Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
“Jeez. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.”
He was wrong. As far as I knew, my bed only had one side. The side where I woke up, fought with my dad, hated my life, and crawled right back into it every night, knowing that the next morning was going to be exactly the same.
I let out an aggravated huff. “Just tell me where you got the worms.”
“Okay, but first, did Mr. Leonard tell you why he needs the worms?”
More. Freaking. Questions. And yes, I did understand that my frustration was a tad hypocritical. But he was the new kid. My questions were fair. His were just annoying. And nosy. And wasting my worm-plucking time.
“Well, duh. The whole town knows why he needs the worms. He and Dale Lewis have been feuding for months. They can’t even be in the same parking lot without the cops getting called. I don’t know how it started, but Mr. Leonard won’t be caught dead near Lewis Tractor Repair, Bait, and Booze. Which means he and his sons have nothing to fish with. Which means he hired me to find them bait. Which means you better start talking right now about where the heck you got a whole dang bucket of worms, because I was here first.” My chest heaved when I finished.
I was usually pretty good about hiding my emotions. Screaming and acting out didn’t fix anything. Going with the flow was a huge part of staying in the shadows so no one realized what was really going on at home with me, Ramsey, and our messed-up dad.
But I was sweaty.
I was dirty.
I was eleven and had spent all afternoon hunting for nasty, gag-inducing worms so my brother and I could have something for dinner. Meanwhile, this kid—who probably wasn’t loaded but definitely had enough money to use spare change as decorations in his shoes—had just shown up with a full bucket.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. And I was done. Utterly. Completely. All patience gone.
Unfortunately, Camden Cole was only getting started.
“You weren’t here first,” he stated.
I took a giant step toward him. “Yes, I was! I’ve been here for hours.”
Abandoning his coffee can, he stood up, his smile finally morphing into a scowl. “Oh yeah? Well, Mr. Leonard hired me at noon!”
“Liar! The sign wasn’t even there at noon.”
With another step, he closed the distance between us. “I know because I ripped it down. He must have put it back up when I had to go home for lunch. I was late, which royally ticked off my grandpa, so he made me go back to church for seven hundred hours, and now I’m here, answering a million questions and listening to some girl I don’t even know call my clothes stupid and yell at me. So shut up. Okay? I get enough of that shit from my family.” He stared at me for a long second, a shadow passing over his dazzling eyes, but I didn’t let it snuff my fire. This kid did not want to go toe-to-toe with me in a who-has-the-crappiest-parents competition. He would lose every time.
“Blah, blah, blah. You still didn’t tell me where you got that many dang worms!”
“Who cares!” he roared into my face. “You know what?” Turning on a toe, he snatched his bucket off the ground. “Here. Take the damn worms. I don’t care anymore.” Tipping his can by the end, he dumped half of them at my feet. He pinned me with an icy, blue glare that only minutes earlier had been heart-stopping. Now, it was downright murderous.
“I don’t want your stupid worms.” I kinda-sorta lied. I did want them. I just didn’t want him to give them to me.
“Well, you got ’em. Now, leave me alone. Tomorrow, I’ll take the other side of the creek.”
Was that where he’d gotten them from? Was there a mound of earthworms ripe for the picking over there? No way I was going to be the dummy who let him have them all.
“I want the other side,” I snapped.
“Fine!” he exclaimed.
Crap. He’d agreed to that way too easily. If his goldmine was over there, he would have at least argued. “No, wait. I want this side.”
“Whatever!” Shaking his head, he stomped away.
Double crap! Was this some kind of reverse psychology? Thea had told me all about it. It was how she’d gotten Ramsey to agree to wear the friendship bracelet she’d made him. Was I falling victim to Camden’s mind games?
“Never mind, I do want the other side!” I yelled at his retreating back.
He kept on trucking, calling over his shoulder, “Sure. See if I care!”
It was a hike from the creek to Mr. Leonard’s house, but it was mostly flat, so I could see him the whole way. I smiled when he tripped. Then I groaned when he managed to stay on his feet. Only after he’d disappeared around the side of the house did I look down at the pile of worms at my feet.