Chapter 2

The summer days blurred into a routine of SAT prep books and old textbooks.

My friends, Mark and Dave, were baffled.

"Dude, what happened to you?" Mark asked, poking his head into my room. "The new Call of Duty just dropped."

"Studying," I said, not looking up from a calculus problem.

"Studying? In July? Are you sick?" Dave chimed in from the doorway.

I just shrugged. They wouldn't understand the ghost of a sixty-something man driving me.

My father, Mr. Walker, was equally perplexed, but pleased.

"Glad to see you're finally taking things seriously, son," he said one evening at dinner. "Good grades, good college, that's the ticket."

I nodded, focusing on my mashed potatoes. If he only knew my real motivation.

A few weeks before school was due to start, Dad dropped the bomb.

"The Hayes family is coming over for dinner next Saturday," he announced, folding his newspaper.

My fork clattered onto my plate.

The Hayes family. Real estate tycoons. Powerful. And Sophia's parents.

"They're looking to discuss some business, potential partnerships," Dad continued, oblivious to the cold dread gripping me. "And, well, they're keen on our families getting to know each other better. A closer family connection, you could say."

Closer family connection. I knew exactly what that meant.

Sophia.

She was coming.

The architect of my past misery, or at least, the face of it.

My first instinct was to run, to feign illness, to disappear.

But then, a new thought sparked.

Avoidance wasn't enough. I needed to make it clear, unequivocally, that I was not interested.

Not now, not ever.

If they wanted to push this, I'd push back.

I decided to act obnoxiously. So obnoxiously that Sophia, and her parents, would want nothing to do with me.

A small, bitter smile touched my lips. This might actually be fun.