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“Hello and welcome to the first episode of True Love, Lincoln High’s first-ever dating competition. I’m your host, Angus Fable.” He was standing near the pool in Cole’s back garden with all the fairy lights glinting in the background. I was surprised by how professional it looked. At least, I didn’t want to tear my eyes out, but that was probably because I didn’t have to look at Cole.

“Ten contestants will be vying for the heart of our bachelor, Cole Kingston,” Angus explained as he grinned down the lens at the audience. There was an excited gleam in his eye, like he couldn’t wait for us to watch it unfold. “Each week you, the viewer, will be able to vote for the contestant you most want to stay.” The camera narrowed on his face before he continued. “Voting is simple. One vote costs $1 and all proceeds will be going toward the wildfire relief appeal. This is for a really great cause folks, so don’t forget to vote. Now, without further delay, let’s meet our contestants.”

I gasped when my face suddenly appeared on the screen, and I immediately slammed the lid of my laptop shut. I’d already seen more than enough, and I couldn’t bring myself to watch the embarrassing footage I knew was coming. Boycotting the rest of the episode was more an act of self-preservation than anything else.

My phone rang as I stood up from my desk and Hayley’s bright smile lit up the screen.

“You fell in the pool?” Hayley squealed down the line as I accepted the call. Unlike me, she must have been watching the show since the moment it went live. In the time I’d delayed, she’d managed to watch the whole thing.

I let out a breath. “Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing.”

“Are you kidding me?” she replied. “That was the hottest five minutes of T.V. I’ve ever seen!”

“Ha, ha, very funny.”

“I’m not joking. You and Cole are electric together.”

“Sure we are.”

“Don’t give me the attitude, Madi. Everyone can see the mad sexual tension between you two.”

My face screwed up at her comment. “Hayley, you’ve got to stop saying that. That’s not tension you’re seeing. It’s mutual dislike.”

I could almost sense her smiling on the other end. “So it was hate-kissing that we nearly saw tonight.”

I started pretending to gag, causing her to laugh. “I’m joking, I’m joking,” she said. “But seriously, you shouldn’t be embarrassed by the date. Even when you fell in the pool, you looked gorgeous.”

I sighed sadly on the other end of the phone. I didn’t care about how I looked after falling in the pool, but Hayley wouldn’t understand that. “Thanks, Hayles,” was all I replied.

“So, give me all the dirt on what happened behind the scenes,” she said. “Did Laurie really think eating that marshmallow off Cole’s stick was hot?”

I laughed. I’d almost forgotten about that. The episode might have been worth watching just to see that awkward moment again. The second I’d seen it happening on Friday, I’d distracted myself as quickly as possible with my own roasted marshmallow. The pool incident was embarrassing, but Laurie’s exhibition had been mortifying to watch.

“I don’t know what she was thinking,” I replied.

“Cole looked like Bambi caught in the headlights, and Evan’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. If that boy’s ever had any curiosity about being straight, I think Laurie just cured him of it.”

I hadn’t seen the boys’ reactions, but Hayley’s description made me smile. Something inside me warmed at the fact that Cole didn’t appear to have been into Laurie’s display. The way she was always throwing herself at him, I would have thought her marshmallow-eating skills were right up his alley.

“The film club did a good job,” Hayley continued. “I thought it was just going to be all romance, but they caught so much more than that. I nearly died with laughter when they showed Brooke and Laurie talking after you’d fallen in the pool.”

“Why, what did they say?” I asked.

“Laurie said she wished she’d thought of falling into the pool and Brooke muttered that she’d be more than willing to push her in.”

I laughed. I was tempted to watch the episode after hearing that. “I always thought Brooke just agreed with everything Laurie said.”

“Ha! You’ve clearly never seen the two of them at cheerleading practice,” Hayley replied.

“Clearly.”

The sound of my mom calling my name drifted up the stairs and into my room. I let out a sigh. “Mom’s calling me, I better go.”

“You think she watched the episode?” Hayley asked.

“It’s all she’s talked about all weekend. There’s no way she missed it,” I replied. “She probably wants to analyze every minute of it.” My nose crinkled at the thought. Could this whole experience get any worse?

“Good luck,” Hayley chimed.