It doesn’t occur to me until I’m ringing Chase’s doorbell that I should’ve given him a heads-up. No matter—he’s the one who answers the door, and he looks unfairly hot in a clingy T-shirt and shorts. For a brief second, I contemplate not going through with this. It would be so easy to keep riding the high of superstardom on Chase’s arm, to keep spending time with this good-looking and charming boy who genuinely likes me. It’s not like Jasmine would tell anyone; she can disappear back to Asheville and I can finish out this perfect year I’ve been having. I can wear my Homecoming crown and cheer at Chase’s games and hold his hand at the movies and pose with him for pictures at prom. I don’t have to blow that all apart.

Except I do. Because when I think about spending those Friday nights watching movies with Jasmine, when I think about Jasmine’s hips beneath my fingertips when we dance, when I think about ice cream dates and road trips and planning for college and making out in the backseat of a car … she’s the person I wanna do all that with.

She’s my top-of-high-school-bucket-list prom date.

It’s that simple, even if it isn’t simple at all.

“Hey! I was just thinking about you.” He drops a kiss on my cheek and steps aside to let me in. “I had a great time last night.”

Well, that’s gonna make this harder. “I’m glad, but I really need to talk to you about something.”

“Oookay.” He closes the door behind me and leads me into his living room. “You want a drink?”

“No, thank you. Can—can we just sit?”

“This sounds serious.” He frowns. “This sounds breakup serious. Are you breaking up with me?”

I hesitate, because that’s really not how I wanted to start this conversation, and anger flashes in his eyes. “Did you seriously hook up with me to become Homecoming queen and then dump me? That’s really fucked-up.”

“No,” I assure him firmly. “God, no, Chase. It’s not like that.”

“Then what’s it like?” he asks, his voice dipped in acid.

Deep breath. He’s hurt. He’s allowed to be hurt. “This isn’t about Homecoming. You of all people know that I liked you forever. It’s that … there was someone else, and I didn’t really realize it until last night.”

“Hold up. You cheated on me?”