Rules of a Rebel and a Shy Girl - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,4

there in about twenty minutes.”

By the time I hang up, tears are slipping down my cheeks. I quickly wipe them away with the back of my hand.

“All good?” my mom asks as I give her back the phone.

I nod, though nothing feels good. At all. In fact, the whole situation makes me feel terribly icky inside.

A droopy smile forms on her lips as she stuffs the phone into the pocket of her pants. “Then you should probably get packed and wait for him on the steps. I don’t want Bill to start yelling at you again. I’m sure that probably scares you.” She wraps her arms around me. “Thank you so much for doing this, sweetie. You’re such a good daughter. How did I get so lucky?”

I wish I could believe her, but if her words were true, then why is she always kicking me out of the house and leaving me all the time? I don’t ask, though, too afraid of the answer.

She hugs me before walking out of my room. I hurry and pack, slip on a jacket and sneakers, and wait outside on the porch, but I quickly bail when a couple of kids a few years older than me try to persuade me to get high with them.

When Beck finally pulls up, I’m standing at the edge of the parking lot in the dark, hiding near the entrance sign to the single-story apartment complex I live in.

“What’re you doing out here?” Beck asks as he hops out of the fancy sports car that belongs to his older brother Theo.

I rush toward him, scuffing my sneakers in the dirt. “Some guys were trying to get me to do drugs, so I thought I’d be safer out here.”

He shakes his head, taking hold of my hand. The second his skin touches mine, a calming warmth spreads through me.

“Next time, wait inside,” he says, eyeing the guys loitering near the door to my apartment. Their attention is trained on us, smoke is lacing the air, and when one guy whispers something to the other, my legs turn into Jell-O.

Beck must sense my nervousness because he hauls me closer and steers us toward the car.

“I would’ve waited in the house, but my mom told me I had to wait on the porch.” I clutch his hand, wishing I never had to let go.

I can’t see his face, but he tightens his fingers around my hand as he opens the back door and slides into the backseat, pulling me in with him. Once the door is shut, Theo drives out onto the street.

“Are you okay?” Theo asks, casting a quick glance in the rearview mirror.

Theo usually teases Beck and me, making kissing faces and cracking jokes about liking each other, so his niceness throws me off.

“I’m fine.” But I’m shaking, which can’t mean I’m fine, right?

Beck notices, shucks off his hoodie, and places it over my shoulders. “It’s going to be okay.” He drapes an arm around my shoulder and kisses the side of my head. “I won’t ever let anything happen to you. I promise.”

I know it’s silly, but a guy has never kissed me before, not even on the cheek. My skin burns from where his lips touched, and all I can think is, I feel so cared for.

Safe.

I lean into him, resting my head on his shoulder, believing his promise way more than I do my mom’s. “Thank you, Beck,” I whisper, “for everything.”

“You’re welcome.” He gives me a sideways hug. “I’ll always be here for you, Wills.”

I hope he’s right. I don’t know what I’d do without him.

While Rule #1—the very first list—is in play…

Chapter Two

Willow

Five years later…

Sometimes, I wonder if luck has a vendetta against me. Perhaps I unknowingly offended it, and now it’s pissed off and determined to break me down. That would explain a lot about my life.

I know how cuckoo I sound. And in reality, I don’t actually believe luck exists, at least in a physical sense. But pretending it does makes situations like this easier. Then I don’t have to deal with the truth: that my life is just really, really shitty and that lately, I’ve made it shittier by making shitty choices.

“Goddammit, not again,” I curse as I steer my car over to the side of the road.

Smoke funnels from the hood, and the engine growls like a dying Gremlin as I shove the shifter into park and shut down the engine. Leaving the headlights on, I unbuckle my seatbelt and