Page 1 of Rules

Prologue

BROOK

Looking through the window at the scenery passing by, I feel the familiar sting in my eyes. Hot, broken tears fill my lids, but I don’t let them slide.

Tilting my head back, I blink furiously a few times, determined to keep them at bay.

I haven’t cried in years. Not one single tear. Even when I was at my lowest, I could hold it back. Keeping my emotions in check has become like turning off the light. One flick of a switch, that’s all it took for me to shut down my feelings and shove them away.

Until now.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I close my eyes tight.

Why won’t they stop?

Ineedthem to stop.

I sniffle as one lone tear slides down my cheek. Angry, I brush it away, but it’s no use. The rest soon follow.

Pulling my legs up on the seat, I hug them to my chest. I lean my chin on my knees and finally give in.

I’m tired.So tired of always fighting against invisible demons. Against myself. Tired of always having to be the strong one.

I’m not that strong.

The strength I show to the world is just an illusion. Bravado. It’s a mask I wear to guard myself against the people around me.

I can’t do it anymore. It’s too much.

Some things remain the same no matter where you come from. Like the fact that every story has two sides. And the only one that matters is the one written by victors. Towns are just like stories. Divided in half, and there is only one half that matters. And that half is not mine.

I guess you can already imagine what side I belong to.

I’m the girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

I’m the good-for-nothing girl.

White trash.

I’m all that and more.

From an early age, life taught me how to roll with the punches.

How to survive on my own.

Because when you come from where I come from? That’s the only thing you can do.

Survive.

And I’ve gotten good at that. After a while, that is.

Because in the beginning I tried—hopedreally—to believe life’s fair.

It’s not.

That you could rise above it.

You can’t.

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