Chapter 1
Josephine
Prom night was supposed to be magical, the kind of evening people tucked away in their hearts and remembered for the rest of their lives.
Instead, I found myself losing a battle with one stubborn curl.
It refused to stay where I wanted it, springing free every time I smoothed it into place, as though it had declared a personal rebellion against me.
After the fifth attempt, I sighed and surrendered.
Maybe perfection simply wasn’t in the cards tonight.
Gathering my chestnut-brown hair into an effortless-looking updo, I left a few soft wisps to frame my face before twisting the rest into a low bun at the nape of my neck. The overlapping sections created delicate layers that looked far more intricate than they had been to make.
I took one final breath before lifting my eyes to the mirror.
For a long moment...
I barely recognized the girl looking back at me.
At five-foot-seven and two hundred pounds, mirrors had never been kind. They never let me forget the things I spent so much of my life trying not to notice, every curve, every softness, every insecurity carefully stitched into my reflection.
But tonight...
Tonight felt different.
The cerulean gown embraced my body instead of trying to disguise it. Its elegant tailoring celebrated every curve with quiet confidence, while my carefully pinned hair and softly blended makeup completed a version of myself I hardly recognized.
She looked...
beautiful.
The thought startled me.
I wasn’t sure whether I believed it.
But for the first time in a very long while...
I wanted to.
Turning slowly, I watched the skirt bloom around me.
The asymmetrical neckline swept gracefully across one shoulder, leaving the other bare. Soft pleats gathered at the fitted bodice before flowing into a stitched waistband, where long panels of fabric drifted effortlessly toward the floor with every movement.
There were no sparkling crystals.
No elaborate embroidery.
Mom and I had chosen a dress that relied on craftsmanship instead of decoration. Its beauty wasn’t found in glitter. It lived in the way the fabric moved, graceful, timeless, almost weightless.
For years I’d stared into mirrors searching for flaws.
Tonight...
My eyes lingered on something else.
They lingered on possibility.
I smiled at my reflection before quickly looking away, almost embarrassed that I’d been caught admiring myself.
Excitement fluttered through my chest, tangling with nerves until I could no longer tell them apart.
Before either feeling could take over, the doorbell rang.
“Josephine Copeland!” my mother called from downstairs. “Get your cute butt in here!”
A laugh escaped before I could stop it.
“I’ll be right there, Mama!”
I fastened the straps of my heels and headed downstairs.
With every step, my heartbeat grew louder.
Halfway down the staircase, I wondered if everyone in the house could hear it.
Then...
I saw him.
The rest of the world quietly disappeared.
My gaze found my prom date, and for one impossible second, I couldn’t quite believe he was standing there waiting for me.
Jason Krupp.
Regatta champion.
Captain of the hockey team.
Student Body President.
The boy every girl at St. Andrews seemed to know by name.
Yet none of those titles came to mind when I looked at him.
He wasn’t the school’s golden boy.
He wasn’t the captain.
He wasn’t the champion.
He was simply...
Jase.
My best friend.
He looked devastatingly handsome in a perfectly tailored black Armani suit that seemed made for him. A crisp white shirt and slim black tie completed the look with effortless elegance.
His dark hair had already escaped whatever attempt he’d made to tame it, a few stubborn strands falling across his forehead.
Somehow...
I liked that better.
It made him look less like the boy everyone admired...
and more like the Jase I’d known since we were eight.
Behind his back, he was hiding something.
A corsage.
Or at least, he thought he was hiding it.
Jason crossed the room until only a breath separated us.
Neither of us spoke.
We didn’t have to.
His hand rose slowly, his fingertips brushing my cheek with a tenderness that stole every coherent thought from my mind.
Warmth bloomed beneath his touch, spreading all the way to my ears.
His gray-green eyes searched mine.
Then, almost like he was afraid someone else might hear, he whispered,
“You’re breathtaking, Jojo.”
My heart forgot how to beat.
Every cruel thought I’d ever believed about myself...
Every insecurity I’d carried for years...
Every fear that I would never be enough...
Melted beneath the certainty in his eyes.
And for one impossibly fragile...
impossibly beautiful...
moment...
I believed him.
If I had known what tomorrow would bring, I would have held on to that moment just a little longer.
Jason
Standing in the Copelands’ foyer, my eyes drifted to the sweeping oval staircase that spiraled through the heart of the house. Majestic white wooden balustrades curved gracefully around each landing while a polished black handrail made of mahogany wound upward like a ribbon, disappearing beneath the skylight several stories above.
I’d seen that staircase hundreds of times.
It still managed to steal my attention.
Maybe it wasn’t the architecture that fascinated me anymore.
Maybe it was the memories.
Jojo and I had spent half our childhood ignoring every lecture from our parents by sliding down those glossy handrails, laughing until one of us inevitably landed in an undignified heap on the marble floor.
Josephine once told me the estate had belonged to her grandmother before her mother inherited everything, the house, the grounds, even the priceless artwork that filled nearly every wall.
It suited her family.
Elegant without ever needing to announce it.
My gaze lingered on the staircase, as it carried me back to the day she moved from Queens, New York.
I was eight when the moving truck rolled into the neighborhood.
The movers had barely lowered the truck’s ramp before a girl in ripped jeans, a faded One Direction T-shirt, and an expression that dared the entire world to bother her jumped down carrying a battered bicycle almost as stubborn looking as she was.
I’d lived in Beacon Hill my whole life.
That afternoon I was coasting down the sidewalk on my skateboard when fate decided we’d meet the hard way.
Neither of us saw the other.
We collided so hard we both ended up sprawled across the pavement.
I was already apologizing when she glared at me like I’d personally ruined her entire week.
She dusted off her jeans, grabbed her bike without a word, and stormed away.
I remember sitting there thinking...
Well... she’s terrifying.
The next afternoon she wandered over to the neighborhood basketball court.
I figured she’d watch us play.
Instead...
She dismantled every ounce of confidence we had.
The second the basketball touched her hands, everything changed.
She moved like she’d been born with it.
Jumpers.
Crossovers.
No-look passes through impossible openings.
By sunset, every one of us had been humbled.
My ego never really recovered.
Somehow...
My best friend did.
I’d dated other girls over the years.
Homecoming dates.
Movie dates.
Even a few relationships that everyone at school assumed were serious.
None of them ever really knew me.
Jojo did.
She knew the version of me the rest of the world never saw.
The one who woke at three in the morning because another panic attack convinced him he couldn’t breathe.
The one who could stand before thousands of cheering spectators at a championship game...
yet still hesitate before walking into a crowded room by himself.
She never tried to fix me.
She never looked at me with pity.
She simply sat beside me.
Sometimes we’d talk.
Sometimes we wouldn’t.
She’d stay until my breathing matched hers again.
Somehow...
she always knew exactly how long that would take.
“Here she is!”
Mrs. Ashford-Copeland’s voice pulled me back to the present.
I looked toward the staircase.
And promptly forgot how breathing worked.
Josephine stood beneath the skylight, framed by afternoon sunlight pouring through the glass above.
She smiled the instant our eyes met.
Then she gathered the skirt of her cerulean gown and hurried downstairs with the same excitement she’d had since we were kids.
“Jase!” she squealed. “We’re really going to prom!”
Before I could answer, she launched herself into my arms.
I caught her on instinct, lifting her clear off the floor as we both laughed.
“Yeah,” I said.
“We’re really going to prom.”
Jojo had spent years believing people noticed her weight before anything else.
What she’d never understood was that I’d always noticed everything else first.
Her smile.
The dimple that appeared only on her left cheek.
The way she laughed without checking whether anyone else was laughing too.
The kindness she handed out so freely that most people never realized how rare it was.
And tonight...
She was breathtaking.
Behind my back, I tightened my grip on the corsage Mom had helped me choose.
“Hang on,” I said. “I’ve got something for you.”
I brought it into view.
Three ivory roses.
Blush spray roses.
Baby’s breath.
Eucalyptus.
Champagne ribbon.
The moment she saw it, her entire face unraveled.
Her eyes shimmered.
She laughed.
Then looked seconds away from crying.
Only Jojo could cycle through five emotions before I even managed to slip the corsage onto her wrist.
“Don’t you dare cry before we leave,” I teased.
“I’m not crying,” she insisted, blinking furiously.
“You literally are.”
“It’s allergies.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“To flowers?”
“They’re... emotional allergies.”
I laughed so hard I nearly dropped the corsage.
There had never been any question. We were always going together. It was simply what we’d always planned.
As I fastened the satin ribbon around her wrist, Mr. Copeland came charging into the foyer carrying his mirrorless camera like a war correspondent arriving at the front lines.
“Nobody move!” he ordered.
The shutter erupted.
Click.
Click.
Click-click-click-click.
He photographed the corsage.
The hug.
Jojo pretending she wasn’t crying.
Me pretending I wasn’t laughing.
Every awkward, perfect second in between.
Judging by the grin on his face, he would’ve happily kept shooting until sunrise if Mrs. Ashford-Copeland hadn’t finally shooed us toward the front door before we ended up late for prom.
I think all of us believed we were photographing the beginning of something beautiful but after tonight, everything is about to change.
