“How?”

“I don’t know.” She shuts her locker, zips up her bag, and shoulders it. “Maybe you have more in common than you think.”

I humor her because the eagerness in her eyes is cute. “Like what?”

“Maybe you both like popcorn? Or maybe you both have an affinity for true crime? Maybe he’s really funny?”

“Funny?” I shut my locker too, shouldering my bag. “Now that would be a surprise.”

“You love that show… What’s it called? Where they’re stranded on an island?”

“Lost?”

“That’s the one,” she says as we start walking toward the classroom. “Maybe he likes it too?”

“Or maybe he doesn’t.”

“You won’t know that unless you let him take you out.” With a mischievous smile, she nudges my elbow, and I find myself chuckling.

“You’re very adamant that I should give him a chance.”

Pausing outside the classroom, she shrugs her shoulders. “I think you’ll have a good time.”

I reach up and flick her long ponytail. “I’m holding you personally responsible when I have the worst time of my life. You know, at the end of the night, when he tries to kiss me in his car, and we end up bumping noses instead? Yeah, you’ll never hear the end of it. We’ll turn thirty, and I’ll still complain about that one time I let you talk me into going on a date with Luca.”

Her beaming face makes the sacrifice worth it. If it keeps her smiling today, I’ll let every boy at school bore me with their Star Wars talk.

“And I promise to always put you in uncomfortable positions that we can laugh about twenty years from now because that’s what best friends do.”

Laughing, we enter the classroom.

CHAPTER 2

WILLOW

Music plays from Chloe’s speakers while she applies her blood-red lipstick in the mirror. I’m like a newborn lamb on ice as I step out of the adjoining bathroom in a pair of six-inch, black heels and a gold dress, which she insisted I try on. “I feel stupid.”

She smacks her lips, fluffing her hair, then straightens up. Her excited squeal makes me wince. “You look amazing! Wow, look at your tits in that dress.”

Swaying on my feet, I tug down on the fabric around my thighs. Well, I try to, but it barely covers my ass. “I look ridiculous.”

“Don’t be silly. You’ll have every man drooling over you tonight.”

Just then, there’s a knock on the door, and Dylan enters the room. When he spots me, he does a double take. “Holy shit!”

“Right?” Chloe’s tinkling laughter drifts on the heavy bass like a crowd-surfing rockstar. “Doesn’t she look amazing?”

“Who knew you hid all that beneath your band T-shirts, Willow?”

I flip him off.

“Luca will be here soon. He’s running five minutes late.”

Walking over to the door, I throw a look at Chloe, who waves me off.

“Don’t write him off just yet.”

“I’m grabbing a beer. Do you guys want one?”