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A social klutz and certified bookworm, Autumn Lyne is content with having just books as companions--that is, until her extrovert of a sister drags her out to meet her band. But nobody has expected that this would mark the plot twis...
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On Sunday, Clover and I went out grocery shopping when we bumped into Finn Hunter. No, it was more like he crashed into me.
It was partly my fault for not paying attention. I was checking off my grocery list while I was rounding a corner when a shopping cart rammed into me. I almost stumbled down from the impact, but I managed to catch myself.
"Hey, what happened?" I heard Clover yell behind me, her footsteps squeaking against the floor.
I glared at the culprits and saw Finn sitting in the cart like a five-year-old. His mouth and eyes were wide open as he stared back at me.
"Oh... Oh, shit. Oh, shit." His friend, who had piercings on his face, tried to make a break for it, but Finn grabbed his shirt and hissed, "Aw, hell no, dude. Get me out of this thing."
"Are you okay?" Clover asked me.
There was a pain in my hip, but I didn't want to worry her, so I nodded. "I'm fine."
Finn had gotten out of the cart and was now standing at his full height over me. A deep red blush covered the entirety of his face, even his ears. "I'm so sorry. I—we didn't see you. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I was looking at this—" I waved the grocery list "—so I wasn't aware—"
Clover stepped in between us, swinging her hand in the air to stop me. "Oh, screw that noise. It's their fault for running around like this place is their damn playground. Bunch of rascals, I swear."
My sister rarely cussed, but when she did, it meant that she was outright angry. It didn't help that she was already in a bad mood from arguing with Mom at home. I held her arm before she could pounce on the boys.
"Damn, Clover. Chill. We don't want any more trouble here, a'ight?" the piercings guy said with a laugh. At this point, two of their other friends had appeared behind them, carrying chips and a pack of root beer.
"You know each other?" I whispered to Clover.
She huffed with a dry smile. "I sure do. I know all of them. This kid broke your crayons in grade school." She pointed at Finn, who was taken aback by her comment. "And this guy is their ringleader, Ryan." She pointed at the piercings guy and gave me a knowing sideways look. My mouth formed an O. Ryan. Claire's boyfriend.
"And all of them—" Clover gestured at the motley crew of boys before us "—are nature's living turds. The Junkyard Chaos. Ew."
"Gee. Thanks for the heartfelt introduction," Ryan said. When he opened his mouth to smile, I noticed another piercing in his tongue.
"Hey! What's going on over there?" a loud voice grumbled, and we turned to see a skinny man in a polo shirt at the opposite end of the aisle. "Go talk somewhere else. You kids are blocking the way."
Ryan twisted his head back to Clover, his sly smile not once faltering. "Well, hope to see you never at the battle of the bands. You guys stay horrible."
