Page 2 of I Would Stay Forever (Parkhurst Prep #2)

two

Moving halfway across the world at twelve years old wasn’t exactly an easy transition for me. It was a million changes at once. All the worst parts of a normal move—new house, new school, new friends—combined with the culture shock of living in Canada.

But perhaps the most bizarre transition of all was learning that, for whatever reason, the girls here found my brother… hot . And unfortunately, he had the idiotic sense to pick the worst girl of them all to start dating.

I was walking onto the driveway when I spotted Tiffany, AKA the devil incarnate.

She was standing at our front door, hands on her hips in a way that made it clear she was annoyed (but what else was new?).

At first, I thought the door was open and she was arguing with Sebastian (again, nothing new), but as I got closer, I realized it was closed, and she was alternating between slamming her first against it and just standing there, waiting for someone to answer.

I paused at the bottom of the porch steps, chewing on my lip as I considered what I should do.

We had a side door that I might be able to reach without her noticing me, but it was almost impossible to open—you had to push down on the doorknob and then kick the bottom corner twice and pray for the best. But maybe that was preferable to walking past Tiffany.

I stepped back to do that, but I waited too long, because she spun around at that moment.

She was scowling, but when she spotted me standing there, she plastered on the biggest fake smile that I’d ever seen.

I did my best not to judge my brother’s girlfriend out of respect for him, but the girl made it hard.

She was so obviously two-faced, trying to suck up to us so we would tell Sebastian to stay with her.

After she broke up with him for the third time, she cornered me at school and asked me to talk him into taking her back.

Since they obviously weren’t together at the time, and I was hoping it would stay that way, I’d told her to screw off.

Unfortunately, the breakup only lasted two more days, and I’d learned that I should always assume they would get back together eventually.

“Lav!” Tiffany said in a sickly sweet tone.

I’d never given her permission to call me Lav —a nickname that reminded me way too much of lavatory—but she never listened to my corrections.

She insisted that all the cheerleaders went by nicknames (“you should call me Tiff!” she announced the first time I met her), so she couldn’t possibly call me Lavender.

I certainly wasn’t going to offer up my childhood nickname of Lovey , which left me no other options.

“Hey Tiff,” I mumbled. Maybe I should have called her Tiffany to show her how annoying it was to be called by a different name than you preferred, but calling her Tiff saved me the headache of an argument. I’d seen her fights with Sebastian enough to know that she could go on yelling for hours.

Tiffany glanced over shoulder at the closed front door one more time, her smile faltering, then rolled her shoulders and came down the stairs.

She looked more like she was skipping onto the football field for the half-time performance than walking off a porch.

I wondered if that came naturally to her or if she was putting on a show.

“I was looking for your brother,” she said, as if there was any other reason she might be trying to bang down our front door. “I guess he’s not home.”

My eyes darted to Sebastian’s sleek black car, parked in the driveway, right behind Mum’s SUV.

Sure, he might have walked somewhere, but I knew his schedule well, and it seemed more likely that he was hiding out in his room.

I wasn’t sure whether he was intentionally ignoring her or if he just had headphones on and couldn’t hear the knocking.

Either way, I was sure they weren’t on good terms right now, because otherwise he would know she was coming over.

“Uh-huh,” I said. When talking to Tiffany, it was best to keep my responses short and boring. I gave her nothing to get angry about.

“So, uh…” She held her hands behind her back and sauntered even closer to me.

When she came almost toe-to-toe with me, I backed away to leave a normal amount of space between us.

“I’ve been thinking—Sebastian and I have been getting so serious lately.

” Yeah, that seemed unlikely. “And I feel like you and I barely know each other. Don’t you think we should hang out more? We’re basically sisters-in-law.”

My eye twitched. This girl couldn’t go more than three weeks without dumping my brother and she was considering herself my sister-in-law ? She was out of her freaking mind.

Of course, I couldn’t say that to her, so I just started inching past her and said, “You know, I’d love that, but I’m so busy with my summer job right now. Maybe in the winter, okay?”

“The winter?” she demanded, the sweet tone evaporating from her voice. She seemed to notice her mistake a second too late, because it was back in full-force with her next words. “But I was thinking we should get together sooner than that. Like maybe right now. We could watch a movie or something?”

I started up the stairs and unfortunately, she followed me. How predictable. Clearly, she and Sebastian were either in a fight or broken up, and she was just using me as a way to get into the house.

Not going to happen .

“Sorry, I’m…” I scrambled for an excuse. Homework and volleyball practice were my go-tos in the school year, but neither could work now, obviously. “Sick.”

Tiffany, who had practically been standing on my toes, recoiled. “Sick?”

“Yeah.” To further the point, I pretend to cough. Her lip curled and she immediately moved further away. “I mean, probably just a cold but can’t be too careful, right? I’m pretty sure I already gave it to Sebastian, so...”

I guess Tiffany is a total germaphobe, because she was off the porch in seconds. She turned back to face me on the path, holding her purse between us like a shield.

“Tell Sebastian I came by then,” she said, walking backwards. “And I’ll see him once he’s better.”

“What, you’re not going to bring him chicken soup?” I asked innocently, mostly so I could see the conflicting emotions on her face. Sure it was mean, especially since Sebastian wasn’t actually sick, but I was curious to see just how far her love (or obsession) for him went.

Indecision warred on her face as she hit the curb and nearly tripped onto the street. She let out a startled scream—a little dramatic, since she barely even lost her footing—then said, “Tell him to call me.”

I most certainly wouldn’t be doing that, but it didn’t matter anyway. She was already running down the street, as if she thought my supposed germs were chasing her.

I rolled my eyes and opened the front door.

Before I even set foot in the house, I could tell Sebastian wouldn’t have been able to hear her knocking—music was playing from his room in the basement, so loud that it was almost making the house shake.

Upstairs, Ainsley and Imogen were screaming at each other.

Not like an argument, but more likely because they were each lying in their own rooms and trying to have a conversation.

As I closed the door behind me and kicked off my shoes, I caught the words Instagram and can’t believe her, so I didn’t think the conversation was all that riveting.

I crossed straight through the house to the backyard, pausing only long enough to grab the bikini I’d left drying on the back porch, and slipped into the pool shed to change.

It wasn’t the nicest place to get changed, but it was private and easier than going upstairs, especially when that meant getting in the middle of Ainsley and Imogen’s conversations.

I thought I’d have the backyard to myself, but when I stepped back out, I found Sebastian sitting on the edge of the hot tub I’d been planning to use.

I rolled my eyes at his timing. He was only working mornings this week, coaching a soccer camp for young kids, so he could’ve come out here at any time, yet he chose the moment I got home from work. Typical.

“Your girlfriend was looking for you,” I told him as I walked up. He had his back to me and jumped at the sound of my voice but relaxed as I came around into his line of vision. He was only sitting on the edge with his feet in the water. I sat down on the bench, the water floating up to my chest.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Sebastian responded, his voice almost teasing.

I rolled my eyes. “Tell that to the girl trying to break down our door.”

His brows furrowed and he leaned to the side like he was just trying to see around the house to the front door. I rolled my eyes again and hit his leg lightly.

“Relax, I got rid of her. I told her you were sick.”

“Well it all worked out then, didn’t it?”

“How long has it been?” I asked. “Three days?”

“Four,” he said without looking at me. He started moving his legs in circles, making the water ripple away from him. “She went out with some college guy. I saw the texts with him on her phone.”

He always talked about his relationship problems so casually, like finding out your girlfriend was talking to another guy was no big deal.

I guess by this point, it wasn’t anything new to him.

Nothing remarkable. I still didn’t understand why he kept getting back together with her but I’d stopped prying after the fourth time.

Maybe part of me was scared to know the answer.