Page 1 of Girl Violence

CHAPTERONE

There’s nothing better than the smell of an old book. The kind that lurks in dark, stuffy libraries, which is exactly why Josette has been smelling musty, yellowing books since she began working at the library. Maybe it’s the dust, the boredom, or perhaps she knew this place would eventually drive her crazy.

“Have you finished—” The footsteps behind Josette stop. There’s a gasp, followed by, “What the hell are you doing?”

Miss Finn, the librarian, glares at her from the aisle, horrified to find Josette with her nose stuck in the book’s crease. “Smelling it?” she answers with a shrug.

“Smellingwhatexactly?”

Ohh—she gets it. This looks bad. Miss Finn probably thinks she’s just caught Josette using the pages to snort drugs.

In response, the older woman snatches the book out of her hand and vigorously shakes it to see if any remnants of white powder float from the pages. Of course, nothing does, and her eyes narrow before she slams the book back onto the shelf. “People borrow these books, Josette. They don’t want your germs on them.”

“Well, I bet most of them have more than that on them, Miss Finn.” She smiles innocently. “Like a few sticky pages?”

The expression on Miss Finn’s face becomes even more disgusted. “Not in my library; they don’t! Just get back to work. Don’t make me regret giving you this job. I’m keeping you off those damn streets and from being a hooligan.”

Hooligan. Josette really likes that word. It’s odd.

She resists rolling her eyes. Miss Finn must be irritated that Josette’s father convinced her to give Josette a job this summer. In Miss Finn’s begrudging acceptance, she had pledged to do her bit for society, but honestly, she just has the hots for her dad. Her handsome dad, with his sad, lonely vibes women seem to lust for. But since Miss Finn prides herself on being respectful and not thwarted by amorous travesties, she has decided to hate Josette instead. And make her life miserable.

Ignoring Miss Finn’s cursing while walking away, Josette continues sorting through the box of books she needs to log and store. She doesn’t care if she’s doing it wrong. Her poor nose is blocked by the hot, ancient building, and she has a thumping headache. Not to mention the slave labour without pay. Nowthat’sa travesty.

Her dad’s punishment for what she did last summer—and controlling what happens in this one—was getting her a job at the library. Josette’s best friend, Jenna Joy, is to blame for what happened, and if she weren’t in Germany right now, Josette would probably strangle her to death. But Jenna is there, and Josette is stuck here without her, even though she was the one who came up with the bright ideas.

Just like today, it was hot, and they did something stupid, being dramatic and sad as they are. They stole something—a car. Specifically, a police car.

In hindsight, Josette should have told Jenna it was a terrible idea to even approach it. The car sat there with its doors wide open for a reason that wasn’t their business. The look on Jenna’s face made it impossible to turn her down since there had been a lot of crying and drinking happening over stupid boys.

“We’re not going to steal it,” she’d said. “Let’s just play with the radio and the siren.”

They did, which had been fun, except they both freaked when they couldn’t turn off the siren, which wailed loudly and was starting to draw attention. After finally switching it off, Jenna turned on the engine. “Fasten your seatbelt, Jo.”

“What—” Was all Josette could manage to say before her friend was backing up and accelerating through the streets.

Josette should have told her to slow down. Despite having hundreds of lessons, Jenna hadn’t passed her driving test and was even drunker than she was. It wasn’t surprising when she lost control of the car. At the time, it was terrifying, especially when they were propelled into a memorial bench after clipping a tree.

On the bright side, it could have been worse. They’d only destroyed a bench, hurt a tree, and damaged police property.

They were surrounded by cop cars and an ambulance after a witness reported the crash to the emergency services. Officers weren’t happy when two drunk girls stumbled out of their vehicle, that’s for sure, and word quickly spread through Graycott, meaning everyone went crazy. Jenna included, seeing as it was likely she would be murdered by her parents, especially her incredibly proud stepmother. That’s why Josette took the blame. Before Jenna could open her mouth to explain what happened, she had spoken first.

Shepersuaded Jenna to ride in the car and was the one drunk-driving without a license.Shewas the one who almost caused them to have matching headstones that would say something like, “Too stupid to live,” because of her bad influence. It goes without saying that people believed everything Josette said since Jenna’s father is Gregory Joy, the local pastor. It was easy for them to see Josette as the corrupter than a good, saintly girl like Jenna.

If only they knew what a bad girl she really was.

They were arrested but not charged and only suffered minor cuts and bruises. Jenna’s dad pulled some strings to keep them out of juvie, and he paid for replacing the memorial bench. She was then banned from seeing Josette ever again and was sent to relatives in Germany to straighten out.

Josette’s dad also blew his lid when he received the call. The one every single parent must dread to get. “Your daughter has been arrested for drink-driving, Mr. Preston. You need to come down to the station.”

Josette had never seen her father that angry before. The fear of death she’d instilled had him yelling at her in front of everyone at the precinct. She was irresponsible. She was reckless. She could’ve killed someone. And so, he grounded her—for all eternity.

Since leaving school at sixteen after scraping a few grades together, Josette was a prisoner at home, only allowed to job hunt or submit college applications for courses she didn’t want to do. When she was too slow at doing either and growing frustrated at her, her dad had Miss Finn hire her at the local library. Josette’s on probation until she figures out what she wants to do with her life.

Hence the book sniffing; she’s losing it.

The rest of the day goes by slowly. After completing all Miss Finn’s tasks, Josette leaves after three and rushes to catch the bus. Getting off ten minutes later, she takes the shortcut through the park to her street. The clouds roll in, darkening the sky, and heavy raindrops hit Josette’s skin, soon soaking through her white work blouse, skinny jeans, and converse as it gets thicker.

Near home, she notices a large white van parked outside. A woman with dark hair rushes out of the house next door, calling out to a man carrying a box marked “fragile.”

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