Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
“Rosaria?” I say as she heads my way, and she nods enthusiastically.
“I had this feeling you were somewhere nearby! How weird is that?” She throws her arms around me and hugs me warmly. And I still have no idea who she is except a name. “How come you haven’t been answering any of my calls and texts? Have you fallen out with me or something now you’re a big famous fashion designer?”
She narrows her eyes as she breaks the hug, then loses it and starts laughing, but I stumble over my words.
“My…my phone got smashed. I fell in a pool and hit my head. I’m sorry, who…who are you?”
She laughs louder. “Good one. You? In a pool?” When I just stare at her, her face drops. “Oh my gosh. Really? You must have been terrified!”
I can’t figure out why she thinks I’d be terrified. Because I hit my head? Who is this girl that I recognize but can’t place?
“It was okay. Jackson took me to hospital.”
“Jackson was there? Thank God for that. Where is he now, still in Harbor Shores?”
“No, he’s…he’s outside, being mobbed,” I tell her, glancing around and still seeing the flashing lights as cameras snap photographs of my boyfriend. She knows him, and knows we were going to Harbor Shores, which means we must be really close, since it doesn’t seem like anyone else in the world knows we’re together. “I really…don’t know who you are. Sorry. I have this hazy memory but when I fell in the pool I got amnesia. The doctors said my memories would come back over time. But, I can tell, you are important somehow to me…”
“You’re really serious, aren’t you?”
I nod. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, I should probably be insulted, but I’m more worried. We’re best friends, Mina. Chatsbury Prep?”
“What’s Chatsbury Prep?”
She grabs my arm and starts us walking back into the hotel. “Don’t ever let anyone from Chatsbury Prep hear you say ‘What’s Chatsbury Prep?’, okay? They’re kind of proud of their reputation. It’s a school, where we are both enrolled. Or were. We graduated together. You really don’t remember any of this, do you?”
“Not a thing. Last I remember is being in the hospital. Jackson was there and he took care of me.”
She nods. “He always was the one person outside of me that you could rely on. Let’s get a couple of root beer floats and you can tell me all about it, what do you say?”
“I can’t believe you actually drink this.” I grimace as I try another gulp of the liquid.
We’re in the hotel bar, which is right next to the pool. Rosaria actually asked me if that was okay as we entered, as if the sight of the water so close might bring me out in hives or something. I shrugged and said it was fine. What else am I supposed to say? Who’s afraid of a swimming pool?
She sighed and shook her head, but let it drop.
“Nope. Can’t do it. It tastes like shit,” I say as I try to drink some more of the root beer. “I’m getting a proper drink.” I click my fingers at the bartender until he looks my way. “Something to take the taste of that away, please. Tequila?”
Rosaria’s eyes are wide. She scrabbles at my arm, pulling it down as she stares at me. “Mina, what…? What are you doing?”
“Having a drink.”
She shakes her head. “No. No, you’re not. Tequila? You’re eighteen. And I’ve never heard you swear.”
“Really?”
“Really.” She turns to the bartender. “She was only joking. She’ll have a diet Pepsi.”
“I’m not having a diet anything.”
“Yes you fudging are, or I’m getting out of here before you get us both into trouble. My parents would lock me away in a tower for the next twenty years if they knew I was spending time with a… Drinker. Who swears.”
I glare at her a little. Who is she to order me around? But I guess I don’t have much choice.
“Fine. Whatever, Mom. So you knew about this fashion thing?” I ask, and she nods.
“Sure, we planned it together. I helped you get your collection ready and put together the entry. I knew you’d find some way to get here, even when your parents wouldn’t allow it. Is that why Jackson is here too?”
“He booked a private jet.”
“Wow. Cool.”
“My parents wouldn’t allow it?”
“They want you to go to law school, not be a fashion designer. It’s all booked and everything. Your stepdad’s alma mater in Michigan.”
“My stepdad?”
“Er, yeah. You haven’t spoken to him? Or your mom? Wow, what have you been doing since this bang on the head?”
I blush, despite myself. Like I’m going to tell her what me and Jackson have been doing. “None of your business,” I tell her as the bartender deposits my diet Pepsi. I stare at it like it might grow horns. “So…what are you doing here? Did we arrange to meet up here or something?”