Page 17 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

“What?” I said.

“Tristan Castrone?” Arden said. “Captain of the football team, reigning overlord of the pops? That Tristan?”

“The pops?” I said with a tilt of my head.

“Yeah, come on, Aria, keep up.” Arden shifted her weight and turned me to face her fully as if she was about to give me the most important information of my life. “In terms of hierarchy, Tristan, Ceradi, Milton, Josh, Capito…” She hesitated for a beat. “…Hannah, they’re the popular kids at this school. They’re the top tier and they do not socialize below their station. I call them the ‘Pops,’ short for popular—duh. Anyway, most of the school’s students are in the middle, but anyone who attends anything inthatwing,” she pointed towards the academic club wing of the school, “are the losers.” She flipped her thumb between the two of us. “We’re losers, they’re Pops, and Pops don’t like us losers. Did you buy an invitation or something?”

The dynamic that Arden was explaining sounded so much like my old school, it was terrifying. The thing was, at least from the first week of school, it didn’t seem like things were all that bad, and for all the horrible things the popular kids at my old school had done to me, I just couldn’t see Tristan being that guy. Even his friend Hannah, although a little icy, didn’t seem that cruel. Was there really a whole layer I was missing?

“No, I didn’t buy an invite, he invited me. We’re actually childhood friends,” I said.

Arden’s eyes widened. “Wait… really?” She seemed surprised, but not in the way I was expecting, more of like a planar shift had taken place. “You and Tristan?”

“Y-yeah?” I said apprehensively. “We lived in the same neighborhood growing up. I kind of looked out for him, because believe you me, he wasnotthat bulky as a kid. We were really close. Then his dad got remarried and they moved away. I assumed they moved far, like out of state, but I show up here for my senior year, and here he is. We’re getting along really well, and he invited me to his birthday party tomorrow.”

Arden slowly started walking again and I kept pace with her. “Well, okay, but be careful. You’ll find that deep ties don’t matter much to these guys.”

It sounded like she was speaking from experience so I asked, “Something that happened to you?”

“That girl Hannah. I have pictures of the two of us in diapers. We are, quite literally, generational. Our mothers were best friends, their mothers were best friends. I still see her mom often. Always asking whatever happened between Hannah and me. It’s not like I can say, ‘Oh, well, your late-blooming daughter grew some boobs and had her braces removed, which were two of the criteria for becoming a cosmicbitch,’ so I just say we grew up and grew apart.” She sighed. “I picked lice outta that girl’s hair and now she won’t even look at me. It was kind of Tristan that started the whole thing actually.”

My heart skipped a beat then. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you know, she got all hot so he asked her out. I kept trying to hang with her, but they were dating, so she always ran off with him. The most irritating part was that they only dated for like two weeks. Our entire, 15 years of friendship got flushed down the drain for him to get interested and bored with her in two weeks. Terrible.”

“Wow,” I grumbled. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Hearing Arden telling it like thatdidmake me a little nervous. I wanted to believe in Tristan, that he would never do that kind of thing to me, but if it happened with Hannah, one of the most beautiful girls in the entire school, whywouldn’the do it to me?

But then I shook my head.

No. Tristan was a good guy, and he’d been just as excited to reconnect with me as I was with him. If he was as vapid as Arden was making it seem, he never would have invited me to his party. In fact, he’d already remained friendly with me even with his friends around. We had a ton of history. Everything would be fine. I believed that Tristan would treat me much better than that, and if he really was starting to fall in line with the asshole popular kids, I could help him work through that too.

“No offense, but I don’t think it’ll be the same with Tristan and me, though. I mean for as much as kids our age don’t really think about love or anything like that, when Tristan and I were together back then, I remember thinking that I hoped we could stay that way forever. He approached me when he saw me, not the other way around. I didn’t even recognize him at first. I think it’ll be okay.”

Arden shrugged. “For your sake, I hope so. But hey,” she nudged me playfully, “if it goes horribly wrong and you need to just get drunk and make out with a friend, I’m here for you.”

“Gee thanks,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Arden held out her hands on either side of herself. “Hey. Don’t blame a girl for trying. It’s your fault for being so stunning, but I’ll get used to it eventually. Maybe.”

“I really don’t think I’m all that special,” I said. “I mean that Hannah girl is way prettier than me.”

“Yeah, okay,” Arden said with a scoff. “I bet she’s better at debating and also works for a homeless shelter.” She shook her head. “God I hate it when beautiful people don’t know they’re beautiful.” Just as we were entering the parking garage, one of the other debate club members, Devario, was walking by. Arden snagged his arm and said, “D. Please tell this woman she’s a knockout. She doesn’t believe me.”

“Oh, I get it,” Devario replied. “It’s like that thing where supermodels tell normal people that with a little effort, they can be just as beautiful.”

Arden fell out laughing. “Exactly.”

“I really don’t see what you guys see,” I said.

“Attractive people never do,” Devario said. “In fact,” he yanked his arm away from Arden, “let me go before I embarrass myself. I never do well with beautiful women.”

Arden held up her hands as he walked away. “You do fine with me!”

“I said what I said,” he called back.

I cupped my hands over my mouth to stifle a laugh as Arden flipped him off. It was all in good fun anyway. Though her look was a little eclectic, Arden was really gorgeous too, but she didn’t seem like the kind of woman who liked people lauding about it, so I couldn’t return her gracious favors.

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