CHAPTER 1

 “I hate this place. It totally sucks!” Tina Lilly screamed into her cell phone. Silence followed. She waited for her mom to give in…just like she always did.

A soft sigh sounded from the other end of the line. Tina waited, holding her breath.

“No.”

Tina felt her face heat up with rage.  The same rage that had brought her here to hell on earth.

“I hate you,” she growled at her mother and snapped the phone shut. She threw it across the room and it hit the edge of the white painted windowsill removing a small chip of paint as it collided.

She plopped down on the bed and started to twirl a strand of her long brown hair around the index finger of her right hand. Her foot worked at a frantic pace as she tried to regain her composure.

She’d been here exactly one week now and she’d had about all she could take of this place. It was one thing to be dragged here every year at Christmas but a whole different sort of torture to be spending the entire summer here.

She just wanted to go home to L.A. where the weather was hot but not the kind of heat that made your hair flat, your back sticky and your eyeliner run. It was just another reason that she hated it here.

She missed her friends and her own bedroom and her stuff. She looked around the stark white bedroom with the frilly handmade curtains and the matching white mirrored dresser. It was like living in a doll house. How lame.

She rolled off the bed and studied herself in the mirror. Her eyes were brimming with tears and when she caught sight of herself, she felt angry all over again. This was stupid. She had to figure out a way to convince her mother to let her come home. She’d never make it through the whole summer here.

Tina knew that now that hell on earth was a place called Truth, Texas.

~*~

Wearing her black Aeropostale shirt and jeans, she walked down the country road towards the Central Grocery. Despite the heat, she had to look cool. The jeans were probably a bad choice as she was less than half way there and she could already feel them sticking to her skin. The soft area at the back of her knees felt raw from the damp friction.

She pulled her hobo bag off one shoulder and slung it over the other as she walked. She could see the store just up ahead and could already imagine the air conditioned burst of cold air that would hit her when she opened the door.

Her grandmother’s house wasn’t air conditioned at all. Well, if you didn’t count that ancient window unit that was perched in her kitchen window. Of course, she would only run that when she was in there cooking.

Tina had already gotten into trouble earlier today when her grandmother caught her sitting on the kitchen counter with the window unit pumping out volumes of frigid air. She didn’t see what the big deal was any way. She needed somewhere to paint her toenails.

The old lady had freaked out and actually hit her with a rolled up newspaper. She was crazy. Her whole family was crazy. Only two more years of high school and she’d be free of them. They didn’t even know her. How could they possibly understand her?

In fact, the only person who understood her was Sloane.

She slipped her cell phone out of her pocket to check for the thousandth time today. Still no messages from her best friend…she was probably at the beach anyway.

As she crossed the road and stepped into the gravel covered parking lot of the Central Grocery, she noticed a tall, skinny guy leaning up against the side of the building. She hadn’t seen him here before.

She liked the way he had one foot on the ground and the other pressed against the wall behind him as he leaned there smoking his cigarette. Well, he wasn’t really smoking it so much as just holding it between two fingers and letting it burn.

He had black hair that hung low over one eye and he wore a silver ring on the thumb of his right hand. The sleeves of his black t-shirt were rolled up above his shoulder.

Tina’s eyes focused on his lips as they formed a pout while he surveyed the cars coming and going out of the busy parking lot.

Then, his eyes turned towards her and she realized that she was standing there staring at him like an absolute idiot. She felt his eyes rake over her and she felt her stomach flutter at his attention.

She tore her eyes away and headed for the door to the store. The bell made that annoying tinkling sound as she pushed it inward.

Normally, she relished the feel of the cold air but she suddenly felt so flustered by seeing the hottie outside that she needed more than the air conditioner to cool her down now.

She walked to the back of the store and opened the cooler. She stood there studying the variety of available soft drinks and letting the air wash over her. She longed for her daily iced mocha frappuccino. She was sure that Sloane was still getting hers every morning before she headed down to the beach to hang out.

She knew she’d been sent here because of her friendship with Sloane. She guessed Sloane was the sort that parents would call a “bad influence” type of friend. Tina didn’t see her that way. She just saw her as someone who knew how to have a good time, even if it did mean breaking a few rules along the way.

Suddenly, the thought occurred to her…if she could find a way to get into trouble here…would her grandmother send her back home? She smiled at the idea. It was the best idea she’d had in days.

“Thirsty?”

The low, smooth voice sounded behind her and she jumped in surprise. She turned around, letting go of the cooler door and stood face to face with the guy from outside.

“You’re new around here,” he said as he continued his uninhibited examination of Tina’s body and clothes.

Tina nodded. She felt her throat constrict with nerves. The hot guy was talking to her. He was probably the hottest guy in town and he was checking her out. She felt herself stick out her chest a little more. Hoping that she looked more developed than she felt.

“So, what are you looking for?” he continued and she noticed how his eyebrows raised in a flirty way.

She looked down at his tan forearms and she knew the rest of him was probably just as tan. He was probably the type of boy who had no problem going shirtless.

She took a breath and returned her eyes back to stare at him squarely in the face when she spoke her first words to him.

“I’m looking for trouble.”