Page 2 of Two Weeks to Fall in Love

It had been a month since Lily had left and life had returned to normal.

Well, the new normal. Our invincible trio was now a duo, and we were slowly getting used to it.

I slammed the car door shut and walked up to Melissa, who was yawning for the eighth time this morning and nervously picking at her nails.

“Okay Miss Corpse Bride, what’s on your mind?” I said after deep contemplation, and bumped her with my elbow.

“Well, I love Tim Burton, so I’m taking that as a compliment.” Melissa stuck her tongue out at me and smoothed her curly hair. “I haven’t been sleeping well,” she added in a quiet voice.

“I miss her too,” I said, linking my arm through hers as we walked toward the main entrance of Evergreen High. “It’s not the same without her.”

“It is what it is.” She shrugged, sounding resigned to her fate.

“It will get easier, it has to,” I said, the words hinting at a confidence I absolutely didn’t possess. It was hard to imagine how anything without Lily could be easy. But we only had to get through this last year, and with a bit of luck we’d all be at NYU next year.

Melissa snorted and shook her head. “I don’t think it works like that. Love, life . . . it’s never easy.” Somehow, in that moment she sounded so much older than her years, and a part of me was envious.

Even though I’d never been in love, I’d always proudly proclaimed myself a die-hard romantic.

I read the cute romance books and consumed all the rom-com movies and shows.

Heck, I was all over any kind of romance-adjacent content.

So, of course, a part of me desperately wanted to find that for myself.

The rational part of me, however, knew that those were just stories, and life was a different beast altogether.

So, what was love in the real world? Was that it? Getting your heart broken by unrequited feelings? Fighting, making up, breaking up. Was that all there was?

I shook my head, refusing to believe that happy endings were just made for fairy tales. All that romance had to come from somewhere; it had to be real.

“You wanna come over for dinner?” I bumped her with my shoulder, a silly grin on my face.

She looked at me, gave me a small smile, and nodded. “Thanks, Sky.”

As soon as we pushed through the front door, we were swept up by the chatter and bustle of the hallway.

With more buzz than usual, it felt like everyone was trying to get that last word in before the start of the first class.

Normally, I zoned out until the bell sounded, but on this particularly loud morning, my ears perked up like satellites at the sound of a familiar name.

“Like, I know today’s your last day technically, but Noah could just not break up with you, right?” It was another girl’s doomsday today. Our very own Casanova was about to be back on the market. Plans and strategies were being formulated on how to be the first person to ask Noah Archer out.

“I don’t think so, I mean, he always ends it after two weeks,” Noah’s current girlfriend, Arabella, said, brushing a strand of her luscious blond hair behind her ear nervously.

It had been a year since Noah had started playing his little dating game, and no girl had made it past two weeks thus far.

Things weren’t looking good for poor Arabella.

“You can’t know that, Ari. Just ’cause he hasn’t fallen for someone before doesn’t mean he hasn’t fallen for you! I’m sure he won’t break it off!” The other girl, Sarah, chimed in enthusiastically.

I snorted a bit too loudly and both girls’ eyes instantly zoned in on me, narrowing in distaste. Whoops . I wasn’t exactly known for my controlled reactions and after all, her delusional enthusiasm had been extremely entertaining.

“Uh, what’s your damage, you weirdo?” Sarah said, making a little motion with her hand, as if to signal for me to move on.

Cute , as if being called a weirdo would hurt me. I was all about the flaunt your freak flag movement. I could have just mumbled a sorry for intruding and maybe mentioned that Noah was a jerk anyway, but her friend just had to push that big red button in my head.

I raised an amused eyebrow. “My bad. Just thought you were making a joke, ya know?” The way both of their mouths fell open was so comical I had to press my lips together to keep a straight face.

Luckily, Melissa quickly pulled me down the hall before I could say anything that would undoubtedly end with my quick and likely painful demise.

“One of these days you’re gonna get yourself cornered in the girl’s bathroom,” Melissa whispered as she threw glances back at the pair that were still shooting daggers at our backs.

“Oh, come on, I mean there’s clearly some collective Noah delusion at work here, but I think we’re past fighting because of boys, right?

Besides, if they try anything I can just .

. .” I said, and dug though my bag’s pockets.

A lot of everything, and nothing useful.

“Uh, mascara them to death.” I chuckled as my fingers wrapped around a thick makeup tube.

I fished it out of the pocket and pointed it at Melissa like it was a deadly weapon.

Melissa was not amused at my jokes. Her eyes narrowed into little slits of judgment.

“Hey, now, humor is the best defense,” I added, shrugging.

“Not against a knife!”

I stared at her, a blank look on my face. Even though I said nothing, there was a very loud Seriously? hanging in the air between us.

“Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic.” She sighed. “But, seriously, Sky, it’s almost like you try to antagonize people on purpose when you make comments like . . .”

Melissa kept complaining but her words faded into the clamor around us because my attention was pulled elsewhere.

Noah Archer’s sapphire-blue eyes were studying me as he passed us in the hall, his wavy brown hair almost covering his eyes.

His headphones were slung around his neck, and the smirk on his face made it obvious that he’d overheard our conversation.

I glared at him, barely able to contain the urge to stick my tongue out at him like the twelve-year-old I mentally was.

His smirk only deepened, and just as we passed, shoulder to shoulder, I could have sworn I saw him wink.

I spun around in complete shock, but Noah continued walking down the hall as if nothing had happened, making his way to Arabella for what I was guessing would be their last few hours together.

“Sky, what are you doing?” Melissa asked in confusion, tugging at me lightly.

My face was hot with anger and contorted into a grimace.

The scene from that popular teen movie in which the high schoolers start acting like they’re in a wildlife documentary was playing in my head.

Only in this case, I was the one pouncing on Noah and clawing those winking eyes right off his face.

“Nothing, just daydreaming,” I replied, letting out a sigh and taking a deep breath before I turned back around just as the first bell rang.

*

Something had to be done.

I spent most of my classes that day making my own attack plan: how to ruin Noah Archer’s reputation and reveal him as the jerkface that he was .

I flipped my biology notebook to the end and turned it around to where I knew I’d have enough room to map out my strategy.

To discover what made Noah Archer tick, I had to get to know him.

Blerg . The mere idea made my morning croissant rise uncomfortably close to the surface.

My first thought was interrogating Lily, but before I could scrawl that option down, I remembered how unhelpful Lily had already been on the subject.

Maybe you should date him, Sky. You can see for yourself .

Her soft voice rang through my head and I grimaced at the memory.

I had a few more friends in school who had dated him: Christina I knew from my time in the debate club, and Maryanne used to be my neighbor before her family moved away.

But it wasn’t like we were really close, and I couldn’t imagine confronting them and requesting they spill all of Noah’s secrets.

Not if they’d been brainwashed like Lily, which I knew full well was a recurring theme with this guy.

Was dating him really my only option?

Of course, in my case it wouldn’t really be dating , it would be research.

It would be going behind enemy lines—espionage of the highest degree.

And I would do it in the name of love, because after all, love wasn’t just a game to be played.

Love was a precious feeling that people fought wars for, died for, and wrote endless stories about.

The way I saw it, Noah Archer was the very enemy of love, and I was about to start a war he wouldn’t even know he was fighting.

Before I could throw myself headfirst into the lion’s den, however, there was something very important I had to do.

That evening, I lay in bed with my phone firmly clutched in my hand, trying to figure out how to broach this subject with Lily.

We spoke almost every day, but we hadn’t mentioned Noah since she’d left, and a sense of dread was seeping into my heart at the thought of talking about him.

Was I a horrible friend for even considering this dating plan?

It wasn’t like I liked him, but even still.

Letting out a sigh, I figured it was now or never as I pressed the Call button.

“Sky! I was just about to call you.” Lily’s upbeat voice greeted me from the other end.

“Hello, Lily, darlin’.” I replied in my fake-posh accent, earning a delighted giggle from the other end. “How has your day been?”

“Oh my gosh, you know it’s been crazy here! Still getting used to the town and the school. The people are surprisingly nice, though. You know about those nightmares I had about being the new girl ?” She poured it all out in one breath.

“We’ve watched too many teen movies,” I said, grinning.

“Way too many,” Lily agreed, letting out a happy chuckle. “How about you, though? What’s new at Evergreen? I miss everyone so much.” Her voice was wistful, and I knew that despite all the excitement her heart was still here, with us.

“Well, it’s been hectic as usual,” I said, sensing this was my chance. “Uh, Noah is single again tomorrow, so girls all over school have been sharpening their nails—you know how it goes,” I muttered, holding in a breath as I waited for a reply.

Lily laughed wholeheartedly before speaking. “Oh my god, is it wrong that I kind of miss that?”

“Yes, very wrong,” I said before clearing my throat. “Actually, Lily, I was thinking about what you said . . .”

“What part, exactly? I say a lot of great things.” This little smart-ass .

“Um, about me asking Noah out. Not that I like him, of course! But I really can’t stand not knowing how he’s—”

Lily squealed on the other end of the line then giggled. “Sky! Are you actually gonna do it? Oh my god, I knew you’d cave eventually! You just can’t go against your curious nature. So, are you gonna do it tomorrow? Do you have a plan?”

She was talking way too fast for me to follow along. “Wait, hold on, so you’re okay with that?” I asked sheepishly.

Sure, she’d said before that she was fine with it, but somehow I hadn’t really believed that. If she liked him, how could she be okay with it?

“Of course! I told you already, it was just two weeks’ worth of memories. Besides, there’s this guy here that I . . . um . . . Never mind.” As soon as she realized what she’d blurted, Lily held her tongue.

“What?! Lily, are you leading a secret love life? I thought we were besties!” I gasped in complete and utter shock. This was betrayal of the finest order.

“We are! I don’t have a secret love life! I just—it’s not a big deal. The guy who’s on the student council, who’s been showing me around? I don’t know, he’s kind of cute, I guess and, um, yeah.”

“Lily!” I screamed at her, instantly jumping from my bed and pacing around my room. “Tell me everything, now!”

There was a moment of silence, and I thought that maybe my dear best friend had hung up the phone, but then she exhaled loudly in defeat. “Okay, fine. So . . .” And then she told me everything .

At the end of our call, she offered some advice on how to get to Noah before any other girl tomorrow. At the very top of her suggestions was ambushing him before school. And that would involve hiding in some bushes. Just grrrrreat .