Chapter 7 Sabrina
The first day of school dawns bright and cloudless, a perfect late-August day. The Hamilton Lakes High parking lot mills with seniors clutching iced lattes and bagels—punctual for the first and perhaps last time this year.
I survey the sea of blue, gratified that most of the class has already donned our handiwork. “They turned out pretty well, yeah? But the font… I don’t know, is it too busy?”
Kara shakes her head immediately. “No, it’s perfect. Eye-catching but clear.”
“The best senior T-shirts this school has ever seen,” Naomi adds loyally.
I throw her a grateful smile. “Okay, but they’d be even better if I’d been able to do that bedazzling. If only someone hadn’t been a grinch…”
“Hey, whose girlfriend are you calling a grinch?” Will jogs over to sling an arm around Kara’s shoulders and plant a kiss on her forehead.
“The one who’s crushing my artistic vision!” I cry.
“Excuse me for reminding you about a budget.” Kara examines her freshly gel-manicured nails. “So we can continue to have a homecoming dance?”
“And pay your resident crafter,” Harper chimes in. She’s been bent over her phone—either texting Dawson or checking on her website stats—but of course she pipes up just in time to defend her business interests. Gotta love that girl.
“Don’t worry, you’re getting your cut! We’re on track, right, Kara?”
She nods. “No thanks to your dreams of Swarovski crystals. But yeah. Homecoming is going to be a bitch to fundraise for if we want to top last year’s decorations, but the pep rally is almost set.”
I nod, making a mental note to prioritize homecoming prep for the rest of the week. I’m getting the prickling suspicion this fall is going to be even more than I bargained for, but that’s nothing a few to-do lists can’t handle. “Excellent.”
“The team’s gonna be good this year,” Will says. “Definitely worth celebrating. But we’d be nothing without y’all.”
“We know,” we chorus.
He grins, giving Kara a sweet, quick kiss goodbye before jogging off to rejoin the guys.
She watches him go with a slightly unfocused look in her eyes before turning back and bumping my shoulder with a smile. “You really are a force of nature.”
The praise means more coming from her than anyone else—last year she’d had to absorb my whole checklist in order to pull off prom. After Dad had moved out, I’d barely been able to think straight, to get through my finals without failing my classes.
That’s not going to happen again this year.
Only meticulous list-keeping, a series of successful Spirit Committee events, and a flawless record to make me a shoo-in for Michigan—where I’ll thrive on their spirited campus and figure out exactly what the best use of my talents will be next.
(HR? Marketing? Politics? The options are endless.)
“Speaking of homecoming.” Naomi clears her throat, holding up her phone. “What do we all know about Jenna’s breakup? Is she recovered yet?”
“Jenna goes through girls like gum,” Priya mutters. “Chews ’em up, spits ’em out.”
“Well, I’m not moving in yet.” Naomi makes a face. “But I’ll add her to my potential date spreadsheet if you think she’ll have rebounded in time.”
Kara laughs. “I think you could make her rebound in time.”
Naomi pauses thoughtfully, then smiles and begins tapping something out on her phone. “You’ve never been so right. What are you thinking, Sabrina? Have someone picked out yet?”
“That makes it sound like we’re shopping.” I roll my eyes good-naturedly, only half listening. Too busy checking down my list. “And besides, I already told you. Too much planning to do. I don’t need a date.”
“Mm-hmm. You ever check out that therapist I recommended?” Kara asks.
Her voice is light, gentle. She’s been in therapy off and on since her mom died when she was little and swears it’s helped her work through everything much more effectively than she ever could on her own.
I know she thinks everything with my parents last spring needs some serious unpacking, and she’s right, but I’m just… a little overwhelmed right now.
“Not yet. But it’s on my list.” I wave my notebook in the air, and everyone’s eyes follow the pages thick with receipts and sticky notes.
Kara frowns slightly. “Just don’t decide homecoming’s more important than your attachment style, okay?”
I shrug, uncomfortable under this kind of scrutiny.
I know it’s loving—know my friends only want to be sure I don’t hold myself back from being happy—but I can take care of myself.
“Sure, sure. But it’s not like it’s urgent, you know?
This is not the year to open that can of worms. There’s so much to do, and all of it is more important than losing myself in some guy.
” I make an exaggerated face, and Priya snorts affirmingly, right on cue. Good.
Kara gives me one last long look. I can see the exact moment when she decides to let it go—for now.
“Well, make sure you put some fun on your to-do list too.” She does a little shimmy.
“This year is going to be over before we know it, and I want to enjoy every minute of it. It’s Kara’s year of letting go. ”
I shoot her a dubious look. “Does that letting go include the budget? Because—”
“Absolutely not.”
“—I’m just saying, if we get a machine, we can make our own balloon arches—”
“And I already told you we’re getting close to maxing out!”
“Fine!” I throw up my hands, but I can’t help smiling.
Spirit Committee arguments are the only kind I enjoy.
“Naomi, did you finish the new-student buddy program in between social media stalking sessions?” Loath though I am to admit it, I needed to delegate the finalizing of the buddy lists.
One too many projects for me to manage them all myself.
“I can multitask.” Naomi sticks out her tongue and taps over to a spreadsheet. “I assigned myself to Georgie from Colorado, Kara has Lee from Florida—Michigan winter’s going to be an adjustment, yikes—and Sabrina, you’re with Tyler from Brownsville.”
I blink. “I’m with… sorry, who?”
“Tyler Holloway? He’s the new football player? You’ve heard about him for sure—apparently, he’s single and very cute.”
“He is.” I stare into the swarm of bodies in the parking lot, not seeing a single one. The only image in my mind is one tall, broad, half-naked football player. “I did the interview for the website.”
“Oh!” Naomi blinks at me. “Then… why do you not sound excited to be his buddy? I thought you’d like being paired with the new football player. You always keep an eye on the athletes.”
“Especially the cute ones,” Kara says with a raised brow.
I roll my eyes. “Okay, okay, guilty as charged—but I always keep it flirty without getting too serious! Ryan is my first miscalculation!” I groan.
“Speaking of which, you’ll keep an eye out for him today, won’t you?
I cannot fend off another homecoming invitation. I just want to enjoy my first day.”
Naomi watches me with wide eyes, the social media encyclopedia in her brain getting a brand-new entry. Thank God she’s one of my ride-or-dies, or that information could really be weaponized against me. “So… you’ll show Tyler around?”
“Right.” I give myself a firm mental shake. “Of course.”
You got this, Sabrina. You survived last year, even when Dad’s lies were emerging and Mom’s stability was crumbling—you spent your summer in strategic solitude, pasting every last crack back together—and you returned better than ever.
You are not going to let one awkward interaction get the best of you.
By the time Tyler climbs the school steps, I’m already there, smile firmly in place. Kara even fixed the blue bow wrapping my ponytail. I’m invincible.
The sight of our new offensive lineman doesn’t rattle me at all, even if he rises head and shoulders above everyone else. He really does have the build for football—and every ounce of it is muscle, as I know all too well.
I bite my lip, repressing the memory of running into his bare chest for what feels like the four billionth time this week. Not rattled at all, I repeat to myself.
“Good morning,” he says, ducking his head in greeting as he climbs the steps. “You need anything else for your website? It sure seems like you got enough content.”
There’s an edge there, but I’m too frazzled to figure it out. “I’m your buddy,” I blurt.
He frowns. “My what?”
“Your first-day buddy. My job is to show you to your classes, make sure you know where you’re going, what halls to avoid when, where your locker is, how not to piss off the office ladies.” I smile my practiced head-of-the-Spirit-Committee smile, optimistic and helpful and not at all flustered.
It’ll take a lot more than a hot football player to do that.
There’s gratitude in his eyes, but Tyler shakes his head. “That’s awfully nice of you, but I don’t want to impose. I don’t need a tour guide. I’ll figure it out.”
I raise a challenging eyebrow and prop my hands on my hips. “I’d like to see you last two minutes at Hamilton Lakes without getting lost. Come on, Mr. Wayfinder, or you’ll be late for first period.”
I lead us through the front doors without even checking to be sure he’s following me. There’s something nice about him not wanting anything from me—which Kara would probably psychoanalyze, but whatever. Right now, I’m feeling light and in control.
Or maybe it’s the fact that there’s an extremely hot new football player whose eyes are locked on me as we weave through the first-day crowds.
I know the halls of Hamilton Lakes High are nothing special, but they’ve always seemed kind of romantic to me.
The lockers scratched with graffiti from previous owners, the smell of artificial lemon disinfectant, the tall windows casting dappled shadows from the trees outside…
Maybe I watched too many teen movies as a kid.
Or maybe this school has always been the place where I could be whoever I wanted to be, separate from whatever drama was going on outside these walls. Maybe that’s what gives it a special glow.
I keep sneaking looks at Tyler. Is it anything special to him, or just another school?
But he keeps his eyes straight ahead, facing deliberately forward. Almost determinedly. As if he’s trying not to make eye contact with anyone else.
And that’s when I notice that he actually creates a wake in the hall behind him, people moving to the side and watching him pass. He ducks his head bashfully, and a slight flush rises on his cheeks with every additional step we take.
“Hi, Tyler!” a girl calls as we pass her locker.
He raises a hand awkwardly. “Do you know her?” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “Never seen her in my life.” He casts me a wry smile. “Your website must get some serious traffic.”
“Especially when there are hot, single, new football players on there.”
His steps stutter before he matches my stride again, and I have to look at my phone to hide my furious blush. You have to stop saying stuff like that, Sabrina!
But this guy is fun. Good banter, great smile, a delight to fluster. It’s no big deal—Tyler is a totally different person from Ryan. And sure, I need to take care of that problem, but it’s not like it should stop me from flirting with anyone at all this year!
I put my phone away and look back up with a newly bright smile. “Your first period is just this way—” I nod toward the east wing and am about to turn down the fork in the hallway when I realize Tyler’s no longer beside me.
When I turn, his back is practically pressed to the locker bank. A girl with long, glossy black hair beams at him. If there was an introduction, I missed it—she’s already asking, “Would you like to go to homecoming with me?”
His eyes immediately fly up to meet mine, gaze alarmed. All I can do is hold my hands up helplessly. There’s only so far the buddy system can take you.
I can see his dry swallow from here. He turns his eyes back to the girl, smiling awkwardly. “That’s very flattering, but I just got here. I barely know anyone. I was hoping to settle in first?”
“Okay!” she chirps, undaunted. “I’ll ask again in a few weeks! Have a good first day, Tyler!”
We both watch her stride down the hallway, head held high. Gotta give her props for boldness. Get after it, girl.
Tyler takes a step toward me, shaking his head in a dazed way. “It’s strange when everyone knows your name and you’ve never even seen them before.”
I wince. “Too much attention?”
“Way too much.”
The dismay in his voice makes me pause. The way he’s shrinking into himself, as if trying to shorten his height and decrease the breadth of his shoulders… There’s none of the spark and humor and challenge I saw during his website interview.
He hates this.
Guilt curdles in my stomach. This is my fault.
I rarely regret one of my Spirit Committee plans, but I really threw him to the wolves with that interview, didn’t I?
I can relate to just wanting to be left alone, especially during a senior year where your life has unexpectedly changed.
If the guy doesn’t want to be asked to homecoming, he shouldn’t have to put up with it!
That girl is going to be back, and probably a whole swarm of others!
Between his fan club and Ryan’s persistence, we should start a support group.
Oh. Oh.
My lips curl up into an involuntary smile. The din of the hallway quiets, everyone’s faces blurring around me.
Oh, I do love to feed two birds with one scone.
I look back up at Tyler with a grin. “Hey. You want to go to homecoming together?”
His eyes widen. “Oh, um—like I said, I was hoping to settle in—”
“Whoa, tiger.” I laugh. “Settle down. I mean to get people off your back and mine. It’s a clear solution.”
He frowns. “Off yours?”
I shrug. “Yeah, there’s this guy who’s been trying to… whatever. It doesn’t matter. The point is, we can both focus on our own lives, and you can tell people you already have a date. Just as friends.”
Tyler gives me a long, considering look, eyes scanning all over my face.
The crowd in the hallway eddies around us, curious glances thrown Tyler’s way, but I raise an eyebrow and wait him out.
The moment’s long enough to make me squirm with uncertainty. Like, okay, don’t do me any favors if you’d rather go with some girl you don’t even know—at least we’ve had a conversation—
Then he holds out his hand, and I realize he wants me to shake it. I grasp it with relief—his palm is warm, firm, a little callused.
Tyler’s smile is so bright, I have to fight the urge to look away. “A friend would be nice. You have yourself a deal.”