Chapter 1 #2
I wanted to escape into the safety of the kitchen, but I couldn’t seem to move as I watched my ex-boyfriend walk hand in hand across the room with the girl who used to be my best friend. Could this day get any worse?
Nina and Levi slid into one of the booths, laughing at something one of them had said.
The sound sliced right through me and seemed to pierce my heart with unnerving accuracy.
Neither of them had noticed me, but how could they when they seemed incapable of taking their eyes off each other?
I couldn’t understand how I’d found the room to be so hot only moments ago because suddenly my skin felt ice cold.
My eyes darted toward the back of the restaurant, desperately searching for Norma.
Nina and Levi were the last people in the world I wanted to serve.
The two of them had been cheating together for months before I found out.
Months. And the only thing worse than their betrayal was the fact I’d lost both my boyfriend and my best friend on the same day.
The last few weeks of the school year had been agony, and seeing them again only had me reliving the heartbreak all over.
By some miracle, I hadn’t encountered them at all during the summer break. But that was set to change when school started next week. I thought I still had a few more days before I’d have to face them again, but it seemed today’s bad luck was catching.
I looked for Norma one last time before I gave up hope of any rescue and forced myself over to their table.
Each step felt a little heavier than the last, and even though I did my best to put on a brave face, it was impossible to stop my hands from shaking and ignore how my legs felt powerless beneath me.
Sweat clung to the back of my neck and beaded at my brow—and for the first time today, it wasn’t entirely caused by the heat.
I had no idea how I was going to survive my senior year.
When I arrived at Nina and Levi’s booth, it took me a moment to gather my wits enough to speak.
They looked perfect together, like some picture out of an Abercrombie catalog.
I’d always felt out of place around them because they came from the wealthy side of town.
There weren’t many locals in Rapid Bay who could compare to the rich tourists who appeared every summer, but Nina’s and Levi’s families owned houses on the foreshore.
They didn’t have to worry about how their parents were going to make rent each month or how they would pay for them to go to college.
Levi’s parents even owned a few of the vacation homes on the beach that they rented out to our wealthy visitors.
As I looked at them together now, I realized just how laughable it was that Levi had ever been interested in me.
I must have been a phase for him. Some kind of rebellious teenage moment when he’d decided to slum it with the girl who wore clothes from thrift shops and spent all her free time working at a café just so she and her mom could get by.
“What can I get you?” Somehow, I got the question out without my voice breaking, and I was able to keep my tone neutral, almost disinterested.
My expression was just as bland, and I managed to prevent the pain from showing in my eyes.
The last thing I wanted was for Nina and Levi to see how hard it was for me to face them.
The only hint of my true emotions was the notepad that began to bend as I gripped it tightly in my hand.
“Oh, Isobel, I forgot you work here.” Nina pretty much sang out the words in the condescending tone she so often used. I’d heard her throw it at other girls a thousand times before but never at me. I guessed that had all changed now I wasn’t the one dating the star of the school’s football team.
She looked me over in one quick, assessing glance.
She’d always had a talent for making me feel self-conscious without saying a word, and today was no different.
The slight twitch of her lips was enough to show she didn’t approve of the black apron I was wearing over my jean shorts and work T-shirt.
It had the simple Beach Street Café logo printed across the front of it in blue-green lettering, and it was hardly offensive.
“How was your summer?” she asked. “I see your hair’s still allergic to the heat.”
I gave her a tight smile and resisted the urge to pat at the flyaway hairs I could feel frizzing about my face.
I had both the luck and misfortune of inheriting my mom’s blonde and somewhat untamable locks.
People always commented on how beautiful my natural curls were, but the compliments vanished when there was a lick of moisture in the air.
Nina must have loved the fact she’d caught me on a bad hair day.
“My summer has been fine,” I replied, but it absolutely killed me to be even slightly cordial. “And my mom owns this place. I’ve worked here as long as you’ve known me.”
Nina tittered out a laugh and flicked her long brown ponytail over her shoulder before placing a hand against Levi’s chest. “Yes, of course, how silly of me. We’ve been away at Levi’s lake house all summer, so it must have slipped my mind.”
I clenched the notepad tighter. Just a few months ago, Levi had been trying to convince me to take time off from work so I could join him at his lake house.
He had been upset I didn’t want to abandon my mom, and Nina knew it.
There was nothing holding her back though, and she seemed more than happy to rub it in.
I couldn’t understand how I’d been friends with her for so long.
I decided to focus on my ex-boyfriend’s face instead, but that didn’t make me feel much better.
We’d dated for almost a year, but looking at him now was like staring at a stranger.
There was no warmth in his eyes, and the smile he’d been giving Nina dropped as he looked up at me.
His appraisal of me was cold and hard and left me feeling like I was nothing more than a waitress to him now.
It was clear he no longer loved me. He probably never had. I’d always wondered how the boy the whole town adored could possibly want someone like me, and I finally had my answer: he hadn’t.
“I’ll have a coffee,” Levi said, breaking our awkward stare-off. Even if I hated him, I was grateful he’d placed an order before Nina had a chance to keep shoving their relationship in my face.
“Me too,” Nina added. “With quinoa milk.”
Was that even a thing? I’d heard some pretty obscure coffee requests in my time, but this was a first. Nina had always drunk her coffee with low-fat milk, so I knew she was being difficult for the sake of it.
She was probably hoping to force a reaction out of me, but I didn’t bite.
I swallowed down my irritation before responding. “We don’t have quinoa milk.”
“Oh, really?” She looked thoroughly put out. “I guess I’ll just have water then. It’s so hot in here. Did you know that?”
“No, I hadn’t really noticed.” I forced out a smile. “I’ll be right back with your order.”
I walked from their table in a daze.
“Oh, sugar,” Norma said as I entered the kitchen. “I just saw who was out there. You should have come and got me when those two came in. You know I would have covered their table for you.”
I slowly nodded, feeling like I was waking from a bad dream. I’d somehow managed to get through my first encounter with Nina and Levi, but I still couldn’t bear the thought of facing them every day when school started next week.
“How am I going to do this?” I whispered to Norma. “How am I going to live with a whole year of this?”
I wasn’t sure I could handle it. Not when I was stuck at a school that worshiped the ground Levi walked on. Not when Nina had both stolen my boyfriend and made sure my other friends wanted nothing to do with me too. Why did high school have to suck so badly?
Norma rubbed my arm and gave me a sympathetic smile. “You made a lot of progress over the summer.”
“Did I?” It was hard to agree with her, but when I thought about how I’d felt at the start of the break, I knew she probably had a point.
I’d barely been able to get out of bed, let alone crack a smile.
I’d been like a zombie slowly dragging my feet through each day, but I was feeling a little more human now, and the days were a little less painful.
“You did.” She nodded. “And this year will fly by in a flash. You’ll be off at college before you know it, and it won’t be long before you’re a fancy doctor or a famous lawyer or something, and those two will be a distant memory.”
I let out a sigh and shook my head. “I’ve told you all summer I don’t want to go to college anymore.”
“Sure, you don’t.” She raised her eyebrows at me like she did every time I claimed I’d changed my mind about my future.
I’d wanted to get out of Rapid Bay and go to college for as long as I could remember, but not anymore.
College was the silly dream of a kid who didn’t realize just how much it would cost or how hard it was to get a scholarship.
Besides, Mom needed my help at the café, and I knew I couldn’t abandon her.
“I’m serious,” I replied, as convincingly as I could. “I love it in Rapid Bay, so why would I ever leave?”
“Okay, honey, if you say so.” Norma’s expression had changed, and her eyes were now filled with concern.
I hated when she looked at me that way. Like I was too young to know what I wanted. Like she thought I was throwing my future away. Like I had a choice.