Age 13, Ten years ago.

“Why do we always have to have a prince?” Erin Marshall thrust her fist to the ceiling. “A woman is more than arm candy for some rich brat who happened to inherit a kingdom. Why can’t she wake up by herself?”

“Well…” Her teacher, Mrs. June, rubbed her temple.

“It’s because that’s how the story goes, dummy.” Cooper Lawson sliced her with his big, honey-brown eyes. He wore a jersey with his name and number on the back. A pale finger impatiently tapped his side.

“Don’t call me dummy,” she snapped, sliding off the table that had been decorated to look like a stone slap.

“I can call you what I want. Now get on that rock and let me kiss you. I’ve got volleyball practice in fifteen minutes.”

A shudder wracked Erin’s body at the thought of Cooper’s lips touching anything on her body.

She turned to the crowd of students watching their rehearsal of ‘Sleeping Beauty’. “It’s the twenty-first century. Isn’t it time we rewrite these stereotypes? Isn’t it time we rise above the patriarchy?”

“Patriarchy?” Mrs. June mumbled, her eyes wide.

A smattering of applause broke out.

Erin smiled smugly. “I propose we scrap the script and stand up against the mental barriers that keep women down. I say… we turn Sleeping Beauty into Sleeping C.E.O.”

Iris, her best friend, jumped to her feet and screamed. “Yeah! You go, girl!”

Erin grinned at her from the stage. “How about Sleeping Prime Minister?”

“That’s right!”

“Sleeping Astronaut?”

Cooper scrunched his nose. “Sleeping Astronaut? That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Says who?” Erin shot back.

“Kids…” Mrs. June tugged on her ear.

Erin turned to Cooper. “If you’re in such a hurry, how about you get on that stone slab and lie down? Huh? We can trade places and you can see how hard women have it.”

“How about you stop wasting my time?”

“Oh? So women’s rights are a waste of time?” Erin gaped and then threw her hands wide. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a socialist!”

“Boo!” Iris cried.

“Socialist?” Cooper scrunched his nose.

“Someone who’s a jerk and thinks he’s better than women.”

“I think you mean ‘chauvinist’, dear.” Mrs. June glanced at her watch. “I also have something to do soon. Could you just finish the scene so we can leave?”

Erin turned on her teacher. “No offense, Mrs. June, but it’s people like you who are a part of the problem.”

Her teacher’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

“You know…” Cooper lowered his voice and stepped toward her, his height slightly intimidating. “I don’t remember you putting up this much of a fuss when Ryan Grinage was Prince Phillip.”

Erin swallowed. “T-that’s because—”

“In fact, just yesterday I heard you let him kiss your cheek.”

“So?”

“You even asked if he could kiss you on the lips.”

“For authenticity.” Her brown eyes flashed. “You weren’t even here yesterday. Who told you all that?”

“Here’s what we’re gonna do,” Cooper whispered. “You’ll act like a good Sleeping Beauty. And then I won’t tell the entire school about your little crush.”

Erin’s chest heaved. “You jerk.”

“Thank you, darlin’,” he said in that obnoxious Texan accent that peeked out whenever he tormented her.

Which was often.

Erin glared at Cooper, wishing he’d hop right back on a plane to where he came from and leave her alone.

“What’s it gonna be?” He smirked.

Her nostrils flared. “I hate you.”

Cooper pulled in his thin, pink lips and nodded. He swiveled on his sneakers and faced their classmates. A hush fell over the crowd when he raised his arms.

Cooper Lawson was an enigma at Belize Primary School. He was handsome—so they said, Erin did not share that opinion.

He was also smart and crazy rich. His father owned a chain of hotels along with an off-shore investment bank.

Erin had met Mr. Lawson once. He was a tall, lean man who only ever wore fancy suits and dark sunglasses. He reminded her of a vampire—cold and mysterious.

Even the teachers quaked whenever Cooper’s father came to school for student-teacher conferences.

With a family made of money, Cooper should have tons of friends. But he didn’t. He liked to go off by himself and seemed to find the company of others entirely boring.

That made him a legend at school. Tons of people clamored to be around him, struggling for a hint of acknowledgement. Cooper ignored them all. Acted like they were invisible. Beneath him.

She wished he would extend that same courtesy to her. But he didn’t. Of all the students in their school, Cooper seemed to only torture her.

“Mrs. June,” Cooper said, “could you give me a minute? I have an announcement to make.”

Their befuddled teacher threw her hands in the air. “Why not?”

Cooper glanced over his shoulder. Erin met his gaze, hiding how much her heart was thudding within her chest.

“Go ahead,” she mouthed, raising her chin in defiance. Sweat ran down her forehead. She swiped it away with the back of her hand.

Cooper swung around to face their engaged audience. “Everyone… Erin is in love with—”

Erin slapped her hand over his mouth. “Shut up. I’ll do it.”

Cooper yanked his head to the side, throwing her hand off his lips in the process. “Thought so.”

She wanted to punch the smug smile off his face, but she couldn’t. He’d discovered her deepest, darkest secret. Cooper had all the power here and they both knew it.

Erin wiped her palm against her skirt and grimaced. “Stick to the original script.”

Cooper ignored her. He glanced at their teacher who stood at the edge of the stage with her head in her hands, mumbling— “I should have been a lawyer.”

Cooper folded his arms over his chest. “We’re ready to start again.”

Erin ground out a warning as she walked back to center stage. “Cooper, I mean it. Don’t you dare kiss me.”

He remained silent and jerked his chin in the direction of the table, a silent command to get on top of it.

Erin seethed but obediently scrambled to the set piece. Her thin braids splayed beneath her, the beads smattering against the desk with the sound of a summer rain.

She looked up at the exposed beams in the ceiling of their school’s gym. The table’s surface was hard against her back, about the same consistency as her bed back in her old foster home.

She pulled her lips in before closing her eyes. No matter what, she would never let Cooper near her mouth.

“Oh, what a beautiful princess,” Cooper said, raising his voice in a theatrical display. “With skin as brown as mahogany and soft as a rose’s kiss.”

As she lay, still and unmoving, Erin wondered when Cooper had time to memorize the script.

She’d found out at lunch that Ryan was dropping out of the play for ‘personal’ reasons. Then she dragged herself to rehearsals and saw Cooper mouthing off the lines like he’d lived them.

It was strange.

And disappointing.

Erin had only signed up for the play because Ryan was participating. She’d studied the script every night and practiced her lines over and over so she wouldn’t embarrass herself in front of the guy she liked.

Her suggestion to change the script was a sneaky way of making Ryan her first kiss.

Why would he suddenly drop out? Did Cooper have something to do with it?

Erin heard footsteps pattering over the stage. She imagined Raisha, Utricia, and Kay dancing around Cooper. They were the fairy god-mothers—the beings responsible for giving Sleeping Beauty all her gifts.

A burst of giggles came from her right. She figured it was Kay. That girl had the biggest, most obvious crush on Cooper. It was an opinion she shared liberally, as if she wanted him to know.

Erin felt sorry for Kay. There must be something wrong with her if she found anything about Cooper Lawson attractive.

“Um…” Kay cleared her throat, “Sweet Prince, the only thing that can wake up the princess...”

“Is True Love’s Kiss,” Raisha said.

“If you truly love her, then you must kiss her,” Utricia added.

Erin couldn’t see what was happening, but a moment later, the table shook slightly. Cooper had put his hands on the rim of it, face to the crowd. She felt him hovering and sucked her lips in.

His breath hit her cheek. Would he listen to her? Would he honor her request and kiss her cheek rather than her mouth?

“I love you,” Cooper whispered.

Erin tilted her head in confusion. Wait… that wasn’t part of the script. Was it? Shocked, Erin released her lips and opened her eyes to question him.

Cooper didn’t allow her to do that.

All she saw was a glimmer of honey-colored eyes before he swooped down and kissed her. His mouth was warm, soft. His lips lay on top of hers for what felt like an eternity.

Her heart fluttered.

Erin blinked, shock giving way to anger. She pushed Cooper off and shot up. Her almond-shaped eyes blazed into his smug ones. Chest heaving, she ran the back of her hand over her lips.

Kay laughed nervously. “The princess is awake!”

“Go and greet your prince who woke you with true love’s kiss.”

“Oooh,” the class cooed.

Erin hopped off the desk and stormed around it until she stood in front of Cooper. Her nostrils flared. “You’re no prince. You’re a villain.”

Cooper only arched his eyebrow in response.

Erin scoffed and stormed down the stairs, slamming through the door and flying out of the auditorium.

“Erin,” Mrs. June’s voice echoed behind her, “your line!”

Erin’s long-legged strides propelled her into the hallway. She passed classroom doors, most of them locked now that it was after five and the students had gone home.

An empty playground stood in the middle of the yard. It boasted a twisty, blue slide, monkey bars and three red swings.

Erin had transferred to Belize Primary School when she was eight. The moment she saw the playground, she’d been in awe and begged her parents to enroll her.

Now, she wished she hadn’t been seduced by a few measly swings and a slide. Her life would be so much better if she never met Cooper Lawson.

“Erin!” She heard Iris’s voice. “Wait up!”

Her fingers dug into her plaid uniform skirt as she waited for her best friend to catch up. Iris’s long black hair flew across her cheek. She had dark brown skin and big grey eyes. It was a stunning face—one that Erin was often envious of.

“Why did you run? You rocked it back there.” Iris grinned wide.

Erin huffed. “Cooper kissed me.”

“So? Weren’t you the one who made a big fuss about the kiss yesterday? Mrs. June only allowed that because you said you were comfortable with doing it.”

“Yeah, I was comfortable if Ryan kissed me. Not him.” Erin could barely breathe she was so mad. “He’s not human, Iris. I’m telling you. Cooper’s just pure evil.”

Iris screwed her lips. “Because he filled in for the play?”

“He only did that to torture me.”

Iris raised her chin. “So… he memorized a bunch of lines and helped Mrs. June out because he hates you?”

“You don’t get it,” Erin hissed.

“Then explain it to me.”

Before she could, Erin heard footsteps thudding toward them. She spun and saw Cooper in his black jersey, brown hair swept over his forehead. She raised her chin and stepped into his way.

He stopped, one hand over his backpack strap. “I’m late.”

Erin didn’t give diddly squat. “You owe me an apology.”

Cooper stared at her, long and hard. Erin trembled but held her ground. A corner of his lips curved upward in a small, lopsided smile. He sighed and then walked past her, slamming her shoulder in the process.

“He’s so cool.” Iris twittered.

Erin shot her best friend a dark look.

“I mean… he’s so horrible.”

Her fingers curved into fists.

She would never find satisfaction until she paid Cooper Lawson back.