I started living with Kendall because her parents retired and went on a year-round trip around the world. Kendall was afraid to stay at that big house alone and offered to let me live with her for free. Of course, I agreed.
And since my friend went on vacation, I have been in her house by myself. I'm not afraid to stay alone; a huge house in Beverly Hills with a private security system is not something that can scare me off.
"At least you could've offered to let me come swim in their massive pool." Sam pretends that she's offended, interrupting my thoughts about college tuition.
I could've asked her. I like Sam. But the problem is, I don't have days off. I work all the time, literally. I spend five hours at the bookstore after school and then four more hours as a waitress in one of the Beverly Hills restaurants after that. I have no time for swimming. I have no time for anything.
But the second I open my mouth to say this to Sam, her eyes widen in surprise as she looks at the main door.
"Holy shit," she whispers, and I look in the direction she's pointing. "It's Dominic Astor."
And then I notice a guy from my school coming into our bookshop.
Is he lost?
I've never seen him in here before. I rarely see him at school, to be honest. We have no classes together. All I know about him is that he's the son of California Senator Colton Astor, a billionaire who made his money on Wall Street by stock trading and then moved to California to become a politician.
I also heard that Dominic is famous for his massive parties, even though I was never invited. But I don't care; I have no time anyway. We have nothing in common; he's a manwhore who cares about nothing but partying while I'm a nerd.
And the most handsome guy I've ever seen. The thought appears in my head, but I wipe it away immediately.
It doesn't matter how handsome Dominic is; his charm doesn't appeal to me.
"I'll go ask him what he wants," Sam whispers to me with a mischievous smile on her face and winks before leaving.
I smile back and continue doing my job.
Of course, Samantha knows who Dominic is, even though she doesn't go to the academy. And, of course, she goes right over to talk to him. Moreover, I think she has a chance with him. I saw the type of girls he likes: tall, blond, and easy. I don't want to offend Sam, but she’s not exactly hard to get, especially for a wealthy athlete like Astor.
And it's not because Sam is stupid, quite the opposite; she's one of the most intelligent people I know. It's just that Sam still believes in fairy tales and is always looking for her Prince Charming. She told me once that she's willing to date a thousand 'frogs' before she meets her prince.
"May I speak to Serena Diaz?" I hear a familiar low voice ask, and my heart stops for a second.
Did I imagine it, or did Dominic Astor just ask for me?
I feel my heart start to beat faster, and it's getting harder to breathe.
What does he want?
I take a look down at my oversized sweatshirt to see if it's clean after that burrito. It is, but then I remind myself that I haven't washed my hair for two days, and now it’s just in a tight ponytail.
I don't care how I look when it comes to people like Astor, I remind myself.
It’s not like he would ever find me attractive, anyway.
"She's right there," Sam tells him and points at me.
Shit. It's too late to hide behind the register because he already saw me.
I lower my gaze, pretending that I didn't hear anything.
"Serena?" he asks, coming closer and standing in front of me.
I take a deep silent breath and force myself to look up at him.
Oh, gosh, I never realized how tall he is. He's more than a head taller than me, and I have to throw my head back a little to look into his eyes.
His eyes...they are deep green with tiny dark brown spots in them. And the color is not light olive green, but more like a tree leaf green in the middle of the summer—intense and mesmerizing. It takes my breath away. I’ve never known that such a color existed.