CODED

*1

...
“Liz, hurry up! We're going to be late!” Josh shouted as he jogged past my room, knocking loudly on my door like I couldn’t hear him from his room which was directly opposite mine or the time he went downstairs to get breakfast and again him pouncing on my door reminding me every second that I'm already late. His voice carried that stupid excitement he always had when I was finally out of his space. He couldn't even hide it for one second that he'll miss me for a bit. Well I've been a pain in the ass for a couple of months after what he did to me.

To be honest, we're actually the best of siblings but his annoyance gets in the way every time, he always wants to be right. He's a bit overprotective of me but I get it, he always wants to take care of me because he thinks it's his fault for what happened but I don't blame him at all. We also love each others company that rare sibling time but the two of us together is chaos, and a guy needs his space. So me out of his space is the best and worst time for him.

I rolled my eyes, dragging my suitcase zipper shut with a grunt. If smug was a face, it would be Joshua Munro this morning. He was practically radiating joy at the thought of me leaving. I could already imagine that wide, idiotic grin plastered on his face as he skipped around the house pretending to be helpful.

Ugh. I swear I’m going to get him back for what he did this summer.

And no—I’m not being dramatic. Let me break it down real quick.

___

Summer Recap: The Humiliation Chronicles

So there was this beach party. Bonfire. Music. Fairy lights. The whole dreamy, Pinterest-board aesthetic. And of course—he was there. My crush. Chase. Cute, charming, stupidly good at volleyball. The human embodiment of a YA love interest.

Now, Josh—my dearest twin brother—knew all about him.
Because like a fool, I told him during one of those rare sibling heart-to-hearts. The kind where you talk at 1 a.m. over cereal and you forget your sibling is actually a chaos goblin with no filter.

So what did Mr. “I-Can’t-Keep-A-Secret-To-Save-His-Life” do?

He blurted it out.
Loudly. Casually. In front of everyone.
Right as Chase walked by.

Cue me—panicking, choking on punch, tripping over a beach chair, and face-planting onto someone’s damp towel like a beached seal in denial.
Josh laughed for an hour. I haven’t recovered since.

I avoided Chase for days after that, ducking behind snack tables and pretending I suddenly loved sun hats pulled way too low over my face. Eventually, though, Chase cornered me—like, full-on soft interrogation vibes—asking why I was acting weird.

So I told him. Kind of.
I admitted my brother spilled the crush secret (which, okay, was true), but I didn’t fully own up to it. I mean, I wasn’t about to say, “Hi, yes, I have a weakness for your smile and your stupid ocean eyes.” So I went off with that my brother was just joking and trying to annoy me.

To my surprise, Chase laughed—but not in a mean way. More like, “Your brother’s a dickhead but I kinda like you anyway” kind of way. He told me not to sweat it, and after that, things actually got… good. Chill. Fun, even. We hung out a lot. Shared smoothies. Teased each other. Watched dumb movies with our toes in the sand.

It felt like something.

One good thing that happened this summer. But I can't take Josh tantrums again

So yeah, boarding school, please take me away.

---

I zipped the final pocket of my bag and glanced around my room. Still a mess, but what’s new? I’d already packed most of the essentials yesterday—some cute tops, shorts, joggers, hoodies for those chilly Ridgeway nights, a few pairs of sneakers, and my absolute favorite combat boots that scream: “I mean business… or chaos.”