“Stay with me. Please.”
“Don’t go.” His eyes glistened from the emotions welling up in them. “Stay with me. Please. Even if it’s just for tonight.”
How could I not do anything—everything—he asked of me?
I huffed out a breath, knowing he wasn’t going to give up so easily. “Fine. But as soon as I get a new trailer and my pickup back, I’m leaving.”
His brows furrowed, but he still laughed like he already knew he wasn’t going to let that happen. “All right, Skip. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
CHAPTER FIVE
hayden
AUGUST, FRESHMAN YEAR
In a town like Goldfinch, the first day of freshman year was just like any other first day of school, especially when grades seven and eight attended in the same building.
Although the school was decently sized in terms of small towns (the population of Goldfinch was around thirty thousand, but the university made up a significant percentage with nearly ten thousand students), you kneweveryone. At least, you knew everyone in your graduating class. Goldfinch only had one middle-slash-high school—with a student body population of around a thousand students—and one elementary school, so I grew up alongside all of the kids in my class.
Being the new kid at a school where everyone played in diapers together was like the equivalent of supergluing a neon sign to yourself, so it didn’t come as a shock when all eyes were glued to the unfamiliar blonde who stepped on the bus that first day.
She kept her head down, little tendrils of her hairfalling into her face to nearly cover it, but every time she passed by a row of seats, her head would tilt up slightly. She wore long sleeves despite it being the middle of August, and they were pulled down to her knuckles, her thumbs hooked in the cuffs.
Her steps were slow and cautious. Like if she made a wrong move, something would go terribly wrong.
Keenan nudged me with his elbow, breaking my attention away from the new girl. “Are you listening to me, Hayden?”
“Huh?” My eyes flicked back toward the aisle.
She was only a few rows in front of our seats in the middle of the bus; we weren’t quite cool enough to be at the very back of the bus like the sophomores.
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was asking if you saw the new video game that GearWorx came out with. It looks sick, dude.” He waved his arms around wildly as he started describing what the game was about. Something about monster mutations, super soldiers, and a post-apocalyptic world.
I had completely tuned him out when the girl reached our row, going as far as to turn my head the opposite direction of Keenan to look at her.
Sad, emerald-colored eyes locked onto mine.
“Hey.” I raised a hand in a wave.
She flinched—the tiniest little movement; if I’d blinked, I would have missed it—those eyes darting to my open hand, but she quickly recovered, mumbling a timid, “Hi,” as her face flushed bright pink.
Before I could say anything else, she brushed past me, finding a seat a few rows back.
When I looked at her over my shoulder, I caught her looking at me, though.
“Hayden!” Keenan whined, grabbing my sleeve. “You’re not listening to me.”
“Sorry, sorry. Start over. I’m listening now, I promise.”
But I wasn’t, not really. Because my mind was glued to the new girl with the sad eyes sitting just a few rows behind us.
By some stroke of fate, the new girl was placed in the same homeroom class as me and Keenan.
Most of the desks were already taken by the time she walked in, everyone choosing to sit in the little groups they’d formed since elementary school. My eyes tracked her as she found a spot near the back corner of the room—the opposite corner from where I sat.
The classroom buzzed with conversation about summer break and what everyone did.
