Page 3 of Entangled

She grabs my hand. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Squeezing her back, I reply, “I wish I could do more.”

We slow at a stop light and Chloe switches on the radio before tucking her long hair behind her ears. She’s the spitting image of her mom, with the same almond-colored eyes, hazel hair and upturned nose. She always says she wishes she had honey-blonde hair like me. It makes no sense. I would love to have her hair color. I suppose we always want what we don’t have.

Dylan waits for us as we arrive at school. We’ve barely exited the car when he pulls her in for a kiss. They’ve been together since they were fourteen, and it’s a sweet relationship, but it’s also an intense one. They’re rarely apart, and Dylan is possessive. The girls at school swoon over him with his blonde, tousled hair and dimples. I don’t know what it is about girls and their attraction to alphaholes.

“Willow, Willow, Willow,” Dylan says in greeting because he knows it gets on my nerves.

“Dylan, Dylan, Dylan,” I reply, pushing the car door shut and walking ahead.

Chloe giggles behind me, and it’s all I can do not to roll my eyes. “Are you coming to the party tonight, Willow?” Dylan asks.

Winking at me, Chloe replies, “I’m not giving her a choice.”

My heart softens. I would do anything to help Chloe keep her focus off her mother today. I know how hard this day is for her, and the last thing I want is for her to be alone. If she wants to drag me to a party, I’ll put my antisocial tendencies aside for one night and suffer through it. I’ll sit in a corner and pretend I’m blind to the drunk girls dancing on the tables and the boys doing a keg stand in the kitchen. I’ll even pretend I’m having a good time. I can be an amazing actress when I want to be.

I smile at Dylan over my shoulder. “I’ll be there.”

“You know,” he starts, walking ahead to open the door for us, “my friend, Luca, has the hots for you. I can introduce you to him.”

I raise my brow but don’t reply as I step into the crowded hallway. I’m not interested in his friends. They’re all the same: fucking random girls and spending their free time riding their skateboards down at the park.

“Luca is nice,” Chloe says to me as we make our way to our lockers.

“If you’re into boys like that, sure,” I reply drily, sidestepping a football player. Why are they all built like tanks?

We reach the lockers, and Chloe leans her shoulder against hers, studying me. “What’s your type? We’re seventeen, and you’ve never dated anyone.”

Shrugging, I input my combination. “I don’t think I have a type. The boys here bore me, that’s all.”

“You won’t give anyone a chance.” She opens her locker. “If you let Luca take you out, he might surprise you.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” She shuts her locker, zips up her bag, and shoulders it. “Maybe you have more in common than you think.”

I humor her because the eagerness in her eyes is cute. “Like what?”

“Maybe you both like popcorn? Or maybe you both have an affinity for true crime? Maybe he’s really funny?”

“Funny?” I shut my locker too, shouldering my bag. “Nowthatwould be a surprise.”

“You love that show… What’s it called? Where they’re stranded on an island?”

“Lost?”

“That’s the one,” she says as we start walking toward the classroom. “Maybe he likes it too?”

“Or maybe he doesn’t.”

“You won’t know that unless you let him take you out.” With a mischievous smile, she nudges my elbow, and I find myself chuckling.

“You’re very adamant that I should give him a chance.”

Pausing outside the classroom, she shrugs her shoulders. “I think you’ll have a good time.”

I reach up and flick her long ponytail. “I’m holding you personally responsible when I have the worst time of my life. You know, at the end of the night, when he tries to kiss me in his car, and we end up bumping noses instead? Yeah, you’ll never hear the end of it. We’ll turn thirty, and I’ll still complain about that one time I let you talk me into going on a date with Luca.”

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