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Chapter One
Alice
When I was twelve, I made a vision board. On it, I put everything I wanted to do or be when I was older, and I taped it to a bare spot on a wall in my room. I added to it and took stuff off of it as I got older and my wants and needs changed, but two things were always on there. To become a teacher and to fall in love. I liked the idea of both. Of shaping young minds to do better and be better. And to meet my other half, the person who complemented me, completed me, and made me the best version of myself.
“Well, I was successful with one thing—sort of,” I mutter, tipping my wineglass up and then running a finger across the rim.
“What’s that?” My best friend and cousin, Desi Whitman, turns her head to look at me.
I didn’t realize I’d spoken so loudly, and I cringe, knowing her feelings on the matter.
“I was just thinking about the turns my life has taken,” I say with a sigh, leaning forward to set the glass down on the coffee table with a clink.
“Ah, babe. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Is this about tomorrow?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” I groan and grab a pillow, hugging it to my stomach and pulling my legs up onto the couch.
“Are you nervous?”
“Duh,” I say, cutting my eyes at her. “Wouldn’t you be nervous?”
“Nah.”
“Well, I am. It’s a lot to take in. I’m going to have to move in with someone, for heaven’s sake. I’ll have cameras in my face and no privacy for the next month and a half.”
She laughs and leans forward to pour some more wine in my glass, but I cover the top of it.
“No, I should be done. I can’t show up hungover.”
“True, but you won’t be able to get your beauty sleep tonight if you don’t calm down a little bit.”
“I shouldn’t show up at all.”
My heart speeds up every time I think about what I signed myself up for. Actually, it’s what Desi signed me up for and then talked me into. After moving to Sunnyville, California, a year and a half ago after a bad breakup, I’ve focused mainly on my job and seeing how quickly I can become a frequent customer at all the carryout places in town.
“You are going to become a star, baby. All the men will want you, and all the women will want to be you,” she says in a dramatic old-Hollywood voice, and I laugh.
“I wouldn’t go that far.” I pick up my wineglass and take another gulp even though I know I shouldn’t.
“Who knows? You might actually meet the love of your life.”
“It’s my entire summer break, and the way my luck is, I will be stuck with the toad who never turns into the prince.”
“Alice Whitman. It’s only six weeks, and you are going to be on TV. Don’t act like you aren’t a little bit excited.”
“I can’t say that this was ever on my vision board.”
“Screw the vision board. This is now, and you, my dear, are going to think positive thoughts. You will wake up tomorrow, ready to make your debut on Blindly Ever After, meet your Prince Charming, and live happily ever after.”
“Sounds like a fairy tale.”
“It is. It’s your fairy tale, and you deserve it.”
“How are you so sure that this time will be my time?” I tilt my head to the side as I look at her.
With her eyes shining and a grin that makes me smile back, Desi can talk me into anything, but this is the craziest thing she’s ever made me do. And I went skydiving with her friends last year at Blue Skies.
“I just have a feeling,” she says with a shrug, grabbing a slice of pizza from the box next to the wineglass and sitting back.
