3 Wishes

Prologue I: Friendship

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Boys weren't a problem for Elaine. They only paid attention to her while asking for help with homework. She always knew the answers. See, no problem at all.

It wasn't because she wasn't pretty enough. She was. She had long dark hair the color of milk chocolate, hair that she usually wore pulled back into a ponytail because it took her two minutes to do and didn't fall into her face while she looked down at her schoolwork. Her eyes were warm and large, even behind the glasses she always wore. It was, unfortunately, her air of extreme competence that scared boys away. In fact, she didn't seem to be a teenage girl at all. She was somebody's mother, just waiting to happen.

So there was Elaine, walking out of school building with a backpack, which was heavier than it needed to be, because it couldn't hurt to read over her Shakespeare assignment one more time. As happens with most life-changing events, she was not thinking about anything important at all. If she had thought of Hunter Delmont that day, those wishes, those half-formed sighs of longing had faded as soon as calculus ended. He had picked up his books and tucked them under his arm without a glance in her direction.

Not that she'd expected otherwise. Her seat was at the back of the class. He sat in the front. He had no reason to turn around. Which was why it was so odd when she looked up and saw him leaning against her family's Jeep Wrangler in the school parking lot.

She stopped midstride, looking like an Elaine statue someone had created on the edge of the sidewalk. Not really such a far-fetched idea, actually. The way the teachers loved her, they could have erected a statue in her honor. They would entitle it The Student the Rest of You Should Have Been.

Elaine forced herself to take another step. She analyzed the situation. He was either resting against her jeep because....she couldn't fill in the blank. He must want to talk to her. Her. HER.

It didn't matter that she already knew it would be about homework. What mattered was he knew she existed. This was clearly a gift from the universe. A whiff of magic and hope that had suddenly blown in.

As she walked to the jeep her steps gained bounce. He was one of the smartest guys in class. He didn't need help with homework. He wanted to talk to her.

She smiled as she approached him; a greeting started to form her lips, waiting for a kick of courage to spring it into action.

Hi, Hunter. What can I do for you? Actually, let me answer that question. In fact, let me send you a résumé.

Only she didn't say it. Courage is fickle creature. Just as you need it, it often makes excuses and rushes out of the room.

He looked at her and stood straighter, his expression friendly but unreadable. Elaine tried to read it. She tried to read her entire future in that gaze. What did the arch of his dark eyebrows signify?

"Are you Elise's sister?"

"Yes." Her footsteps faltered, but not enough to be noticed, at least not by a guy who'd never glanced at the back of the calculus classroom.

"Elaine?" he asked, as though it might have been Alice or Elyne.

She said, "Yes." But her mind said, "What does Elise have to do with anything?"

His attention shifted to something behind her and he smiled, a sudden dab of sunshine reflecting in his expression. She turned and saw her sister striding toward the jeep.

Vision is also a fickle creature. You can see an object a hundred times, a thousand times, and it remains unchanged. Then in one swift second you realize it has been changing all along and your eyes hid it from you.