Prologue Reveal
Today
we get a sneak peek at How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with You - a sweet, fun YA romance, coming soon from T.M.
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The List Notebook
“Watch
it, freak!”
I
tensed and looked up at the familiar taunt, but for once it wasn’t aimed at me.
Still, out of reflex, my eyes darted around the crowded gymnasium, my stomach
curling tightly when I saw my best friend, Viney, stumble and straighten below
on the gymnasium floor, obviously recovering from a push. He glared at the back
of the jock walking away from him—Nathan McCallister, big surprise—and flipped
him off before climbing the bleachers two steps at a time to slump down on the
bench below me.
“Hey,
Oliver,” Viney said.
“Hey.”
I watched him carefully. Viney liked to pretend everything was fine, even when
it wasn’t. “You okay?”
He
shrugged and shook the wispy, blond hair out of his eyes as he turned to
observe the four rather haphazard games of volleyball underway. I set aside my
homework and opened my laptop, dodging the school’s firewall so I could access
Craigslist.
“What
are you doing?” Viney asked, twisting his head back to get a look at the
screen. “The personals? Scoping out a hot date?” He grinned and waggled his
eyebrows.
“Nah.
I thought maybe Nathan McCallister might be lonely for a little company.” I
clicked a few keys. “How’s this sound? ‘High School Hottie Seeks Sugar Mama.’
”
Viney snorted and scooted up to get a better view of the screen. “Where’d you
get that picture?”
“Swim
team yearbook pic,” I said with a sideways glance. “Online security at this
school is sadly lacking.”
Viney
chuckled. “He’s going to kill you.”
I
clicked Post and shut my laptop. “I’m wounded you doubt me. I do know how to
cover my tracks, Vine. It’s Craigslist, not the NSA.”
He
held up both hands. “My mistake. So how’d you get out of PE today, anyway?”
I
pulled my trig homework back onto my lap to finish up the last few problems.
“Ulcer.”
“You
don’t have an ulcer.”
“I
might. I’m under a tremendous amount of pressure. Best not to risk it.” I
scribbled a few lines, then frowned and erased them to make it a bit more
legible.
He
let out a loud yawn and slipped down onto the step between seats, resting his
elbows next to me, his feet dangling over the edge of the bench below him. It
wasn’t unusual for Viney to come hang out in the gym sixth period. He was
supposed to be the TA for Mr. Larson, the shop teacher, but it turned out there
wasn’t a lot of TAing to do for a shop teacher. Especially when said shop
teacher spent most of the time sleeping through his classes.
“You
really sure you want to do this?” Viney asked after a while.
This.
I knew what he was talking about, and it was a question I’d asked myself
repeatedly. Still, Viney needed assurance, so I swallowed my own nerves. “Of
course I’m sure. And you’re going to do it with me.”
“I
don’t understand why you’re dragging me into it,” he said, a whiny edge to his
voice.
“Because
you need extracurriculars as much as I do,” I mumbled, not looking up from a
particularly intricate problem. I erased a negative and made it a positive,
then changed it back again. Viney was distracting me. “You know grades and SAT
scores aren’t enough for MIT.”
“I’m
not going to MIT.”
I
continued as if my best friend hadn’t said something absolutely ridiculous and
untrue. “And I need you there. I need the moral support.”
Viney
huffed but said nothing more, and I knew he’d be there for me. He always was.
“It’ll
be fine.” I closed my trig book and stuffed it into my backpack. “It’ll be
easy.”
“It’ll
be boring,” he muttered.
“Like
you have so many other interesting alternatives.”
“Dude.”
Viney shifted around to glare at me. “Call of Duty, BioShock, Halo.” He ticked
the list off on his fingers.
“There’s
more to life than Xbox, Viney.” His mouth dropped open, his eyes wide and
appalled. “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”
It
was ridiculous, of course. Viney knew me better than anyone. Still, I hummed in
acknowledgement, pulled out my List Notebook, and flipped to the To Do list at
the front. With a little twinge of satisfaction, I checked off Trig Homework
with a red Sharpie, the cap clenched in my teeth. The best part of having a
list, after all, was checking something off it. I took a moment to admire the
neat, red check mark before I capped the pen and turned to the College &
Career section.
“Oh
no, not the List,” Viney muttered, head rolling back as he closed his eyes.
“Number
four on How to Get into MIT,” I said as I rotated the book so he could see it
and then pointed with the capped Sharpie. “ ‘Enroll in no fewer than three
extracurricular activities.’ Audio-Visual Club and Gamer’s Club are fine, but
we need something creative to round out our portfolio.”
“But
the drama club? It’s so . . . so . . .”
“It’s
perfect,” I said, leaning forward as I warmed to the topic. I’d thought this
through. Viney knew it. He just needed a little convincing. “I already talked
to Ms. Sherman, and she’s so grateful we’re taking on sound and lights she’s
sure to write us both great college recommendations.”
He
shot me a pointed look, and it was only due to my vast experience with Viney
seeing right through me that I was able to keep from squirming. Mostly.
“You
and I both know this has nothing to do with college,” he said.
“Of
course it does.” I looked away, my face heating as I fumbled with the notebook.
“Uh-huh.”
He nodded slowly. “And the fact that Ainsley Bishop is in the drama club has
absolutely no bearing on you choosing this particular extracurricular activity?”
I
cursed under my breath. Sometimes it was a pain to have a friend who knew me so
well. “It’s simply a, uh, fringe benefit.”
Viney
opened his mouth, undoubtedly to tease me mercilessly, but was interrupted by
the PE teacher’s booming voice.
“Palmari!”
Mr. Hanson called up at us from the floor. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
Viney
got to his feet with a mock salute. “Yes, sir.” He turned to me with a
halfhearted glare. “Guess I’ll see you after school. And I don’t think I have
to tell you that you owe me big for this one.”
As
if on cue, a muffled curse from the gym floor drew our attention. Nathan
McCallister was staring at his phone, his eyes wide with shock.
“I
think we’re even,” I mumbled under my breath.
Viney
blinked in confusion, his focus still on Nathan, then a slow smile of
understanding lit his face. “That was quick.”
Nathan
thumbed at his phone again, and I grinned. “Looks like there are a lot of over-forty
women interested in, quote, ‘treating him like the naughty boy he is.’ ”
Viney
slapped a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. Nathan, still staring at
his phone, let out a horrified gasp.
“I
might have suggested they include a picture,” I whispered.
“Palmari?
Don’t make me say it again!” Mr. Hanson shouted up the bleachers, before
turning to Nathan. “McCallister, put that thing away or it’s mine.” Nathan
fumbled to turn off his phone and slid it into his duffle bag. I had to say he
looked a little green around the gills. I almost felt bad for him.
Almost.
“Okay,”
Viney said with a resigned sigh. “You win. See you after school.”
“Don’t
be late.”
Viney
clambered down the bleacher steps as Mr. Hanson turned and raised an eyebrow at
me. “And Holmes, unless you have a doctor’s note, I expect to see you suited up
and ready to go tomorrow, ulcer or no.”
I
nodded and watched Viney leave before I flipped through the Notebook to the
Personal section. I glanced around briefly to ensure I was unobserved before
turning the pages and finally settling on the newest list. It was long—eleven
items—and meticulously detailed as my lists always were, but I was determined
to check off each and every box before the year was through.
It
would work. It had to. The lists always did.
I
couldn’t keep from smiling as I uncapped the red Sharpie, checked off number
one, Join the Drama Club, and then drew a large red box around the title at the
top of the page.
How to Get Ainsley Bishop
to Fall in Love With Me
How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with You will be
released June 12th.
Ainsley is Now Available for Pre-Order!
Add
Ainsley to Your Goodreads Shelf
How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with You
About the Author
T.M. Franklin started out her career
writing non-fiction in a television newsroom. Graduating with a B.A. in
Communications specializing in broadcast journalism and production, she worked
for nine years as a major market television news producer, and garnered two
regional Emmy Awards, before she resigned to be a full-time mom and part-time
freelance writer. Her first published novel, MORE,
was born during National Novel Writing month, a
challenge to write a novel in thirty days. MORE was well-received, being selected as a finalist in the
2013 Kindle Book Review Best Indie Book Awards, as well as winning the
Suspense/Thriller division of the Blogger Book Fair Reader’s Choice Awards.
In addition to MORE and its sequel, The
Guardians, Franklin penned the
Amazon best-selling short stories A Piece of Cake and Window,
which also won a Blogger Book Fair Reader’s Choice Award for Short
Story/Fantasy. Her new YA romance, How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with
You, is Franklin’s first love story
without a paranormal or fantasy element, although she believes love is the best
kind of magic.
TWELVE, the
final installment in the MORE Trilogy will
be released in the fall of 2014.
Connect with T.M. Franklin
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