Chapter 1

“Hi, Kate! You look amazing, Kate! What are you doing tonight, Kate? Can I sit at your table, Kate?”

And that’s how it goes all day. Blah, blah, blah, let me wipe your ass, Kate!

I lean closer over my desk and pretend to write as a tall blonde walks into biology, hips swaying, and heads for an empty desk in the front row. Her boyfriend follows her in—Sean Renton, the new captain of the school lacrosse team—and catches up to her with a confident stride.

He nearly trips over himself rushing to pull out her chair, then gives her the dumbest smile when Kate Harding finally stops by the desk and slips her pig-butt-pink “GUCCI” backpack off her shoulder. She turns to Renton, strokes his cheek in thanks, and sits down while he stares at her like a total idiot.

I drop my eyes and keep diligently ruining my new notebook with ink while we wait for the teacher, as my friend Trisha snorts loudly and rolls her eyes, glaring at the whole scene. She presses two fingers to her throat like a gag, sticks out her tongue in disgust, and announces:

“Ew! I’m gonna throw up! All that’s missing is scratching Renton behind the ear and checking his dog reflexes. What if he starts kicking his leg and whining like Balto? That would be hilarious. God, he’s such an asshole! I hate being disappointed in people!”

Trisha Jenkins and I have been friends since middle school, and we’ve never had a single fight, so I don’t keep secrets from my best friend. Though I doubt it’s a secret to anyone at this school that Sean and I dated last year. For three whole months, until right before summer break, when he was named captain of the Golden Eagles and left for summer camp with his friends.

That was when everything ended.

He came back from there a completely different person. Fine. So it didn’t work out between us. I wasn’t about to suffer over a guy who forgot me that easily.

Summer passed, and once senior year started and I had to think about keeping my grades up, the tears dried up too.

At first, I couldn’t understand why Renton had vanished so suddenly and stopped answering my messages. Then I saw him at school with his arm around someone else, and I figured it out.

Someone had suddenly become popular, and he liked it way too much. Plain old Ashley Wilson didn’t fit in with his friends anymore, which meant she stopped being interesting, unlike gorgeous Kate—the only daughter of Iron Patricia Harding, Sandfield Rock’s mayoral aide.

Of course my heart burned with pain—I’m still human, and for a long time I’d believed Sean was a good guy. But I had enough pride not to show anyone how crushed I was, or how much it hurt to run face-first into the first betrayal of my life. It was like being turned inside out, like someone touched your soul… and then crushed it without mercy, glass splinters and all, like a used paper bag, and tossed it away to bleed.

Basically, nothing good came out of my first relationship. But I did learn one very important life lesson: we always pay for our own stupidity and misplaced trust. No matter how high the price of that lesson was, though, I wasn’t going to turn into one of those dumped girls who pine after their exes and cry buckets for everyone else’s entertainment.

Not a chance.

The main thing was getting through this year and the snickering behind my back.

Good thing Trisha and I sit in the middle row, the teacher isn’t here yet, and the classroom is loud. I glance at my friend, shrug, and say, trying not to look at the happy couple:

“Come on, Trish. It’s senior year. In less than a year, school will be over. We’ll all scatter and forget who dated who and when. I just had the bad luck to become ‘one of them.’ Big deal.”

I even try for a sad little smile while half the class turns around, curious, and sneaks glances in my direction.

“Welcome to the reject club, Ashley!” I say, jokingly talking to myself and making air quotes with my fingers. “This is only the beginning of life, so now is the perfect time to get ready for surprises!”

“Well, I’m not going to forget, Ash,” Trisha shoots back, angry and dead serious. “And I’m pretty sure you won’t either. Betrayal like that is kind of hard to forget, you know.”

The sad little smile vanishes from my face at once, followed by a heavy sigh.

My friend is right. Something like that is hard to forget. It’s a kill shot, twice over, and I’m still alive.

I look at the happy couple one more time, press my lips into a flat line, and lower my head over my notebook.

Trisha Jenkins is one of the few people at this school who knows the truth.

Kate Harding is my stepsister. And her mother, Iron Pat, is my stepmother.