6

I was done being the girl in love with her best friend. It was exhausting.

My entire life, I’d been his best friend, his confidante, his partner in crime… but I’d never been his girl.

I’d never been the girl he looked at and wanted to kiss or touch or love.

Jesus, I needed to get a grip.

Senior year had made everything more intense somehow though. Aaron had cheerleaders hanging off him at every turn. He was hot property. The guy all the girls wanted a piece of.

That hadn’t been a big surprise. Aaron was gorgeous. Tall, dark, and handsome, he had his father’s piercing blue eyes, a tanned complexion thanks to his mom’s Latina roots, and some new ink that gave him that bad boy edge.

What was surprising was the way Aaron ate up the attention. The first time I’d seen him in the cafeteria with Zara Willis—head cheerleader and vapid mean girl—draped all over him, I’d thought I was seeing things.

Aaron had the attention of most of the girls in our class. Of course he wasn’t going to ever noti