Page 7 of Sweet Temptation

Tonight might have been a disaster for my love life, but it only made me appreciate my friends more than ever. And I had a feeling I was going to need them if I wanted to survive the rest of the school year.

CHAPTERTHREE

“Wake up!”

I groaned as Anna chirped the words into my ear. My head was throbbing, my mouth felt furry and dry, and my stomach turned uneasily. I’d never had a hangover before, but I was pretty sure I was experiencing one now. It was enough to put me off alcohol for life.

As much as my body hurt though, the most visceral pain was the one in my heart. I didn’t want to be that girl. You know the one—the girl that fell hard and fast and then struggled to get over a guy. That was exactly how I felt right now. Like I would never fill the void Noah had left in my chest when he broke up with me.

I wasn’t ready to face reality just yet, and the thought of opening my eyes made me bury my head under my pillow.

Before I could smother myself, the pillow was unceremoniously ripped away from me.

“Anna,” I groaned.

“Isobel,” she replied, mimicking my tone.

I slowly blinked my eyes open so I could scowl up at her. She was already dressed for the day but not in her normal casual Sunday attire. Instead, she was wearing a floral summer dress. It wasn’t low-cut, and it actually fell below her knees, so I had to wonder if I was still dreaming.

“What are you wearing?”

Her bright face turned stormy as she glanced down at her dress. “Ugh, don’t remind me. Cress lent it to me. I didn’t have anything appropriate to wear, and she insisted I’d probably get detention if I wore my regular getup.”

I stole my pillow back out of her hands and hugged it to my chest. “Appropriate for what?”

“Please tell me you know about the garden party today.”

“Uh…”

“Seriously?” She shook her head. “Well, I guess you know now. Every year, the principal hosts a garden party the morning after the ball because a lot of the parents and alumni are still in town. It’s always torture, but seniors are expected to go.”

I let out a sigh and slowly eased myself up. My head spun at the subtle movement, and I knew I was in for a rough day. “We don’thaveto go though, right?” My head wanted nothing more than to return to the pillow it just left.

Anna shared an understanding smile with me. “Just show your face, and then you can come back here and bury yourself under the covers again. Cress has gone to get us coffees, so hopefully that will help.”

I’d probably need a whole lot more than coffee to get through today, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Anna’s expression softened slightly before she continued. “How do you feel today?”

I knew she was asking about Noah rather than my hangover, and my heart clenched painfully at the thought of him. My pounding head might be bad, but it didn’t compare to how hard it was to think about last night.

“It feels like it didn’t really happen,” I said. “Like I experienced some terrible nightmare.” I shook my head. “I don’t want to think about it.”

“Well, if there’s one benefit to being dragged to an early-morning garden party, it’s that you’ll hopefully be distracted.”

Unless, of course, Noah was there. Despite my warring feelings about whether I wanted to see him again, I’d decided it was a blessing I hadn’t bumped into him at the after-party last night. The thought of seeing him again today caused all the same uncertainty to flow through me once again.

“So, jump in the shower,” Anna said. “Cress will be back with coffee soon, and then we need to get going.”

I understood why Cress had gone to get the coffees and left Anna to wake me up. Anna didn’t look like she’d take no for an answer, and I didn’t have it in me to try to convince her otherwise.

I let out a sigh and nodded. “Okay, fine. I’ll be quick.”

“That’s my girl.”

There were so many reasons for me not to go to the event, but as I got out of bed, I began to think of one that might make it worthwhile: Matthew might be there.

It was the first time I’d ever found myself actually wanting to see my father, but we had a lot to discuss. Before Noah had brought my entire evening crashing down, my father had opened up to me about his past relationship with my mom. After thinking he’d wanted nothing to do with me my whole life, I now knew he hadn’t known I even existed. His parents had prevented news of my birth from getting to him and tried to pay off my mom.

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