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Didn’t matter. I’ve always liked Beck, even if he is a little more closed off than the rest of us. I like him a lot.

“All right then. I guess I’m yours,” I declare.

He lets go of my hand and then takes off, running back toward the starting line. “You might be mine, but I’m still not gonna let you beat me!”

I lose the next race, but it doesn’t bother me at all because I’m still floating in my thoughts from that kiss.

Later that night, I walk into my room after my shower to see a pink peony from my mom’s garden sitting on top of my bed with a little piece of paper folded in half. I pick it up and open it to see a short note.

Charlie,

Someday, I’m gonna make you mine for real reals. Then you’ll officially be mine to kiss whenever I want.

Yours always,

Beck

After that day, things were different between us. We gravitated toward each other even more whenever we were together. I fell in love with Beckham Linson. It stayed that way until the beginning of our senior year of high school, when everything changed.

CHAPTERONE

CHARLIE

PRESENT DAY —TEN YEARS LATER

“Charlie!”my mother calls from the bottom of the stairs. “Are you about ready to go?”

I zip up my duffel bag and look around my childhood bedroom and sigh.

From the time I was a little girl, my parents always talked about Casey and me attending Walker University. He and I had big ideas about what we wanted to be when we grew up, and we thought we could fulfill those aspirations at Walker. Granted, itwaswhere our parents had met and gone to school.

When we were little, I wanted to be a waitress while Casey wanted to be a professional football player. He’s had a football in his hands since the day he was born. However, my plan of becoming a waitress quickly died. I tried it in high school, and let’s just say, it didnotlive up to my expectations. Casey’s dream, well, he’s still living it—or he’s on his way by playing football at the college level.

Casey went on to become a Walker University legacy. I, however, strayed from the family plan and went to another school.

I followed my friend Britney Stevens to Chandler State University. We had been close since middle school. Once I had gotten boobs and started to get noticed by boys other than Beck, she’d wanted to hang out. So, when we reached our senior year, she literally begged me to go to State with her, saying how great our college years would be together. It took a lot of coaxing, but I eventually caved, especially since my entire life had imploded that year.

Unfortunately, my freshman year of college at Chandler State University didn’t turn out exactly the way I had planned.

Britney and I decided to room together, and to say things were tense from the beginning would be an understatement. For someone who was so adamant that I not go to Walker, it was as if once I was at State, she didn’t have a use for me anymore. She quickly found a group of friends and often left me behind. I tried to settle in and even joined a sorority and dated a frat guy, Tony Pastorelli, for a while. I made some friends and did okay on my own for the first time in my life. Still, it never felt right.

Britney and I had a falling-out at the end of our freshman year, details of which I try not to think about, and it firmly solidified my decision to transfer. Her manipulation and her mind games were just too much for me to handle—which, looking back, I hadn’t recognized in high school, but it’d become blatantly obvious in college. And I resented her for making me choose between her and my brother and my intention to go to Walker.

My family couldn’t understand why I’d chosen to go to college with Brit instead of my brother. And even though he didn’t say it, I knew Casey was disheartened that I wasn’t going to be with him. It was the first time we would be separated for really any period of time. Sure, we’d each gone to sleepovers, and he’d gone off to football camp, but we’d never actually lived apart. I missed him terribly. I did visit him a few times, but it was too hard for me to be around Beck. When it got really bad with Britney and I broke up with Tony, I spent a lot of weekends at home.

So, this year, I’m transferring to Walker, and I can’t wait to start this new chapter and be there to support my brother. Casey is a wide receiver and has worked really hard to make the starting lineup this season.

With one last look around my room and one final count of three switches of the light on my desk, I grab my bag and head down the stairs.

“Casey is waiting outside for you,” Mom says as I round the landing.

“I still think it’s unfair that we have to share the truck,” I huff.

“Honey, he’s right around the corner from you. I’m sure if you need the truck, you can grab it.” She wraps her arm around mine when I reach her at the bottom of the stairs.

Casey lives in a house off campus with some of the other players on the team. She’s right; it’s not that far from the house I’ll be living in. And luckily, the Walker campus is easy to walk around even though it’s big. But still, that means I have to go over to his house and potentially run into Beck. Which is really the bigger problem.

My dad is waiting near the door. As we walk up to him, he reaches out to grab my duffel from my hand, and Mom lets go of my arm.