Five Days, Five Kisses

By Angela Carling

What could be more awkward than getting dumped at graduation....kissing five strangers to get over it! Nikola Jensen hates endings, like when her parents told her they were splitting up, or when she was forced to leave her first love and idyllic lake home to move to the barren desert of Arizona. So, two years later when her high school boyfriend Sam, publicly breaks her heart, Nikola can’t seem to let go. To help her move on Nikola’s best friends, Liberty and Maya create the absurd Five Days, Five Kisses plan. All she has to do is kiss a new guy every day for five days and Sam will be a distant memory. Five Days, kissing five strangers. What could possibly go wrong?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Angela Carling
• Release date: Jan 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9780996893497

Angela Carling

Angela Carling was raised in Palm Springs California, but lives Arizona with her husband, three kids and five felines. After years of denial she finally admitted that she is a hopeless romantic which led her to write her first Young Adult book Unbreakable Love. Since then she’s published three more books, Shackled, Becoming Bryn and The Secret Keeper. Shackled won the silver IPGA award in 2012 and has been optioned as a screenplay. She always eats the frosting off her cake and leaves the rest, and can be caught singing in public bathrooms just for the acoustics. When she’s not writing YA novels, she’s mentoring teen writers, making pizza with her family or dreaming of taking a nap, not necessarily in that order

Book preview

Chapter 1

Nikola

Black graduation caps filled the air. With them came a cheer that resonated off of the cement bleachers and drifted over the high school graduates down on the field.

Like a snapshot, I captured the experience in my memory. Click, click, click…I took in the detail. It was perfect. The sun was setting. A light breeze blew and my gorgeous boyfriend sat in the first row looking stunning despite wearing a hideous black graduation gown.

Even when I wasn’t behind the camera lens, I often took pictures with my mind. It was the way I saw the world, though funky angles and in breathtaking spurts.

I turned to glance at my teachers and principal seated on the platform and the moment shifted. Hats rained down, spotting the stage with black, blending with gowns and hopeful smiles.

Twisting in my chair I strained to see where my cap had landed. Even though only a dozen administrators and the girls’ choir sat on the stage with me, my hat had disappeared in a muddled pile of tassels and brims.

The adults stood up shaking hands with one another talking about what a great year they’d had. All their well-wishing and moving around made it all the harder for me to track my wayward keepsake.

Excuse me, I said sifting through the crowd brushed by polyester robes and the varied scents of perfumes. The principal Mr. Bellfire appeared out of nowhere, grabbing my hand. He shook it like he was cranking an old Model T car. He was definitely old enough to know how.

Congratulations Valedictorian and best of luck at ASU.

I never knew what to say to people in authority. That was my best friend Liberty’s talent. She always had the adults eating out of her hand. Uh, thank you, I said while subtly scanning the ground.

I knew throwing it was a mistake. I told my mom I wanted to hang onto it—for a souvenir.

We’ll have a hundred pictures, my mom had said. If it gets lost, those can be your souvenirs. She wasn’t nearly the sentimentalist I was. According to her, that trait came from my father, at least until he abandoned us and moved to San Diego with his new lover.

Just in case, I’d marked the cap with my initials NJ in crisp silver ink. As my principal moved on, I spotted what I was sure was my hat lying next to the microphone at the front of the stage. I scampered over and reached down to grab it. My shoulders sagged with disappointment. The only thing printed on this hat was a muddy shoe print. Darn. Distracting me, I heard my name.

Nikola! my boyfriend Sam called over the crowd. His curt tone gave away his impatience. I’d been so busy hat hunting and with all the noise...

Still, walking toward me, I couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous he looked with his robe unzipped showing just a peek of his white shirt and tie underneath.

Sam and I had been together fourteen months. That’s two prom pictures, thirteen movies, one homecoming and endless hours spent making out in his silver Jeep. I sighed. Sam Carmichael was the epitome of flawless. His hair never looked mussed and his long dark eyelashes always caught me off guard. Not only that, he was captain of the golf team and his father was mayor of Gilbert. I couldn’t have created a more perfect high school boyfriend if I’d cooked him up in the lab. My other best friend, Maya called him eye-candy. I called him wonderful.

I abandoned my search and sent him a welcoming smile. His lips never moved, except to tighten as he grew closer.

Uh oh.

It’s time for us to talk, he said.

He grabbed my hand and practically dragged me back to the small set of risers where the girls’ choir had performed a four-part rendition of the school song minutes earlier. Students were flooding the stage now. He pivoted around them with ease yanking me along as he went.

His tight grip on me confirmed that something was wrong. On the lowest riser, Sam plopped down pulling me with him. I winced at the desert heat rising from the metal bleachers even through my thick robe.

What is wrong with you? I said as I squirmed on the hot seat hoping my graduation dress wasn’t getting too wrinkled.

I think we should break up, he said pointedly.

My body froze, except for my eyes which met his. His gaze was unflinching, determined. Colder than I’d ever seen it before, and his words didn’t fit. Nothing about them seemed real. This was Sam, my wonderful boyfriend, my right hand, be-with-you-forever guy. At least that’s what he’d told me one dark night in his car.

Here comes the part where you tell me you were kidding, I thought as I focused on his unblinking gaze waiting for it to soften.

His only response was to raise his eyebrows and tighten his jaw until his dimple completely disappeared. I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. I was stunned, too shocked to speak. This wasn’t how things were supposed to end, especially not tonight. Tonight we would go to graduation parties and talk about the future while reminiscing about our happy high school days. Didn’t he know we were like Barbie and Ken or Bill and Hillary? Well, maybe not so much like Bill and Hillary, but still. I felt my face crumble and I stood up as if to defy his unthinkable words.

Despite my horribly dry throat, I found my voice. You’re breaking up with me on the same night as graduation? It wasn’t until my words carried across the rows of chairs that I realized I was standing next to the microphone that the soloist had used during the choir performance. Worst of all, my voice cracked with emotion amplifying my wretchedness across the entire football field.

Hundreds of students and parents stopped to stare in our direction. Their eyes bore into me like a thousand questions at once. I had no answers. I was completely mystified by my boyfriend’s behavior too.

I sunk again onto the riser trying to make myself as small as I felt. He plowed on with his rejection like he wasn’t cutting me down with each word, or maybe he knew he was hurting me and didn’t care.

It’s just that I’m not happy anymore. You’re too…too…

Before he could find the words to describe what was wrong with me and why he no longer loved me, I stood abruptly and nearly sprinted in the other direction, passing several hats all of which could’ve been mine. Despite gaining distance from him, my cheeks still burned hot with embarrassment and my heart sunk low and heavy in my chest.

Next to the stairs I kicked a wayward tassel as hard as I could. Like insult to injury, the spike of my heel caught on the rough platform, knocking me off balance. I stumbled, my hands groping for something, anything to catch me. Nothing solid came to my aid and I landed on my butt with a painful thud.

Terrified, yet secretly hoping Sam was watching me, I glanced over my shoulder. He was gone. Nothing but air remained in the space he’d taken up to break my heart. He hadn’t considered coming after me and now, I’d made a fool of myself, twice, on one of the most important nights of my life. At least he hadn’t seen the totality of my humiliation. There was some comfort in that, but everyone else gathered near the base of the stage was now gawking at me. Some wore pity on their faces, others suppressed laughter.

I could feel the tears coming. Pain radiated up my back and my heart felt irreparably shattered. All I wanted was to run away and never face anyone that was currently standing in this stadium, ever again.

Whoa there, easy on those heels, I heard my best friend say. Maya plopped down next to me, although I wasn’t sure how she bent in half with the skin tight dress she wore under her robe.

It didn’t matter. She was there at the exact moment I needed her. She wrapped her arm around my shoulder, her graduation robe falling over me like a comforting blanket.

I looked up at her with tears brimming in my eyes. Her eyebrows knit together when she saw my pain-filled expression. What happened with Sam?

She was too kind. She’d heard. Everyone from here to Phoenix had probably heard Sam’s heartless dismissal. The worry in her voice was the final straw and the tears began to drip like a faucet with a steady leak.

With trembling lips, I replied, He broke up with me. I gave him fourteen months and he dumped me. I feel lost without him. What am I going to do now?

Chapter 2

Nikola

Sitting under the canopy of the sprawling Mesquite tree, tucked in a corner, and hidden by the dark night, I found myself wishing I’d never come to the graduation party. The only reason I was here was to support Liberty. As student body president, my best friend had spent months planning the school celebration and the last two days decorating the pool built next to the high school. All her preparation had paid off. Girls showing off their new bikinis flirted with boys that were feeling like they’d just conquered the world instead of an average education in the public school system. Not that I wanted to diminish their happiness, I just felt so low that I couldn’t share in their joy.

Maya’s hand pressing lightly on my back pulled me from my dark place. I’d almost forgotten she’d been sitting next to me for nearly an hour. We hadn’t spoken, but Maya and I didn’t have to talk to be comfortable. Now, if I could endure one more hour, I could go home and sleep away this terrible day.

Are you alright? Maya asked, finally breaking the silence. She meant well. It was amazing that she was giving up her own celebration to stay with me, but I was so close to breaking out in tears again that it was all I could do to nod yes.

Liar.

In the odd hues of the LED pool light I turned to see the worry on Maya’s face. In a matter of seconds Maya’s tight jaw line and long dark hair turned blue, green and then a grapey shade of purple. Despite every muscle in my face feeling heavy, I conjured up a weak smile.

To the right of where we sat, Liberty appeared through the pool entrance. She balanced a teetering stack of donut boxes while managing to push open the gate with one shoulder.

I’ll be right back, Maya said to me as she stood up. She met up with Liberty not far from where we sat.

Thanks, Liberty said unloading half the boxes into Maya’s arms. With one arm free, Liberty tucked a thick strand of wavy hair that had come loose from her ponytail, behind her ear. Both of my friends attention, was drawn to the pool as Mark Davis bellowed, Cannon ball! He thundered across the pavement and plunged into the water with an equally dramatic splash. Several girls sitting along the edge squealed when the overspray doused them.

Leaving me alone for the first time all night Liberty and Maya walked toward the tables set out for the food. Their voices blended into the crowd, but Maya’s head turning in my direction let me know they were talking about me.

Considering an escape, I looked back to the pool entrance. Instead of finding it empty, Sam stood just beyond the gate. My eyes flew open wide when I realized he was not alone. Walking hand in hand, Sam and Shanna Brookmeyer opened the gate and stepped inside. I knew Sam might come to the party, but I never, in a million lifetimes, expected him to have a date. The guy was full of surprises, all of them fatal to what was left of my heart. Just as it had begun to settle, my gut knotted and twisted with fresh pain. My mouth gaped open and my brain tried to make sense of what I saw.

To add insult to more insult on top of injury, Sam and Shanna stopped like models on a runway to show off their dazzling smiles and perfect figures. Thousands of tiny lights strung by the student council cast a gentle glow on their faces as they took in the party. They surveyed their kingdom, that same magical place I’d been banished from only hours earlier. Sam leaned over and whispered something to Shanna. She tucked her chin into her shoulder and giggled like a young girl. She was not a little girl. She was a tough athlete, a runner, the fastest in three counties and as gorgeous as she was quick. She and I had worked together on school projects. Our paths had crossed at sporting events and dances. I considered her a friend…until now.

Reluctantly, my mind began to register the new reality placed in front of me. I forced my mouth to close by taking a long sip from the cup I’d been idly holding. The sweet scent of the lemonade and moisture running down my throat felt good, but it was not enough to calm my frayed nerves.

I watched in horror as Shanna peeled off her T-shirt and shorts and handed them to Sam. His gaze followed every curve of Shanna’s body, intimately and with familiarity. How long had this been going on? As light as a gazelle, Shanna moved to the pool’s edge and reached down to feel the temperature with two fingers. Sam followed like a puppy dog, all the while clutching her clothes to his belly. When they were close to the pool light, even from my discreet corner, I could see the love sick expression plastered across my ex-boyfriend’s face. This relationship was definitely not new.

I thought Sam’s rejection in front of the entire community had been a blow, but now for a second time, his betrayal literally took my breath away and I gasped. My hand went to my chest this time and I felt my breaking heart thump to the cruel rhythm of the music blasting over the speakers.

I hadn’t just been dumped. I’d been duped.

Sam had been cheating on me for who knows how long. Maybe he never loved me at all. Wrapped up in my blind admiration, I’d missed his two-timing duplicitous low-life cheating outright until finally, when I was too stupid to get rid of him, he shattered me publicly.

I forced myself to turn away from the Sam and Shanna train wreck. Desperately, I searched across the packed pool deck for Maya and Liberty. At this point, I was clinging to what little dignity I had left. Maya was my ride home. I had to get out of here and do it without Sam seeing me.

Liberty and Maya were done setting up the donuts and were now headed in my direction. Like someone viewing my own life from a distance, I watched as Maya spotted Sam and Shanna. She grabbed Liberty’s arm and in a not so subtle way pointed him out. To