camera around and look at the picture of me and my best friend grinning away.
I’ve been waiting for this day for so long, and now that it’s here, I’m an emotional mess. I want to photo document this very moment so I’ll never forget it. I did the same not ten minutes ago, when we picked the keys up from the estate agent. I want to send my mum as many pictures of my time here as I can.
“It doesn’t feel real,” I whisper excitedly as I gaze up in awe at our building. There are five or six blocks of flats, but ours is one of the newest builds. It was thanks to Allie’s father and his connections that we were able to rent one.
Everything here is just feeding my excitement. The buildings are bigger, larger than life, brighter and newer. I can’t help the squeal that escapes my lips.
“I’m seriously worried about your sanity,” Allie, my best friend and now roomie, says. We’ve been best friends ever since before I can remember, and even though we’re polar opposites, we fit.
I’m outgoing, fun, bubbly, chatty, and I love to party. Allie, on the other hand, is quiet, shy, anti-social, and a book nerd. But she’s the bestest friend you could ever wish for. We balance each other out better than most friends or couples do. I get her to live a little, push her out of her comfort zone, and she grounds my free spirit. Don’t get me wrong, I take schoolwork very seriously, but I also wouldn’t lose sleep trying to achieve my goals. Life’s too short for that.
Allie put off college so she could attend the same time as me. We were lucky her dad loves me and understands how much it means to the both of us to be together during such a huge milestone in our lives.
“You’d be more worried if I acted normal,” I tease, opening the car door. We both get out and make our way to the back of the vehicle, where we’ve stacked up all our luggage.
“Willow, I worry about you, period,” Allie discloses, pushing her thick, black-rimmed glasses up her nose.
“They should have a valet service,” I groan, pulling out one of Allie’s cases. And I say this with conviction because this must be the case that holds her library. “Why couldn’t you buy all of this new?” I ask her again.
“They’re my books. I wouldn’t askyouto buy new shoes,” she says, and to make her point, she takes the case specifically labelled ‘shoes’. So I love my shoes—what nineteen-year-old doesn’t?
“Shall we go see our new home?” I ask, chuckling when she nearly tips over backwards after grabbing another case.
“Yes. Grab one more bag? I don’t want to do more trips than we have to,” she moans. I don’t mind exercise, but Allie hates any form of it. She has no coordination whatsoever, so I understand her distaste for it.
Inhaling, I heave one more bag out of the boot, snorting when I nearly fall backwards on my arse too.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have squeezed everything in,” I mention, my shoulders shaking.
“I did tell you,” Allie warns, bumping her hip with mine. Grinning, I begin to roll my two suitcases along with me, ready to see my new home.
Allie grunts halfway up the path, making me smile. She looks so out of breath, and we’ve barely even moved away from the car. Looking at her right now, you’d never believe she was from the richer side of town. She’s wearing old, worn, faded jeans, with a Fries Over Guys hoody. Her dark brown locks are a complete mess, piled high on her head in a messy bun. All that paired with her glasses and you get a beautiful disaster. She’s also the clumsiest person I’ve ever known. She quickly proves that when she trips up the bottom step to the flats.
“Who put that there?” she grumbles. I have to stop and clutch my chest as I bend over, laughing my arse off at her. “Don’t,” she warns with no heat. “Why couldn’t Alec come and help again?”
“He had to meet his coach,” I remind her. Alec and I met six months ago at the open evening here at the university. We hit it off straight away, and since he lived so close to my old town, we decided to make a go of things.
When a hard tug on my case nearly sends me flying, I let out a piercing scream, my heart hammering in my chest.
“What the…” I begin, but I’m cut off when I seehishandsome face. Letting out a squeal, I jump into my best friend’s arms, wrapping myself around him like a koala bear. Logan and I have been friends since we were babies. Our parents knew each other, but for unknown reasons, they lost their friendship long ago. Logan and I kept up our friendship, not caring what our parents said.
“Oh. My. Gosh. Logan. What are you doing here?” I squeal. He’s still as good looking as he was the last time I saw him, which was briefly for a week last summer. His parents are always taking him away during school breaks, so I’ve hardly seen him for the past two years. His hair is a little shaggier, his body still slim, but muscular. Other than that, he looks the same.
All the girls at school lined up to date him and hated the fact I was so close with him. From the looks of a few passing girls, I can see nothing has changed.
He slides me down his body, his grin permanent on his handsome face, and I can’t help but grin back, my excitement doubling.
“Hey, Will,” he greets, his voice deeper than I last heard from him.
“Logan. What are you doing here? I thought you were busy?” I remind him. He’s on the university football team with Alec, and from what Alec and Logan have both said, they have practise this morning.
“Coach is letting us arrive later so he can fill in all the newbies.” He grins, before looking over my shoulder. His grin slips a little, and I playfully slap his shoulder. “Allie.” He nods.
