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Original Edition: Chapter Ten

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The sun started to set over Holden, leaving the town glowing orange. I stepped out of the ice cream parlor, calling goodbye to Lena and Jesse over my shoulder, and into the fresh air. It was still hot and humid enough to make me feel disgustingly sticky, but at least the ocean breeze was cool. I shoved my hands in the pockets of my loose jean shorts and started down the street in the general direction of Rachel's house. I still wasn't sure exactly how to get home from town, but I knew I'd find the house eventually.

As I walked, I found it increasingly hard not to think about Blake.

He had a rebound girl already.

Why hadn't I seen it coming? He'd ditched his cheating emotional wreck of an ex-girlfriend. He had every right to move on—I just hadn't anticipated it happening so soon. It was a harsh reminder that he had a life here in Holden that I knew very little about. I'm sure he knew tons of pretty, hilarious, academically gifted girls who he got along with. I don't know why I'd ever hoped that he might consider me—the weird girl from Alaska who cracked bad jokes and fought with him every time we spoke. 

Blake and I were the sun and the moon. Opposites. It never would've worked, anyway.

Just as I started to feel like I might do something dumb, like cry, a car horn honked.

I was so startled that I jumped nearly a foot into the air, then fell backward and landed right on my ass. The instant I landed on the sidewalk, I knew I was going to have a giant and very difficult to explain bruise. As I grimaced in pain, a silver sedan rolled up next to me. It was too dark for me to make out the person driving, but I recognized the car almost instantly.

"Hamilton," I hissed.

"Hey, Alaska," Blake's chipper voice replied from inside the car.

"It's rude to sneak up on people!" I practically shouted as I stood back up from the ground, resisting the urge to rub my aching tailbone. I couldn't see Blake's face, but I knew that he was probably grinning at my injury.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he told me in his deep voice. "C'mon. Let's go."

"Excuse me?"

"Get in the car," Blake told me.

I snorted. "Uh, no thanks."

Then, with as much dignity as I could manage with a bruised ass, I turned and began waddling down the street. Unfortunately for me, Blake decided he wasn't done just yet. His car rolled alongside me.

"You good?" he asked.

No, I was not good. I turned to glare at him. His face was all hard angles in the dim lights of his dashboard.

Suddenly, I was mad at him. And not just because he had snuck up on me and made me feel like an idiot with a sore rump, but also because he had already moved on from Alissa and seemed to be doing quite well. Okay, maybe I was just frustrated because Blake hadn't shown any interest in me. But still. He had broken up with Alissa and then, not twenty-four hours later, selected a rebound girl.

I mean, who does that?

"You're a dick," I snapped at him. It felt good to raise my voice.

"I was just going to offer you a ride home," Blake argued, one hand up in defense as the other kept the wheel steady. He was still smiling like he wanted to laugh, though. I marched on, muttering some very unladylike words under my breath as I went.

But Blake continued driving alongside me.

"Will you just leave?" I cried as we reached the end of the block. "You're being creepy!"

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