Chapter 1: Crowns and Confessions

The day I stole Rachel’s crown as top student, the hallways at Lincoln High buzzed with rumors. By sunset, her best friend Nick cornered me with a grin that promised trouble, the fluorescent lights making his varsity jacket gleam as if he owned the place.

Late-spring sunlight spilled through the big windows, making the old linoleum glow. Nick, with that quarterback jaw and too-easy smile, stopped me just as the final bell echoed down the lockers, students flooding around us in a river of backpacks and laughter.

He flashed a mischievous glint, lips quirking up. "Hey, Jamie. Wanna ditch with me? Just this once—come on, live a little."

I should have known better. Nick was the kind of honey-coated trap every teen movie warns you about. My palms went sweaty on my backpack straps, but I still nodded, my pulse pounding in my ears. I dove in anyway, heart thumping, breathless with possibility.

From that moment, I stopped reading, stopped studying, and chased after Nick into wild, rule-breaking abandon. My textbooks grew dusty, pencils forgotten in the bottom of my bag. For once, I let myself crash headfirst into the chaos—just like every teen movie said I should.

Until SATs ended, and Nick kissed me for the first time—right in the shadow of the parking lot map, his lips soft and real. He looked me in the eye and said, "Go to community college with me."

That’s when it hit me: this was the real game. It had never been about love, just a dare, or maybe something even smaller—a way for Nick and Rachel to settle a score.

But this time, I held up my Stanford acceptance letter, my fingers shaking so hard the letter rattled. I wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream that I was more than anyone’s dare—but all I managed was a shaky smile.

"I had a lot of fun with you this year."

"But the future is too important. I won’t be keeping you company."