One month later...The muscles of my belly spasm as I click on the email and skim over the first line. I'd mentally prepared myself for a-we regret to inform you...blah, blah, blah.Instead, it reads-Congratulations! You have been selected...I blink and read over the first line with more care, but the words remain the same. It still says congratulations.Holy shit! How did this happen? I didn't think I had a shot in the dark of being selected to attend LCDS. There were only a handful of spots and the competition was killer. Without Monsieur Dupre practically forcing me to apply, I wouldn't have bothered.A potent concoction of excitement and fear bubble up inside me. As that thought swirls through my head, the door to the dorm opens and Mia steps inside.Her lips lift into a smile when she spots me at the desk near the window. "Hey! I didn't expect you back so soon.""We were let out early," I tell her. "I just walked in ten minutes ago."With a huff of breath, she tosses

March of junior year...Jack grabs hold of my hand and laces our fingers together before flashing me a cheeky smile as we take in the shops on Oxford Street. The skies are overcast, but the weather is seasonable for this time of year in London, which means it's about fifty degrees. We're both bundled up in jackets. I can't help but return the easy expression.Effortless.That would be the perfect word to describe my relationship with him.He's handsome, charming, and so very British.I've turned into something I never expected to be-a cliché. I could listen to him talk all day long. And I flipping love when he uses words like-bullocks, bloody, and knackered. It makes me laugh every time. And the guy knows it, which is why he does it. He gets a little twinkle in his dark eyes when my lips start to twitch.And he's a footballer.Well, I mean soccer player. In England, it's called football and it's huge. Like nothing I could have imagined. Everyone is crazy for either Mancheste

You should know that Alyssa has moved on.What if that's true?Can I necessarily blame her for trying to find happiness with another guy?Nope.All this girl wanted to do was love me and I stomped on her heart and ran away like a little bitch. Truth be told, I'm embarrassed by my own behavior. My tongue darts out to moisten my lips as I make a second attempt to break through her icy veneer. What I don't know is how deep her cool exterior runs and if it's possible to drill down past it."It's really good to see you, Lys." When she continues to avoid eye contact, I decide to take my life into my own hands by stepping closer and pulling her into my arms. For a sliver of a moment, my mind tumbles back to what it felt like to hold her any damn time I wanted.I guess what they say is true-you don't realize what you have until it's gone. Her body goes whipcord tight as a growl of protest emanates from deep in her chest and then she's fighting her way out of my arms like I'm a serial kil

"Montgomery, get your ass off the field!" Coach barks when I fumble yet another pass. "Kwiatkowski, take his place!"F*ck.F*ck.F*ck.I need to get my shit together before I get permanently pulled. Instead of making eye contact with Beck, I stare at the turf and jog off the field. I already know what I'll find in his eyes and that's a-what the hell is going on with you look. I can't blame him for it either. The last couple of practices have turned out to be a complete shitshow. Passes I should be catching with ease are getting dropped, missed, or slipping through my fingers. On one of the last plays, I actually tripped over my own damned feet. If you didn't know better, you'd think I'd never even seen a football before. It's embarrassing as fuck.Ever since I first stepped foot on the field, my game has been consistent. I don't have high-highs or low-lows. I'm a solid player. Dependable. Coaches know this. My teammates know it. Beck knows it, as well. I'm always in pos

"Welcome home, bitch," Mia shouts, attempting to be heard over the pulsing beat of techno as we clink our shots of Fireball and toss them back. The smooth liquor slides down my throat, warming me from the inside out."Holy shit, that's terrible!" my bestie sputters, coughing as tears gather in her dark eyes. "No more shots. I'm tapping out."Undeterred by the pronouncement, I laugh and order another round. I'm nowhere near done. Everywhere I look, there are friends who have shown up to help celebrate my return to Wesley. I'll admit that while packing up my bags and preparing to leave London, part of me considered extending my student visa for another year, but in the end, I decided the best thing I could do was come home, finish out my degree, and graduate on time. Maybe, if I still feel the same way in the spring, I'll return.And then there's Jack. Even though I'd taken everything at a glacial pace where he was concerned, it had just started to heat up between us. I'm not su