Flawless (23 page)

“No, thanks,” he says.

I grab a bottled water from the fridge and walk to the living room, then sit on one side of the oversized couch.

“Is this a picture of you and your mom in Hawaii? The trip you wrote about?” he asks.

I look at the picture of us on Diamond Head. “Yes,” I tell him. “We spent two days in Honolulu, then flew to Kauai, which is the island I told you about.”

Instead of answering, he nods, continuing his study of the pictures.

“What's up?” I ask, desperately needing him to get to the point. Twenty minutes of chitchat is liable to send me over the edge.

He walks away from the pictures and sits down next to me, turning so we're face-to-face. Being this close to him after so long has me breathing like I just ran the stadium bleachers. Twice. So much for playing it cool.

“Do you remember the day you told me about writing the e-mails and Facebook messages for Kristen?” he asks, eyes back to their usual soft warmth.

“Of course I remember.” I don't bother telling him that's the day everything went to hell.

“Right,” he says, obviously embarrassed. Like I could have possibly forgotten that day.

He wipes his hands on his jeans. “I've done a lot of thinking about what you said that day. I'll admit I was mad when I figured it out. But I was as mad at myself as I was at you or Kristen. Maybe I was more embarrassed than anything. I'm usually smart enough to pick up on that kind of thing, but you got me.”

A small grin creeps onto my face. “What can I say? I'm good.”

He chuckles. “Obviously,” he says. “But the more I thought about it, the more I realized you were only doing what you thought was right. And even though I understood that, I still couldn't let you off the hook.”

“So why are you here?” I ask, fighting the urge to toss my lunch.

“There was something you wrote in that essay,” he says. “It was the part where you said you didn't believe you deserved what you wanted. When you said you thought there wasn't a chance for you to have what you desired.”

I nod, mortified to hear my own thoughts coming from his lips.

“Is that true?” he asks, eyes narrowed as he lowers his voice to a whisper.

Taking a deep breath, I lean back into the cushion. “It took you and Kristen a grand total of sixty seconds to hook up. Why would I think I stood a chance with you?”

“I've actually been thinking about what attracted me to Kristen. It really wasn't the way she looked, it was more about the attention she gave me. New kid in a big school getting lots of attention from someone like Kristen … it's pretty flattering,” he says.

So much for him sweeping me off my feet. “That's understandable.”

“But later, what
kept
me dating her was the way she put her feelings into words. I've never known anyone who could write like that. Then I found out they weren't her words at all. They were yours.
You
were the one who was touching me bone deep and I didn't even realize it.”

“There's more to me than my writing skills,” I tell him.

“You think the most important part of who you are is this,” Rock says, horrifying me when he lightly taps my nose. “But it's not. It's just one beautiful part of who you are.”

I shake my head, knowing that of all the attractive parts of me, my nose is definitely not one of them.

“Sarah Burke, you have a big nose,” he says, smiling.

I slap his shoulder. “Thanks a lot. You're free to go now,” I say, planting my feet on the ground and lifting my stunned body off the couch.

He pulls my hand until I'm sitting right next to him, and he doesn't let me go. He keeps my hand tucked securely in his. “I love your nose, Sarah. And what I feel for you …” He stops, eyes on our hands locked together. “I don't know where this will go, but I want a shot.”

There's no use fighting the stinging tears. I've waited my entire life to hear someone say these very words and it's not just any guy. It's Rock.

I finally find my voice. “A shot at what?”

“At us,” he says definitively. “I think we deserve a chance.”

Nodding, I look him in the eyes, totally losing myself in the moment and committing it to memory. I don't want to forget one single second of what's happening.

“Is that a yes?” he asks, uncharacteristically timid.

“It's a yes,” I whisper back, not trusting myself to speak normally, knowing I'm about ten seconds from bawling right here in front of him.

Rock keeps his hand in mine, then pulls me closer. I swear, we're moving in slow motion when he leans down and lightly touches his lips to mine. There isn't even the slightest hesitation as he moves in closer and closer to my face, no accidental bump of my nose, no sudden change of heart.

It's a total movie moment. The only thing missing is the swell of the orchestra in the background.

And I feel like the luckiest girl in the entire world.

Because sometimes the best gift you can give yourself is a second chance.

Acknowledgments

None of this would be happening if not for the incomparable Holly Root, agent extraordinaire. You were able to see
Flawless
on the shelves long before anyone else and patiently answered my endless questions about what to expect in a highly unpredictable industry. I totally want to be you when I grow up.

To Caroline Abbey at Bloomsbury … thank you for taking a chance on a debut author and for making my first revision experience a dream. You somehow made every suggestion sound like a compliment. Without fail, seeing your name in my in-box makes me smile. To Donna Mark, the supremely talented cover designer … seeing the cover was like seeing my children for the first time. Thank you for bringing
Flawless
to life.

Caleb and Laney … there is nothing in life worth having that doesn't include you.

Mom … if I had one wish, I'd ask to have you with me again. I miss you more than I ever thought possible. See you on the other side.

My life would be incomplete without the love and support of my family, especially my dad, Ron Christopher, and my sisters, Karen Watson and Mary Gail McCarty. And I have to add my best friends, Pam Brown and Michelle Hall. The roller coaster that became my life was bearable only because you were by my side. Kiss-kiss!

To all the people who read, critiqued, loved, and cheered for
Flawless
that weren't related to me … Laura Gompertz, Joann Robisheaux, Linda Kryzwicki, Tera Lynn Childs, Sharie Kohler, Diane Holmes, Kay Cassidy, and Mary Lindsey. Thank you for believing in me when I'd given up on myself. I am proud to call you friends.

A big shout-out to West Houston RWA and Young Adult RWA … my friends, publishing experts, marketing geniuses, and cheerleaders. Your place in my life is as necessary as air.

To Kathryn Lorenzen and the River Rats … never forget … the best revenge is living well!

Janet Evanovich … you are a genius! After I'd read everything you'd published, I grabbed
How I Write
simply because it had your name on it. That book changed my life forever.

To the students who keep me young(ish) year after year … the promise of your laughter gets me out of bed each day. Life's short … live large!

Finally … for anyone who isn't sure if karma actually exists, the past fifteen months of my life prove that it does. Pay it forward … your day is coming.

LARA CHAPMAN
grew up loving school, especially new school supplies (who doesn't love the smell of new crayons?). She loved school so much, in fact, she tried to make a career out of it, but after an extended stay in college prompted her father to announce she couldn't be a professional student, she finally declared a major and graduated with her teaching certificate. Since then, she's been teaching various subjects at the intermediate school level—currently, fifth grade language arts—and loving every second of it. She has served as the editor of numerous professional journals and organization newsletters, distributed both in print and electronically. Lara lives with her family in Dime Box, Texas (it's as small as it sounds), where she reads and writes daily. She's rarely—if ever—found without her laptop and iPhone.

www.larachapman.com

Copyright © 2011 by Lara Chapman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

First published in the United States of America in May 2011
by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
E-book edition published in May 2011
www.bloomsburyteens.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Chapman, Lara.
Flawless / by Lara Chapman. — 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.

Summary: In this modern take on the Cyrano story, brilliant and witty high school student Sarah Burke, who is cursed with an enormous nose, helps her beautiful best friend try to win the heart of a handsome and smart new student, even though Sarah wants him for herself.

ISBN 978-1-59990-596-9 (paperback) • ISBN 978-1-59990-631-7 (hardcover)
[1. Beauty, Personal—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Self-confidence—Fiction.
4. High schools—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C3715Fl 2011   [Fic]—dc22   2010049102

ISBN 978-1-59990-632-4 (e-book)