Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Something just feels . . . different.
Grabbing a tank and a pair of high-waisted denim shorts, I hold them up and stand in front of the mirror, my face scrunched as I take it in. It’s cute, but it’s not really giving me I’m about to dominate junior year vibes. Maybe an oversized sweater will be better with these shorts. Only the heat can be a bitch here in Arizona, and I do not want to be the girl with sweat patches under my arms on day one. I would never live it down.
Letting out a huff, I throw the outfit back in the closet, and as I begin to search for another, my phone chimes on the end of my bed. I dart across my room to grab it, skipping over my backpack before I miss the call.
Scooping my phone off my bed, I smile as I find a video call from my best friend, Tarni. Quickly hitting accept, I move back in front of the mirror and hold up the phone as I show off my outfit. “What do you think?” I ask over the sound of my music, laughing as I glance down at the phone to find her standing in her bathroom, an almost identical outfit held up in front of her.
“Pretty damn cute,” she says with a stupid grin.
“Yeah . . . I don’t know,” I tell her. “I was thinking about an oversized sweater, but—”
“Sweat patches?” she rushes out, reading my mind.
“Yes!”
Tarni laughs and puts the outfit down before her face appears up close and personal, her long auburn bangs falling into her eyes. “I swear, Zo, you and me are like . . . twins. Or like . . . what’s better than twins?”
“I don’t know,” I snort, skipping across my room to turn my music down before my eyes widen. “We’re a perfect pair, a telepathic twosome. Quick, tell me what I’m thinking?”
“Easy,” Tarni scoffs as her phone falls off the bathroom counter and she dives after it. “You’re trying to figure out what other names you could call us. And honestly, if double trouble comes out of your mouth next, I’m gonna drop kick your ass all the way to the moon.”
A snorting laugh tears from the back of my throat, and I bite my tongue, not surprised that Tarni was able to pluck the phrase right out of my head. She’s been one of my closest friends since we started kindergarten, and sometimes I wonder if she knows me better than I know myself.
As I attempt to tell her just how right she is, my phone randomly connects to my Bluetooth speaker. It’s been doing this ever since I got the stupid speaker, and it’s driving me insane.
“Zo?” Tarni calls out, her voice booming through my speaker and almost deafening me as I race across my room to turn it off. “Zo? You still there? Did you put me on mute again?”
“Hold on,” I rush out, knowing damn well anything I say can’t be heard. I grab the speaker and flip it over, searching for the little off button that seamlessly blends in with the speaker’s design. There should be a big red on/off button on these things with arrows pointing right toward it. “Two seconds. Nearly done.”
“ZO?” she calls.
Finding the button, I quickly turn it off, and my room returns to the normal chaos of my day-to-day life. “Sorry, the stupid Bluetooth speaker picked up my call again,” I tell her as I place the speaker back in its spot on my windowsill. My gaze lifts as I head back to my closet, but when I see Aunt Maya’s car parked in the driveway, I pause. “Oh, hey,” I say, lifting my phone so Tarni can see me. “Aunt Maya is here. I better go down and say hi before she ends up in my room for the next seven hours, demanding every detail about our summer.”
Tarni’s eyes widen, knowing just how serious I am. “Alright. Call me back when you’re done. I still need to figure out what I’m wearing tomorrow.”
“Sure thing,” I say just as Tarni ends the call and disappears from my screen.
Tossing my phone back onto my bed, I burst through my door, skip past my little sister’s room, and hit the stairs. I grip the railing to keep from face-planting all the way to the bottom, and the second my feet hit the floorboards, I grip the banister and fling myself around the corner before cutting through the living room.
It’s been months since I’ve seen her. She’s so busy with work and everything else that it’s always special when she comes over, and nine times out of ten, a quick visit turns into three bottles of wine and a night filled with endless laughter.
Mom and Aunt Maya have been best friends since they were kids, and it reminds me of my friendship with Tarni. I hope when we’re old and married with a bunch of kids, we’ll still make time for each other.