Cassie

I belonged under the sun. I belonged in the mangroves of Key Largo, painting the orchids. I was meant to be cruising a beat-up mustang through the streets of Florida. Or at the very least, I belonged in the boiler room of a steamboat, trying to figure what the hell went wrong with safety caps.

I was definitely not meant to be driving a pickup truck in Nowhere, Virginia. So when my parents informed me they were planning on - no, had already decided on- moving us all to Virginia for half a year for one of dad's deals, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea. But I was okay with it. Six months away from home was no biggie, right?

Wrong.

I mean, my life was no social fairytale back in the Keys. My yearly quota of "yay, besties!" mounted up to a zero. My best friends consisted of a screwdriver, paintbrush, wetsuit and my physics textbook.

But here, in was complete and utter hell. At first. I met a guy who took it upon himself to be my personal satan. That annoyingly hot asshole made my life miserable. But he made it exciting. He made it daring. No matter how many times I tried to fall back into my easy-going routine, he wrenched me back out of it. I didn't know whether to hate him or love him. That half a year away from was no unsignificant part of my existence I expected it to be. But that's what made it all worthwhile.