Chapter 1
“I’m not leaving.” I cling to Axl, pressing my head against his chest.
“You have to.” He kisses my head. “If you don’t, you’ll end up in foster care.”
“Not if I hide.” I look up at him. “I’ll stay with Jacob. I’ll hide out there until I’m eighteen.”
“My brother’s place is barely big enough for him. And what about school? You’re not dropping out.”
“It’d only be for a year. I could go back.” I tighten my arms around him. “I’ll do anything to keep us together.”
“Rumor.” Axl gently pulls away and cups my face, his eyes on mine. “I love you. That’s not gonna change, no matter how far apart we are.”
“You say that now but what about a month from now? What if you get tired of never seeing me and find someone else?”
“Who could I find better than you?” He gives me that half-smile of his that made me fall for him on our first date. He never does a full smile. Just a partial one with a slight upturn of his lips. It’s sexy, mysterious, and totally Axl.
“Maybe I should be worrying aboutyou,” he says, still smirking. “Maybe you’ll fall for one of those California surfer guys and ditch me.”
“You know I’d never do that. Don’t even joke about it.”
He chuckles. “I can’t even imagine you with one of those guys with their blond hair and tan, leathery skin.”
“I can’t imagine myself withanyof those people. I’m a New Yorker. I don’t belong in California. I belong here.”
“But you can’t stay here.” He runs his hand along my cheek, his smile now gone. “You can do this, Rumor. It’s only for a year.”
“A year is too long.” I look down, biting my lip and trying not to cry. “I hate this. I hate this so much. This was never supposed to happen.”
He lifts my chin up, and our eyes meet. “But it did, and now you just need to get through it.”
I search his face, trying to memorize each detail so I don’t forget. His messy dark hair that’s always falling in his eyes. His thick black eyebrows. His silver nose ring. The piercing on his lip. He doesn’t have tattoos, but he’s saving up for one. He’s getting a snake tat along the side of his neck. He already drew out the design.
I was supposed to go with him when he got it, but now I can’t. That — and all our other plans — were destroyed the day my mom died. The day I found out I’d be going to live with my uncle.
In the past two weeks, my entire life has changed.
“Hey, fucker, watch where you’re going!” Axl yells.
Looking over, I see a man in a suit glance back at Axl. He shakes his head and continues walking.
“Fucker about knocked me over,” Axl says, running his hand through his hair. “Rich fuckin’ bastard.”
Axl hates rich people. He lives with his mom, who works two jobs and still struggles to keep food on the table. They share a small one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx. Axl’s mom gets the bedroom, so he sleeps on the couch. Or sometimes he’d stay with my mom and me. We had a better couch and a better apartment.
My mom and I had a place in Manhattan. By New York standards, our apartment was huge, with two decent-sized bedrooms and the smaller room she called her office. My mom was an artist, so I’m not sure why she needed an office. She had a desk and computer in there, but rarely used them.
Our apartment had a doorman, Frankie, who was like a grandpa to me. My own grandparents died before I was born but I imagine them being like Frankie.
I’ll miss Frankie. And our apartment. The city. It’s all I know. It’s where I grew up.
Why did my mom have to die? We had such a good life. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good.
“You two need to move along,” I hear a deep voice say. I turn and see a cop standing there.
“I’m saying goodbye to my girlfriend,” Axl says in an angry tone that shouldn’t be used with a cop. I like that Axl’s a rebel, but not when we’re dealing with cops.
The cop stands beside Axl, his hands on his hips. “Either go inside the airport or keep moving. You can’t block the sidewalk.”
