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Chapter 1

Meeting Emmie

I’m not sure what made me look out the

Mo sure that the place was her standard of clean before sitting down It was a nice change to the way my old man had kept the place before he died a few years back Back then it had smelled like stale smoke, beer, and at times the old bastard’s oaste Now it smelled like sweet pine and sorocery store without

I was lying onMy best friends weren’t hoainia, and they wouldn’t be back until the next day Drake and Shane were on a ca trip with their mom and stepdad since their mother had the weekend off Meanwhile, I was stuck here

I hated it here Hated this rundown trailer, in this rundown trailer park, in Nowhere, Ohio Maybe it was thebeaten in the ht for no reason My Morace when the old fucker died She had given up her life and moved into this crappy trailer to take care of me

For that I would always be grateful Which hy I wanted out of Ohio When I got out of Ohio, I would ood at et a record deal, and I would be able to take care of my mom the way she deserved to be taken care of

Big dreaaround in the band room at school, but it was all I had I was determined that it was all I would need

I sat up, not sure if I wanted to go into the living rooo across the trailer park and see if I could talk Missy Snuffer into taking a walk down by the train tracks with me It wouldn’t be the first time I had asked, and it wouldn’t be the first ti to second base with the sixteen-year-old

Before I couldoutside of my bedroom , and for sout There, on the grass that separated s At least at first glance it looked like rags Moving closer to the , I saw that it was a little girl, led and dirty, but that didn’t disguise the pretty auburn color Her clothes were old and tattered There was a hole in the knee of her leggings and a bleach stain on her pink shirt

The little girl’s face was dirty and streaked with tears She looked lost and sad as she held on tight to a teddy bear that I couldn’t tell if it looked better or worse than the girl It was raggedy,on by a thread I was transfixed as the little girl rocked the teddy bear and whispered to it like it was her only friend in the world My chest ached just watching her

I alking through the trailer before I even realizedMom raised an eyebrow at me when I opened the freezer and pulled out two Popsicles Instead of answering her unspoken question, I just kissed her cheek and headed outside The little girl hadn’t rass by my

The sound of irl’s head to lift, and big green eyes snapped up at htened, nervous I took a few steps toward her and could see that she was pale under her dirty face and had to hide ot

“Hey,” I greeted her I hadn’t dealt withkids, so I wasn’t sure how to approach her