Chapter 1

Riley's POV

"Where should we go for the first stop on our senior trip?"

Theo Bowen turned his laptop toward us. A carefully prepared voting sheet was open on the screen.

I leaned closer, eager to share my ideas. "Let's go to the beach! I checked, and there's a meteor shower this weekend. We can watch the sunrise and camp on the beach."

"Sounds good." My boyfriend, Kellan Adler, leaned back on the couch, tossing a hockey puck in his hand as he nodded at me. "As long as you don't mind the cold."

My face lit up. I immediately pulled out my phone to share the beach rental I had saved earlier with the group.

"Wait." Liam Foster took out one of his earbuds and casually interrupted me. He had just finished band practice. An oversized silver chain hung around the collar of his black T-shirt.

He said, "What's so fun about the beach? You'll get sunburned, and we'll all have to get up early to watch the sunrise. I'd rather sleep until noon at the hotel."

"But we can watch the meteor shower," I said.

"Can't you see that anywhere?" He chuckled. "Riley, you don't seriously expect to drag us out of bed at 3:00 am, do you?"

I opened my mouth, but before I could answer, Theo adjusted his glasses.

"I checked the forecast. The winds will be strong at the beach on those days, so camping wouldn't be a good idea. Besides, getting there and back would take almost half a day. It's not worth the time."

As he spoke, he typed a few lines on his laptop.

"I'm against it, anyway. I'll send the voting sheet to the group chat."

When the results came in, four people had voted against it, and one had voted in favor.

I was the only one who voted yes.

I stared at the screen for a few seconds before asking, "Kellan, didn't you just say you agreed?"

Kellan caught the hockey puck in his palm and grinned without a hint of guilt.

"I said it was fine as long as you didn't mind the cold. I never said we must go."

He was my boyfriend, yet even he wouldn't support me.

"Alright. Stop dwelling on this." Liam reached over and ruffled my hair. "It's just a vacation spot. Let's move on."

I pressed my lips together and said nothing more.

Just then, Emily Burke, who was sitting beside us, spoke up.

She had transferred to our school six months earlier. When the other female students first started picking on her, I had stepped in and introduced her to my friends.

But now, she became the princess of our little group.

"Actually, there's somewhere I would like to go," she said. She held out her phone to Kellan. A photo of a sunset from a mountaintop filled the screen.

"I've always wanted to go there. I heard the whole mountain turns pink at sunset."

Kellan immediately sat up straight. "Now that's a great idea!"

He pulled out his phone and started looking up tickets for the cable car.

"There's rock climbing at the top, too. That's perfect for me. Emily, if you're scared, I can carry you on my back."

Emily gave a tight-lipped smile. "Then you'd better protect me."

"Don't worry. I've got you."

Liam leaned over as well and took her phone. "That's a nice picture. We should be able to see the stars from the mountaintop at night, too. I'll bring my guitar and sing for you."

Theo opened a new page and carefully checked the travel routes. "The last train leaves at 9:00 pm today, and there are still seats available. We can book them now."

All three of the guys got busy with their own plans. None of them asked if I wanted to go.

As I watched them bustling around, I suddenly found the whole thing rather amusing.

Just moments ago, they had argued endlessly about how my suggestion would require half a day of travel. Now, just so Emily could watch the sunset, Theo was already rearranging our plans for the next three days.

"So, it's settled?" I asked.

Emily looked at me, her voice tinged with a little hesitation.

"Riley, you don't mind, do you? If you don't want to go, we can discuss it again."

Before I could answer, Kellan frowned. "What's there for her to complain about? The majority wins. Wasn't that your idea?"

Liam chimed in with a grin, "Exactly. Riley, you've always been reasonable, right?"

Theo saved the final itinerary, his voice calm. "The vote is final. There's no need to keep discussing something that's already been decided."

I looked at them and slowly put my phone away. "It's fine. I don't mind."

Emily immediately broke into a smile. "Awesome! Then let's leave tonight!"

The three guys agreed at once.

None of them noticed that the beach rental I had saved for an entire month was still open on my phone.

A little later, I checked the messages in our travel group chat.

Kellan shared a guide to rock climbing at the mountaintop. Liam shared a few songs he planned to sing for Emily, and Theo organized all the booking links and even marked the restaurants Emily liked.

I scrolled up for a long time before finally finding the beach photo I had shared.

There was only one reply beneath it, a joking remark from Kellan.

[Stop dreaming.]

I stared at those words, and all my excitement for the trip vanished.

I had always thought that more than ten years of friendship would count for more than a transfer student like Emily, whom they had only known for a few months.

But it looked like I was wrong.