CHAPTER ONE— Hi, I'm Ken
PROLOGUE
"I don't love you. It was all a dare. For you to think anyone would actually love someone like you... you must be delusional."
June 1st, 2024. The day the ground fell out from under me. The day the truth clawed its way to the surface.
I had loved Ken since the first year of senior high. He was the blueprint of a dream guy: tall, intelligent, devastatingly handsome, and possessed that dangerous, flirty edge that ruins good girls. I mean... what sort of teenage girl wouldn't fall for him?
For a long time, I let myself believe the love was reciprocated. The short, intense glances across the hallway, the electric sparks when our fingers brushed, the shared playlists.
I thought it was love. God, I was stupid.
But all of that... all of that will be known soon enough.
CHAPTER ONE
"Guys, hurry up! We're literally going to be late," Emilia shouted at her siblings, her voice cracking slightly as she frantically swung her tie around her neck.
She froze, catching her reflection in the hallway mirror. Her hands dropped. Her brows furrowed, and her eyes stung with the sudden threat of tears.
Her face was a war zone. Angry, red cystic acne was breaking out across her cheeks—a flare-up made a thousand times worse by her period. She raised a trembling hand, hovering her fingers over the inflamed skin but afraid to touch it.
"They'll go away someday," a voice said from the doorway behind her.
Emilia spun around. Kate. Her twin sister.
"What do you know about pimples?" Emilia snapped, turning back to the mirror to aggressively tighten her tie.
Technically, Emilia was twenty minutes older, yet Kate always seemed to hold the power in the room. Kate was the genetic lottery winner: slender, 5'6", with skin like porcelain and thick, jet-black hair. She had the kind of figure Instagram models paid for.
Emilia, on the other hand, was the "smart one." 5'9", curvy, with unruly brown hair and skin that hated her. She told herself that brains mattered more than looks, but looking at Kate made that mantra harder to believe.
"I might not know about pimples," Kate said, leaning against the doorframe, "but I know stressing about them makes them redder. Just take your mind off it."
"No shit, Sherlock," Emilia muttered. "That’s like asking me to take my eyes out of their sockets. If that even makes sense."
"Tch. You're annoying." Kate rolled her eyes and walked away, her perfect hair bouncing.
Emilia took one last, painful look at herself. She sighed, grabbed her bag, and followed.
"I'm taking the front seat!" she shouted after Kate, desperate for even a small victory.
It was their first day at St. Paul's Missionary School. A nightmare scenario.
They hadn't chosen this; their parents had forced the transfer so the twins could "keep an eye" on their younger brothers. For Emilia, who treated new environments like allergic reactions, it was hell on earth.
The car pulled up to the imposing iron gates.
"Mike?" Emilia called out softly to their driver.
"Yes, Lily?" He used her childhood nickname, his eyes meeting hers in the rearview mirror.
"Can I skip today?" She swallowed hard, her throat clicking dry. Outside, students were flooding through the gates in swarms of uniforms. She cracked her knuckles nervously, biting her lip until she tasted iron.
"No, you cannot," Mike said gently. "Your mum asked me to make sure you all attend." He looked at her fondly. She was his favorite Clarkson—polite, funny, and lacking the arrogance of the others.
"They're humans like us, nothing to be scared of, Big Sis," one of her younger brothers chirped as he hopped out of the backseat. Emilia considered him an idiot.
The doors slammed shut. The boys were gone. Kate was gone. It was just her and Mike. The silence was deafening.
"I can do this..." she whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
"Hey. Look at me," Mike said. "You can do this. Imagine it's just you. Pay no attention to anyone else, okay?"
"You're beginning to sound like Kate," she muttered.
"Fine. Imagine everyone is me. Does that help?"
"No!" She groaned, burying her face in her palms. "That's worse."
She took a deep breath, adjusted her skirt, smoothed her tie, and brushed her hair back. With a heavy sigh, she opened the door.
Just walk. Head down. Keep moving.
She quickened her pace, eyes glued to the pavement, acutely aware of the stares burning into her. The new girl. The big girl.
She reached the stairs leading to the main block. She lifted her foot—and caught the toe of her shoe on the concrete.
Splat.
She fell face-first, her palms scraping harshly against the stone.
Time seemed to stop. Then, the laughter started. It wasn't a ripple; it was a wave. Students pointed, snickering, making mockery of the clumsy new girl. Emilia scrambled up, her face burning hotter than the sun, desperately dusting the dirt off her skirt.
Please let the world end. Right now. Just open up and swallow me.
Kate, who was already at the top of the stairs, turned at the commotion. She squinted, realized it was her sister, and sighed.
"Clumsy cat," Kate muttered, walking back down. She pulled a pristine handkerchief from her bag. "Here."
"Thank you," Emilia whispered, taking the cloth. She wiped the grit from her palms, but the tears were already spilling over.
"Could you not?" Kate hissed under her breath. "People are watching."
"Right. Sorry." Emilia wiped her face aggressively, forcing a wobbly smile.
Fortunately, the assembly bell rang, saving her from further humiliation. Kate grabbed her wrist and dragged her toward their assigned classroom.
They walked in, and the room went quiet.
A group of boys in the back corner had been arguing loudly, but as the twins entered, the noise died down. All eyes shifted to them. Emilia lowered her head, fidgeting nervously with the dirty handkerchief.
"Good morning!" one of the boys shouted, breaking the tension. "Our new classmates have arrived."
He strode toward them. He was tall, confident, and had a smile that screamed trouble.
"Hi, I'm Kate," her sister said, extending her hand.
The boy smirked. He took Kate's hand, his grip lingering just a few seconds too long. He looked Kate up and down, his eyes appreciating every inch of her, completely ignoring Emilia standing right next to her.
He grinned, a predator looking at a prize.
"Hi," he said, his voice smooth as velvet. "I'm Ken."
