Chapter 1The Superstar's Unread Message

After bombing my SATs, I changed my number, deleted my socials, and ghosted everyone I knew.

Eight years later, at our high school reunion, the class president leaned in and whispered a secret: "Finn Sterling had a crush on you."

I spent days digging through boxes until I found my old phone and logged into the messaging account I had abandoned years ago.

And there it was. A message sitting quietly in my inbox, unread for eight years:

"Which college are you going to? Can I come with you?"

But now? Finn Sterling is a world-famous superstar.

* * *

The sun was brutal today. I felt dizzy from the heat, and if you looked closely, you could probably see steam rising from the pavement.

Traffic was a nightmare. To avoid being late, I bailed out of the cab and sprinted the rest of the way to the airport.

Thirty minutes until Finn Sterling’s flight landed.

He was the big shot our company spent a fortune to sign—a red-hot A-list celebrity. He was also my high school classmate.

Two days ago, at the reunion, I laughed off the class president's secret. "Finn Sterling? Having a crush on me? Yeah, right! That wouldn't even happen in a fanfic. He's Finn Sterling. If every one of his fangirls just spit once, I’d drown."

Anyone could like me, but not Finn. We were never on the same wavelength. High school Finn probably couldn't stand me.