"It's our time to make a move,
it's our time to make amends
It's our time to break the rules,
let's begin..."
"Renegades"
~ X Ambassadors
Chapter ONE
What began the War to End the United States of America was the nuclear bombs.
Millions of these bombs were dropped all over the country. Who was behind it? Terrorists? Communists? Hitler wannabes?? Well, maybe not terrorists from another country, per se; it was SO much worse than that.
Try terrorists from our own country...
They go by the terribly uncreative name "The New Government Order" —or the "NGO" for short. They announced their presence just a month before they released their bombs. They had warned us what to expect if we didn't comply with their demands. Many people took them seriously and had the common sense to know they weren't fooling around, but our own government, being the big-headed prïcks that they were, did not. They thought they were untouchable, believing that their vast range of resources and the tactical military at their disposal would soon eradicate the threat and "put an end to such nonsense."693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6iklYdNeV
That was a big mistake—obviously.
And now, all that's left is a war-ravaged country, poor and terrified for their lives, with the tyrannical NGO at its head.
Allow me to explain further...
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My mother (Ann Monroe) and I had heard all about the bombings in the news. We knew all about the horrors this tyrannical "New Order" government was capable of. The death tolls were higher than ever before, and the videos being displayed on every single news station in America were too horrifying to watch, so Mom would normally shut the TV off and make me do something else.
I can vividly remember the day the two officers came to our doorstep to tell us the terrible news as if it had just happened yesterday. My father had been out fighting the NGO's foot soldiers, rescuing civilians who were alone and afraid out there at the mercy of this new threat. As soon as I opened the door and saw the two cops standing there, it was as if I had been punched hard in the gut and all the wind was knocked out of me. I stood there petrified.
My mother was never the same after that, and it was me left picking up the broken pieces to her former self; she was a nervous wreck up until the day she died.
When the first bomb had hit our town, our whole house had shaken violently from the force of it. My mother's antique china elephant, a present Dad had gotten her from India long ago, had fallen to the linoleum floor and shattered into a million infinitesimal pieces...a sick metaphor of what was happening to our lives; I had realized this after the fact, when it was too late to do anything about it.
As if anyone could have...
Mom and I had shared a look right after, and it was at that exact moment a spark lit within my mother's shattered soul, shining through her eyes, erasing the pain she always carried, replacing it with sheer terror.
This was it. This was the end.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyxOiaTW0R
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"Go, Roxanne! Go now!" Mom pushes me towards the door to our apartment, not wasting any time as she flings it open as she pulls me through it and straight down the nearest flight of stairs as the tremors start to grow into violent shakes. I can't seem to stay on my feet much at all. The Earth seems to groan as if it were Gaea herself awakening from her eternal slumber.
Mom successfully drags me out of the building along with our neighbors and their pets. Everyone was screaming in terror; a few people searching for loved ones or sprinting to get away.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNLcyCSeUqK
As if outrunning the bombs was even a possibility.
That's probably what Mom and I should have done; we should have run like Hell away from that apartment building. Maybe then I would still have at least one parent that had escaped the NGO's grasp?
"It's really happening, isn't it? We're going to die, like Dad?" I can't stop my voice from shaking. Maybe the earthquake was traveling straight into my body, too?
"No, honey, of course not. I won't let anything happen to you. I love you, Roxy. Never forget that—" She's abruptly cut off by the loudest groaning and grinding sound that I have ever heard. I'm not sure where it came from, but it's loud.
The next thing I know, I'm being violently shoved forwards.
"Keep going, Roxy! Run, run as fast as you can!" Never in all my life has my mom ever been rough with me; she was the most gentle, kind-hearted woman I know, up until she heard the news of her husband, of nineteen years, was killed in battle.
"Mom? What's happening?"
A large hulking shadow looms over us, and my mother's eyes grow wide. There was something in them that I never thought I would ever see.
Fear. Outright, unbridled terror...
With one last hard shove, my mother pushes me out of the way with so much force that I practically fly a good distance away and land hard in the dirt. . .
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• • •
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My mother was crushed under the rubble of our collapsed apartment building.
She had ultimately risked her life to save mine, a fact that still haunted me to this very day.693Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc0TFLHDaR0
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"Roxy? Are you awake in there?
Shaking my head to expel myself out of the morbid stupor I had wandered in, I turned towards the doorway just in time for my best friend to poke her blonde hair into the room. I gave her the best smile I could muster but it felt—and probably looked—so fake that it was disgusting. "What's up?"
A tight-lipped smile crossed Jackie Bentley's face, my best friend's natural beauty barely hidden behind the dirt and grime that came with living in this New America the NGO had created. "Sal's announced an emergency meeting in the conference room. Plus, Kyle's been looking for you, so you should probably go now—before he goes all psycho."
I hadn't noticed it until I looked at her more closely, but my best friend wasn't her bubbly self at the moment. Her posture was tense and her distress shone clear in her blue-green eyes. Immediately I was on alert. Wasting no more time, I got off my lazy ass and followed Jackie to the main floor of the mall.
Everyone that lived in the Rebelz compound, an old department store called Macy's, were all gathered in the lobby of the mall just below a balcony platform when we arrived.
To explain how these Rebel "Conference" Meetings worked, each age group of kids had representatives that spoke for them during these conferences up in the conference room, which was where the Rebel Committee gathered to discussed actions, laws, and other stuff, depending on what was happening. We normally would discuss rules and that sort of boring stuff, but today, I had a feeling this would be different.
I was a Junior Representative for Kyle; a decent guy with glasses, messy dark blonde hair and kind brown eyes. He was quite smart and I accompany him on these conference meetings and listened in. Many times during them, I was always tempted to bring something to color on to pass the time. Hey, at least it gave me something to do besides trying to resist the urge to bang my head on the table...
Immediately once we arrived, Kyle found me, weaving himself through the crowd.
"There you are. Come on, we're going to be late!" Said a flustered Kyle when he finally spotted me. He grabbed my arm and started to pull me away from my friends. With a quick wave goodbye to Jackie, I allowed Kyle to half-pull, half-drag me through the knot of people crowded in the main lobby of Macy's. I swear, if Kyle pulled any harder on my arm, it was going to fall off.
Bad thing was, Kyle wasn't even that strong to begin with. He was only a nerd with the specialty for politics—mostly. Just not the NGO's.
We hurried up the staircase to the balcony above us where the conference room was located, and we walked right on in. About twelve teens and young adults were standing or sitting around a long, chipped table. Kyle and I immediately took our places near the head of the table, edging around people to get there. Usually, I'd just barge on through and not bother to go about it nicely. I was just that kind of brash person.
Sal, our twenty-two-year-old leader, stood at the head of the table, all regal-looking and authoritative. He was well-respected among the people here. Everyone liked him because of his natural charisma, his strength, bravery, and courage.
Noticing our arrival, Sal cleared his throat to begin the meeting, his deep hazel eyes sweeping around the room.
The effort was useless, of course, so he looked to the reliable Bailee Barrett, who had the most notoriously loud voice ever in all of Sector 14, and probably the whole world—or whatever was left of it. She was also another friend of mine; she and Rickie were always bickering as well.
Rickie sure had a way with the ladies...
Bailee smiled, a glint of mischief flickering in her eyes. "With pleasure." She cupped her hands to her mouth, ready to yell. I quickly covered my ears, as did everyone else who was in hearing distance, who had been paying attention.
With an obnoxiously loud "SHUT UP!" everything went dead silent.
Now that was some talent.
"Okay, everyone please find a seat and listen. This is important." Sal commanded, growing serious. Sal had handsome light brown hair and deep hazel eyes. It's not like I have a humongous crush on him—because I don't! Yes, he may be totally handsome, but he also has a steady girlfriend named Trina, who was just as good-looking as he was, not to mention super sweet; everybody loved her—including me.
Sal began talking about the bombing in New Ferry later that night, and how many innocent people had lost their lives. I hadn't actually heard the whole story yet, so all of this information was actually new to me.
I continued to listen as Sal went on with the recent events and how we needed to dispatch a team down there to help the remaining survivors, which I was all for. However, one kid stood up in protest; Alec, the pain in the rear who enjoyed to stir up trouble all the time. "Dude! We can't sacrifice our own kids to help! Honestly, we shouldn't bother with them."
I heard a few murmurs of agreement around me. What? I was about ready to throw something at him; preferably something hard and brain-damaging.
Sal, as always, kept his cool and addressed the impulsive asshole who said, 'dude' in practically every sentence. Even though he tried to hide it, I was able to tell Sal was rather annoyed by Alec. I mean, who could blame him?
"They need our help, Alec. Wouldn't you want help from others if we were bombed instead?" He pointed out, voice firm. Straightening up, Sal swept his hazel-eyed gaze around the room. "We are going to help. We would need the help, too, if it were us who had been attacked by the New Government Order."
"Well, yeah, but it's everyone for themselves! It's not like Sector 15 would help us either, dude!" Alec argued.
I searched around for something relatively heavy to throw—anything to stop his stupid arguments. Sadly there wasn't anything loose in the room at all that I could throw—which might have been just as well; Sal probably made sure of that, having the foresight that people would have thrown things out of anger at one another. Smart I guess, but I was dying to get out of my chair and through it instead.
"That's a completely separate Sector," Kyle pointed out. He leaned forward as he spoke, hands braced on the table top to hold himself up. "New Ferry is a part of out Sector, Alec, so we have to help each other; we need to band together to overcome the New Government Order. It could help us in the long-run immensely."
"Yeah, Alec, I'm with them on this one!" Bailee spoke up, hands curled into angry fists on the tabletop.
"Me, too," I agreed. Kyle nodded as well, and a few other reps murmured their ascent.
Alec looked disgruntled. "Fine. Whatever, dudes. If anyone dies over this, I'll be the first to tell you all I told you so."
Alec was a notorious arguer in all of our meetings, especially if it involved helping someone other than himself, and Sal always fought him over it. It got on my nerves. I couldn't fathom how Sal did it half the time. Goodness knows how he could put up with his job as the leader of this sorry bunch of kids, and putting up with Alec on top of everything else. What also amazed me was how 'Mr. Smart-Alec' even made into a representative. He must have rigged it or something, because there was no way he could have gotten in otherwise.
"So, as I was saying, we are to dispatch a group over there to help them, provide them with food and water, shelter, clothing, and heal the wounded. Kyle, you and Rox can lead this one. Oversee everything that goes on. You'll need guards, too." Sal added at the end.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a designated person to oversee the hiring and placement of guards and fighters. We weren't too worried yet if we didn't have enough, but it would help us a lot if we did.
"Why them? Roxanne has the shortest temper of all of us!" Alec complained.
I gave him a death glare. "Oh, shut your annoying trap! At least I don't argue with every little thing."
"Yeah, you're just jealous!" Bailee retorted.
Alec turned to bark something else harsh but was immediately cut off by Sal to break us up before things got physical. Bailee could most definitely give Alec a black eye if he kept gabbing on and on—which would be awesome to see, if only to humiliate Alec even more. That would totally make my day.
"That's enough, you two," Sal ordered, and Alec's representative grabbed him by the color of his terribly orange shirt and forced him to sit back down in his chair.
Bailee stuck her tongue out at him, making me smirk in smug satisfaction.
Sal turned to Alec. "Roxy is completely capable and qualified to do this job and that's final."
I held my head high, happy Sal was putting Alec down to his level. Sure, I have a huge temper, but I also have a softer side, especially to innocent kids in need.
After a few more discussions about further plans, the meeting was concluded, and Kyle and I rounded up everyone able to help with the restoration group.
I met Rickie, Jackie, and Jane outside after the meeting was over. "Hey, have you guys seen Ella?" I asked, searching around for her recognizable black-brown hair.
"She went to help get the supplies for the kids in New Ferry, I believe," Jackie said, but then her eyes grew wider when she spotted something over my shoulder. "Oh, here she comes now."
Grinning at me, my other best friend Ella came up and joined our little group. "Hey, Roxy. How did the meeting go?" She asked—always the courteous one.
"The usual: Alec argued and got put in his place, and life carried on. This time he had the guts to complain about helping the poor homeless kids in New Ferry." I fumed, relaying to all of them what had happened in the meeting. Afterward, my friends exchanged looks of annoyance.
"Wow, how insensitive can that clown be?" Jackie shook her head in disbelief.
I groaned just thinking about it. "Yeah, I know."
"Hey, at least Sal put him in his rightful place." Jane pumped her fists in the air in triumph, and I rolled my eyes. "One point for us, zero for Mister Jerk-Face!" She mock-cheered, being the absolute dork she was.
We all followed Kyle through the bustling crowd of kids, towards the front doors, where we met Sal holding a megaphone. To get the crowd quiet, and to be able to be heard over the talkative crowd, Sal spoke into it, his voice echoing across the wide expanse of the main floor.
"I would like anyone capable and strong to come meet over by me," Sal announced, gesturing to where he stood.
I spotted Sal's kind and faithful girlfriend Trina join us with her helpers behind her. She was seriously the sweetest person ever; she was adored by everyone because of her kind-heartedness, and she was always ridiculously nice to everyone—a rarity nowadays.
Once everyone was present, we followed Sal as he lead us through the doors into the foggy morning light. The sun was blocked behind a mass of clouds and made everything dark, forcing us to cautiously pick our way through the rubble and debris littering the streets. We were a fairly large group of thirty kids or more. Some had flashlights while others carried provisions for the people in New Ferry. As usual, the streets of Manhattan were desolate and eerily silent. Occasionally, a piece of trash or debris floated around, carried by a light wind from the Northwest. The buildings around us were just as silent and dark, giving the atmosphere an eerie, creepy feeling. It was so odd. There wasn't even a single sound, not even a birds chirping-like a ghost town.
Sal stopped us once we had walked a couple yards from the mall. It seemed like he was waiting for something—or someone. We hadn't waited long when a small group of older teenagers walked up to us from behind one of the surrounding buildings. The guy at the front—I assumed he was the leader here—looked as if he was a year older than me. He had dark brown hair, equally dark blue eyes, and handsome features—for a recently homeless New Ferry citizen. It looked like he had seen worse horrors than the obliteration of our country by the way he held himself; he had obviously seen a lot of things, both the good and the bad. He had to be about six feet tall, and way more athletically built than I was—especially in the arms, shoulders, and legs. Gazing into his eyes now, I automatically felt that I could trust him with my life—which was a strange occurrence. Never had I relied on a total stranger before. He made me feel completely safe as if I could rely on him to fight his way out of a tough, life-threatening situation—although he was certainly built to take on a few well-trained NGO soldiers...
I shook off the dazed feeling and focused on these new arrivals. The other guys had on guarded expressions, which immediately told me that they were the handsome guy's bodyguards. He must have been our contact, relaying information from New Ferry to Sal in order to keep us in the loop. That was just my guess, anyway. And it looked like I was right.
The lead boy bowed his head in acknowledgment to Sal as he came up to meet him.
"Hello, Blake. How are things holding up?" Sal greeted him, outstretching his hand to shake Blake's hand in a formal gesture. What an absolute gentleman. I stood next to Kyle and our restoration team only a few feet behind Sal and Blake.
The handsome new guy gave Sal a somber look and shook his head. "It's not good, to be honest. There have been many deaths, mostly from starvation or from building collapses..." He trailed off, is tenor voice growing softer as he spoke.
Sal nodded in empathy. "I'm so sorry for your loss, friend. We do not want to see any more innocents suffer, so that's why we're here to help."
Blake's mouth curled into a tired, grateful smile that barely made it to his eyes. "All of New Ferry is grateful for your help." He said. Those dark blues shifted past Sal. It was at that moment our eyes met.
I immediately looked away, silently praying repetitively I wasn't blushing. If so, someone probably should slap me.
"Shall we head out?" I heard Blake ask. I was looking down at my feet, but I dared a glance up to see he'd turned his attention back on Sal.
Our leader nodded. "Yes, we should." We started walking together, with Blake and his group leading the way. Jackie, who was grinning as she walked next to me, nudged me in the ribs and shot me a knowing glance as she grinned.
"What?" I hissed. Her staring was starting to make me uncomfortable.
"That Blake boy is gorgeous! Did you see him staring at you?" She gushed, speaking under her breath.
My face burned. "Jackie!" I whispered hoarsely to her. I was beyond embarrassed; I didn't want to be talking about this right now!
"Well, he did!" She insisted, still grinning. God, I just wish she would stop that.
"So what? Yeah, sure he's cute—but that doesn't mean I like him!" I told her, glancing ahead at Sal and Blake. Thankfully they were too busy talking to each other to notice our embarrassing conversation.
"So you do think he's cute!" Jackie exclaimed, too happy about that fact. Her grin seemed to be growing bigger, tantalizing me.
I mocked punched her in the arm. "Just shut up, alright?"
She let out a little laugh, continuing to lightly bounce as she walked beside me. "Love you, too, sis!" I swear, she was a little ball of ANNOYING!
Even though she wasn't actually my sister, we were ridiculously close that we might as well be. We called each other 'sis' just like she and Rickie called each other 'Twin.'
Our group walked on in silence as we continued to follow Blake's team. Then, Sal did the most embarrassing thing that he could ever do to me; he waved me and Kyle up to the front with him, including Tina and her group of helpers.
Great—just great...
Jackie grinned, nudging me in the arm with her elbow, her eyes practically saying, "Go get 'em!" She was definitely not helping. I made a mental note to remind myself to personally murder her afterward—if I didn't die of embarrassment first.
Reluctantly, I walked up to the front with Kyle, who took his place on Blake's other side. Blake walked off Sal's right side while Trina took her place to Sal's left.
"This is Kyle and Roxy. They're leading this restoration group, overseeing everything." Sal said, gesturing to Kyle and me.
Blake acknowledged us with a polite nod of his head. Every being in my body was going haywire at being the center of attention. He was such a gentleman! Seeing my 'deer-in-the-headlights' expression, Kyle furrowed his eyebrows curiously at me, which caused his glasses slide down his nose as he nudged me in the arm to wake me up. I attempted to act as if I hadn't just frozen on the spot like a total dork.
The gentleman in question looked at Kyle, then at me, where they lingered for a moment longer as he smiled kindly at me. I smiled as politely as could, trying not to show how freaked out I was.
"This is Trina. She's a healer and will take care of your wounded." Sal said, with a hint of warmth behind it. There was no doubt that there was a sort of connection between the two of them; it was quite obvious.
"It's nice to meet you guys. I'm very glad you all are here to help because we couldn't have tried to do this by ourselves."
"So are we; anything to help people in need," Trina replied sweetly. Her voice was like honey dripping from the jar—that's seriously how wonderful it was. The exaggeration is necessary, believe me.
Anyway, on the more serious side of things, I sincerely hoped things wouldn't be getting even more uncomfortable between this Blake character and me. I didn't want to think about anything other than helping this town through this terrible tragedy.
We all followed Kyle through the bustling crowd of kids, towards the front doors, where we met Sal holding a mega phone. To get the crowd quiet, and to be able to be heard over the chatting crowd, Sal spoke into it, his voice echoing across the wide expanse of the main floor.
"I would like anyone capable and strong to come meet over by me." Sal announced, gesturing to where he stood.
I spotted Sal's kind and faithful girlfriend Trina join us with her helpers behind her. She was seriously the sweetest person ever; she was adored by everyone because of her kindheartedness, and she was always ridiculously nice to everyone—a rarity nowadays.
Once everyone was present, we followed Sal as he lead us out the doors into the foggy morning light. The sun was blocked behind a mass of clouds and made everything dark, forcing us to cautiously pick our way though the rubble and debris littering the streets. We were a fairly large group of thirty kids or more. Some had flashlights while others carried provisions for the people in New Ferry. As usual, the streets of Manhattan were desolate and eerily silent. Occasionally, a piece of trash or debris floated around, carried by a light wind from the Northwest. The buildings around us were just as silent and dark, giving the atmosphere an eerie, creepy feeling. It was so odd. There wasn't even a single sound, not even a birds chirping-like a ghost town.
Sal stopped us once we had walked a couple yards from the mall. It seemed like he was waiting for something—or someone. We hadn't waited long when a small group of older teenagers walked up to us from behind one of the surrounding buildings.
The guy at the front—I assumed he was the leader here—looked as if he was a year older than me. He had dark brown hair, equally dark blue eyes, and handsome features—for a recently homeless New Ferry citizen. It looked like he had seen worse horrors than the obliteration of our country by the way he held himself; he had obviously seen a lot of things, both the good and the bad. He had to be about six feet tall, and way more athletically built than I was—especially in the arms, shoulders, and legs. Gazing into his eyes now, I automatically felt that I could trust him with my life—which was a strange occurrence. Never had I relied on a total stranger before. He made me feel completely safe, as if I could rely on him to fight his way out of a tough, life-threatening situation—although he was certainly built to take on a few well-trained NGO soldiers...
I shook off the dazed feeling and focused on these new arrivals. The other guys had on guarded expressions, which immediately told me that they were the handsome guy's bodyguards. He must have been our contact, relaying information from New Ferry to Sal in order to keep us in the loop. That was just my guess, anyway. And it looked like I was right.
The lead boy bowed his head in acknowledgement to Sal as he came up to meet him.
"Hello, Blake. How are things holding up?" Sal greeted him, outstretching his hand to shake Blake's hand in a formal gesture. What an absolute gentleman. I stood next to Kyle and our restoration team only a few feet behind Sal and Blake.
The handsome new guy gave Sal a somber look and shook his head. "It's not good to be honest. There's been many deaths, mostly from starvation or from building collapses..." He trailed off, is tenor voice growing softer as he spoke.
Sal nodded in empathy. "I'm so sorry for your loss, my friend. We do not want to see anymore innocents suffer, so that's why we're here to help."
Blake's mouth curled into a tired, grateful smile that barely made it to his eyes. "All of New Ferry is grateful for your help." He said. Those dark blues shifted past Sal. It was at that moment our eyes met.
I immediately looked away, silently praying repetitively I wasn't blushing. If so, someone probably should slap me.
"Shall we head out?" I heard Blake ask. I was looking down at my feet, but I dared a glance up to see he'd turned his attention back on Sal.
Our leader nodded. "Yes, we should." We started walking together, with Blake and his group leading the way. Jackie, who was grinning as she walked next to me, nudged me in the ribs and shot me a knowing glance as she grinned.
"What?" I hissed. Her staring was starting to make me uncomfortable.
"That Blake boy is gorgeous! Did you see him staring at you?" She gushed, speaking under her breath.
My face burned. "Jackie!" I whispered hoarsely at her. I was beyond embarrassed; I didn't want to be talking about this right now!
"Well he did!" She insisted, sill grinning. God, I wish she would stop that.
"So what? Yeah, sure he's cute—but that doesn't mean I like him!" I told her, glancing ahead at Sal and Blake. Thankfully they were too busy talking to each other to notice our embarrassing conversation.
"So you do think he's cute!" Jackie exclaimed, too happy about that fact. Her grin seemed to be growing bigger, tantalizing me.
I mocked punched her in the arm. "Just shut up, alright?"
She let out a little laugh, continuing to lightly bounce as she walked beside me. "Love you, too, sis!" I swear, she was a little ball of ANNOYING!
Even though she wasn't actually my sister, we were ridiculously close that we might as well be. We called each other 'sis' just like she and Rickie called each other 'Twin.'
Our group walked on in silence as we continued to follow Blake's team. Then, Sal did the most embarrassing thing that he could ever do to me; he waved me and Kyle up to the front with him, including Tina and her group of helpers.
Great—just great...
Jackie grinned, nudging me in the arm with her elbow, her eyes practically saying, "Go get 'em!" She was definitely not helping. I made a mental note to remind myself to personally murder her afterwards, if I didn't die of embarrassment first.
Reluctantly, I walked up to the front with Kyle, who took his place on Blake's other side. Blake walked off Sal's right side while Trina took her place to Sal's left.
"This is Kyle and Roxy. They're leading this restoration group, overseeing everything." Sal said, gesturing to Kyle and I.
Blake acknowledged us with a polite nod of his head. Every being in my body was going haywire at being the center of attention. He was such a gentleman! Seeing my 'dear-in-the-headlights' expression, Kyle furrowed his eyebrows curiously at me, which caused his glasses slide down his nose as he nudged me in the arm to wake me up. I attempted to act as if I hadn't just frozen on the spot like a total dork.
The gentleman in question looked at Kyle, than at me, where they lingered for a moment longer as he smiled kindly at me. I smiled as politely as could, trying not to show how freaked out I was.
"This is Trina. She's a healer and will take care of your wounded." Sal said, with a hint of warmth behind it. There was no doubt that there was a sort of connection between the two of them; it was quite obvious.
"It's nice to meet you guys. I'm very glad you all are here to help, because we couldn't have tried to do this by ourselves."
"So are we; anything to help people in need." Trina replied sweetly. Her voice was like honey dripping from the jar—that's seriously how wonderful it was. The exaggeration is necessary, believe me.
Anyway, on the more serious side of things, I sincerely hoped things wouldn't be getting even more uncomfortable between this Blake character and me. I didn't want to think about anything other than helping this town through this terrible tragedy.
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