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And I didn’t mind being boring because I was a simple girl.

But then boys like Landon didn’t like simple, boring girls, did they?

Watching him today was a mistake—it only made my longing more intense.

That night, a different idea popped into my head.

One that could either work wonders or go down south.

I knew that Landon wouldn’t like a girl like me, so what if I became her?

What if I became the girl worthy of him instead?

Staring at my discarded yarn ball, I decided then and there that my summer was going to be so much different from the sweater I planned to knit.

I was going to become a version of Katy Evans who didn’t have to hide and feel insecure for who she was. Instead, she was goingto wear fake skin and learn to be like those cool, popular girls that she was jealous of.

Maybe then she could be his equal.

CHAPTER 5

LAN

I only joined the band because of her.

And I would’ve regretted that decision if it wasn’t for how much I enjoyed playing music with the guys.

Because she disappeared the entire summer.

Vanished into thin air like she didn’t even exist.

We practiced almost every day at hers and her twin soon became my best friend, but in all that time, I never even caught a glimpse of her.

In passing conversations, her mother and brother would mention she was in her room. I even heard her speak to them from her door, but she never came out.

It was almost as if she was deliberately avoiding me.

Only a thin curtain separated us and I kept glancing at the red embroidery on her lace blue curtain every night, like she would magically open it and grace me with her beautiful green eyes.

It’d been two months since I last saw her. Summer was coming to an end, and tomorrow, I knew I would be seeing her since it was the first day of freshman year. And that wasn’t something she could miss, right?

I hoped we would even get put in the same class.

“Are you going to the party with your lousy friends?” Serena asked, cocking her hip against my doorframe.

“They are not lousy and yes, I’ll be joining them in a few.” I frowned at the thin line that formed over her lips. She didn’t keep her hatred a secret. She hated the fact that I joined a band.

When I met Ser a few years ago, she suggested we could be recital partners. I had always wanted to be a concert pianist; that was my true dream, so I agreed but never promised her anything. Ser was a brilliant violinist and a good friend, but she held it over my head that I was part of the band now.

“I just don’t understand why you would leave me for them!” she snapped, gritting her teeth.

I sighed. “I never left anyone for anyone, Ser. My plans changed, that’s all. But I gotta go now,” I mumbled, grabbing my leather jacket. I was going to be early but who cared? I just didn’t want to linger for Ser’s wrath any longer.

I pressed a kiss on her forehead before I rushed out, not waiting for an answer.

Only the sound of my boots slapping on the sidewalk echoed through the night. It was a lone, cold night now that summer was blending in with fall.

“Landon,” a sweet, familiar voice called out to me just as I rounded the edge of the street. It was followed by the heavy thud of footsteps approaching me.