AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue: 15 years ago
Amy
Istaredattheblank whiteboard to the left of Mrs. Sanderson. My eyes twitched as figures danced across the space. That tended to happen when I stared into space, going a little cross-eyed from the boredom. The boredom showed up whenever I got a “pep talk” from some adult.
I wasn’ttryingto be disrespectful. I just wanted to be anywhere but sitting at a desk in front of a frustrated-looking Mrs. Sanderson.
“Amy,” she snapped, pushing up her eyeglasses with one finger. I turned my attention from the board to the mole on the side of her cheek. “Are you still with me?”
“Yes, I’m still here. Right in front of you,” I said with a long-suffering sigh only a high schooler could expel.
I smiled wryly, urging her to carry on so we could be done with this and I could move on with my day.
Mrs. Sanderson had been on my case ever since I started her science class. It was my senior year and I was her best student. By far. Even though I was clearly putting in the minimum effort. I wasn’t lazy. I just didn’t want to be called a nerd. My physical appearance–curly hair that often bordered on frizzy, average height, average build–was already not doing me any favors in that department. I did well enough in class and keeping my grades up. I just wasn’t interested in doing anything extra.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Sanderson saw too much “potential” to let me slide through the year.
“You should put in more effort. You're a very talented young woman,” she said with a ridiculously positive smile. I hated it. “You could really do so much, Amy.”
“Duly noted. Can I go now?”
“Where are you applying for college?” she said, leaning against the table at the front of the room and completely ignoring my exasperated eye roll.
“No idea yet,” I said, standing up and slinging my backpack on my shoulders. “I’ll figure it out later.”
I shut the classroom door behind me before Mrs. Sanderson could continue to grill me. How the hell was I supposed to go to college, anyway? There was no chance for me. I closed my eyes and leaned against the bank of lockers to the right of the door.
That was all too much.
“In trouble again?” Lila’s bright laugh filled the hallway as she gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. I looked up at her, since she was easily a head taller than me.
Lila was… Lila. She was the most popular girl in school but, oddly enough, she was friends witheveryone. Lila didn’t hold her popularity status over anyone’s head. She just had a way of blending in with students, no matter how different they may seem from one another.
To say I was jealous of that skill was an understatement.
“What do you want, Lila?” I couldn’t help the deep sigh that escaped my lips. I immediately felt bad when I saw a flash of something in her caramel brown eyes. It wasn’t hard to figure out why she had almost every guy in this school at her beck and call. To put it blandly, Lila was gorgeous. Stunning, really.
“Come on,” she said, hip bumping me lightly. “Don’t be like that. I’m sorry about whatever happened in there,” she nodded toward the classroom. “We can talk about it, if you want?”
“No, it’s okay. What’s up?”
“Well,” she drawled out the word, clearly hoping to amp up the suspense. “I just wanted to invite you to the biggest party of the year.” Her smile was infectious and I couldn’t help but feel my heavy mood lighten just a bit. “We’re graduating high school soon. Let’s make some memories before then.” Her brown eyes pleaded with me to say yes.
“Okay, sure. That sounds like fun. I’m in.”
Lila practically squealed.
“Awesome! It’s at my place, around eight. I’ll see you there!”
I watched as Lila bounced down the hallway, landing with another group of students, giving one of them a friendly hug. I tried to shake off my bad mood and turned to leave school.
Jennifer’s house was a ten-minute walk from school. I opened the door to find a heavily pregnant Jennifer laying on the couch.
“Jesus, it gets bigger every day,” I teased.
She laughed as she adjusted herself on the couch, reaching for my hand when she failed.
“Mark said he would be back tomorrow, so your jail time of taking care of me is soon going to be over.”
