Tough Luck (Lucky #7)

Prologue

The scratchy wool of my new green sweater was currently doing a better job of exfoliating my skin than the actual skincare routine I had used just that morning.

Between the itch and the soul-crushing boredom of macroeconomics, I was about two minutes away from a mental break.

Which, by my count, would be my third one that week.

I was slumped in the most uncomfortable chair known to humans, in the corner of the almost empty college library, during my one and only open period.

The whole place smelled of old paper and the burned coffee that my bestie, Nova Clark, had insisted we stop and get before heading across campus for this break. Nova was sitting across from me, totally engrossed in what I could only assume was the homework that was due in twenty minutes.

My bestie had always loved to walk the wild side.

Currently, her long neon-pink hair was tied up in a messy bun that somehow defied gravity.

While banging away at her laptop keyboard, she was shoveling as many goldfish crackers as she could fit into her mouth at once, a talent she’d been perfecting since we met in second grade.

“You’re doing that thing again,” Nova muffled through a mouthful of cheddar snacks without even looking over at me.

“What thing?” I hissed, scratching my shoulder through the coarse wool.

Why had I bought this stupid thing? Oh, that’s right, I thought as I glanced out the windows at the fresh layer of spring snow on the ground.

Because it was the warmest thing ever and walking across campus was a hazard during a snowstorm after dark.

“The ‘I’m-about-to-commit-arson’ face.” She stopped typing and glanced up at me. “What are you working on?”

I was supposed to be writing the last essay of the year for Professor Higgins’s creative writing class. But that wasn’t due for another day, so instead I was writing about how much I hated him for giving me a B on my last paper.

That may not seem bad, but from someone who aced everything—and I do mean, everything—a B was a huge slap in the face.

Besides, the only way I could get rid of that “I’m-about-to-commit-arson” face was to use my wit and humor and write the most honest truth that I knew.

I was currently upchucking my darker thoughts about how the professor could spend some of his free time.

“Send whatever you have for your essay to me,” Nova said with a grin. “I’ll read it and check it for you.”

“It’s not my essay.” I groaned.

Nova’s eyebrows arched as she ran her eyes over me. After all the years we’d spent being best friends, I could tell she knew the kind of mood I was in.

“Venting?” she guessed. I nodded. Her smile grew.

“I love it when you do that. Send it to me. You know I love the shit you write when you vent. I could use a good laugh right now.” She pointed to her computer with a handful of crackers.

“Besides, everyone knows that venting is a biological necessity.”

“It’s more than a vent. It’s a masterpiece of vitriol,” I pointed out dryly.

I had less than a week before the semester was over. One week and a whole other year until I earned my bachelor’s. At this point, with the state of my mental health, I doubted that I’d make either.

School was a struggle. But earlier, as I’d added one final flourish to my critique of Professor Higgins’s personality, my fingers had flown across the keyboard.

God, I really loved writing satire, I thought as I hit send.

I felt a brief, glorious rush of relief, until I looked at the ‘To’ field.

Somehow, I hadn’t sent it to Nova’s email address. Instead, Outlook’s auto-complete feature had completely screwed me. I thought I was sending it to Nova’s student portal address, but the system had swapped it for the professor’s email address. I’d hit send without looking.

My heart stopped as my head began to spin.

Unsend, my mind screamed while I searched for the option. But there wasn’t an unsend button.

“Nova,” I whispered as a buzzing sound consumed my head. “I think I just ended my academic career.”

She stopped typing and looked up at me.

Twenty-eight minutes later, the real torture began.

We were in class, and Higgins—who lived to publicly shame students—had my essay on the projector screen for all to see as they entered the room.

Of course, everyone began whispering the moment they started reading it.

The worst part wasn’t the whispers in the room. The biggest horror was Caleb, the boy I had been fixated on and drooling over for about half the semester.

He was currently sitting three rows ahead of me. I watched his broad shoulders tense as he looked up at the screen.

Then, to my even greater horror, Professor Higgins started reading my essay out loud.

When the professor reached the part about my “feral” crush on the “star pupil in row three,” Caleb slowly turned around.

I buried my face in my hands until I felt Caleb’s eyes leave me.

The look on Professor Higgins’s face wasn’t anger. Instead, there was a mix of pity and gloating as he finished reading the last words I’d typed.

I was pretty sure he lived for these moments. His love of humiliation was, after all, one of the key points in my essay.

“Ms. Ferreira,” Professor Higgins said loudly enough to get everyone’s attention.

His voice was terrifyingly calm as he adjusted his glasses.

“Since you find my teaching style to be ‘intellectual spaghetti,’ perhaps you’d prefer to spend your time at a different establishment.

I believe the dean has a few things he would like to discuss with you on your way out.

” He motioned toward the doors. “He’s waiting for you now. ”

No doubt my face was beet red. I always turned red when I was embarrassed.

Without a single word, I scrambled to pick up my bag, then I turned and bolted for the door.

Except my foot caught the edge of a desk.

Of course, me being me, I didn’t just stumble; I did a full-body, flailing-arm lurch that ended with me face-planting just inside the doors.

Before the laughter could ring out again, I got up and ran.

I was halfway across the quad, the cold Colorado air biting at my lungs, when Nova finally caught up to me.

“Sofia, wait! Stop!”

I spun on my boot heels. “I’m done. I quit.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Quit? School?”

“Yup.” I turned and started marching toward my dorm room.”

“Okay, so that was… a top-ten disaster.” She caught up with me.

“Maybe a top five.” She grabbed my arm to stop me.

“But you can’t just quit. You only have a week to go until the end of the year.

Have a talk with the dean. Tell him that you had a hormonal caffeine-induced psychotic break.

” She threw up her arms. “The school loves those excuses!”

“No, I’m done this time for real. The universe is literally screaming at me to leave this place.

I can’t go back in there. Not after that.

” I sighed heavily, raised my face to the sky, and closed my eyes.

Fresh snowflakes landed on my face. “I think I’m going to move back home.

” I almost whispered the idea into the wind.

I’d spent the last few years shuffling from downtown Denver for school and dorm life to my hometown of Golden for the part-time summer job that had helped pay for it all.

I loved city life. Lived for it. Golden wasn’t that far away, but the plan had been to make city life permanent after graduation.

Nova’s expression softened as she looked at me. She knew my looks. Knew my moods. Most importantly, she knew that I was serious.

“Fine. I can’t stop you if you’re really going to leave. What are you going to do?”

I threw my hands up. “I don’t know. Maybe ask for a full-year part-time position at work?” I groaned.

She stopped me by putting up a hand.

“You just wrote one of the best two-page essays I have ever read on why Professor Higgins might actually be a real troll. You’ve got writing skills,” she joked, leaning in. “We’ve been working at Gold Standard Marketing for how many years now?”

I shrugged and tried to count how long it had been since we’d graduated high school.

“My point is, James Mylonas would be a fool not to let you have a crack at something more permanent. And full time.” She nudged me.

She was right. We had both worked for Gold Standard Media every summer for years. We had needed the extra cash to pay for some of our classes, and James Mylonas, who owned the biggest marketing firm in Golden, was a friend of Nova’s family.

James had been kind enough to let us work there in the summer, and he always brought us back when we weren’t in class.

Most of what we were doing there was filing, printing. It wasn’t glamorous, but the paper cuts were a small price to pay for a boss who welcomed you back each summer with open arms.

Nova’s goal was to get her degree and then get hired full time as a Chief Marketing Officer.

My goal? I don’t think I really had one. Yet. Other than surviving the next few weeks of school.

“A full-time job at Gold Standard Media?” I thought out loud. “If I can get hired on full time, I guess I can always figure out the next step later. Do you really think that’s possible?”

“I’m sure of it. He was just telling me the other day when he had dinner at our place that he needed a few more marketing people.

And last summer you helped out with web designs.

” Nova brushed the snow off my shoulder.

“He’s desperate for someone who can actually handle the digital side of things, someone young who can bring fresh ideas for some of his younger clients. ”

I looked back at the brick buildings of the campus, where the destruction of my dignity had been projected in 4K resolution for the whole class to see.

The thought of stepping foot in another lecture hall made my stomach do a slow, agonizing roll.

My departure had been coming on for a while now.

My normally perfect marks had been growing more pathetic, forcing me to see the truth.

I was done. I was bored of chasing the grades. I wanted something more. Something… real.

Working full time for the marketing firm could be fun. I’d be able to use my witty skills for good.

“I guess I’d better go give him a call,” I said as I looked down at my hands.

They were still shaking. “If he’s willing to hire a full-time professional failure, then I’m in.

It’s that or I’m joining the circus.” I threw up my hands as the snow deepened.

“At least they expect you to act like a clown.”

“That’s the spirit!” Nova cheered and wrapped her arms around me as we started walking toward our dorm. “Pack your boxes, Sofia. We’re going back to Golden.”

“We?” I stopped and looked at her.

“Sure. You can’t expect me to stick around here without my bestie, can you?

Besides, James has been begging me to go to full time for a while.

” She shrugged and threw her arm over my shoulder again as we started walking toward our dorm room.

“Plus, I already have enough credits to get my bachelor’s. ”

“You do?” I stopped and frowned at her. “When? How?”

She chuckled. “The last class I needed finished up two days ago.” She shrugged. “I didn’t want you to feel bad for being so slow.” She nudged me playfully.

“Then why were you still sweating over an essay today?”

She laughed. “I wasn’t. I was putting the final touches on my resume. I’m trying to come up with something that will impress Mr. Mylonas and convince him that I can handle my own marketing team. I really want him to bring me on as CMO.” She shrugged.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She tilted her head and a sad look crossed her face. One of pity. I knew it well lately. “I knew you were struggling. I wasn’t going to leave you alone in your time of need.” She hugged me.

“I’d have another full year to get my bachelor’s,” I groaned. “I shouldn’t have taken that first year out of high school off.”

“You did what you had to do,” Nova pointed out.

“I sat in my parents’ basement and had a pity party after Parker left me,” I reminded her.

“He’s an ass.” She nudged me. “And you’re over him.”

“I am.” I nodded and straightened a little.

Though, deep down, my heart still ached.

He’d been the boy of my dreams. The one I believed I would spend the rest of my life with.

We’d known each other since, well, forever.

So it had been a huge shock when he’d ditched me the day before our high school graduation.

Ditched wasn’t the right word. Obliterated was more like it. Seeing him kissing Leslie Kennedy had broken me. I still hadn’t gotten over the betrayal. And I had yet to kiss another man. Ever. Parker had been my one and only. In every aspect.

Nova had tried to convince me to go on dates since then, but instead, I’d buried my face in books, like I had always done when the real world got shaky.

Which is probably why my grades in the first few years of college had been so good.

Maybe it wasn’t just time for a change in academics, but in that part of my life as well?

Sofia Ferreira, the girl who had dreamed of getting a degree, was going to be just a girl with a job and a permanent vendetta against wool blends, I thought as I tugged at my sweater again.

“Come on,” Nova said, leaning against my side. “Think of it as an early retirement from poverty. Besides, Golden misses us. The mountains are calling, and so is a steady paycheck.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

“I’m pretty sure the mountains are calling to tell me that I’m a loser.

Besides, I was just in Golden last weekend for my parents’ anniversary dinner.

” I took a deep breath and almost choked on the frigid air as more snow fell around us.

God, when was it going to be summer already?

“Okay, let’s do it. To a new chapter. To a new Sofia.

” I smiled and tried to hold my head up high.