When Sydney Sherwood was thirteen, she fell in love. She was utterly enamoured with Carter Pearson - the cute, enigmatic, brilliant fourteen year old who lived across the street. But, after only a few months, Carter and his family disappeared, leavi...
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For the first few seconds after I woke up, I felt peaceful, well-rested. It was going to be a good day, I decided. Then, as though my brain had taken a minute to properly load, my thoughts from last night came rushing back. How I'd been texting Carter and realised that I liked him. A lot.
Unlike normal, I didn't check my phone. The chances of a text from Carter waiting for me were far too high when I was this stressed about my feelings. That could wait.
Alice had returned from her boyfriend Sam's early that morning, so I figured I'd update her about Carter, then tell both the girls about my revelation. I was prepared to suck it up and admit that Maya was totally right, after I'd snapped at her when she suggested it. So I got up and headed to the kitchen, but it was empty, despite it being our usual conversation spot. I crossed the hall and knocked on their bedroom door, wondering if Alice just wasn't back yet.
As it turned out, both of them were in Alice's bed, tucked up under the covers. Alice's eyes were red-rimmed, and her cheeks were blotchy as though she'd been crying. She looked up when I came in and managed a weak smile.
"Sydney, I'm so glad you're up," she said, sniffling. "Join us."
I did, managing to squash in next to Maya in the bed that was certainly not designed for three people. I reached out a hand and laid it on Alice's. "What's going on?"
"I got in a huge fight with Sam," Alice mumbled, tears leaking from her eyes.
My heart sank. I'd only met him briefly, but Alice and Sam seemed perfect together, and anyone could see how deeply in love with him she was. It was hard to imagine them on bad terms, much less to the extent that their relationship was in jeopardy.
"Apparently he was acting weird all weekend," Maya explained. "Then just as she was leaving she saw a notification on his phone of a snapchat from someone called Tara."
"Do you know anyone called Tara that it could be?" I asked Alice gently, although the way she was acting made me think this was about more than just a snapchat from any random girl.
"Yeah, his ex, who he claims to have not seen in two years," Alice replied, voice a heart-breaking mixture of anger and sadness. "When I tried to take his phone, saying I wanted a selfie together before I left, he wouldn't let me hold it until he'd cleared the notification. So, I tried to question him about it, but he got all defensive and it turned into this big argument and I never even found out what was going on with Tara. My bus was about to leave so I had to go, which meant leaving us on such bad terms."
I desperately wanted to believe that Sam was a good guy because I would hate to see Alice heartbroken, but it wasn't looking too good for him right now. She explained that he was at work now and she wouldn't be speaking to him until their daily FaceTime in the evening, so until then there wasn't much to do but wallow in it.
"You need a distraction," Maya said firmly, then glanced across at me. "And I think Sydney has the perfect one."
She gave me a suggestive look and I knew exactly what she meant. Only I'd come in to explain how I actually felt about Carter – which was definitely not exciting news when it came to someone as opposed to commitment as he was. But looking at Alice's tear-streaked but hopeful face, I knew I couldn't talk about my own issues. She needed to hear something positive; besides, my crush on Carter was nothing on her boyfriend of two years potentially cheating. So, I just smiled and told her the same thing I'd told Maya the day before.
