Pepper never meant to lose her best friend. Lucas never meant to fall in love.
Yet the aftermath of broken hearts leads them to blur the lines of their friendship forever. When Pepper is dumped by her boyfriend and Lucas is led on by his crush, they...
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LUCAS MIGHT NOT LIKE THIS ONE. I pull the end of my pen from between my lips and circle another problem to take for myself. Though I don't have to work on this part of the project so soon, getting as much of a head start as I can is just about my only distraction. That and staying after school to play soccer with my friends. Anything to fill the void where Pepper once was.
Scanning the syllabus, I come across another complicated problem, this one with a three-part formula. Lucas would really hate this one. I circle it for myself and sigh.
Math is far from my favorite subject, but my parents made sure that I was better than average at it. In fact, they made sure I excelled in any and everything since I started going to school. As the ideal future manager of their business, anything less than perfection is unacceptable.
The garage door churns and my parent's disembodied voices sound in the distance. A moment later, they're shuffling in the kitchen with groceries and rambling to each other in Korean. At home, that's the only thing we're allowed to speak. They told me it was something about not forgetting my roots, though every time they claim that, I remind them that they exchanged my Korean name for an English one back when I was in kindergarten.
Pushing my homework across the dining table, I go into the kitchen and decide to help them unload. "What's all this for?" I ask, pulling a head of lettuce out of a bag and stuffing it in the fridge next to the yogurts and to-go snacks. "I thought you guys already went shopping."
Mom scoffs at my choice of placement and comes behind me to put the lettuce on another shelf. "We have a dinner with the Young's this Wednesday," she says casually. "They're coming over."
I freeze and look between my parents as they shuffle around me and place dinner items away. "What? What do you mean dinner? Why are we having dinner with them?"
"It was Pepper's idea." Dad throws me a sympathetic look over his shoulder as he puts a jar of sauce in a cabinet. "I'm guessing she's taking the breakup well? It would be nice to take the opportunity to explain our situation, so we accepted."
Mom nods and leans on the counter by his side. "We just want to apologize to them and let them know that there are no hard feelings about our decision. We just have a select idea for our son's future."
"A future I never agreed with," I say with more attitude than intended. I immediately cringe in regret. Though I've decided to go against my family's traditions, I can't risk becoming too vocal until after I turn eighteen. If I can change their views before then, then no one gets hurt.
Dad's dark eyes narrow on me and he folds his thick arms over his chest. "We've already been through this, Mason."
"I know, I know." I toss my hands up. "Doesn't mean I like or agree with it. I loved Pepper and you guys are forcing me to see other girls because they're Korean."
