Chapter 1
ALINA
Eleven Years Old
I Love Dancing.
Always have and always will. Been in classes since I was four years old.
Daddy likes to joke and say I’ll dance my way into the worst kind of trouble, but I think that’s a load of bull.
Why would I want to get in trouble? I’m eleven now, way too big to be sitting in a time- out chair.
It’s just my favorite thing to do in the whole world and it’s the only time I really feel free.
My older brother, Eli, will tell you I’ve got two left feet, but don’t believe him. He just gets annoyed Mama lets me pick the music when she sends us outside to play.
I pick a new station on the radio and smile big, tapping my foot against the sidewalk.
“Lame,” my brother huffs, shooting his basketball into the hoop. “Change it, Lee. You know I can’t stand country.”
My honey- blond hair tangles behind me as I spin to face Eli.
I stick my tongue out at him and tell him to shove it where the sun don’t shine before I turn to face our house.
It’s nothing fancy, but it’s all I’ve ever known as home.
A three- bed, two- bath, one- story right smack in the middle of Sugarlake, Tennessee, with white siding, blue shutters, and the prettiest tulips you’ll ever see.
I love picking them when they bloom in the spring, but Mama gets mad when I do because tulips are “a labor of love,” so instead I just come out front and stare at them every chance I get.
Eli bounces the ball between his legs and groans, bringing my attention back to him. “Seriously. I can’t practice my free throws to this shit.”
I roll my eyes at his potty mouth. He thinks he’s so big and bad because he’s fourteen now, and he loves to curse every chance he gets.
“Don’t let Mama hear you talk like that or she’ll wash your mouth out with soap again.” I stick my finger between my lips, making a loud gagging noise.
I’ve never had it done to me, but watching Eli go through it is enough to make me never want to speak a bad word ever.
He stops dribbling and runs his hand through his honey-blond hair, shaking his head.
“Yeah, Miss Alina May, never doing a bad thing in her life. Why don’t you leave me alone and go introduce yourself to the new neighbors?
” He gestures to the house three doors down where there’s a big moving truck in the driveway and a girl playing on the front lawn.
I put my hands on my hips and strain my eyes trying to see better. It’s not the worst idea Eli’s ever had.
The girl’s smaller than me and hula- hooping away without a care in the world, her blackish hair swishing against her porcelain shoulders with every swing of her hips.
She looks friendly enough, and since my best friend, Becca, is out of town for the summer at church camp, I really have nothing better to do than make a new friend.
“Okay, I will.” I make my way across the lawn before spinning around and pointing my finger at him. “But not ’cause you told me to, Eli. I’m doin’ it ’cause she looks nice.”
He smirks and tosses the basket into the hoop again.
I’m almost to her house when a boy walks out of the front door and slams it behind him. I stop in my tracks and watch with wide eyes as he turns and flips off the closed door with both middle fingers, and then sits on the front steps and lights up a cigarette.
My brows shoot to my hairline.
He doesn’t look that much older than me, definitely not old enough to buy cigarettes, but the way he’s puffing on that smoke so well I imagine he has no trouble getting them whenever he wants. He leans his elbows on his knees when he inhales, and I’m mesmerized as it swirls into the air.
Is he the new girl’s brother?
He has brown-black hair, although his is cut so short I can almost see his scalp, and he isn’t as small, but he is kind of gangly looking.
It’s only when he turns his head and stares straight at me that I realize I’m standing in the middle of our street gawking like a weirdo. My cheeks heat, so I quickly look down and start walking again.
No sense in turning back now, that would be even weirder.
The girl sees me as I get to the edge of their front yard, the Hula- Hoop falling down her body and a huge smile splitting across her face. She bounds over like a fairy flittering from tree to tree.
Dang, this girl is bouncy.
“Hi!” she squeals. “I’m Lily, what’s your name?”
I open my mouth to answer but she keeps talking, so it’s hard to get a word out.
“I’ve been so worried about not making any friends, but then here you are, and oh!” She pops up on her tiptoes, her nose almost brushing mine. “Your eyes must be the bluest things I’ve ever seen.”
I stuff my hands in the pockets of my jean shorts and stare back at this girl who I think might be a little wacky.
I’m fixing to kill Eli for suggesting I come over here.
“Thanks,” I reply.
I look behind her to where the boy is watching us, stone-faced.
Eli calls expressions like that “resting asshole face.” I don’t know if this kid is an asshole, but he sure doesn’t seem happy to see me. I shift my focus back to Lily.
“How do you talk like that?” I ask. “Just goin’ and goin’ for so long without havin’ to breathe?”
Immediately, I want to take my words back. Daddy says I have no filter, but I’ve always thought saying what’s on my mind is the most honest thing I can do, and if I’m nothing else, I always want to be honest. I hate liars.
Guilt hits my chest when her smile drops, and I’m worried I hurt her feelings, but then she throws back her head and laughs, and I’m so relieved I join her.
She links her arm with mine and pulls me farther into the yard.
For such a small thing, she’s awful strong.
“Just have a lot of energy, I guess.” She pats my arm with her sparkly pink fingernails. “My mom used to tell me I had enough energy to light up all of Chicago.”
“I think I believe her.” My eyes are wide as I grin. “I’m Alina May Carson, by the way, but my friends call me Lee. I live three houses down that way.”
Lily brings her hand up to cover her eyes from the sun while she looks toward where I point. “That your brother?”
“Yep, that’s Eli.” I glance at the boy on the steps again. “Does he like basketball? Eli never lets me play, he says basketball’s not meant for girls, but he’d probably let another boy practice with him.”
Lily scrunches her nose, twisting to look at the kid on the steps. “Oh, that’s my brother, Chase. He doesn’t like much of anything really unless it involves making our foster parents mad.”
“Oh.”
I’m not sure what a foster parent is, but I don’t want to seem stupid, so I nod like I get it.
“Chase!” she yells. “Come here and meet Lee.”
My stomach buzzes like a hive of bees as Chase crushes his cigarette beneath his worn black boot and stands, walking over to us. He doesn’t stop until he’s right in front of me, my eyes level with his chin.
When he’s this close, I can see the scar running through his left eyebrow, and for some reason, there’s an urge to reach up and trace it. My fingers curl into the palms of my hands to keep myself from actually doing it because that would be really weird.
There’s something about this boy.
He hasn’t said a word yet, and I’m already dying to know him.
“Smokin’ kills, you know,” I blurt.
His mouth twitches. “No shit?”
“Yep.” I pop the p. “I’m a big believer in lettin’ people know how I feel about things. You might as well get used to it since we’re neighbors and all.”
He runs his tongue over his teeth. “Yeah? And how are you feeling right now? You feeling good?”
“A little too hot, if I’m honest.” I fan my face so he knows how serious I am. It is warm just standing here under the summer sun.
He chuckles and dimples mark his cheeks. “How old are you anyway, Goldilocks?”
I scrunch my nose. “I’m eleven and my name is Alina, not Goldilocks. Ah- lee- nuh. But if you start being a little nicer, you can call me Lee.”
“Sure thing, Goldi.” He tugs on a strand of my hair, then brushes past me.
My chest pulls tight because doesn’t he listen? “Whatever, Boy Scout!” I yell at him. If he can make up a dumb nickname on the spot, so can I.
“You’re the same age as me!” Lily pipes in, pulling on my arm again.
I had almost forgotten she was there.
“This is so cool,” she continues. “We’ll be in the same grade and everything. Have you lived here your whole life?”
“Born and raised.”
“Lucky. I think it’s the prettiest place I’ve ever seen.” She sighs.
I smile, but my eyes move past her, hoping to catch another glimpse of her brother walking down the street.
Lily’s gaze follows mine and she tugs on my arm again. “Don’t worry about him. He’s thirteen, and in middle school, so we won’t have to worry about him being a jerk every day. You want to come inside?”
My stomach flutters because I don’t know how to tell her I wasn’t worried about him being a jerk, so I just nod instead and let her drag me into her house. But before we walk inside, I look back one more time in Chase’s direction.
He has sad eyes and I feel like maybe he needs someone to make him smile.
I can be that someone.
Happy with my decision, I dance my way through the front door and into Lily’s and Chase’s lives.
Daddy did always tell me I would dance straight into trouble.