Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 150968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 150968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
I remember seeing a girl throw her half-eaten burger into the trash.
I remember sitting there, my hands clasped on my lap as I patiently waited for the bell to ring and the cafeteria to clear out.
I remember sneaking over to the trash can and digging through it, looking for that half-eaten burger. Just to fill the emptiness in my stomach. To suppress the pain of hunger.
That half-eaten burger tasted like the best thing I’ve ever eaten.
And I remember doing it again, three years later — to feed Naomi.
Back then, it was the only thing I could afford.
That was until I started working at the crappy junkyard at fourteen and got some cash from Kenan. I was able to get us real food then. Fresh bread, and not leftovers from the trash.
I close my locker and try to walk away. But Oaklynn grabs onto my arm, making me pause. “What’s up with you?” Her eyebrows pull up in frown. “You’re the new kid here, and I’m trying to make you feel welcome. Berkshire students can be really harsh to the newbies. I’ve been nice, but you’re just being so aloof.”
“Look, I appreciate—
The flash of golden hair catches my gaze and I swallow my words.
My head snaps toward her, and my eyes widen as I take in what I’m seeing.
The first thing I notice is the playful smile on her lips. And then she laughs at whatever her friend has said to her. Her soft laughter resonates through me and it’s like I’ve been thrown into a whole different dimension.
I don’t blink, fearing that she’ll disappear if I do. She’s really here, not just a figment of my imagination. I’m not daydreaming. This is real.
She leans against the locker next to her friend’s. She hasn’t noticed me yet, but I take in everything I’m seeing, memorizing every little detail. She has her blonde hair in a double French braid, with loose tendrils framing her small, round face.
She goes to Berkshire Academy?
Fuck…
Destiny has always been unfair to me. Harsh and unforgiving. I’ve long stopped counting my misfortunes. But this—
This is kismet.
It has to be. To see her here. To meet her here.
The girl in my sketchbook.
Daisy Buchanan…Goldilocks.
She’s…here. I found her.
“You don’t want to associate yourself with her.” Oaklynn’s high-pitched voice is not enough to pull my attention away. But her words have questions popping into my head.
“What?” I ask gruffly.
“The girl you’re looking at? That’s Riley Johnson and Berkshire has ostracized her. Associating yourself with her is a dangerous move. Don’t do it.” Oaklynn flips her hair, giving Goldilocks a rather stingy look. “And anyway, she’s nobody important.”
I’m barely listening to the rest of her words.
Riley Johnson.
My heart thuds in my chest. Riley…
I finally have a name. Her real name.
She’s not Daisy Buchanan, the lonely girl on the bench.
She’s Riley, the girl in a Berkshire uniform. The girl with a pretty smile on her lips.
And she is real, not just my imagination or my fantasy or my night dreams.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Riley — 18 years old (Senior year)
I don’t believe my eyes when he walks into my Advanced Calculus class.
In fact, I blink and then blink again. Maybe I’m seeing things. Yeah, that’s definitely what’s happening. I’ve lost my mind and now I’m imagining things that are not here. He is not here.
He can’t be real, right?
But oh, oh…
When his eyes land on me and our gazes meet — time slows to a stop.
A silent moment.
A breathless second.
My mystery man. He is here; he is real.
My heart thuds in my chest when he pauses in front of the class, his eyes drinking me in. As if he’s seeing things too. As if he can’t believe it either and he’s questioning his own sanity, just like I am. But then his expression softens. As the students start piling in, he walks toward the back of the classroom. Toward me.
A breath is still stuck in my throat when he pauses by the desk beside me. The empty desk— because if Lila is not in one of my classes, no one else sits beside me. But I rather like it that way. I always sit in the last row and no one bothers me.
He drops his backpack next to the desk and then settles himself into the chair next to me. He stretches his leg out from under the desk, and I can’t help but stare. He has grown even bigger and taller than the last time I saw him. How is that possible?
The way he has to fold himself in behind the desk, makes everything look so small compared to him. I can’t stop staring. Oh God, I’m such a creep.
What the hell is wrong with me?
His sharp jawline is partially obscured by the rough stubble he’s sporting. And his hair is slightly longer than I remember. He’s so big, but for some odd reason, I’m not intimidated by him.