Page 4 of One Last Chance

For the remainder of the class, I sit there sketching images of hearts in my book with initials beside them—yup, you guessed it.CMandDR. Chloe Mason and Domenic Reed. Ugh. I’m pathetic.

The bell rings, bringing me out of my daydream state once again, and I quickly pack my books and get out of my seat.

“Remember, students, you have an exam tomorrow.”

I sigh and walk out of the classroom with Sam close behind.

“Hey, you,” Sam says as he wraps his broad arm around my shoulders. “What happened to your head?” We walk to my locker, and I open it quickly, placing my books inside. As Sam removes his arm from my shoulder, I catch a glimpse of the lump on my head in my locker mirror and cringe at the sight of it—it’s turning all shades of purple and black.

“Chlo, your head?”

“Oh, that,” I state, shutting my locker, and touching the lump that now feels as big as a lemon. “Ouch!” I push my back up against the lockers, feeling around the bump.

Sam quickly places his books in his locker and slams it shut. “Let’s get you to the school nurse, you need ice on that.”

This time I don’t argue. It feels like my head is going to explode.

We see the school nurse, and she immediately asks me to sit on the bed as she opens the refrigerator door and removes an ice pack.

“Here, place this on your head, honey.”

I do so immediately and then sigh in relief, already feeling much better.

Sam takes a seat beside me on the bed, smiling.

Sam and I have been friends since junior year. He’s the closest thing I have to a brother. He also lives next door to me, which is a bonus, and sometimes he scares the hell out of me when he climbs through my window into my bedroom, but I really don’t mind. I like having him around.

We watch movies together and talk until late. He also knows about the crush I have on Domenic and constantly teases me about it. I wish I could tease him back. I’ve never heard him crushing on a girl, and he’s never even had a girlfriend since I’ve known him.

At one stage, I asked him if he was gay—not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I just wanted to understand him. He assures me he’s not, so I constantly tease him about Megan now, who can never take her eyes off him when they’re anywhere near each other. Megan’s a cheerleader, also gorgeous like Sophia.

Sam says he’s not into her and has asked me to stop mentioning her name, but I just don’t get it. I mean, he’s a fit, good-looking guy with blond hair and blue eyes, and he’s on the school’s lacrosse team and regularly works out.

“How did that happen?” Sam asks, pointing to my forehead-egg.

“Oh, you know…” I say, shrugging my shoulders, “… the usual, just me being clumsy.”

“Did it have anything to do with Domenic?” he teases as he nudges me.

“I’m not going to answer that,” I reply, feeling my face go bright red.

Damn me and my blushing.

“It does, doesn’t it? What did you do? Walk into the wall because you were too busy gawking at him?”

He laughs, and I slap his arm. “No. I didn’t, you idiot.”

“Aww, come on, Chlo, don’t be mad. Come here.”

I accept his offer of a hug and lean into him as he wraps his arms around me. “I’ll look after you.”

“I know you will,” I reply, smirking.

CHLOE

Present

Looking out the plane window, my stomach dips. The green trees and forest of Vixen Falls below come into view, and my mouth suddenly feels dry. My instructions are to go to my hotel, settle in, and then first thing tomorrow, I will meet with Tom, Director ofSleek Sports magazine, to discuss the photo shoot. I hadn’t even had a chance to call my parents and let them know I was coming home. I knew they’d insist on me staying with them, but I can’t. My parents’ house is a block away from Sophia’s, although I’m not sure whether or not she’s still living there.

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