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Prologue

Alyssa

The boy in the red hoodie kept staring at me in the checkout line

I’d seen hi Every day he and his friends hung out in the alleyway behind the grocery store where I worked I’d see them when my boss made me break down boxes and toss them outside

The boy in the red hoodie always showed up with his friends each day They’dup a storhed and smiled He seemed mute, als His lips hardly ever turned up; I wondered if he knehat s was Maybe he was a person who simply existed instead of lived

Sometimes we’d lock eyes, and I’d always look away

I found it hard to look into his carae should’ve ever looked Deep, purplish bags sat under the rinkle lines, but still, he was handsome A handsomely tired boy No boy should’ve looked that exhausted, or that gorgeous, all at once I was alle all within his youth I could tell he’d been through worse private wars thanthe earth just by the way he stood: shoulders rounded forward, back never straight

But not all of him looked so broken

His th dark hair was always perfect Always Soh his locks, as if he was a greaser from the 1950s He alore the same kind of outfits, too: either a plain white T-shirt, a plain black T-shirt, and so with his black shoes that were tied hite shoestrings I didn’t knohy, but even though the outfits were sioose bumps

I noticed his hands, too His hands were constantly wrapped around a lighter he flicked on and off, nonstop I wondered if he was even aware that he did it It seehter was a part of his existence

A hter in hand

What kind of nauy like that?

Hunter, maybe It sounded kind of bad boyish—which he was, I assureaser Greasy Gus Or Mikey—because it sounded sweet, which would be the cos like that

But, his name didn’t currently matter

Whatacross from me He showed more expression than I’d ever seen from him as he stood in the alleyway His face was beet red and his fingers were fidgety, as he stood in , poignant embarrassment in his eyes as he swiped his food staain Each tiloomier Insufficient funds He bit his bottom lip “That doesn’t make sense,” he murmured to himself

“I can try it up here on ister if you want Sometimes those machines are wonky” I offered him a smile, but he didn’t smile back His face was filled with stern lines of coldness His broere knit and aggressive, yet he handed hthere isn’t enough money on the card”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” he mumbled

Rude

“This is bullshit” He huffed, his chest rising and falling “We just got money on it yesterday”

Who e’? None of your business, Alyssa “Do you have another card we could try?”

“If I had another card, don’t you think I would’ve tried it?” he barked,me jump a little Hunter He had to be a Hunter Mean, bad boy Hunter Or maybe Travis I’d read a book once with a Travis in it, and he was a very bad boy Travis was so bad that I had to close the book to keepall at once