Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 108636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
The Past
Ten years ago
Avery is all smiles as her dad drives us home from Melanie Mendez’s party, the nearly midnight traffic of the city making me feel twice my age. There’s something dangerous and exciting and forbidden about it I can’t explain.
We’re teenagers now, officially thirteen, and after spending tonight at an actual boy-girl party, I just know our whole worlds are about to change. We’re not little girls anymore, and what lies ahead is a mystery I can’t wait to explore.
“What?” I mouth toward her.
She shakes her head, but her mouth crests up into the biggest grin. She doesn’t want to talk in front of her dad, and I don’t blame her. I heard a rumor when I was using the bathroom before we left that Vic Lorren touched her boob, and I’m dying to know if it’s true.
I eye her intently, a silent, “You better freaking tell me what happened as soon as your dad’s not around!” passing meaningfully between us.
Avery is my best friend. Basically, my sister. We don’t keep secrets from each other. Ever.
Her eyes avert to Mr. Banks again as he messes with the radio, and when it seems like he’s sufficiently distracted by finding the perfect song, she leans over in the back seat to whisper directly in my ear. “He kissed me.”
My eyes widen in excitement, and I turn to whisper back. “Who? Vic?”
She shakes her head, scooting back into her seat and biting her lip with her teeth. She scrolls through her phone for a minute before holding it out for me to see. On the screen is a picture of Brandon Worley.
Instantly, my heart drops to the Chanel flats my father gave me as some kind of let-me-buy-your-love-with-gifts thing he’s been doing ever since he and my mom split, and I turn to look out the window to cover up the immediate sting of tears as they hit my eyes.
My heart pounds and my ears ring as I try to make sense of what I’m feeling. Avery didn’t know, but I decided last week that Brandon was the boy I was going to go for. Now that I’m turning into a woman and all, I need to give boys my own age a shot instead of spending all my time mooning over her brother Beau.
Brandon Worley was at the very center of that plan.
Avery’s hazel eyes are wide with excitement when I turn back to look at her, but when I don’t give any reaction, she leans over to whisper into my ear again. “Brandon kissed me.”
My best friend just had her first kiss…with my crush.
“Like, on the actual lips. With tongue,” she adds quietly, and her giddy giggle vibrates my ear.
My best friend French-kissed my crush, and I feel like I’m going to vomit all over Mr. B’s black leather seats.
Avery’s gaze is locked on mine again as her dad pulls through the gated entrance of their massive beachfront home, her excitement untethered. I’m a mess of emotion as I try to sort out being happy with her and mourning my whole scheme to get over the one and only Beau Banks at once, but I try to smile.
She’s just happy enough not to notice that it’s brittle.
Mr. Banks pulls into the garage, and Avery all but drags me out of the car and into the house. By the time we get upstairs to her room and she slams the door, she tackles me to her bed with a giant hug.
“Brandon Worley kissed me, Juniper!” she whisper-yells. “He freaking tongue-kissed me!”
“I can’t believe you guys frenched.” I feign a smile and laughter and all of the things I should be feeling for my best friend. I do everything I can to hide my truth because Avery deserves all the best things in the world even more than I do.
When my dad screwed his secretary Tiffany and told my mom he wanted a divorce, Avery saved me. She gave me an escape. She gave me a family. She gave me support.
The least I can do is give her Brandon Worley.
“I know, right?” she squeals. “It came out of nowhere, June. Like, one minute we were just standing there talking, and the next, he was grabbing my hand, pulling me toward Melanie’s dock, and kissing me.”
“Is he…is he a good kisser?” I ask, my voice hesitant as I push myself through discomfort. When Brandon transferred to our school last month, something about his brown hair and brown eyes made me feel like he’d be a good stand-in for Beau. I always wondered, though, if Brandon’s kisses would be anywhere near the ones I’d fantasized having with Avery’s older brother, and now that Avery has the information, I can’t help but analyze it.
“Oh my God. He’s, like—” she starts to say, but she instantly pauses when her phone starts ringing from her purse. Her eyes go wide with a thrill, and when she snags her phone into her hands, a giant smile consumes her face, along with two shades’ worth of blush. “It’s him.” Her eyes flit from the screen of her phone to me. “Brandon is calling me, June!”