Buried secrets, two girls with the same face, and a boy who loved too much.
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When Travis and Nicole meet on a bus for the first time, he thinks she's his ex, Rachel, who broke his heart two years ago. But he doesn't understand why she's pretendin...
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RELAX.
That was the word I told myself, letting out a puff of patient air through my nostrils. The red face of Dylan's girlfriend sharpened into focus. Her dark eyes glared saucers at me, lips twisted into a thin line of disapproval. She was so angry, and the unsettling part was how the anger was directed at me.
What did I do?
All I did was accept to go on a date with a boy from my chemistry class.
I glared hard at the said boy. He squirmed in his seat, avoiding my eyes.
For the past few weeks, I hadn't failed to notice the way Dylan seemed to have stars in his eyes whenever I entered class. He would watch me from his seat throughout the period, a soft smile on his face.
At lunch, he would intentionally pass by my table and give me a soft glance. Every single day. It didn't go unnoticed by my friends. Especially Merlinda. She was the most excited about this new turn of events.
After she found the love of her life a year ago, Merlinda had made it her mission to pair the rest of us, her single babies, with our nonexistent soulmates. She said love was beautiful and she couldn't wait for us to find the one.
So when Dylan looked at me with puppy eyes every day, she finally found something to sink her teeth into.
"He's so whipped," she'd said dreamily as she stabbed her salad with a fork. I didn't need to look to know she was looking at and talking about Dylan.
"In your book of true love, any guy who looks in our direction is whipped." Marilyn scoffed. "Wanna know who was actually whipped for our sins? It's-"
"Jesus, yeah, we know," Jahdiel said softly, but her gaze as she eyed Marilyn's cross necklace was wary.
Marilyn never failed to remind us of God's undying love, a weird mix with how Merlinda was always trying to remind us of a man's love.
Absentmindedly, Marilyn fingered the cross that hung from her neck, turning it here and there in between her thumb and index fingers. Her mind was probably wandering through the epistles.
"Seriously, you should give him a chance." Merlinda turned a serious face in my direction. "He's cute."
Yeah, in an adorable, golden boyish way. Dirty blond curls, caramel eyes. His smile was innocent yet charming, and his blush was kinda adorable. He really was good-looking.
I tossed around the idea of dating in my head for a while, then decided, why not? I haven't had a boyfriend since forever, and I only had my first and only kiss last year at Merlinda's eighteenth birthday party. He was my little crush, Colin, whom I enjoyed making out with very, very much.
It was rather unfortunate for me that he only had eyes for Marilyn, who wasn't even aware.
So I'd said yes to Dylan when he finally had the courage to ask me out one afternoon after class.
