And I had to go to school—a new school.

Listing the ways my life currently sucked butt made me late. By the time I got downstairs, Ms. Liz had already taken Olivia to her new school.

Taking Olivia to school was my job—my responsibility. How dare she think she could take Olivia to school? To top off what was sure to be a wonderful day, Cromwell informed me I’d only have the keys to my car once I’d earned his trust back. His trust? Like I was the creeptastic person who whipped kids off the street and collected them like figurines?

What about my trust in him?

Give me the keys to one of the Porsches in the garage and I’d trust the hell out of him. Until then, he was more likely to have me call him “Dad” than trust him.

So there I stood on the porch—with my new backpack, wearing my new jeans and gloves and an old button-down sweater—waiting for my babysitter.

Hayden. Of course.

“You ready?”

I jumped at the sound of his voice. Turning around, I saw that he stood right behind me. I hadn’t heard him come out of the house; he was that quiet.

He chuckled as he moved past me. “Come on. Even though we won’t get any tardy slips, I guess you shouldn’t be late on your first day.”

There went my pretty pink collage for Olivia.

Groaning, I followed Hayden back to the garage. He opened the door of the Infiniti SUV and motioned me in.

I mumbled something halfway coherent and climbed into the car. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gabe and Phoebe jump into one of the Porsches. Gabe yelled something that earned a laugh from Hayden. Phoebe’s eyes lingered a few seconds too long on Hayden as he made his way around the front of the car.

“Where’s Parker?” I asked, curious.

“He’s homeschooled.” He backed out of the garage.

The way he said it left no room for questions, but I went there. “Why not?”

“It’s too hard on him.” He went on before I could push for more information. “You look tired.”

My pale reflection stared back at me in the side mirror. The pale blue of my eyes looked even more watered-down than normal. I sank down in the seat and faced forward.

“Have you’ve been sleeping okay?”

I nodded. The ride into town was one giant fail boat. Hayden tried to make small talk, but I ignored him and focused on my surroundings. Petersburg was the kind of town people missed if they sneezed. I spotted a McDonald’s, a couple of pizza shops, several strip malls, and little else on the way to school. After I got over my self-imposed bitterness, I could admit the town had a cute look about it.

I broke the silence. “How did you guys end up here?”

“My father is originally from here, but I’m from Montana. He wanted to come back home and he gave me an option to come with him. I’m glad I did.” He stopped as if he’d said too much. “I’m into hiking. The Seneca Rocks are a big thing around here. They’re the mountains you can see from the house.”