Firstly, the important stuff: this book has been published by (Penguin) Random House and is now available as an ebook and in paperback; you can check your local bookstore and Amazon to see if you can grab a copy!

This book has also been adapted into a Netflix Original Movie (which is crazy), with UK production company Komixx. It stars Joey King and Molly Ringwald, and is available to watch on the platform NOW!

The next couple of chapters are part of the original text left up as a sample. Please note that even if you've already read this book, the published version is a little different and has been tidied up a lot! :)

So I hope you enjoy, and if you do, then you can buy the (e)book! :) x

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Chapter 1

"Do you want a drink?" Lee called from the kitchen as I shut the front door.

"No, thanks," I called back. "I'll head on up to your room."

"Sure thing."

I headed up the staircase to Lee's room. I'd never stop wondering at how big Lee's house was; it was practically a mansion. There was a room downstairs complete with a fifty-inch TV and surround sound, not to mention the pool table; and not to forget the (heated) pool outside.

Lee Flynn's house was all expensive and grand, and even though I treated it like a second home the only place I felt really, really comfortable was his bedroom.

I opened the door to his room, the sunlight spilling in through the open doors leading out to his small balcony overlooking the garden. Posters of bands covered the walls, his drum kit sat in the corner next to a guitar, and his Apple Mac was proudly displayed on a smart mahogany desk that matched the rest of the furniture.

But, just like any other sixteen year old boy's room, the floor was littered with t-shirts and underpants and stinky socks, a half-eaten sandwich was festering next to the Apple Mac, and empty cans were crumpled over almost every surface.

I launched myself on Lee's bed, loving how it bounced when you did that.

We'd been best friends since we were born. Our moms both knew each other from college and I only lived a ten minute walk away now. Lee and I grew up together. We may as well have been twins though – freakishly enough, we were born on the same day.

He was my best friend. Always has been and always will be.

Even if he did annoy the hell out of me some of the time.

He turned up just at that moment, holding two opened bottles of orange soda, knowing I'd have drunk his at some point anyway.

"We need to decide what we're doing for the carnival," I said.

"I know," he sighed, messing up his dark brown hair and scrunching up his freckled face. "Can't we just do a coconut thing? You know when they throw balls and try to knock the coconuts down?"

I shook my head. "That's what I thought –"

"Of course it is."

I smirked a little. "But we can't. It's already taken."

"Why do we have to come up with a booth anyway? Can't we just manage the whole event and make other people come up with the booths?"

"Hey, you're the one who said being on the school council would look good on our college applications."

"You're the one who agreed to it."

"Because I wanted to be on the dance committee," I pointed out. "I didn't realize we had to work on the carnival too."

"This sucks."

"I know. Oh, hey, what about if we hired one of those, um... You know," I said, gesturing with my hands like I was holding a hammer and hitting it down, "those things with the hammer."

"Where they test your strength?"

"Yeah. That thing."

"No, they already ordered one of those."

I sighed. "I don't know then. There's not much left to do, everything's already taken."

We looked at each other and both said, "I told you we should've started planning this earlier."

The two of us laughed and Lee sat at his computer, spinning around on the chair slowly, tapping the back of it thoughtfully.

"Haunted house?"

I gave him a flat look – well, I tried. It wasn't easy to catch his eye when he was spinning around like that.

"It's spring, Lee. Not Halloween."

"Yeah, so?"

"No. No haunted house."

"Fine," he grumbled. "Then what do you suggest?"

I shrugged. Truth was, I had no idea. We were pretty much screwed. If we didn't come up with a booth then we'd end up being booted off the council, which would mean we couldn't put it on our college applications next year.

"I don't know. I can't think when it's this hot."

"Then take your sweater off and come up with something."

I rolled my eyes, and Lee started surfing Google for ideas for a booth for the Spring Carnival. I tugged my sweater off over my head, and felt the sun on my bare stomach. I tried to wriggle my arms back through so I could pull down the tank top I'd worn underneath, but it didn't really work.

"Lee," I said, my voice muffled. "A little help?"

He sniggered at me, and I heard him get up and walk. At that moment the bedroom door was pushed open, and I thought for a minute he'd left me in a tangle, but the next second I heard a different voice.

"Jeez, at least lock the door if you guys are going to do that."

I froze, my cheeks going bright pink as Lee tugged down my tank top and yanked the sweater off my head, leaving my hair static.

I looked up to see his older brother leaning against the door frame, smirking at me.

"Hey Shelly," he greeted me. He knew I hate being called Shelly. I let Lee get away with it, but Noah was another matter entirely. He did it solely to annoy me. Nobody else dared call me 'Shelly', not after I yelled at Cam for it in the fourth grade. Now everybody called me Elle, short for Rochelle. Just like nobody else dared call him 'Noah', except for Lee and his parents; everyone else called him by his surname, Flynn.

"Hi Noah," I shot back with a sweet smile.

I saw his jaw clench and his dark eyebrows rose a little, like he was daring me to carry on calling him that. I just smiled back and the sexy smirk slipped back onto his face.

Noah was just about the hottest guy to grace this earth; believe me, I'm not exaggerating. He had dark hair that flopped into his electric blue eyes, and he was tall and broad shouldered too. His nose was a little crooked from when it was broken in a fight and didn't set quite right – Noah wasn't a stranger to getting in fights, but he'd never been suspended. Aside from the occasional 'scrap', as Lee and I had taken to calling it, he was a model student: his grades were perfect, and he never dropped below an A; and he was the star of the football team, too.

I used to have a crush on him, when I was about twelve or thirteen. It passed pretty quickly though, when I realized he was way too far out of my league and would always be. And even though he was incredibly unbelievably hot, I acted my normal self around him because I knew there wasn't any chance in hell that he'd ever look at me as anything other than his kid brother's best friend.

"I know I seem to have this effect on ladies, but could you please try and keep your clothes on in my presence?"

I laughed sarcastically. "Dream on."

"What're you guys doing, anyway?"

I did wonder for a moment why he was interested, but I shrugged it off. Lee said, "We have to come up with a stupid booth for the carnival."

"Sounds... crap."

"No kidding," I said, rolling my eyes. "All the good booths are taken. We'll end up with something crappy, like – like – like that thing where you hook a duck."

They both looked at me like I couldn't have come up with a worse idea, and I shrugged.

"Whatever. Anyway, Lee – Mom and Dad are away tonight so party at eight."

"Cool."

"And Elle? Try not to strip off in front of everybody for me tonight."

"You know I only have eyes for Lee," I said innocently with a smile.

Noah laughed a little, smirking. He was already tapping away at his phone, probably broadcasting the message about a party, just like Lee was. He loped out of the room then, like a lazy cat or something. I couldn't help but let my eyes drag after him and that cute butt...

"Hey, if you could stop checking out my brother for two seconds," Lee teased.

I blushed helplessly, shoving him. "Shut up."

"I thought you were over your crush."

"I am. That doesn't make him any less hot though."

Lee rolled his eyes at me. "Whatever. You're gross sometimes, you know."

I pushed myself up off the bed and went to sit at the computer, Lee leaning over my shoulders, his chin resting on the top of my head.

I clicked onto the next page of search results, and scrolled down, feeling my eyes glaze over as they scanned the page.

I stopped, something catching my eye just as Lee started to say, "Hold up."

We both stared at the screen for a few seconds before Lee stood up from leaning on me, and I spun the chair to face him, identical smiles stretching over our faces.

"Kissing booth," we both said at the same time, grinning. Lee held his hand up for a high five, and I smacked my palm against his.

This was going to be so cool.