Page 30 of Story of My Life
“Are we about to be trampled?” Zoey wondered. “Is this some kind of small-town hazing initiation by stampede?”
The boys wore T-shirts that saidStory Lake Cross Country. “I don’t think so.”
The kid in the lead came to a halt in front of us and extended his hand. “Hazel Hart, I presume?”
He was an inch or two taller than me and gangly, with large feet and gazelle-like legs. He had dark skin, close-cropped curly black hair, and glasses.
“And you are?” I said, feeling a little shell-shocked as I shook his offered hand.
“Darius Oglethorpe.” His toothy grin would have been charming if I hadn’t figured out I’d just gotten scammed by a teenager.
“You’rethe mayor?”
“Mayor and real estate agent,” he announced proudly. “Welcome to Story Lake.”
Zoey covered a laugh with a cough.
“You’vegotto be kidding. You’re in high school,” I said.
“This is my senior year. Well, it will be once school starts,” he explained, seemingly unconcerned by my horror.
“We campaigned all over town after school for him,” one of the sweat-soaked boys in the back said proudly.
“What the hell did you do now, Darius?” Cam demanded, joining us on the sidewalk.
“Oh my God. He’s not joking,” I realized.
“The beautiful and discerning Ms. Hart just bought Heart House,” Darius announced cheerfully. “And got herself a seat on the town council.”
“Hang on a minute,” I said.
“For fuck’s sake,” Cam snapped.
I got the feeling Campbell was personally offended by my residency in Story Lake.
“We agreed we needed some fresh blood in town, so I made it happen,” Darius said, gesturing toward me. His four friends nodded effusively.
“You can’t just sell a seat on the town council,” Campbell said, clenching his jaw and deepening the hollows of his cheeks beneath the layer of stubble.
“Or a house with AI-generated images,” Zoey cut in, pointing at my auction listing printouts.
“The pictures looked great, didn’t they?” Darius said, flashing a dimple. “My little sister worked on them for a week straight between DJ gigs. Darius Oglethorpe, by the way.”
Zoey shook his hand. “Zoey ‘I’m going to kick your teenage ass if you defrauded my friend’ Moody.”
“What’s a little fraud between friends?” Darius joked nervously.
Cam snatched the papers out of my hand and rifled through them. I’d never actually heard a grown man growl before. I’dwrittenit plenty of times on the page, but hearing it in real life was a new, exciting experience.
Zoey elbowed me. “Wow.NowI get it. Growling’s hot,” she said out of the corner of her mouth.
“Told you,” I whispered back.
Darius turned to his friends. “You guys keep going. I’m going to show our newest and most famous resident her home. I’ll catch up with you for sprints.”
“Later, D. O.,” said the tall lanky kid with a sweatband taming his curly mullet. He threw us some sort of teenage finger sign.
“Later, ladies, I hope we’ll be seeing alotof you,” said a shorter boy. This was delivered with a wink and a glint of braces.
