When a shy girl from Figure Eight suddenly gets whisked into a dangerous treasure hunt involving four pogues known for their knack for trouble, she finds herself navigating not only the troubled waters of adventure but also the complexities of frien...
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Sydney Lyons hated being stressed. When life started to pile up, she couldn't handle it—not the racing thoughts, not the tightness in her chest, not the tears she fought so hard to keep in. It felt like her own body was betraying her, dragging her down into a storm of anxiety she couldn't escape. Everything got louder, messier, more chaotic until she couldn't think about anything else but the thing that was consuming her. It was like her mind latched onto whatever worry she had, and wouldn't let go, drowning out everything else.
No matter how small the problem might seem to someone else, it became everything to her. Like a looming shadow, growing bigger and bigger until it swallowed her whole. And right now, that shadow had taken the shape of everything that had gone wrong lately.
And when Sydney Lyons was stressed, she couldn't think of anything other than the thing that was bothering her. It consumed her, blotting out everything else, every rational thought drowned beneath a tidal wave of anxiety. No matter how small the issue might seem to others, in her mind, it was all-encompassing, like a shadow growing larger until it swallowed her whole.
She was stressed the Square Groupers were going to find her—or worse, the Pogues.
She was stressed about how JJ had tried to start a fight with what seemed like the only boy in the world who had ever liked her.
She was stressed because she was beginning to realize that the same boy who kissed her might have done it just because she was a girl who would let him—not because he actually liked her for who she was.
She was stressed about suddenly being an "honorary Pogue" and how that meant she had friends now— It was everything she had wanted for so long, but now that she had it, the pressure of keeping it all together was suffocating. What if she messed it up?
And most importantly, she was stressed because James Lyons was coming home in two days. Her dad was coming back to the Outer Banks.
Sydney had never had the kind of dad who gave hugs, or offered advice, or asked how her day went. No, James Lyons was the kind of man who controlled everything in his path. Every time he walked through the door, it was like a cloud settled over the house, thick with unspoken rules and expectations she could never meet.
She had two days before he came home, two days before she had to be "perfect" again—whatever that meant. His presence always felt like a test she was destined to fail. The way she dressed, the way she talked, the way she even sat—it was all subject to his scrutiny. And the criticisms would come, sharp and relentless, each one cutting into her like shards of glass. They'd seem small at first—harmless—but by the end of it, she'd be left bleeding from a thousand tiny wounds.
In some twisted way, she preferred being ignored. When her dad was gone, she could breathe. Sure, the silence was lonely, but it was a silence she could handle. At least when he was away, she wasn't constantly under his microscope, constantly failing to meet his impossible standards.
