The Rules of Love

Even though I’m around hot football players every afternoon, they are not allowed to date me. If they even come close to flirting, my dad, Coach “The Boss” Davis, makes them run laps around the field until they puke. Not only has he forbidden me to date anyone at all, he’s even made me the football team’s water girl so he can keep tabs on me. What Dad doesn’t know is that I spend every last second of those two blissful hours of practice in the scorching California heat staring at Tyson Blake. He is the epitome of perfection. And Dad hates him.  

I live by three rules. One: I never get lower than an A in any class. Two: I never lose a cross-country race. And three: I never talk to Cade Kelley. Well, number three came crashing down the moment Principal Connell asks me to guide Cade back onto the right path. Something about helping him turn his life around. If only Principal Connell knew our history, he’d understand just what he’s asking.   

My plan was perfect: convince my best friend and school quarterback, Ethan, to be the final prize for my matchmaking test where the proceeds go to sending the band to Paris. Plus, if it matches me with my lifelong crush, that's a bonus, right? What could go wrong? Apparently, a lot. First, the test matches me and Ethan. Which is easy to explain. Computers make mistakes all the time, right? Second, the girl I switch myself for seems perfect for Ethan. Maybe a bit too perfect. Third, my date with my crush goes horribly wrong, and my first kiss tanks.

He was supposed to be my escape for the weekend. I wasn’t supposed to fall for him. I want to be a good daughter, but I’m tired of being looked over. So when I run into Jet Miller, the bad boy with a motorcycle, I pay him to take me away for the weekend. Two days of freedom quickly change into something more, and I find myself falling for Jet. Only, he doesn’t know that once our 48 hour escape is over, I’m gone. And I don’t know how to tell him. Some rules are meant to be broken.

I thought I was strong enough to go along with the plan. Fake dating heart throb Cayden Rivers seemed simple enough. Apparently not. I am just trying to survive. Spending the summer with my loosey-goosey Dad in Hollywood, CA is just enough to send my OCD tendencies into hyperdrive. But Mom thinks it's good for me. And my best friend Michelle has agreed to come along.

I'm determined to make my senior year epic. I'd finally risen up in social rank, and I'm ready to rule the school. Everything seems perfect, until I find myself standing in front of Colten.

Mom’s sick. Desperate to get some sunshine and relaxation, my parents packed up my brother and I and moved us to a small ranch in Montana. I’m not really interested in making friends. Not when my time with my mother might be cut short.

A mistletoe kiss is just a simple kiss, right? Wrong. All I want to do during this Christmas break is survive. A week at the cabin with our family’s friends/rivals, the Stephensons, every yuletide activity is turned into a competition where my family must win. Every. One. Yep. I was attempting to be loyal until Jacob and I kiss. Sure, it was a forced one brought on by mistletoe tradition, but there was something in the way he held me and pressed his lips to mine that told me, he just might be feeling something more.

Everything is going according to plan until I discover that not only is my ex-best friend, Grayson back, but he’s also volunteering. And we get paired with siblings. Great. I not only have to talk to him but I have to spend time with him and his mentee. Which seems doable as long as neither of us bring up the past. Which seems harder to do than say. Now I’m so confused, I can’t keep my mind straight. There’s something Grayson isn’t telling me and feelings that creep up that weren’t there before.

The summer is coming to an end, and I’m barely surviving. Dad’s gone. Mom spends more time passed out on the couch than doing anything else. Thankfully, I have school and soccer to keep me distracted. Until Logan Cartwright walks back into my life. He’s acting like his family didn’t ruin mine and confusing me more than ever. I’m supposed to hate him, but he’s nice and everywhere I don’t want him to be.