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Parker
I heard Landon Atwater got arrested over the summer.
Duh, everyone knows that. But did you know he got arrested for breaking into Parker Johansson’s house?
I heard she invited him over and then lied about it so he’d get in trouble.
Please, “invited him”? I heard she begged.
It’s like that montage in Mean Girls, but it’s my actual first day of school, and people aren’t speaking into a camera—they’re talkingaboutmein front of meas I navigate the halls on the way to my locker.
Is it true that his dad and her mom got engaged?
Were they even dating?
I heard she’s pregnant.
What a golddigger.
I sigh, stopping outside the locker I’ve been assigned for the year and taking out my backpack so I can fill it up.
It has been thelongestfirst day of school ever.
After a stressful morning—courtesy of Landon, of course—I walked through the doors of Baymont High determined that it would be a good first day of school.
At home, dealing with him is more stressful because I have to try to shield Mom from the idea that living with him makes me uncomfortable. At school, I don’t have to worry about that. Normally, I don’t even have to worry abouthimbecause I avoid him as much as I possibly can.
I knew there was a slight chance people might be gossiping about me, but since the incident with Landon happened over the summer, I hoped no one would even know about it.
I should have known better. For all the wealth that lives here, Baymont is a small town, and word of all the crazy shit that goes on here tends to spread like wildfire—quickly, torching whole lives that happen to be in its path.
On top of that, my schedule is wrong. I had to spend half of lunch in the office trying to work out why Landon Atwater is in two of my classes when Ialwaysschedule my classes very carefully to ensure he isn’t in any of them.
I guess it doesn’t matter now. I live with the jerk; what difference will a couple of classes make?
As if that’s not enough bad luck, the car I’ve had since my 16thbirthday decided to die on me after the first load of boxes I drove over to the Atwater mansion. As frustrating as it was to have to deal with that on top of moving, I like to think the car was making a dramatic protest about its new home, and I can’t really blame it.
Today, Landon is my ride home.
I’d rather walk, honestly, but Hayden reasoned that since Landon and I are coming home to the same place now, he could just give me a ride. It would be no trouble at all.
Mom brought me to school, as is tradition on the first day of a new school year. Before we left, she assured everybody that she would be home waiting for us after school—probably to ensure Landon didn’t kidnap me or something once the lunatic has me in his car.
I’m dreading the ride home with him, but I’ll try not to let him feel that. Even if the first day hasn’t gone the way I hoped it would, I’m committed to this fresh start thing. Thiswillbe a fresh start, and it will go well, whether the rest of the world wants it to or not.
Ithasto.
This is one of those scenarios where failure truly isn’t an option. Mom’s happiness is on the line, and I refuse to stand in the way of it.
Once my bag is full of books, I exit the building and make my way toward the row of reserved student spaces. They’re not for justanystudents, of course. Only those whose parents make generous donations to the school to reserve one for their little darling. I know Landon has one, so I walk down the sidewalk until I get to his sleek, deep green Jaguar.
He’s not here yet, so I sit on the curb to wait for him. While I wait, I pull out my phone and see I have a text from Mom.
“Hey honey, how was your first day?”
I type back, “Good,” even though it’s a big, fat lie.
“No problems?” she returns promptly.
