Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

“Let the birthday boy spin!”

“Spin it, Mark!”

Everyone sat on the bare floor, forming a circle. Girls facing boys.

“Okay guys… this is it,” Mark said.

“Shut up and spin!” everyone shouted.

I watched the bottle roll for a while until it slowed down… then stopped. Pointing at me and Jaxon.

“…Her?” someone asked.

“Who even let her join?” another voice added.

I ignored all of it because… holy shit, I get to kiss Jaxon for real. I’ve dreamt of a moment like this. It starts with a kiss, then we start talking, then dating, then one day we get married. Yeah. My thoughts went far.

“No. I’m not doing this,” that was Jaxon.

And just like that, I came back to reality. 

He was literally yelling at Mark, his best friend, blaming him for adding me to the game.

“How do you expect me to kiss her?” he said it like I was some kind of dirt. I didn’t othink he would say that.

“Stop it, Jaxon,” Mark said.

“Come on, Mark. She looks like a mistake. Messy hair, always wearing retainers, those ugly glasses… acne… she’s ugly as fuck. I don’t think I can do it.”

“It’s just a kiss, Jaxon.”

“Well then you do it. I mean, since it's just a kiss. What if my tongue gets stuck in her retainers?”

Everyone laughed till I couldn't hold it anymore, tears just came. It was… painful.

“That’s it!” Chloe snapped. “You can talk to anyone like that, but not my best friend. How would you feel if someone said that to you?”

“He doesn’t mean it, Chloe,” Mark tried to calm her down.

She walked over to Jaxon and pushed him. “Let’s get out of here, Maya.” She reached for my hand.

I stood up too fast. I forgot I had put my glasses down earlier when I started crying and I stepped on them.

God… I looked like a joke. Even to myself. 

No one stopped laughing. Chloe picked up my broken glasses and turned to them.

“FUCK Y’ALL!”

Then she dragged me out. She was everything to me.

And that was the day my suffering started.

***

CHAPTER 1

Hey, I’m Maya. Well… that’s what people call me anyways. My name is Amaya Nakamura. And yes, kids do make fun of my last name.

Speaking of that, kids are mean. And I mean actually horrible.

“Maya, oite-oide. Asa-gohan dekiteru wa yo.”

That’s my mom. She’s calling me down for breakfast. Did I forget to mention? I’m half Japanese and half Canadian.

“Coming!” I shouted.

“Hey Mom, breakfast was amazing as usual.”

“MAYA, don’t forget your backpack.”

I paused. “Oh... I almost forgot. Love you, Mom.”

“Love you too.”

I ran off to Dad’s car. I was scared of driving. But we’ll get there. Dad dropped me off at school and I hurried in because I thought I was late. I walked to my locker, already getting ready for first class. And that’s when she passed… Chloe. My ex-best friend.

We didn’t look at each other. We stopped being friends after she started dating Jaxon Reid.

Yeah… that Jaxon. After the party, Jaxon went to Chloe, acting like he felt bad. She told him to apologize to me. He told her he did, but he didn't. And somehow… she believed him over me.

They started talking that same summer. By 9th grade, they made it official. She didn’t even tell me. We were arguing and she just went, “Maya, if you hate Jaxon that much, then you should hate me too. Because I’m dating him.”

That was it. Everything ended.

I adjusted my bag and shut my locker. I hurried to first period, but when I got there, the teacher wasn't in. It was the Principal. “Mrs. Higgins is out sick, he said. Please report to the study hall or library,” then he walked out.

“No teacher, yay!” a guy at the back shouted, throwing his hands up.

But for me, no teacher meant no supervision. I tried to find a seat in the corner of the room, but as I walked past a group of boys, a crumpled piece of paper hit me.

“Hey, Pizza Face! You got a delivery for us?” One of them jeered.

I kept my head down, but then a girl "accidentally" tripped while holding a sticky, half-finished soda. The cold liquid drenched my shirt, turning the white fabric transparent and staining it a murky brown.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” she said, though her voice was dripping with mockery. Her friends giggled behind their hands.

I couldn't take it. I turned and ran out of the class, my vision blurring with fresh tears. I sprinted toward the girl's bathroom, the one at the very end of the hall that usually stayed empty. I burst inside, leaned against the cold tiles, and let out a sob that felt like it had been stuck in my throat for years.

“It’s not that bad, you know.”

I jumped, spinning around. A girl named Jess was standing there, having just stepped out of a cubicle. She wasn't one of the popular girls, I've never seen her.

“I heard you,” Jess said softly. She walked toward the sink and pulled something out of her pocket. It looked like a phone, but the screen was glowing.“Here, take this.”

“What is it?” I wiped my eyes, looking at the device.

“A way out,” Jess whispered. “Make a wish, Maya. A real one.”

I was about to ask her how she knew my name or what she meant when the bathroom door swung open.

Chloe walked in, looking like a million bucks in a floral dress that fit her perfectly. She stopped, looking at me, then at the empty space next to me.

“Who are you talking to?” Chloe asked, her brow furrowing.

“Her,” I said, pointing to Jess.

I turned back, but the space was empty. Jess was gone. There wasn't even the sound of a door closing.

“There’s no one there, Maya,” Chloe said, rolling her eyes. “Mind your business,” I snapped back.

“Whatever, weirdo,” Chloe whispered as she brushed past me to enter a cubicle.

I looked at her in the mirror before she disappeared. Her perfect blonde hair, her clear skin, she never had to wear thick glasses or hide behind layers of concealer. She was everything I wasn't.

I looked down at the device and without thinking, I whispered, “I wish I was Chloe.”

Suddenly, the device slipped from my wet fingers and splashed into the sink, which was half-full of water from the leaky faucet. 

“No!” I yelped, grabbing it out and frantically wiping it on my shirt. It buzzed once, a deep vibration that felt like an electric shock through my arm.

The screen went black.

I tucked it into my bag, then pulled out my phone and called my mom. “Mom? Can you come pick me up? I… I don’t feel well.”