Val and I trail the boys to Books-A-Million, and we stop, confused, in our tracks.

"They can read?" Val marvels, and I jab her in the side.

"No, but really, why're they at the bookstore?"

I shrug, glancing back to the stacks of books that are beginning to call my name. It was as if the heavens had willed it, the boys walking into a bookstore. Because now, Val doesn't need to lure me in there; I go of my own free will.

Val rushes to keep up with me as I enter the store, but I don't follow the boys. "What's the plan?"

I scan the display before me, acting naturally. "I think Levi's taking AP Lit this year too, so he might be picking up the book."

Val wrinkles her nose beside me. "What, he drags his friends to the bookstore with him?"

I give Val a look, handing her a copy of the latest John Green book. "I know, right? How dare he."

Val follows me deeper into the bookstore, in pursuit of the boys, and I only loosely join her in her hunt. Surprisingly enough, I've developed my own plan: if Levi is looking for the book we're supposed to read, I'll give him a copy and act like I'm buying one too. If not...well, I haven't gotten that far.

I've added two more novels to Val's arms when someone calls Val's name. We both look at each other, frozen with eyes wide. We know that voice all too well.

She plasters a smile on her face as she whirls around, dropping the books to give me some cover.

"Malik," Val drawls. "What a surprise."

With my back turned to Val and Malik Archman, her ex-fling, I don't need to witness the smirk he gives her and the forced smile she returns. I only pick up bits and pieces of their conversation as I pick up Val's fallen books and get to my feet, my back still turned. I'm about to head down the aisle we're standing in when I hear, "Willa?"

Levi.

I turn around slowly and see him standing at Malik's side, a benevolent smile on his face. I immediately try to match the grin, but in Malik's presence, it's more like a strangled attempt at one.

"Hey," I manage. "What's up?"

"Looking for the Lit book," Levi shrugs. "You?"

This was my moment.

"Just browsing," I hold up the stack of books in my hands. "I can help you find the book, if you want."

A look of pure relief washes over his face and he beams. "That'd be awesome, thanks Willa!"

I shrug--well, as well as I can with a stack of books in my arms. "It's no problem."

We skirt around the end of the bookshelf, headed into the next aisle.

"So we kind of got cut off at NaperFest," Levi begins, scanning the bookshelf we're passing.

"I guess," I laugh sheepishly. "Although talking about work at a celebration is probably grounds enough for being interrupted."

Levi flashes me a smile in agreement. "True."

I can't think of anything else to say, but before I can avert my attention away, Levi steps right beside me, glancing at the top book in my stack: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.

"Throne of Glass?" Levi asks. "What's that about?"

"Oh," I blink, clearing my throat. "It's this, like, fantasy series. It's about this assassin named Celaena who's hired by the Crown Prince of this conquering kingdom to be his champion in this, like, contest they're holding."

Levi makes a face of consideration. "Interesting, interesting."

"It really is," I chime. "It's one of my favorite series, although I prefer Maas' other series, A Court of Thorns and Roses better."

"What's that one about?"

Levi proceeds to engage me in conversation about just about each book in my stack, and I don't realize how much time has passed. If someone gets me started about books, I tend not to stop. It isn't until we've made a full circle back to the front of the store when I realize that I'd been rambling for the past fifteen minutes. My face goes red with heat.

"Oh my god," I mumble sheepishly. "I never shut up, do I?"

Levi laughs, his smile reaching his eyes. "Don't worry, I liked listening. Besides, I've got some book recommendations now." He winks, and I wish I could have said that I felt nothing of it, but I do. That popular boy curse is tightening its hold on me.

I smile awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. Thankfully, I spot the AP Lit book on a nearby shelf, and I hand it to him. "There you go."

Levi beholds the book, giving me a funny look. "Is it sad that I probably won't finish reading this until the first day of school?"

I laugh. "I'll probably be in the same boat as you."

That seems to surprise Levi, because his eyebrows arch up in shock. "The perfect Willa Murdock, leaving an assignment to the last minute? Unheard of."

At that, something inside of me deflates a bit, like a pufferfish shrinking back down to size. Despite this moment and this banter, there is still a divide between Levi and I: he's the star athlete and I'm the star student. There will be no overlap in our social circles.

Something must have shifted on my face, because Levi knits his eyebrows together, but before he can ask me what, Malik boisterously saunters back towards his friend, Val in begrudging tow.

Malik gives me a sideways glance before averting his attention to his friend. He claps Levi on the shoulder. "Ready to go?"

Levi does not look ready to go, but I watch as he slips back into the persona that his friends expect him to be. Amazing how people are capable of so many emotions, yet become chameleons depending on who they're with.

"Almost, man. Still have to pay for this," He holds up the book, and brushes past Malik towards the registers.

Val slinks to my side, quiet as a shadow, but I'm grateful for her presence. Val is much more outspoken than I am, and in the presence of Malik, outspokenness is a requisite.

"Well, Malik, I'd say it's been a pleasure but that would be a blatant lie," Val muses, examining her nails. She flicks her pointed gaze at him. "You can go now."

Malik narrows his serpentine gaze at Val, and I can feel the tension growing between them like a timebomb about to go off. Their fling was something that everyone both didn't see coming and hadn't been surprised to see, but when it ended, it ended the way wars did: without sparing bloodshed and smoke.

"Did I ask for your permission, Garcia?"

"You don't ask anything out of a queen, Malik. She commands, and you do."

Malik prepares to fire another comment towards her, but his derisive glare settles on me instead. Suddenly, the weight of books in my arms feels like it weighs a million pounds.

"Well, if it isn't Willa Murdock. Didn't know you did anything social."

The sass comes from a hidden place in my heart. "Didn't know you had a vocabulary including polysyllabic words."

"What?"

I resist the urge to huff a breath. Exactly. My confidence, however, begins to wilt when I notice Levi come back, trailed by the other guys he'd walked in with. He, Malik, and the other guys leave without another underhanded comment or goodbye, and I feel like I've just had a brush with death.

Val slides into view, her large eyes wide. "So?"

I blink. "So what?"

Val waves her hands around, as if to jog my memory somehow. "What happened?"

Tired, I roll my eyes. "He got down on one knee and professed his undying love for me, the social equivalent of a blobfish. What do you think happened? He made conversation and I went off on tangents about books." I set the stack of books down on the nearest display table. "Nothing of interest."

Val tilts her head at me. "Wil, you need to give yourself more credit. He seemed happy to talk to you."

I'm too drained to rebuff her, so I just let the conversation roll off my back. If I don't engage in it, Val will eventually drop it: she's a creature of attention. She does, and before I know it, I'm whisked out of the bookshop and to the food court, the promise of Panda Express enough to partially lift my spirits.

I hand Val a ten and she sashays away to grab our food while I save our little table. All around me are people, people that I've never seen before, in different shapes and sizes, with their own stories to tell. From where I sit in the center of the foodcourt, I can see a squadron of mothers trying to get their children to sit down and eat their foot. There's a dad standing beside his son on the carousel. A group of college kids laugh their way into the nearby elevator. There's so much happening that it's the perfect place to hide, a way to both stand out and blend in at the same time. Something I've been skilled at doing, whether I like it or not.

Val returns just as I submerge into my head, and I inhale the first few bites of orange chicken before I notice them.

She's perched on the end of a table, a queen holding court of the people surrounding her on either side. She's in leggings and a low-cut shirt, her dark hair in waves around her shoulders. She is still among the melee of friends laughing and squealing around her.

He's wearing the same smile he charmed me with. The AP Lit book in its bag at his feet the only reminder of our encounter. He loses the game of arm wrestle that his buddy had him engaged him, and he looks up at her, eyes glowing as she looks back down at him.

Their lips touch, and just like that, the glossy possibility that had stretched before me shatters like glass, into a thousand razor-sharp pieces scattered every which way.