Forever (The Forever Duet #1)

Chapter 1

“Paige, how does my hair look?” I ask my bestie over the song “Suga Suga” by Baby Bash and Frankie J playing in the background

“I love the poof,” she says, eyes wide.

You can never go wrong when combing your bangs backward into a poof. My long hair is already hard to manage. When I tease my bangs and clip them out of my way, it helps manage my hair a little better.

“B, what should I do with my hair?” Paige keeps running her hands through her hair with a frown on her face.

“Do a poof like mine!”

“I didn’t want to copy you.”

I smack my lips together to get the lip gloss to go on evenly. Victoria's Secret has the best lip glosses. It shines so bright, and it’s so sticky—which is good because it lasts all day.

“Since when do you care if you copy me? We buy the same clothes and even wear them at the same time.”

My best friend and I share a lot of the same features. Brown eyes, long lashes, long dark brown hair, and we’re both five foot two. People have even asked if we’re sisters. I’ve never fully seen it, but I can see why they speculate.

She shrugs her shoulders and reaches for my teasing brush. “You’re right.”

“Do you have any more of that Maybelline Mousse foundation?”

“Yeah, it’s in my bag.” We use the same color of foundation even though Paige’s skin is a little darker than mine.

Once our hair and makeup are done, Paige and I head to my closet to pick out our outfits.

I pull on a pair of low-rise bell bottoms and pair them with a white tank top and a light-blue shirt.

The white tank top shows a little cleavage when paired with my V-neck shirt.

I slip on my white Vans, which are sort of blue now from my pants.

The jeans are rubbing against the white canvas material and staining them.

I don’t mind because the bell bottoms hide it.

Paige grabs a black-and-white tank top and stacks them on top of each other. Her bell bottoms hover over her purple Vans.

Paige and I look each other up and down, and our smiles rise. “We look so hot,” she says.

“Yes, we do.” I put my BlackBerry phone inside my back pocket and head downstairs. “Your mom is okay with us using her car, right? Because my mom is going to ask how we’re getting to the mall and back.”

Paige and I both turned sixteen over the summer.

Her birthday is June 20th, and mine is June 30th.

When we met back in seventh grade, we instantly became best friends.

I don’t know what it was, but we connected so easily.

It was unbelievable when we discovered that our birthdays had only a ten-day gap.

Since then, we have celebrated our birthdays together.

“Mom!” I yell.

“In here,” she says from the kitchen. We walk into the small space that’s decked out in apple decor.

“We’re going to go to the mall,” I say as I watch her eat dinner with my little sister, Brynlee.

“You guys don’t want to eat dinner before you go?” she asks while looking between Paige and me.

I shake my head. “We’ll get something to eat there.”

“No, thank you, Brooke,” Paige says.

Paige used to call my mom Ms. Leigh. My mom constantly begged her to call her Brooke. Ms. Leigh was “too formal” and she didn’t like that. So, Brooke it is.

Speaking of names…

For some reason, my mom wanted to keep us girls with B names: Brooke, Blakely, and Brynlee. Sometimes I get embarrassed when she introduces us three to people. Because who does that?

“Who’s taking you guys to the mall?”

“My mom let me borrow her car.”

My mom narrows her eyes at us. When Paige and I were fourteen, we took Paige’s mom’s car out for a ride when her mom was sleeping.

That didn’t end well.

We ended up getting locked out of her house.

In the middle of the night, Paige’s mom woke up, went to the kitchen for a glass of water, and noticed that she had left the front door unlocked.

When we got back, we found ourselves locked out.

Thank goodness it was in the middle of the summer.

We slept out on the patio until her mom woke up.

When she did, and found Paige’s bedroom empty, and her car keys missing, she was furious.

Paige’s mom called my mom, and we were both grounded for the rest of the summer.

That was the longest Paige and I had been apart.

“We promise we have permission to borrow her car,” I say.

“My mom only let me borrow the car since I have to pick her up from work, so she knows I won’t be out all night with it,” Paige says.

Paige’s mom works overnight at a factory that packages food.

“When will you be back?”

“After the mall closes,” I tell her. “Around ten.”

“Mom, can I go with B?” Brynlee asks.

My little sister, Brynlee, is only six years old and always wants to do what “the big kids do.”

“No, honey. You’re too little to go alone.”

“But I won’t be alone; I’ll be with my big sister.”

“Maybe when you’re older.”

Brynlee crosses her arms and pouts. “I never get to do anything the big kids do.”

“You will when you get older,” my mom says.

Brynlee pouts harder and turns her back on us all. She’s the smartest little girl I know, always catching on to everything. At four years old, she would climb up onto the counters and microwave her own food. I’m sure she knows a lot more than she should thanks to Paige and me.

“Next time, Bryn, we can go to the mall together.”

She looks over her tiny shoulder. “You promise?”

I nod.

“Okay,” she says with a smile as she continues eating her food.

Paige and I sing our lungs out to “Mesmerize” by Ja Rule and Ashanti as we drive to the mall.

We’re both heading into our junior year of high school.

We’re both the product of single mothers.

At times, it’s been hard for our moms to make ends meet.

Somehow, they’ve never made it noticeable.

Now that I’m older, I remember times when I thought we were doing good, but in reality, we were struggling.

My mom’s always told me I have to save up for my own car.

I haven’t figured out how I’m going to do that yet since I don’t have a job.

I’m not sure if I even want one. I’m having too much fun with my friends to want to spend time at a job.

My mom gives me twenty dollars a week for doing my chores every day.

She says an allowance will teach me to earn what I want instead of getting stuff handed to me.

Occasionally, I babysit the neighbor’s kids.

None of that money will ever be enough to save for a car, but… priorities, I guess.

As I walk into the mall, the loud buzz of chatter, the bright lights and storefronts envelope me, immediately drawing me into the bustling energy of all the teenagers walking around in groups with their friends.

It’s the one place aside from the movie theater that we can count on meeting new people.

“Look at that guy!” Paige whisper-shouts. “He’s checking you out.”

“What guy?” I ask, looking around.

“Up ahead. We’re about to pass him.”

As we pass a group of guys, I notice one guy with light-brown hair. He has what we call skater boy hair, and he’s leaning his back against the wall, staring right at me.

Both of my cheeks burn from shyness. I’m trying to tame my smile. I bite down on my bottom lip to stop from giving myself away. As we’re about to turn the corner, I look over my shoulder and he winks at me.

When I know I’m out of sight, I squeal in excitement. “Oh my God! He’s so hot.”

“Should we go back and introduce ourselves?”

“Noooo!” I say overdramatically.

She gives me a side-eye. “Why not? Are you embarrassed?”

“Sort of.”

She stops walking and grabs my hand. “Come on.”

I shake my hand free from hers. “No.”

“Come on, Blakely.”

“If I see him again, then I will.”

“Fine.” We both start walking again.

“Plus, we should play hard to get,” I say as we walk into Wet Seal.

“You’re so right,” she agrees.

School starts back up in a week, and I need some new clothes to start the year off right. My mom said she would take me to go shopping for school clothes, but she hasn’t yet. I could at least look around and see what I like.

“I’m going to try this one on real quick,” Paige says.

“Okay.” I move over to the jewelry stand to check for new earrings.

As I turn around, I notice the same guy walking past the entrance of the store with his friends.

I’m hoping he doesn’t look my way because I’m more shy than people assume.

Paige is so outgoing, and I believe that’s why a lot of people don’t realize just how shy I am.

Having an outgoing friend helps because she pushes me to step outside of my comfort zone.

Oh my God; he’s looking at me. I stand there, fixated on him, giving him a little wave.

God, I’m awkward.

He smiles back at me. My cheeks flush as he walks out of sight.

Does he go to my school? I’ve never seen him before. He looks like he’s older. Eighteen, maybe? I decided against asking Paige if she thinks he goes to our school because then she’ll make me ask him.