*𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 1 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.*
Jake and Violet have been best friends for as long as they can remember. They have a bond like no other: sharing the smallest of secrets and practically reading each other's minds. Every...
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"Hey, are we still going to Brody's place tomorrow to practice?"
Violet and I were sitting in our tree, each of us working on homework. Our daily routine, whether we had anything to do or not, was to sit here and hang out. Besides the beach, I'd say this was our home. Dad and Uncle Derrick built the platform back when we were five, and it became our prime hangout spot. I lost track a long time ago of the amount of time we spent out here, talking and laughing about anything and everything. When I was younger, no matter what I had going on, all I had to do was come up here and Violet would make me feel better. I had always told myself that's just what best friends did, but a little voice would always tell me that it was something more. The same voice I always ignored.
"Yeah, unfortunately," I replied. "I still don't understand why Mrs. Keiser put our groups together. I would've been happy with Brody's group winning if it meant we didn't have to perform with him." I still got angry at the mention of Brody, even though the situation in fifth grade was seven years ago. I think I was the only one out of Violet, Josh, Jules, and I who still couldn't manage to let go. Violet tried to talk to me about it a few years ago, but I brushed it off. I still hadn't told her what really happened, and only Josh knew. It isn't worth talking about anymore, anyway.
"Well, who knows?" Violet shrugged, looking back and forth between her calculator and her notebook. "Maybe something good will come out of performing at Winter Formal." I scoffed, thinking that would hardly be the case, but Violet tended to be right about these things. I guess we'll see.
"Oh! Speaking of Winter Formal," Violet sat up excitedly, pushing away her homework. "Do you think Jacob is going to ask Lila?" Ha! Lila? Lila Archer? There was a higher chance of Brody and I becoming friends again than Lila going out with Jacob.
"We are talking about the same Lila Archer who called your brother a curly-haired shorty noodle eight years ago and then beat his butt on field day? And didn't stop teasing him about it for the rest of the year?" I could still remember every detail of the argument, mainly because Lila kept adding insults that made the whole thing even funnier. She and Jacob were never full-on enemies, but they definitely didn't get along, especially in elementary and middle school.
"Yes, her," Violet rolled her eyes, but I knew she was hiding a laugh. Violet stood right beside me as all of us laughed at the nickname, watching fourth-grade Jacob get berated by a mere third-grader. "Have you not seen them together recently? Personally, I think Jacob's been in love with her since the field day incident."
"Woah, love? Calm down Violet," I chuckled at her enthusiasm. Violet was a hopeless romantic, mainly because of all the romance stories she'd read. "They've been getting closer for what, a month or two?"
"But think of how cute their story would be!" Violet still had a wide smile. "Knowing each other since elementary, finally getting together in high school, one day getting married ... it would make for the perfect love story."
