Reclaim - Aly Martinez Page 0,14

what are we gonna do today?”

“I don’t know. What do you want to do?”

“Slapjack?” he suggested, holding his hands out in front of him, palms up.

“Oh please. Don’t make me embarrass you.”

He laughed, loud and rich. “Okay then. I brought some books and stuff to draw with. I almost brought my radio, but the batteries are dead.”

“What kind of batteries?”

“C. But I need, like, eight of them and those things cost a fortune.”

“I’ll bring some tomorrow. I’ve got a whole case. They randomly gave them to my dad at his last job.” Truthfully, Dad had stolen them from his job stocking at the grocery. The drunk dumbass thought they were double As he could use for his remote control. Not surprisingly, he was fired the next day.

I’d always been a crappy liar, so my cheeks heated, no doubt turning my face a lovely shade of neon pink. I didn’t have many friends because it was easier to avoid getting close to people than looking them in the eye and lying about my life. However, at five dollars a day, it looked like Camden and I were stuck together—lies and all.

“No!” He spun around so fast he tripped, stumbling over his own feet.

I barely jumped out of his way in time to keep from getting plowed over. “Jesus, Cam!”

He righted himself and stared at me with wild eyes. “You don’t have to ask your dad. It’s no big deal. I'll buy some next week.”

Okay, seriously, Camden was weird.

I rolled my eyes. “My dad doesn’t care. They’ve been sitting in our garage for, like, a year. Do you have any idea how useless C batteries are? They don’t work for anything. Except apparently your radio.”

“Okay,” he said, but it wasn’t a question or a statement. It was more like two syllables he’d left hanging in the air to fill the space between us.

“Ohh-kay,” I replied, glancing around for any possible escape from the awkwardness. “Anyway. We could go for a swim. We’re already soaked and there’s a deep part down by the tree stump that—”

And that was all I got out before The Flash himself ran past me in a blur, calling over his shoulder, “Last one in is a rotten egg!”

Never one to turn down a challenge, I took off after him.

He beat me to the water, but he didn’t brag or gloat. Which was probably the only reason I didn’t dunk him the first chance I got.

We spent the rest of the afternoon splashing around and getting to know each other. I made good on my promise and didn’t at yell him anymore. It wasn’t too hard though, because once I gave him a chance, Freaking Camden Cole was actually super nice.

We talked about Alberton. He agreed it stunk, but we argued on whether it was more of a dead animal stench or dirty socks. He made the trek up to his bag not once, but twice to get me a butterscotch. I hadn’t asked him either time. And I filled him in on the people in Clovert. Mainly, who to talk to and who to avoid.

He listened patiently and never took his eyes off me, which was a tad uncomfortable at times, but for the most part, we got along like cheese and apple pie—an odd combination, but somehow, it worked.

When the bright afternoon sun started its descent, Camden sprinted from the water just as quickly as he’d entered it. His grandparents were strict about dinner time, so he needed to get home ASAP to get his chores done first.

I’d spent a lot of time alone in my life, avoiding my dad, hiding from people who might be able to see through my façade. However, that day, as I watched Camden running through the tall grass, carrying his bucket and his backpack while water streamed from his cutoffs, I could honestly say I was really looking forward to having some company for a change.

Without any place to be, I took my time making my way back to our dirt beach. I walked straight to my bucket, and as a young girl who had been wronged by people she loved too many times, a part of me expected to find it empty. He could have easily taken them when I hadn’t been looking and cashed them all in himself. In my experience, when things sounded too good to be true, they usually were.

But not with Camden.

Never with Camden.

Not only was my bucket filled with worms, but there was the ten-dollar