Prologue
15 Years Earlier
TheIncident
Iwas going to throw up.
The Eugene, Idaho middle school loomed ahead of me on the sidewalk, feeling especially large. My brother Matt, who had been walking by my side, began to open the door for me and, just as I neared the threshold, he shut it in my face. I glanced over at him, annoyed.
“Don’t be a butt head.”
He laughed, his eyes crinkling as he opened the door once more, this time letting me enter. “What’s your deal today? You look like you’re going to puke.”
I could only agree with him, and the odor assailing us upon entering the side door, in-between the practice gym and cafeteria, was not helping. By the smell of the body odor, leather, cheap cologne, and some sort of scrambled egg mixture that wafted in the air, the basketball team must have had their early morning practice, and the cafeteria must be serving breakfast. Although these smells didn’t help, it wasn’t exactly what was causing me to want to upchuck the pop tart I had pecked at for breakfast.
We stopped at a water fountain. Matt leaned down for a drink, while my eyes went unwillingly to the poster hanging above, advertising the Sadie Hawkins Dance in one week. I swallowed hard.
I spotted my best friend, Gina, at the end of the hall, talking to a group of our friends, and suddenly remembered my promise I had made to her. I turned to Matt. “Be sure you check your locker before you go home today.”
He didn’t stop walking, but he eyed me suspiciously. “Why?”
Despite the pit in my stomach, I comically avoided his gaze. “No reason. Just wanting to be sure you have everything you need before you go home…” I trailed off at the growing wariness in his eyes, because now he understood perfectly what I was telling him.
“She gonna ask me?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He sidled up closer to me, flung his arm around my shoulders and propelled me forward. “Liar.”
I contemplated shrugging him off, but truth be told, I had a big day coming up, and any extra support I found in my twin brother could only help. Sometimes I was amazed we were even twins. Other than our dad’s brown eyes and my mom’s pert nose, our similarities stopped there. Matt had a lean, athletic build, dark hair, and an easy smile. I also had a lean build, but that’s where my build stopped. There was nothing athletic about my body—no shape and no definition. I just had limbs that frequently fell down, got in the way, and nearly poked eyes out. He even had the better hair, which was totally unfair. His was dark, rich and full, while mine was long, mousy brown, with zero body. I guess that just goes along with my general physical theme—mousy, with no body.
“Who are you asking?”
“Hmm?” I looked over at Matt.
“Are you asking anybody? I can’t imagine Gina not forcing you to ask somebody, if she is.”
“Nobody.” No way. Until I got a ‘yes’ reply, I would take this information to the grave.
“Penny, tell me.”
“Maybe nobody. I’ll see you later.” I pushed him toward some of our friends that were huddled against a locker. Usually I stayed to chat, but today, I needed to get to Gina. Matt shrugged and turned toward our friends. All of our “friends” already had dates to the dance, so now, I was forced to ask Chase. Okay, maybe ‘forced’ was pushing it, but he was the only other guy who had given me the time of day. Mind you, it was a veryslighttime of day.
Chase Riley.
Tall, dark hair… he did that thing where, when he smiled, it was a crooked, half smile out of the side of his mouth. It was like he always had some joke on the tip of his tongue. It might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but…
It. Was. Mine.
Once, he dropped his pencil behind his desk in class. When I reached down and handed it back to him, he gave me that crooked smile in thanks and, just like that, social studies became my favorite class. Once, our teacher Mr. Thomas walked in front of the fan, and it blew his hair partially askance on his head.
Did any of us know it was a toupee? Nope.
We had been taking a test that day. Most of the class had been pouring over their tests on their desks and hadn’t noticed, but Chase and I had been looking up at the same time, and we both saw it. He snickered softly at first, and then I joined in. A while later, while I was writing the essay section for the test, a small piece of paper landed on my desk. I glanced around to make sure Mr. Thomas wasn’t looking, before taking in the crudely sketched drawing of our teacher with his hair flying off his head. I snickered.
If I were being honest, I liked our teacher and felt bad for making fun of him. However, Chase Riley had drawn me a note and passed it to me in class.
Me.