UNSTEADY 🅰️ LUCAS GOTTESMAN [book one]

THE PERFECT STORM

...

THUNDER echoed from beyond the window of the Hastings kitchen, and Haley found herself lost in thought as she stared out at the stormy night. She was supposed to be studying for the SAT's with her friends, but she couldn't seem to focus. Not with Darren blowing up her phone.

"God. How many words do they expect you to learn in one night?" Hanna grumbled, staring at the cue cards Aria held in disgust.

"Stringent?" Aria questioned.

"Uh, tough." Spencer recalled "Inflexible."

The blonde sighed "It's not like you're actually gonna use them."

"Meretricious?"

"It's not like you go to college and then... you start speaking a different language."

"It's about getting into college." Spencer rolled her eyes at the youngest Marin girl before looking to Aria "Can you repeat the word?"

"Meretricious."

"Um... Phony, flashy."

Aria nodded before looking to the next "Besotted."

"Infatuated, enamored, in love with."

Hanna looked towards her sister who stared down at her text messages and missed calls  "I think Haley is besotted with her cell."

The elder Marin blinked, lifting her head "W-what?"

"Study now. Text later." Spencer grabbed the girls phone, setting it face down across the kitchen island just as it began to ring. Haley exhaled slightly in relief knowing the Hastings girl didn't see the name flashing on the screen, but she couldn't avoid Detective Wilden forever.
...

THE storm didn't let up the next morning even as Veronica gave her daughter and her friends a ride to school. Haley figured Mother Nature felt the same way about the SAT!s as she did.

"You don't have to come inside." Spencer told her mother as they followed the brunette through the halls "If it were canceled, nobody would be here."

But Veronica wasn't listening. She spotted the exam proctor and tapped her on the shoulder "Oh. Excuse me. Hi. Are they going to give this test today?"

"Decision hasn't been made yet."

As Veronica followed after the woman for further questioning, Spencer let out a chuckle as she dropped her coat into her locker. Aria glanced down the hall before raising an eyebrow at the Hasting's girl "You didn't say Alex was taking the test here, too."