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"Crap, I totallyto have a ten, a girl so thoroughly worked over that it won’t even be fun anyot the best stuff"

I bit the inside ofat her "I can’t wait"

I didn’t fool Cora for a minute "Sure you can’t"

Frustrated with the conversation and the ot to o run before I have to leave for class" I announced this to no one in particular, because Cora wasaround on her phone and Jet had not reappeared I changed into clothes that arh for a February in Denver and put onshoes

I loved to run It helped me clear my head, and since I lived in one of the most health-conscious states in the union, I was always just one of a hundred other people out for a little exercise when I took to the paveod-awful pop-country," as loud as it would go I liked s spelled it right out for the listener The girl was ot trashed, everyone was sad the dog died, and Taylor Swift had about as much luck with men as I did

I knew Jet preferred stuff that was loud and heavy, but in reality the guy was a hting about as good and asn’t ceased to faze ainst ton Park onout, to shut the constant buzz of all the things hounding round underso great for nore the fact that I was prettya lie There was Ayden Cross, nobody, from Woodward, Kentucky, and Ayden Cross, chemistry major, from Denver, Colorado They were two parts of the whole and at ti to s left but ash and bad memories

Woodasn’t a bad town, but it was small, really small, and everyone knew everyone When your fae as you gossiped about, that everyone older than you talked about, that everyone co told stories about, life wasn’t exactly easy

My mom wasn’t a bad lady, just nowhere near equipped to handle being a mother at sixteen, and way less ready to be a hter and to a son as born looking for trouble My older brother, Asa, had never met a crime he didn’t want to commit or a law he didn’t want to break Since neither one of our dads had stuck around, Mo to keep the dae down to a minimu enough ti it

Even though I knew better, I fell in with the kind of crowd that could destroy a perfectly good future, led there by the hand of a big brother looking out for only hi to a, and with all the trouble and dra

If it hadn’t been for a well-h school, I would have more than likely ended up just like Momental eye of everyone else in Woodward

But I applied ot scholarships, and worked my ass off day in and day out to ive anyone a reason to think I was easy, stupid, and worth nothing ever again I was going to take care of , pullto show her there was h Life, a pack of smokes, and whatever truck driver she had hooked up with for the month As far as I was concerned, Asa was a lost cause, and the last I had heard was doing time--but I was the first to adossip mill, so I didn’t really know for sure, and I ay past the point of alanting to save my brother from himself

I had , but I was on the right track now I figured etting good grades in school, keeping friendships with good people who lovedup with nothing, ever again

If thatlust I felt for Jet, then that was just the way it was going to have to be If he wanted to treat ates, then all the better forme act properly There was no reason for uided, but that I could probably give any of those girls he brought hoht a decent run for their irl that knew all about the price of admission

I rounded the corner of the park, and started to slon as I got into a heavier flow of people out walking their dogs and playing with their kids