#1: Six days is basically tomorrow.
Six days to prom.
Which, in teenage-girl math, was the same thing as tomorrow.
Lila Harper woke up like she’d been personally attacked by her alarm clock.
Her hair stood in twelve different directions, her blanket had wrapped itself around her legs like it was trying to keep her hostage, and her phone buzzed violently on the bedside table...face down, judging her.
She groaned, rolled over, and slapped the screen.
Big mistake.
KAI (7:02 AM):DON’T FORGET. SPA DAY TODAY. BE READY. 😁💅
Lila stared at the message.
Then she sat straight up.
“SPA DAY??” she croaked, her voice cracking like an old door.
She checked the time.
7:02 AM.
They were supposed to meet at 8.
She hadn’t shaved.
She hadn’t packed anything.
She hadn’t mentally prepared to be touched by strangers while wearing a towel.
And worst of all, she had prom in six days.
She flung herself out of bed, nearly tripping over her school shoes, and sprinted to the mirror.
The mirror did not forgive her.
Her eyes were puffy, her bonnet had slipped halfway off her head like it gave up overnight, and her face screamed I stayed up till 2 a.m. stressing about a dress I don’t even own.
“Okay,” she told her reflection, pointing dramatically. “We don’t panic.”
She panicked.
Toothbrush in mouth, she hopped on one foot while trying to pull on leggings. Her elbow hit the door. The toothbrush fell. She screamed like she’d dropped her entire future.
From the kitchen, her mom yelled, “Lila! Are you fighting again this morning?”
“No, I’m LOSING.” Lila shouted back.
She brushed her teeth again and again, washed her face, slapped on moisturizer like it owed her money, and grabbed the first hoodie she saw.
It was inside out. She didn’t care.
Her phone buzzed.
KAI:I’m outside in 10.
“TEN??” she yelled, even though he couldn’t hear her.
She threw random things into a tote bag—lip gloss, phone charger, hair tie, another hair tie, and a third hair tie for emotional support, then bolted out the door with one shoe on properly and the other definitely not.
Kai was already leaning against his car, sunglasses on, smiling like his life was perfectly together.
“You look… awake,” he said.
Lila climbed into the passenger seat, slammed the door, and sighed.
“Six days to prom,” she muttered. “And today I’m getting exfoliated against my will.”
Kai grinned wider.
“Bestie,” he said, starting the car. “this is called self-care.”
Lila stared out the window. “It feels like betrayal.”
And just like that, the countdown had officially begun.
Six days to prom.
And somehow, everything was already going wrong
