GUTTER GIRL

Chapter One

Chapter One

McKenna

Invisible.

All I needed to do for nine more months was fly under the radar and then I could bust out of Twin River and never look back. And with four thousand students here at Twin River High, I should be able to do that no problem. Even with my bright pink hair.

I took two steps to the left and one to the right, narrowly avoiding Gretchen Mead and her trio of popular girls strutting down the hallway. They were one of the many reasons I couldn't wait to get out of here.

None of them acknowledged me. That would bother most people, but not me. Unless I was with my best friend, Ernie aka E, I preferred to be in the shadows.

Speaking of Ernie, I glanced down at my phone to see if he'd texted me back. We were supposed to meet for—

My shoulder and side of my face collided with something soft, yet surprisingly hard. If that was even possible? The contact sent me spinning and I planted my foot in time to keep me upright.

"Whoa!" My physics lab notebook and half-eaten apple went flying through the air. Damn it. I was hungry!

A hand jetted out and snagged my apple, centimeters from hitting the nasty linoleum floor, and then cupped my elbow, stabilizing me.

I looked up and came face-to-face with Jace Rover's rock-hard pecs.

"Oh shit." My heart took off, beating so hard I thought he'd hear it. I stepped backward, cheeks burning hotter by the second. A locker, more the combination dial of that locker, jammed into my spine and I hopped to the side.

Jace's ocean blue eyes narrowed on mine as he held up my apple, and then he quirked an eyebrow.

"Nice catch." I was grateful he'd saved my food, but it was too bad he couldn't have saved the contents of my bag splayed on the gross floor. The herds of students stampeding down the hallway shifted a little, but some of the papers were still getting trampled.

"You okay?" Jace glanced around, then focused on me again.

My stomach flip-flopped. Ramming into a brick wall would have hurt less and he hadn't budged at all. What is this guy? Like 400 percent muscle?

I gently inspected my nose ring to make sure it was still in and there wasn't any bleeding. "I think I'm okay." 

Dang.

He ran his fingers through his chestnut hair and shifted his weight from foot to foot. "You need the nurse?"

"I'm fine." My response came out a little bit more clipped than I'd intended, but holy hell I was talking to Jace Rovers, Twin River High's star wide receiver, one of the most popular guys at our school, and the first boy I'd ever had a crush on.

A conversation with him would lead to being seen. The opposite of staying invisible.

Jace gave a nod before crouching down. He reached for his fallen backpack, but its contents had spilled all over the hallway as well.

A chorus of snickers filled the space surrounding us.

Leave it to a group of high schoolers to laugh at two people colliding in the hallway. Who was I kidding, if I'd witnessed this, I probably would have laughed, too.

As Jace gathered his notebooks and iPad, a hint of fresh soap swirled out from him as his shaggy brown hair shifted, and I found myself breathing deeply. There might have been a bit of pine in that mix, too, and somehow, it was exactly how I'd imagined he'd smell.