Page 1 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

PROLOGUE

Poppy

“You don’t thinkhe’ll bring her, right?” My cousin Ashleigh whispered as we made our way through Deacon Faris’s house.

It was crowded, but the Rixon Raiders had won 20 - 13. So everyone was amped up and ready to party.

Including me.

“Who?” I frowned back at her as we fought through the crush to find the rest of our friends.

“Penelope.”

“I thought you and Ezra weren’t—”

“We’re not,” she rushed out. “But Jesus, Poppy. I don’t want to see him with her. Maybe this was a bad idea.” She hesitated.

Ashleigh was kind of involved with our friend Ezra. He was Aaron’s foster brother, and Aaron was my… friend.

One of my best friends.

I grabbed her arm gently and pulled her over to a quiet spot. “Sorry. I’m doing it again, aren’t I?” I gave her a soft smile.

“Doing what?”

“Being insensitive,” I said. “I don’t mean to be. I’m just… I’m nervous.”

So nervous my heart was beating wildly in my chest.

“Nervous?” she asked. “But why?”

“Because I like Aaron, Leigh,” I admitted. It was a relief to tell someone—to finally confess what I’d always kept so close to my heart. “I really freaking like him and I’m tired of pretending I don’t. And when he picked me up outside the stadium and spun me around, I felt it.”

Every time Aaron looked at me, it felt… it felt like I was soaring. But it was weird. We’d been friends for a long time. Our entire lives actually. I was in the same grade with him and his twin sister Sofia, and the three of us were inseparable.

At least, we used to be. Since the beginning of senior year things had been different.

“You know he feels the same, Poppy,” Leigh said. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Don’t I? He’s so determined to make it this year. To do right by the team and Coach and the entire town. I’m not sure I fit into his plans.”

Aaron’s popularity had soared this year thanks to being named captain of the team, leaving me and Sofia behind in the dust. But it was okay. I was so proud of him, we both were. Besides, nothing could come between a bond like ours. Not even football.

Ashleigh reached for my hair and tucked it behind my ear. “Well, you’ll never know if you don’t ask him.”

“You’re right. Oh my God, you’re right. Come on.” I grabbed her hand, my stomach fluttering with excitement. “Let’s go and party like it’s senior year.”

But the second we walked out of the French doors and into Deacon’s yard, I froze. “N-no.”

My heart tumbled in my chest, plummeting to the ground, splattering all over the Farises’ patio.

No, he wouldn’t.

He wouldn’t.

But there he was. Aaron Bennet, the boy who consumed my thoughts, sitting in a garden chair with Zara Willis, Rixon High’s head cheerleader straddling his lap. Her arms draped around his shoulders and her pouty mouth pressed on his.

“I think I’m going to puke.” I turned and ran back toward the house.

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