I Love Him, I Love Him Not

Sara Biren has been with Westgate Prep since the begi

I also have the most extraordinary family. My sister is my touchstone and my loudest cheerleader, my husband is getting used to my #5AMWritersClub membership, and my son is an endless source of smiles and cuddles as he reminds me not to work too hard. I love them all and am truly blessed to have them in my life.

Finally, the book in your hands would not have been possible without you, the reader. Thanks for coming to Westgate Prep. Ally and I will see you after spring break!

Books by Ella Martin

Will the Real Prince Charming Please Stand Up? (Westgate Prep #1)

I Love Him, I Love Him Not (Westgate Prep #2)

About the Author

Ella Martin is a young adult author and self-described “prep school survivor” from Southern California. With a keen sense for combining relatable teen characters with engrossing stories, her books blend aspects of romance, angst, and intrigue. Her Westgate Prep series of books tackle female friendships, quirky characters, and sensitive topics with equal tact.

Also by Ella Martin

Chapter One

“The exit polls are in, guys. It’s still early, but Bianca may actually win this.”

I looked up from my salad at the lanky boy who took the seat across from me. “Exit polls?” I asked. “Fi

His cool cerulean blue eyes peered at me over the top of his wireframe glasses. “How often is it that one of my friends has a chance at being Homecoming Princess?”

Beside me, my friend Talia crunched into a carrot stick. “So what is she ahead by?”

I glared at her. “Don’t encourage him.”

She flipped her long ponytail over her shoulder, revealing a bright green streak in her dark hair as she gri

Talia Nicoletti was the only person I knew brave enough to thumb her nose at the Westgate Prep Appearance Guidelines. The green streak she sported was her way of coping with the birthmark on her scalp that turned a lock of hair white. It totally violated all the rules, but after her mom had a meeting with the principal last year, both of the school deans gave up, stopped calling out her blatant disregard for the guidelines, and let her get away with everything. We called it the Talia Clause. Not even her knee-high combat boots and larger-than-regulation silver hoops that day earned a second glance from the faculty. But it probably didn’t hurt to have a high-powered attorney who terrified the entire administration for a mom, either.

“Based on the thirty-five random people I asked, which is a sample size of about twelve percent, she’s up by almost sixteen percentage points,” Fi

Of course he was. Fi

“I’m only on that stupid ballot because you and Jake thought it would be a fun social experiment,” I said with a snort. “You really think campaigning will have any effect on who’ll win?”

“Well, there has to be a way to level the field to prove it’s possible to rig a popularity contest,” he said, sounding hurt.

“So I get to be the guinea pig?” I stifled a groan. It wasn’t that I couldn’t win the Homecoming Princess crown on my own because I was ugly or anything. I thought my boring brown eyes were a little too big for my face, I was never crazy about the way my small nose turned up a bit at the end, and I really wished I’d inherited some of my mom’s Latin curves, but my looks were better than passable.

No, I wouldn’t win because I mostly kept to my close circle of friends, and I was a pretty ordinary student. I wasn’t hyper-involved in a ton of clubs, I was only in a handful of honors classes, and I wasn’t one of those girls who guys were drooling over. I was the girl you saw walking down the hall and didn’t think twice about.

Fi

“All your campaigning has done is make my name more recognizable.”

“Hey, those videos got, like, a couple thousand views each.”

“A couple thousand?” I said, mortified. “But there are only, like, three hundred people in our class.”

“I know.” Fi

“In English, please?”

“He’s saying their campaign made you more popular than the cheerleaders,” Talia explained.

He furrowed his brow. “Jake and I merely presented her as the best representative for our class.”

“How would I be representing our class? All the Homecoming princesses do is sit on their class floats and smile and wave to the crowd at halftime. A trained monkey could do that.” I pointed at Fi

“But you have to admit, Bianca,” Talia said thoughtfully between bites of her sandwich, “it would be kind of cool to win.”

“Kind of cool?” Blonde spiral curls appeared out of nowhere as my friend Ally set a tray onto the table and slid into the seat beside me. “It would be totally epic.”

Ally Katz was the social butterfly of the sophomore class and easily the biggest gossip. She had a sweet, cherubic face with large, inquisitive green eyes, and a petite but rather curvy figure. I thought she would have been a better choice for Jake and Fi

“You guys are way more excited about this than you should be,” I said.

Ally beamed at me. “You do know what this would mean, right?”