Page 46 of My Best Friend Prince Charming

“Mom, I’d like to go to therapy over what happened with Dad. I think I’m ready to start healing.”

She reached out across the table and took my hand in hers. “That is definitely something we can do. I’ll see if my therapist has any openings this next week. How does that sound?”

“Honestly? It sounds scary. I’m not sure it will be easy to talk about everything I’ve been keeping bottled up all these years.”

“You just have to take it one day at a time. In the meantime, you need to make it right with Ryker. I know you’ve been in love with him the entire time.”

“You did? How?”

She quirked an eyebrow. “I’m your mother. I know you better than anyone. I knew you’d recognize what you felt for him when the time was right.”

Maddie came into the room. “Shannon, I overheard you talking to Mom just now. There’s something you need to see.”

She slipped into the chair next to me and showed me a video she had pulled up on her phone. Ryker was sitting on a couch, talking to what looked like a talk-show host. He was wearing the same shirt he’d been wearing when we were in California. Maybe he was being interviewed while I was getting my hair done for the charity ball. He had mentioned that he had an appointment set up for him that day.

The man in the video wanted to know who the girl in the waterfall picture was. So Ryker told him our story from the beginning. He let them know that we were the poor kids at school who had been best friends since elementary school. We were next-door neighbors with single parents. He told him that we had recently begun dating and that we were happy together.

“This video changed Ryker’s entire image with the public,” Maddie said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe if you bothered to open a web browser once in a while, you’d know what people are saying about you online.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I open web browsers,” I said defensively.

“Clearly not to the sites that matter,” Maddie said.

“What are they saying about her now?” Mom asked.

“Everyone sees her as a modern-day Cinderella.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Now that they know Ryker hasn’t been jumping from girl to girl, the response online has completely shifted. Ryker has this new role and the money that goes along with it, and they see him as anactualPrince Charming in love with his best friend and next-door neighbor. His fans are eating it up. Because who doesn’t love a real-life Cinderella story?”

My mind reeled. Maybe Maddie was right. I did need to open a web browser more often. This new information changed everything.

“I think you know what you need to do now,” Mom said.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“You need to go after Ryker before you lose the best thing in your life.”

I sat back in my chair, my mind racing. She was right. I knew exactly what I needed to do.

The next morning, I got up to go to the last day of school. While I was brushing my teeth, an email came through on my phone. I swiped at the screen and saw who it was from—Tufted Pen Publishing submissions. My heart dropped to my feet, and I frantically opened the email. I scanned through the attached letter and spat my toothpaste in the sink, screeching.

Maddie rushed into the bathroom. “What’s the matter with you?”

“I won!” I whooped. “I won the contest!”

“You did? No way!” She grabbed my phone. “Let me see that.”

Mom came from her room. “Did you just say you won the writing contest?”

“Yep.” I couldn’t believe it. Nothing this good ever happened to me. My heart was bursting with joy. How could such an amazing thing be true? “Now I can give you guys the money so you won’t be so tight financially when I’m gone to college.”

“No, Shannon. I can’t take your money. Don’t even think about giving us your prize money,” Mom said.

“But I’m leaving you high and dry after I leave.”

“Actually, you aren’t,” Mom said. “My boss just gave me a raise. We’ll be just fine.”

“And I’ll be out of here in two years anyway, Shannon. That’s your money,” Maddie said.

My eyes welled up with tears. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was. Not only did I have a chance to become a published author, but I had a loving mom and sister too.

All I needed now was to make things right with Ryker.

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