Reclaim - Aly Martinez Page 0,6

were strict about making me pay for anything extra that I wanted, but I’d never had to buy my own dinner.

The cashier offered her a sad smile. “If you put the gum back, you’ll have enough for the rest.”

Nora shook her head. “No, that’s a surprise for my brother.” She grabbed the chips and handed them to the clerk. “I don’t need those. Do I have enough money now?”

“Yep. That’ll work.”

Her shoulders sagged and a sharp knife of guilt stabbed me in the stomach. I had more than enough money in my pocket to cover the bag of chips—all of her groceries for that matter. However, after the way she’d yelled at me, I didn’t figure she liked me all that much.

Still, I could have helped.

But I was twelve, and she was a girl, who was probably just going to shout at me again, and if she didn’t holler at me, offering to pay for her groceries would probably embarrass her. And if it embarrassed her, it was sure as heck going to embarrass me.

So, like a fool, I stood there and did nothing.

I watched the cashier bag her groceries and pass her the change.

She thanked the lady and tucked the money into her pocket. Then she took her bag and headed for the door.

“Hey!” the gray-haired man in line behind her called out, bending over to pick something up. “You dropped this.” He extended a hand toward her and there it was: a perfectly folded ten-dollar bill.

My eyes narrowed as confusion rocked through me. If she’d had a ten in her pocket, why’d she say she only had four dollars?

The older man shifted gears into lecture mode. “You need to be more careful with your money, kid. You can’t let it fall out of your pocket like that. A different kind of person might not have given it back.”

She stared at him for a beat, sporting the fakest smile I’d ever seen. “Right.”

What she said next changed the entire course of my life.

I didn’t know it then, but with three words, the universe kicked the first domino that would ultimately form the sprawling path of my future. A path I would struggle to travel. One that would collapse under the weight of my regrets and eventually knock me to my knees, but I’d never stop getting up and forging ahead because it would forever be the only path that led me back to her.

But in that moment, they were just three infuriating words.

“Freaking Camden Cole,” she muttered, taking the money from the man. “Thanks.”

Freaking Camden Cole? What had I done? I’d given her that money. Which she obviously needed. And now I was Freaking Camden Cole? How was that fair?

“You want those chips now?” the clerk asked, but Nora just shook her head and shoved the money into her pocket so roughly that I’d have sworn she was mad at it.

Suddenly, I was furious at it too. I was dealing with enough crap that summer from my family without some girl who didn’t know me at all dishing it out too.

Even under her breath.

In the middle of a grocery store filled with more strangers.

In a town where nobody knew me.

All of which were minor formalities to my mounting anger.

As she left the store, I abandoned my candy bar and followed her. She could yell at me all she wanted, but I’d done nothing wrong. If she wanted to be pissed off about the money, I’d gladly take it off her hands. No sweat off my back.

Nora was a girl on a mission though and moved fast as she stomped away carrying a bag in each hand. She beat me to the parking lot, and I tried to play it cool as I passed a few locals on their way inside, smiling and waving so as not to look like a creepy stalker as I chased after her.

Less than a second later, when she hit the sidewalk and started ranting to herself, a creepy stalker was exactly what I became.

“Freaking Camden Cole, with his pretty blue eyes. I mean who actually has eyes that blue? What are they, night vision goggles or something?”

My brows shot up and my jaw hung open so wide I could have caught flies. She thought my eyes were pretty. My mom had always told me that, but she was required by DNA to think it.

Nora Stewart was not.

And just like that, Freaking Camden Cole didn’t sting as bad.

I dropped back a bit so she didn’t