Read Feels Like Home Online Free by Courtney Walsh

New kids didn’t move here often. Silverwood is a close-knit small town with families and generations and legacies and such, so when he showed up at the start of his freshman year wearing jeans with holes in them and tennis shoes two sizes too small, people started talking.

By the end of his first day, even us middle schoolers knew that there was a new boy in the freshman class (from Vegas? New Mexico? The rumors weren’t clear at the time) who’d come to live with his aunt. There was also lots of gossip about why he was sent to live here—some people said he got in trouble with the law, other people swore his parents were dead, and others said his mom just didn’t want him anymore.

By lunchtime, the entire school was buzzing with one question: Who is Noble Kane?

My first interaction was with his feet.

Elise Cline, my nemesis, my polar opposite—I still clench my fists when I think of her—had “accidentally” knocked my books and binders out of my arms. Normally I see her coming from a mile away, but I was talking and didn’t notice her hand swiping in from my side. Embarrassed, on hands and knees, I was scrambling to pick them up when these feet with too-small tennis shoes walked into my low line of sight.

I glanced up and there was this kid, this dark-headed boy, scruffy, with a look like a dog who’d just wandered into the lion pen and was trying not to be noticed. He dropped down on his knees next to me and started helping gather my things.

I met his eyes for a split second, and in them I saw someone who had been where I was. Sprawled out on the floor under the taunting glare of a mean kid. He nodded slightly, then rolled his eyes toward Elise, silently calling her the best names in the book.

Instant connection.

Elise glowered over me, pert face with pursed lips, like she was entitled to a throne. She oozed out a sarcastic, “Awww, how cute! The dirty new kid stopped to help.”

He froze for a split second, then handed over my red math folder and stood, facing Elise. He stood just a little too close to her, on purpose I thought, and she inched back with a scoff.

Elise put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “This is none of your business.”

Without hesitation, he said evenly, “Then don’t make it my business.”

I felt the small crowd that had gathered hush a bit. The new kid spoke.

She made a face and sidestepped him, fixing her attention on me. With him on my side, I felt a rush of confidence and stood a bit straighter. I knew how to hold my own. Why did I forget whenever she was around?

She moved toward me, but I didn’t back up. “You aren’t going to enter, right, Hattie?”

I rolled my eyes. We were back to this again. Why the Silverwood Rodeo was that important to her, I didn’t understand, but I had just as much of a right to enter as she did.

“Whatever. I’m not even any good yet, Elise. You’re still going to win.”

“Yeah. I know,” Elise spat. “But you’re not going to enter.” She took another step toward me, crossing her arms. “Right?”

I didn’t move.

Beside me, the new kid laughed.