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The Boyfriend App
The Boyfriend App
The Boyfriend App
Ebook289 pages4 hours

The Boyfriend App

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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About this ebook

For fans of smart romantic comedies, this is a clever Cinderella story with a tech twist.

When Public Corporation, a giant tech company, announces a contest for the best app developed by a high school student—with $200,000 in prize money—computer whiz Audrey McCarthy is all in. Audrey's been searching for her one ticket out of town ever since her dad died and her best friend, perfect and popular Blake Dawkins, turned into her worst nightmare—and this scholarship may be it.

Audrey comes up with an idea so simple, yet so brilliant, she can't believe it hasn't been done before: the Boyfriend App. With a simple touch of the screen, romance blooms among the unlikeliest couples at school—and people start to take notice. But it's not quite enough.

To beat out the competition, Audrey will have to dig deeper—right into a scandal that would rock Public to its core. Launched into unexpected fame and passionately kissed by the hottest guys in school, Audrey finds that her invention has thrown her life into complete chaos . . . but can it bring her true love?

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateApr 30, 2013
ISBN9780062195289
Author

Katie Sise

Katie Sise is a jewelry designer, a television host, and the author of We Were Mothers, which was included on best-of lists by the New York Post, POPSUGAR, and Parade magazine. She has also written several young adult novels, including The Academy, The Pretty App, and The Boyfriend App, as well as the career guide Creative Girl. She lives with her family outside New York City. You can visit her online at www.katiesise.com.

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Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    So, I think I’m going to stop starting my reviews of HarperTeen books by telling you what made me want to read them in the first place because, let’s face it, it’s almost always the same. Suffice it to say that if I’m reviewing a HarperTeen book, I probably heard about it during Epic Reads’ Tea Time and added it to my ever growing TBR list!

    I will admit that I was a little nervous going into The Boyfriend App. I can’t even remember what it was, but something that I heard about it made me so excited and impatient to read it. So, I was super excited when I won a copy in a giveaway. But when it actually came time to sit down and read it, I was really nervous that it wouldn’t live up to my excitement level.

    And to be honest, in the beginning, it didn’t. Audrey is a bit of a geek who used to be popular, and her now popular ex-best friend is a mean girl to the extreme. The Boyfriend App starts off with Blake (the mean girl) stealing Audrey’s lucky rabbit foot and throwing it in the trash (the rabbit foot has sentimental value to Audrey, which Blake knows about). After getting in a fight, Audrey is sent to the counselor’s office and learning about Public’s (which strongly resembled Apple to me) competition to create a new app. Audrey immediately knows that she has to enter, as winning the scholarship is the only way she can afford to go to college.

    At this point, I felt like the story slowed down a bit as we see her actually creating the app, which isn’t very exciting. However, it turns out that there is much more to the story than the description implies. At about the halfway point, we’re introduced to a big surprise that I wasn’t expecting, and it shapes a lot of the rest of the book, which I found to be really interesting! Honestly, I was so excited to see this happen because otherwise, The Boyfriend App would have been kind of boring. There’s a bit of mystery and some really awesome moments that happen toward the end.

    The characters are great, though Blake and her cronies are such mean girls that it made me sick. I really couldn’t stand her. There is one scene in particular that I was just horrified about and made me want to punch her! Audrey’s cousin Lindsay and her friend Aidan are really great to her. Nigit is an odd duck. He starts off as Audrey’s friend, and I guess technically still is throughout the rest of the story, but he gets a bit too competitive with the app competition, which bugged me.

    I loved the conflict resolution at the end of The Boyfriend App, though the actual ending left me wanting a little bit more. Overall, I thought that The Boyfriend App was a really good read and would definitely recommend it to fans of contemporary.

    You can also read this and other reviews on my blog, Mommy's Reading Break
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Boyfriend App was mostly what I expected it to be--cute and quick. I wasn't expecting the almost sci-fi element to it though, nor the twist with Public, a manufacturer of phones and ipod type things as well as social networking for teens leader in this book. I really enjoyed Audrey and she is the reason I suspended belief a bit with some of the capabilities of technology. She is nerdy and smart, she is the middle of the road almost invisible girl in school, and although I wasn't quite the computer genius like she is, I related with her a lot. She is really into coding and some of that went over my head, but it never made me disconnect from the story. It was very believable in that she learned the script and such from her dad, and that is her hobby. I also really enjoyed her group of "trog" friends in this book--Nigit, Mindy and especially Aiden. I liked their connection but I was right there wondering when and if there was something romantic there. Audrey's friendship with her cousin Lindsay also added a lot to this story. They seem like unlikely allies and close friends because Lindsay is hardcore into fashion, but still they are there for each other, and support each other no matter what. The first usage of the app was more what I was expecting. Especially its first happy couple. But the second version is what had me questioning the story. I mean, it is an interesting twist, but I just wasn't expecting the story to go in the direction it did. And I think, no I know that Audrey really didn't think about what she was setting in motion. Okay, so the rivalry between Blake her ex bff and Audrey... Blake seemed to be the definition of a mean girl, but I could always tell she was just a hurt and jealous girl. But that can make some people act out and try to bully. Bottom Line: Quick read! Some of the story just didn't click with me, but I liked the main character and the spark between her and Aiden.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Cannot contain my smile where it comes to this book. It was geeky, funny, cute, teen-swoon-inducing and all around a fun read.
    Audrey is a senior in high school, a coder/programmer and a single child who's lost her father in a work accident. Her best friend turned on her and she became the computer nerd with a close and incredibly small group of friends.
    Aiden is in her computer class and is secretly crazy about her.
    A big computer company is holding an app designing contest and the grand prize is a full scholarship to the winner's desired college.
    And that's when things are going out of hand, and if I add another word I'll ruin everything.
    Suffice it to say that if you are even miniscule-y part geek and enjoys YA fiction, this is a great book to add to your to-read shelf. The top of the shelf.

    I'm looking forward to more from Katie Sise.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    3.5 stars

    This was a cute, fun read. I loved Aiden and even enjoyed our MC, Audrey. It was a unique idea executed well.

    Ms. Sise did an excellent job of fleshing out all the characters and accurately portraying high school life. I hated a whole lot of the secondary characters in this (cough Blake cough), so kudos for making them take a life of their own.

    I will say that this became really far-fetched at a certain point--just completely over the top. And there were a lo-hooooot of tech terms in here. So much so, that I probably skimmed a good 20% of the book.

    However, for the most part, this was a cute, refreshing, enjoyable read. I'm excited to see what else Sise has in store for us.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Guys, I am writing this as a zombie blogger, because I died of cute. Seriously, this book is so fun and sweet and humorous and delightful. I picked The Boyfriend App at just the right time, when I was in the mood for a lighter read, for a contemporary novel, and this hit the spot so perfectly. To me, the best books are the ones that can make me feel, and The Boyfriend App delivered, making me actually laugh aloud and grin like an idiot pretty much the whole way through. As I sit here writing this, I still have the foolish grin on my face, because this book is that adorable.For those who don't know, my day job involves working at a software company, so I hear a lot of talk about programming and apps and all of this stuff. I feel so brilliant when I understand those conversations, and that was a fun aspect of The Boyfriend App. It doesn't get super technical, but one of my best friends is super into app design and hearing all of the ideas and seeing the passion these kids have is so uplifting. Also, it's awesome that there's such a focus on technology in The Boyfriend App, because fiction tends to lag behind on the technological curve, but everything in here is very timely.Audrey McCarthy loves hacking and programming, taught by her father, who perished in a mysterious accident, for which he was, likely, wrongfully blamed. Audrey and her mother, who is a lunch lady at her school, struggle to make ends meet. Unable to keep herself in the latest fashions, Audrey's not popular at school, but she's totally okay with that, because she has some of the best friends ever, insultingly referred to as "trogs" by her ex-best friend Blake and her cronies.The characters in The Boyfriend App really shine. Of course, I've got a weak spot for geeky bands of misfits. I love how diverse the kids in this group and in the school as a whole are; this felt a lot more like my high school than most of the ones depicted in YA fiction. Going off on a slight tangent, Sise not only includes characters of various diversities, but she's also not hetero-normative, referencing both lesbian and gay couples.Anyway, back to Audrey's little group. Nigit and Aidan are programmers like Audrey, and she's crushing on Aidan hard secretly. Mindy, though lovely, is teased mercilessly for her speech impediment. Lindsay, Audrey's cousin, is a fashionista who runs an enormously popular fashion blog. The dialog between all of them is so realistic and engaging. They all feel so real to me. Plus, they're so supportive of one another, and I love seeing a young adult novel with such a strong depiction of friendship, and one where it's a group and not a singular best friend is even rarer.Okay, so the plot of The Boyfriend App is that Public, a technology company that's totally a parody of Apple runs a contest for high school students to design an app. The two winners will receive $200,000, and Audrey wants to win badly, because this is her only chance to go to a good school and not leave seriously in debt, since she and her mother have a total of $2000 dollars saved. Audrey designs this app intended to help girls find boyfriends, and hijinks totally ensue. There's this one scene in the cafeteria that just killed me, thus why I'm now a zombie. It's over the top in just the right way. Just don't take this book too seriously, because this is comedy and it is good.At the very end, the book does go in a slightly weird direction. Yes, Sise makes it work, but the plot felt a bit more meandering once the app contest ended. Though a bit more trite of an ending, closing shortly after the announcement might have been more effective, since things got a trifle too serious for the tone thereafter. I also have a few questions about how the Boyfriend App gets information on boys, and a few other niggling questions like that about the app, but that's totally not the point, so I'm going to try to tell my nit-picky self to shut the hell up.With a sweet romance, laugh out loud humor, and lots and lots of kissing, Katie Sise's The Boyfriend App is a must read for fans of light contemporary fiction. With such a strong debut, you can bet I'll be reading whatever Sise writes next!
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This book started off okay. It started off cute, and sweet and funny, so I decided to keep reading. Audrey is one of those geeky girl characters that used to be cool, now no one like her, except her few friends. Her dad died and ever since then, and she quit being friends with her best friend because of something that never really happened. Then, there is a contest put on buy Public (an electronic company that's a complete copy of apple) to create an app. Audrey decided to make an app for getting boyfriends. After that, there is a ton of drama with boys, and the company Public.This is where the book went downhill. The story plot was actually pretty good, but it was written very cornily, and it made it hard to take the characters seriously. It was just so predictable that it wasn't worth reading. Also, right before I read this book, I had read Paper Towns by John Green, who writes so well, that it wasn't even fair to compare The Boyfriend App to his books. Just like most books, this one has the typical geek girl, the typical mean girl, the typical amazing best friend, and the most typical guy. There were no characters that I was attached to at any point in the story.So, if you are used to reading John Green or Sarah Dessen like I am, I don't recommend this book for you.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It has been quite some time since I have read a funny, smart, romantic, and thrilling contemporary ya book. It's hard to find all four of those in one binding, but The Boyfriend App delivers!

    Audrey is really cool and I'd love to spend a day with her and her friends (they're kinda like my friends, except with the coding and what not).

    The story line is a first for me. An app building contest for an overrated phone cooperation (ahem, Apple). So. Freaking. Awesome. Honestly, it's an app that I wouldn't mind giving a shot actually (for Android, please!)

    I loved that Audrey is smart as hell and didn't underplay that for anyone. Aidan is so sweet! Lindsey reminded me of the closeness that my cousin and I share. Nigit and Mindy are GREAT supporting characters.

    Sise knows how to surprise and I was down for the ride the entire way. I was laughing, shocked, and at one point, crying.

    I really don't have a single thing to complain about.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Boyfriend App is a quick, enjoyable read. I had a little trouble getting into it because the beginning of the book had one of my top ten hated YA book cliches, but once we moved past the first few chapters, the book had more than recovered.Let’s start with where I had problems with this book: mean girls. Mean, popular girls. The kind that are so mean, I have trouble believing they would ever actually exist. I also really hate when people are supposed to be mean just because they’re popular and the entire popular crowd in this novel was just heinous.But then, the book starts to pay way less attention to the under-developed, over-cliched cool kids and focuses on Audrey’s quest to build The Boyfriend App and it turns into something really special. I actually work in the technology field, so it was really fun to see coding and programing featured so prominently in a book. I loved Audrey’s determination and ambition. Her quest to build this app and the reasons that motivated her made her such a great character and it made me love the story.Aside from Audrey’s brilliance, though, The Boyfriend App also boasts a fantastic team of supporting characters. A fashion-blogging cousin who has a very successful future in both fashion and PR, two brilliant and cute fellow programers, and a supportive best friend. There were multiple really sweet love stories throughout the novel, and even a few crushing ones. The sense of friendship and family also added a lot to the story and makes the reader feel more connected to the characters.Even though The Boyfriend App had a rocky start, it has a brilliant plot and an excellent cast of characters. Exciting and fast-paced, readers will fall in love with both Audrey and her friends - especially the brains and ambition they add to the story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very interesting and very exciting story, I found myself intrigued with this plot. The plot of the book, a girl who creates an app that can match you to the perfect guy with miles of you. The app ask you questions on what you like in a guy and them BAM, a match. I like how the idea of the app came along. A girl struggling with an idea and then she has it. Not to mention all the research that she does on the app. The author goes as far to intertwining her past to her app now. I think the connections it had to her father as well as certain bullies in her life made sense in the end. The love interest in the book is awesome. I loved how even though she wanted an app to find the perfect boyfriend, the perfect guy was in front of her the entire time. I adored the emotions that flow in the book, settling in the reader for quite an ride. I think the fight with her feelings for the guy along with settle past wrongs to right, gives the reader the right amount of charm .An excellent story the captures a past and a future, The Boyfriend App is great. The interesting idea of finding love at the touch of app is just itching at your fingers. Fantastic and witty, The Boyfriend App is wonderful!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I read this book at the beginning of the month, and considering I can barely remember the premise, I can't say I would recommend it.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Started out cute, but then got kind of ridiculous. The play on Apple products kind of bugged me. Overall, 1.5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Quick & Dirty: A charming contemporary romance that I really enjoyed. It is filled with adorable romance, fun characters, and lots of drama!Opening Sentence: It was lunchtime in the social battleground known as Harrison’s upperclassman cafeteria, and I was staring at Aidan Bailey.The Review:Audrey McCarthy is a senior at Harrison high school. She was once very popular and confident, but that all changed when her father was killed in a terrible accident. After the accident she became awkward and all of her so-called friends abandoned her for better prospects. Now her once best friend, Blake is the “Queen B” at school and she isn’t a very nice person, especially with how she treats Audrey. Audrey has managed to make a new group of friends with the smart kids, but she can’t wait to start her life over in college. The only problem is that college is very expensive and paying for it is going to be a problem. Then an answer comes in the form of a competition to create an app.Public Corporation is a huge company that sells all sorts of tech savvy things like phones, computers and things like that. They have decided to hold a competition where they will give $200,000 to the one person that comes up with the most popular app. Audrey has major computer skills so creating the app is no problem, but coming up with a unique idea is not as easy. Then all of the sudden it hits her, she should create a boyfriend app. She puts together a complex survey that will match you with someone you are compatible with. At first the app does amazing, but the competition is very competitive and Audrey will have to do more if she wants to win!Audrey was a likeable character that was easy to connect with. Her tragic past has shaped her into a person she doesn’t want to be and she feels the only way to change is to get away. She planned to wait until college to break out of her shell, but the competition forces her to do it earlier. I loved watching her grow into a stronger person. She still struggles with many things, but at least she is tiring to do better. In many ways I can relate to Audrey because I was also awkward in high school. I wasn’t really made of fun of like Audrey is, but I felt out of place and lonely at times. I imagine that most high school girls have felt like this at one point or another so it is something that makes Audrey an easy character to understand. There were a few times that her voice got on my nerves because she would start to pity herself, but for the most part I really loved her character.If you have read many of my reviews you will know that the boys tend to be my favorite part of a story and Aidan was no exception to this. He is this super shy guy that is very intelligent, but he is also really good looking. He tends to be awkward around people he doesn’t know, and that has made him kind of an outcast at Harrison High. His relationship with Audrey is so sweet and I loved watching them try to figure things out. It’s pretty obvious that they like each other, but neither one of them want to ruin their friendship so they haven’t ever done anything about it. I have always been a sucker for best friend romances and theirs was done really well. Aidan is a great book boyfriend and he was very easy to swoon over!The Boyfriend App was an adorable and unique contemporary romance that totally took me by surprise. This book has actually been sitting on my shelf for quite a while now, but after reading the synopsis for the first time I just didn’t really want to pick it up. But I was feeling in the mood for a contemporary read and I saw this one and thought I would give it a try. I am so glad that I did, it was way better then I was expecting. There were a few things that bugged me, but overall this was an extremely entertaining story. I loved the whole nerdy atmosphere that Sise created with the characters; it made this go from an average contemporary to something unique. The romance was so cute and really well done. The plot was slightly predictable, but still interesting enough to keep me hooked. But there were a few flaws, mostly in the villain of the story. I just thought that the whole mean girl thing was overdone and it started to annoy me. The only other thing that I would have liked was to maybe have had just a tad bit more romantic moments. I loved the ones that were in the book, but I would have liked to have seen just a few more. Even though it had a few flaws I thought that this was a great read and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a fun, cute contemporary romance!Notable Scene:And then I had it. I knew what the simple, sweet idea was. I knew what my MIT-winning app would be. Everyone in the world would want it. It would make my mom and me millionaires. I’d be on talk shows with Mark Zuckerberg. I’d have the universe in the palm of my hand.Everything that went wrong would be right again.Introducing: the Boyfriend App.Get the app. Get the guy. It would work—even for me. It had to.FTC Advisory: HarperTeen provided me with a copy of The Boyfriend App. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I could not put this book down! Great Read, it leaves you with wanting more once you finish the book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It was so awesome and I think it should have a title of the Lovers app instead because a boyfriend app means your either gay or a girl to make that make any sense!?????????
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved it. I could not put it down. this is an awesome smart romance. well developed plot and characters. just didn't live the ending much. don't get me wrong it was a happily ending I just wished it was more. I'm a bit epilogue king of girl with a need to know what happens to characters after all is well said and done. I need deep closure! ! Lol
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    it's not what I normally read and in this "new" internal bookshelf of mine, it's definitely great
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was in a mood for something light and funny. This was just that book! Easy going humor. Loved it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Good old-fashion high school story with a hacker twist.

Book preview

The Boyfriend App - Katie Sise

Part 1.0

chapter one

It was lunchtime in the social battleground better known as Harrison’s upperclassman cafeteria, and I was staring at Aidan Bailey.

Voices chattered around us and I was distracted—too busy wondering if anyone could see the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I looked into his dark-blue-denim eyes. So my guard was down when my ex–best friend, Blake Dawkins, pushed out her chair and straightened to her full five feet nine inches. (Plus two inches of metallic kitten heels = seventy-one inches of physical perfection.) But then Blake caught my glance and took off across the linoleum. I snapped out of my trance when I realized her kitten heels were click-click-clicking in the direction of my lunch table.

I was sitting with my three friends, the ones Blake’s new BFFs, Joanna and Jolene Martin, named troglodytes on account of some of us inhabiting the computer lab like a spiritual home. Being that troglodytes are a race of humanoid monsters from Dungeons & Dragons makes me question the Martin sisters’ secret activities. (Takes one to know one, if you catch my drift.)

Nigit Gurung was prattling on about an algorithm he wrote, and then saying he could’ve played Wolverine in X-Men. I sensed we were moments away from a conversation about coding, encryption, or video games—any of which Blake could use as ammunition—so in a last-ditch effort to save us, I changed the topic to Homecoming.

Mistake.

So who are you guys thinking you’ll take? I asked, my voice raising a notch as Blake stalked closer. To Homecoming, I mean.

Nigit scratched the skin beneath the collar of his THIS SHIRT IS A MUNITION tee, the black one with lines and lines of code splashed across the back—the one he wore yesterday, too. Homecoming? he asked, the way some people might say, Plantar wart? You mean like the dance? Nigit had smooth brown skin, thick hair, and wide, dark eyes behind Coke-bottle glasses.

I pretended to study my plate. The potatoes au gratin were my mom’s newest addition to the Harrison menu. And she’d slipped me an extra slice of meatloaf, which was extra nice, considering she’s a vegetarian and Harrison’s lunch meat is disgusting.

Did I mention my mom works at Harrison as the cafeteria supervisor? Yeah. Uncomfortable.

Aidan tapped a binder filled with financial-aid printouts. I liked watching the way his long fingers came to rest on the paper. His cuticles were so . . . messed up. Like he’d just destroyed them doing some boy thing.

Are you going, Audrey? Aidan’s low voice rasped in the middle of words and curled up at the edges.

I’m thinking about it, I said, sipping water and tasting metal. Not technically a lie: I was thinking about not going. And right now I just wanted to get going. Out of the cafeteria.

Aidan’s dark blue eyes blinked, lingered on mine. He almost made me forget about Blake. Almost.

Or maybe we can exploit a flaw in the HTTPD software to alter the web page and mess up the candidates for Court, he said. He pushed up the sleeves of his gray wool sweater and exposed his muscular forearms. I nominate you and Mindy for coqueens.

Melinda Mindy Morales, my third friend at the table, smiled in silence. In silence is the way Mindy does everything. She has a speech sound disorder, which means she can’t make certain language sounds the right way. Fish sounds like Fis, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Mindy’s speech problem wasn’t really a big deal in elementary school, but by the time we got to junior high, it was like a ticking time bomb. She just couldn’t get rid of it. She does better in Spanish because it’s her native language, but hardly anyone speaks Spanish at Harrison, so that’s no help. And it doesn’t matter that she’s super pretty: There are some things most people can’t—or won’t—get past. She flew under the radar until freshman year, when she caught Blake’s attention as my new best friend. Blake termed her es-st-st-stupida, and it stuck. (It’s a sound disorder, not a stutter, but whatever, Blake.) Now Mindy’s making straight Cs because she won’t speak in class.

Over here, Blake! yelled Annborg Alsvik, the exchange student who got caught having sex with herself in the drama department’s costume closet while wearing nothing but the curly red wig from Annie. Annborg whipped out her hot-pink buyPhone and snapped a photo of Blake on her linoleum catwalk. Annborg was obsessed with Blake. She started a fan website called OMGluvUBlakeGodBlessBlakeandAmerica.com, where she posted photos. She captioned the photos with things like: Thirsty Blake drink water from fountain. Or, Blake wear shiny shoe with pointy toe.

Blake stopped to pose for Annborg and my sweat turned ice-cold.

Don’t you need a date to go to Homecoming, Audrey? Nigit was asking as Blake tucked her chin and pouted at Annborg.

Aidan fidgeted with his binder. A flush crept over the skin near his inky hair.

Blake gave Annborg one more pose (draping her arm over her head and partly shading her eyes—straight out of America’s Next Top Model) and then told Annborg to get a freaking life before starting toward our table again.

Nine feet. Eight feet. Seven feet away . . .

I could get a date if I wanted to, I told Nigit. Total lie. I hadn’t had a date since freshman year. I’d kissed a few guys, but not anybody worth talking about, especially not with Blake six feet away. I’d never actually even had a boyfriend. (Maybe I needed new clothes. Or maybe I shouldn’t have cut my almost-black hair into a pixie cut, even if the lady at the Clinique counter said it made me look gamine. She also said my green eyes were to die for! But then she tried to sell me a fifty-dollar moisturizer, so who knows.)

Blake had enough boyfriend-getting power for both of us. A few tables away, her BF (lacrosse king Xander Knight) was busy being hot and stoic while the rest of her pack laughed and pointed at my lunch table.

Real-live video, like the YouTube! Annborg shouted as she ran alongside Blake, catching it all on her phone. Blake’s sequined miniskirt went swish, swish, swish, like a soundtrack for her strut. I flashed back to the afternoons Blake and I used to spend in my mom’s closet, trying on heels and skirts that were too big for us. We used to stage fashion shows in my parents’ bedroom, and my mom would pretend to judge the looks, like on Project Runway.

Xander turned to watch Blake. Mindy’s and my shared Xander Knight Obsession meant we’d memorized the golden flecks that sparkled in his hazel irises. I felt my stomach twist for the split second he caught my glance before looking away. Like I didn’t exist.

In junior high, Xander was that kid who wore the same clothes three days in a row, clammed up when a teacher called on him, and played by himself at recess. I was always super nice to him because the other kids weren’t, but then he outgrew me (literally) by sprouting seven inches and growing muscles and chiseled features. He still wore the same clothes too often (a variation on broken-in corduroys and a vintage T-shirt), but he wore them so well no one gave a crap.

And now the tables have turned, and I’m the freak.

Xander settled his glance on Annborg, who was yelling, Every person check out OMGluvUBlakeGodBlessBlakeandAmerica.com for real-time video! as she jumped over books and bags to get her footage. Within seconds, there were dozens of eyeballs darting between Blake and me from all across the cafeteria.

Someone help me.

The clicking noise from Blake’s kitten heels stopped. She flicked a lock of jet-black hair over her shoulder. Then she jutted out her hip and leaned forward with both hands against the table. Every part of Blake was tanned and toned—even her boobs. Like Jennifer Aniston. Or Jessica Rabbit.

The heady, floral scent of her tuberose perfume wafted in the air between us.

We stared at each other.

Nigit was the first to move. He took a swallow of his latte and made a loud gulping noise that ricocheted across the table and somehow spurred Blake into action.

Hello, Aubrey, she said. I rolled my eyes. Acting like she forgot my name was Blake’s numero-uno favorite game.

Audrey, I corrected her.

Blake smirked, and her beauty mark popped like a punctuation mark. She pointed at my rabbit’s foot, nestled in its permanent position on the right-hand corner of my lunch tray.

I’ve carried my rabbit’s foot for exactly three years to the day. Since October 12, freshman year. When it happened.

"So what’s that, Aubrey?" she asked in a singsong voice that curled across the table. Her shimmery gold fingernail matched the UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME logo key chain attached to the rabbit’s navy fur.

She knew what it was. Of all people, Blake knew.

I looked up at her and thought about all of our secrets. I thought about how she lost her virginity to Xander Knight’s cocaptain, Woody Ames; how she lied and promised Xander he was her first; how she worried her only real feelings were for our Hot Gym Coach, Mr. Marley; and how she could cry only when cartoon characters got hurt, but not real people.

And then I thought about what she knew about me. How the only reason she started dating Xander in the first place was because I had a massive crush on him. How I never even told her. How she just knew from the moment I spun a bottle and my breath caught when it landed on him. How I crawled on my hands and knees across the Martin sisters’ basement floor like I was begging. How I was about to kiss him when she elbowed between us and told everyone Xander was off-limits, that he was hers.

I was frozen, so I just answered, My lucky rabbit’s foot? My words made a horrible question-mark sound at the end, like we were on a game show and she was asking me the hundred-thousand-dollar question.

And is it working? Blake asked slowly, like she was talking to a kindergartner. The cafeteria had quieted and her voice echoed over the tables. "Are you . . . lucky?"

There was only one right answer—the one she wanted: No. I’m not lucky. I’m maybe even unlucky—but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Admitting it meant admitting the person I had loved most was wrong.

Leave her alone, Aidan growled. He turned to me. Ignore her, Audrey.

But I couldn’t. Adrenaline coursed through my veins. "Maybe I am lucky," I said instead.

Nigit took that moment to burp, loudly.

Classy, Nigit, Blake said, pronouncing Nigit so it rhymed with digit. Nigit’s Indian, so obviously his name is pronounced Nih-jeet, which Blake of all people knows because their dads were roommates at Notre Dame back in the day.

Blake’s glare returned to me. How about I get this for you? she asked, her dark eyes flashing. She yanked my lunch tray from the table and held it high above her head like a cocktail waitress.

Mindy mouthed No. And then a hush fell over the lunchroom. There was only the faint hum of the vibrating vending machine.

Blake spun around and took off with my tray.

"No, wait. I shoved my chair from the table. Blake, stop," I said, panicking as I stumbled after her. I saw the rabbit’s navy fur puff over the lip of the tray. The Dumpster was five feet high. There was no way I could get my rabbit’s foot from the lunch-food slop if she tossed it in there. Please, I tried again, but Blake was power-walking now, every muscle in her legs glistening beneath her airbrushed tan.

Audrey! Aidan must have come after me.

A hundred pairs of blinking eyes bore into me as my skull-and-crossbones Vans squeaked across the floor. Sweat trailed down my spine like a finger.

Blake stood in front of the Dumpster with her arm at a ninety-degree angle. Annborg was trying to get it all on video, but she tripped and dropped her phone. My tray seesawed on Blake’s palm. She smiled at me as she threw the contents into the Dumpster.

I lunged.

My fingers caught the gold buckle of her snakeskin belt as I tackled her and we crashed into the side of the Dumpster. We dropped to the floor and Blake let out a shriek. She rolled onto her back, and somehow I ended up on top of her, inches from her face. Her nostrils flared and her lips curled into a snarl. It was the first time I’d ever seen her look ugly.

Students clattered around us in a half moon. Aidan was still calling my name from somewhere in the mix of bodies that swarmed us. Heat rose to my cheeks and tears started, blurring my vision and making me see double. I blinked to see two Joanna Martins elbowing through the crowd (and trust me, one was enough). Joanna knelt beside me and put a warm hand on the side of my face.

Audrey? My mother’s voice cried out my name as she tried to push through the students. I could just make out the plastic hairnet she wore bobbing up and down between the faces that stared at me.

No, Mom, this is the last thing I need right now.

Joanna’s fingers dug into the side of my cheek. Loser trog, Blake snarled, moments before Joanna knocked my head into the Dumpster and I passed out.

chapter two

This is South Bend, Indiana. Standing out is not the point.

Everything that got messed up is traceable to the day my dad died in an accident at Blake’s dad’s megamillion-dollar empire, R. Dawkins Tech.

October 12, freshman year. The day everything changed because of a mistake.

But that’s how it goes. One glitch in the matrix and I could kiss life as I knew it good-bye.

In math or code, these sorts of anomalies don’t happen. Formula + Predictable Outcome = Safe. That’s why I spend my days in the computer lab and my Friday nights testing how hard it is to hack into various South Bend institutions’ secure websites. Answer: not very.

And things were going so well.

In the summer before freshman year, when we were all fake-smoking cigarettes and freezing one another’s bras at the Martin sisters’ sleepover parties, I was a vision of popularity. It wasn’t just my impeccable spin-the-bottle aim landing me seven minutes in heaven with hotties like soccer star Briggs Lick (perfect last name for your first French kiss, right?). It was the fact that those boys wanted to kiss me.

Because so what if big boobs didn’t grace my 115-pound frame, and so what if all my clothes were borrowed from Blake. I had looks. I had attitude. I had smarts.

I was fearless.

But then high school started, and my dad died, and I basically lost it. And even though Blake never took it out on me, angling for social position among kids three years older brought out the worst in her, like high school itself had made her cruel. It started with small stuff, like calling luge-obsessed Nina Carlyle the Fat Slob on a Sled. But it kept escalating, like when she buried Joel Norris’s inhaler in the courtyard, or started stealing stuff from the cafeteria while my mom’s back was turned. Worse, she’d look at me and smile like I was in on all of it. And I’d just stand there too numb to say anything.

I was barely hanging on back then. I was trying so hard to be okay without my dad, but I wasn’t. And then, one day, Blake pushed a girl with scoliosis into a gym locker and soaked her back brace in the sink.

I was only fourteen. But when your dad dies, you get what sad really feels like. So when Scoliosis Girl stood there crying with her curvy spine and no back brace, I snapped. I used my blow-dryer on the back brace and picked the girl first for my softball team. And that afternoon, I changed my Best Friend Status to Single on the Public Party Network.

Nobody defriended Blake Dawkins, not even on Public Party. She was crying in her bedroom when her father barged in. She told him what happened, and he capitalized on our fight and said I’d told him she was sexually active, and then grounded the living daylights out of her. (He’d probably found the diary she kept on her laptop and didn’t want to admit he’d snooped. Because I’d never told anyone.)

But Blake believed him.

This is a Catholic town. Most girls aren’t having sex in ninth grade. And the ones who are certainly don’t want their fathers finding out.

Blake never forgave me.

And, look. After I lost my dad and then Blake, I got kind of weird, too. Take the root of today’s Dumpster Debacle: that navy-blue-dyed rabbit’s foot with little white toenails hanging from a gold Notre Dame logo key chain. I was way too old to be attached to a stuffed animal—especially the foot of one—but my dad gave it to me before school on the day he died, and said, Audrey, this will bring you luck. He was superstitious like that, which was fun when I was younger, but old by the time I was fourteen. Instead of thanking him, I rolled my eyes.

After his accident, I couldn’t help but think that if he’d just held on to it, he would’ve been okay. Which meant I couldn’t let the rabbit’s foot go. Like, ever. Three years later, I get all kinds of freaked out if it’s not right next to me or on my person.

Since nothing exciting ever really happens at Harrison High School (besides the odd senior girl sneaking into a Notre Dame football tailgate and making out with a college guy) everyone knew about my dad’s accident at R. Dawkins Tech. They knew about my weird rabbit’s foot, and why I carried it. And even though this was senior year when we’re all supposed to be perfect, my quirks still paled in comparison to scandals like Annborg having solo sex in the costume closet. Or Barron Feldman having diarrhea in the colon section of the Bodies exhibit. Or Kevin Jacobsen smoking a joint during the SAT break.

You might even say my dingy rabbit’s foot was old news.

Until the Dumpster Incident. Thanks, Blake.

My dad’s boss, Robert Dawkins, and his wife, Priscilla, gave my ex–best friend a head start by naming her Blake, the figurative equivalent of stamping her birth certificate: I’m a Huge Deal. Blake Andrea Dawkins is the girl who saunters through Harrison’s halls with a glossy, pink-lipped smirk on her heart-shaped face, having a way better time than everyone else, sort of like high school is an exclusive party and she’s the only one invited. Don’t deign to approach her unsolicited, because she’ll give you a heavy-lidded blank stare that reminds you of the worst news of your life: You’re not her.

Everybody said first semester senior year would suck, and so far everybody was right. But there were only two hundred thirty-nine more days until I could escape Harrison High School. Two hundred thirty-nine days until I could break free from the place where I’d fallen from grace and get away from the group of people who’d witnessed my loss. Two hundred thirty-nine days until I could start over as someone new.

College was where I dreamed all the good stuff could happen. Because even if my mom and I couldn’t afford a college that matched my test scores (at least, not without accumulating a quarter-million dollars in debt), I still wouldn’t have to be here. Harrison High School would only be a place from my past. Nothing more.

By the time I woke up in the nurse’s office, the story had spread through Harrison like wildfire. Blake Dawkins and Joanna Martin told everyone I’d gone crazy and attacked Blake after she’d kindly offered to throw away my lunch. Who was going to cross Blake and Joanna?

My mother scheduled a meeting with the principal to detail the version of events she saw, but I begged her to cancel. She reluctantly did.

She reassured me on our walk from the school nurse to the school social worker that she found the rabbit’s foot. I guess she pushed a table against the Dumpster, and then used her banana clip to get it, like in that arcade game where you try to pick up a stuffed animal with the metal hook. It was currently being soaked in Palmolive. Well, I worried they wouldn’t have the same model at the Notre Dame bookstore anymore, she said.

We hadn’t been back to the Notre Dame bookstore since my dad died. The three of us used to go on weekends and try on T-shirts and Windbreakers, and then we’d browse my dad’s favorite books about football legends. Sometimes we’d

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