“The weekends are never long enough,” I complained.
“Nope,” Lia commiserated. “But you dropped all the info about Brooks last week, right?”
“At school? Yeah.” I nodded. One comment to Jenessa Parker that I officially had an out-of-state boyfriend, and the entire church youth group, Reece’s baseball team, and the whole school knew about Brooks Mason.
Brooks Mason was dating Brielle Walters.
Brielle Walters was dating Brooks Mason.
Brielle Walters was dating.
Okay. Let’s be honest. The fact that I was dating wasn’t really the root of the big news. It was the fact that seniorReece Walters’slittle sister was dating that was the big news.
Reece’s little sister was a bookworm who liked baseball.
Reece’s little sister was his shadow because she had no life.
Reece’s little sister needed her own life.
Now she had one, and Reece could enjoy the popularity scene without the added baggage of Brielle.
But they didn’t know what I knew.
Aside from the fact that my boyfriend was stupid fake, my older brother Reece actuallylikedhaving me around. We were close. But we were also verydifferent. And for whatever reason, having me around held Reece back. I didn’t want to do that to Reece anymore. It was his last year of high school. He was the star of the baseball team. He was—well, he was my brother. I looked out for him; I didn’t hold him back.
So, if having a bookish younger sister as a sidekick was an annoyance, I figured Brooks Mason, AI-generated boyfriend, would help with that situation, too.
Four nosy aunts sort of off my back? Check.
Older brother no longer carrying the hassle of a single, lonely little sister with him wherever he went? Check.
Me able to relax without everyone trying to pair me up with a guy? Check.
It was a win-win. For everyone.
Until . . . it wasn’t.
Chapter 2
Brooks
No one likes to switch high schools. No one likes to switch mid-year, especially as a junior. It wasn’t that what I wanted wasn’t important. I mean, my parents were cool and everything, but sometimes life just hands you a raw deal. So I’m had my second, first day of school this year in February, in Wisconsin. It’s a step down in population, too. My school in the Twin Cities of Minnesota had about 600 students in its senior class. This high school has about 75 students. At least that’s what my dad said, and he presented it like it was a good thing. Smaller school, smaller classrooms, smaller chances of me getting lost in the system—whatever that meant. All I knew was that I’d been jerked from my high school’s baseball team and had landed in a town where everyone knew everyone, and the odds of me getting a starting catcher’s position on the high school team were slim. That, and making it to state tournaments. Could a high school with less than a thousand kids total even stand a chance in any athletic association’s rankings?
Maybe.
But I wouldn’t know.
I wasn’t made of small-town stuff, and while I didn’t think I was too good for it, I wasn’t thrilled with it either.
Small means limits.
I didn’t want limits in my baseball career.
I had big plans.
They didn’t include Wisconsin.
The locker door next to mine slammed shut.“Yo, bruh.”
