Chapter 1

"Thank you for coming."

"Goodbye!"

"Enjoy!"

Sentences, words, all of which floated through the young seventeen-year old's ears as she rested on one of the comfortable chairs that the tea shop offered. In front of her was a mug filled with tea too hot to drink yet, still creating the steam that floated out the top and had the audacity to fog her glasses when she moved too close to check the temperature. It was very irritating.

In her hand between her thumb was a book she was greatly invested in, her eyes scanning over words that inked the pages of the book she had read before, and before that too. The book had been on her shelf for four years, and whenever she didn't have anything else to read she would go back to the one she was flipping the page for. A go-to book, one she read when there was nothing else she wanted to read, or didn't feel in the mood to read.

She could read it countless times and the emotions would still jump out at her, allow her to feel the pain and sadness of the characters. She really hated that a book could make her cry but that didn't stop the tears streaming down her face when she got to the sad parts of a book or even the happy parts and her emotions were running wild with no way to stop them getting the better of her.

She leaned forward. Her eyebrows knitted in annoyance when the steam fogged her glasses one more time and with a blow, the steam fell away from the tea. It didn't do much, and she knew that it wouldn't, but it was a worth a shot. The feeling of a burnt tongue was a horrible sensation and she would never chance it, she simply hated it too much to even try and drink her tea before she could.

Her eyes lifted to the window beside of her, showing the waves crashing along the shore of the beach not far from the tea shop, crowded with teenagers and happy, smiling faces that she couldn't relate to. The summer heat was horrible to her, she hated it with a passion. Though she knew that if she took the jumper she wore off, then she would be much cooler in the heat, but getting her to do that was next to impossible.

Una wasn't the most liked girl, that was her name. Una Reynolds. She liked being on holiday for the summer months, but only so she could lie in bed until noon and then venture out for her tea that she liked more than in her own house. She much preferred to stay out of her house as much as she could rather than stay in the company of her mother who she couldn't say was her favourite person in the whole world.

She was sure the owners of the shop knew her name from her multiple appearances, she had greeted them a few times before and even talked to the woman with the bright eyes and kind smile who was more than excited to see her once again, finally asking, "what is your name, dear?!" but Una wasn't sure if she had forgotten it or not.

She wouldn't be at all surprised if the woman had forgotten her name, it wasn't anything special and neither was she. She had only talked to her a few times and the woman who was serving today talked to many people through her job, it wasn't all that surprising if she had to ask her again, but she never did, she merely smiled and asked, "the usual?" whenever Una entered.

"Please." Una would nod, a smile on her own lips as the woman whose name Una had never gotten the chance to ask for would quickly make the tea for her behind the counter. A dollop of milk, the tea bag left in for longer so that it was stronger, two pumps of Hazelnut syrup and two and a half sugars. Mixed thoroughly.

The girl hummed when she finally was able to drink her tea, a small smile resting on her lips and her book to the side of her with her bookmark she had gotten from the bookshop three stores down on the page she needed it to be. Her brother had borrowed the book once to see what all the fuss was all about and wondered where the girl who was usually so calm had gotten her temper from when she saw that he had folded down the corner of the page.

She was absolutely livid with him. She didn't talk to him for three days and it was only when he came into her room with a tub of ice cream from his work and two new books for her to read that she finally cracked and hugged him for his kindness and he promised to use a bookmark the next time he took one of her books.

Una's features contorted to that of disgust when she realised there wasn't enough sugar in her tea. There was no half. It was just two sugars and she knew because it was sweet, but not sweet enough. Her eyes lifted from the mug to the counter, seeing the second owner, the woman's husband standing and serving an older woman who was trying to take her tray to her table even with her walking stick.

The teenager was ready to get up and help when the familiar worker - the owner's son - appeared and took the tray from the woman with a kind smile that Una could confidently say she had never seen on his face before.

She knew who it was, his name was Angus but he went by Gus because it was cooler. That was what her brother said who knew him a little bit but not much to tell her more about him, and when he asked why she wanted to know, she merely shrugged and said she was curious.

She had seen him in school before, mostly at the office when she was begging the receptionist to sort out the librarian who kept moving her favourite books and he would be there with a cut lip or a burst nose, or bloodied knuckles from another one of his many fights.

The reason he was at the office with cuts and bruises was that his opponent was in the hospital.

It was so entirely odd when she walked into the tea shop last summer when it opened and he was there. He was the new boy at the start of the year, that had the students swooning. People wanted to be him, and more wanted to be with him but he kept to himself. He had a few acquaintances, like Una's brother, but other than that he was a lone wolf.

Much like Una but she didn't see it like that.

She braced herself when she had to stand up, leaving her book and her belongings at her seat just so that everyone that could possibly steal the table knew that it was occupied, and with the yellow mug in her hand did she walk back to the counter.

"Una!" the man beamed, knowing her name too, he was very kind and much like his wife he loved the shop, "what can I do for you?!"

"Uh," she choked out, not used to the happiness of someone seeing her and not to mention that she completely forgot to plan the conversation in her head, she was almost stuck. She sent a small smile before she needed to but to most it looked like she was in pain, and with a deep breath she quickly blurted, "there isn't enough sugar in my tea, it's alright I know it's just a mistake and all but there are only two sugars in it when there should be two and a half and I know because it's still pretty sweet but not sweet enough!"

The man looked rather amused by her rambling, and so did his son who was fixing the apron his parents forced him to wear. Una's face had heated drastically and she bit down hard on her tongue to stop herself from talking any more than she already had, it felt terribly hot in the tea shop all of a sudden and she wished she hadn't said a thing and just asked for a little more sugar but luck never seemed to be on her side when it came to social interactions.

"I'll get that half for you, Una!" the man grinned. She felt terrible not knowing his name, or his wife's. Angus had a nametag on his apron that simply read "Gus," but as the owners, it seemed as though the couple didn't think they needed them themselves.

"Thank you," Una whispered, sitting down the mug gently and jumping out of the way of a customer wishing to get by. Of course, one thing to know about Una apart from her terrible awkwardness and lack of social acceptance was that she was clumsy, too.

So, it was no surprise to her when she knocked into the pyramid of tea boxes sitting next to the counter and sending them all flying to the ground, letting out a yelp of shock and soon after a loud, "oh my god!" which was the first time any of the workers had heard her talk so loudly.

Though not only did that greatly amuse Gus, and his father who was trying to tell her it was alright, but greatly enrage the old woman who lived a few streets over from her whose voice boomed around the tea shop, "don't you use the Lord's name in vain, young lady!" she screeched, her grey curls bouncing on her head and her beady eyes wide with anger and shock.

Una realised she was a mess. The apples of her cheeks were a bright red and her hair was all over the place as she ran a hand through it frustratedly, quickly scrambling to pick up the multiple boxes that had fallen over at her doing.

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry!" she gasped, her voice stuttered and herself completely flustered and humiliated to create such a ruckus.

Though it wasn't exactly new.

Not even two weeks ago did she enter the bookstore three doors down only to knock over the table of new arrivals that the employee had spent a terrible amount of time on, only to see it tumble to the ground in front of him. He was ready to ban her when the owner walked out from the back, saw her humiliation and heard the familiar girl's apology and let her off with a laugh and a wave whilst the employee bit back his tongue in anger.

"It's fine, it happens all the time!" the owner behind the tea counter waved her off, a kind grin on his lips and his eyes wide with amusement, "I think it's time we moved that away from the counter, actually, what do you think Gus?!"

Her eyes went to the boy beside his dad who was just an inch or so taller than the teenager. Una failed to see the man nudging his son, but when he did Gus lifted his eyes to the girl and said. "he's right, happens all the time actually."

She was completely unconvinced, seeing the man gestured to the yellow mug that filled her tea now with that extra half of sugar that would make it sweet enough for her. She forced a smile, carefully sitting down the boxes of tea on the table right beside the counter and with a quiet, "thank you," she grabbed the mug and hurried back to her seat before she could make any more mess in the shop.

She watched in guilt as the boy, Angus rounded the counter and started picking up the rest of the boxes, as well as the ones that had spilled from Una's arms when she tried to pick them all up the first time, and when he looked over at her, her hair fell in front of her cheeks and her eyes averted so quickly she was sure she was in the clear.

She flipped the pages of her book open once more, though her mind was somewhere else and her embarrassment was still high. She thought her tea would surely be cold by now but it was almost piping hot when she took a drink and quickly realised that it was reheated, she didn't mind though. Her phone buzzed from within her bag that sat at her feet, and quickly she scrambled to get it, the loud song she had set as her ringtone not helping her humiliation and quickly did she press to answer to her brother.

"Hello?" she spoke quietly, eyes darting around the shop in case anyone was paying attention to her.

"Hey, Una so I was wondering..." her brother, Beckett trailed off, "so I know you don't like people and all that, blah blah blah but my boss just said I could have some ice cream and who better to share with me than my favourite sister?"

"I'm telling Kasey," she tutted, rolling her eyes and looking over at the ice cream parlour that she could see from the window. It was down at the beach where the crowd of teenagers were that she wished not to go near, but the tempting thought of ice cream had already entered her mind and she wondered if it was worth it to go down and get some. Not to mention it was free, but...it was free.

"Well she just left and paid so," Beckett said, and Una could practically hear the smirk on his lips, "it's not that busy and we can sit in the back."

"Promise me we can sit in the back?" she spoke, her voice rising a little so that Beckett could hear her properly and soon did his laugh ring through the phone.

"I can't do tha-"

"Beckett Reynolds, I swear-"

"I'm kidding, Una, I promise," he scoffed, "when will you be here?"

"Well I'm drinking my tea," she frowned, soon taking a sip after she spoke. She had about half the mug left of the tea to drink and she didn't exactly want to just give it up, "I'll be there in ten minutes. There's traffic too, by the way."

"Oh, it's just teenagers, Una. Lighten up!" he laughed once more, "see you in ten minutes!"

"Bye Beck," she grumbled, hanging up the phone to the sound of his cheery voice and shoving it back into her bag that was still at her feet.

Her eyes landed on her book that she was barely halfway through and with a sigh, it followed the phone into her bag too, leaving only the yellow mug and her arm resting on the table. Going to see her bother whilst he worked was always odd, his boss loved him so much and allowed him ice cream whenever he asked free of charge because of a number of years he had been working with him, and also a slight tinge of sympathy, and whilst Beck loved it, he always made sure to call up Una in case she wished to share with him.

She loved ice cream, it was sweet and she shared her favourite flavour with her brother so it was always fun for her as much as it was for him whenever he was allowed the ice cream. Of course, the dessert would never compare to her love for tea, but she was almost finished and a walk outside might be good for her.

She grabbed her bag from her feet, pulling her hair out of the way so that the strap of her bag could be placed on her shoulder and grabbed her mug from the table. She didn't like leaving her mess on the table, feeling guilty for no apparent reason but thinking that she was being a bother by leaving the mug there and soon did she place it on the counter awkwardly, saying a quick goodbye to the two behind the counter before hurrying out of the door.

She blurted out a quick, "sorry!" to an older man who was entering the tea shop to which she almost walked right into, sending an apologetic look his way before hurrying across the road and almost getting ran over by a car who was driving down the street and she ran out in front of it.

Her head fell into her hands as she leaned against the wall, the early night breeze blowing through her hair and the air still warm. The day hadn't yet finished and the beach was only a minute or so away. The tea shop was only a few metres away from the pier that her brother worked on in the small ice cream parlour which she could see over the heads of the large crowd of teenagers she wished she didn't have to walk through.

"So bloody stupid," she whispered to herself, clutching her hair in her hand as she braced herself. One of her legs leaned against the wall as did her head as she waited a few minutes in case the teenagers, most of which were younger than she was, broke away and allowed her to go through without any hassle.

But luck was never on her side.

It seemed that in the few minutes she tried to talk herself into pushing past the crowd, it had somehow gotten bigger.

"You can do this, you can-" she cut herself off, shaking her head for talking to herself as though it was completely normal and with the two straps of her bag on each shoulder and her hands clutching them tightly, she pushed herself off of the wall.

She pushed herself between two people she thought must've been a whole foot taller than her, as though she was entering a kingdom of giants who clearly didn't want her there, and no amounts of, "excuse me!" could help her. There were familiar students she used to go to school with who didn't look as though they were towering over her but the looks on their faces was a new type of judgmental that sent a horrible feeling into her stomach.

She wondered how so many people could possibly all be friends and keep up with that much social interaction and when she saw her younger sister in the crowd she almost stopped in order to do a double take. She was clearly blushing and the boy she was talking to looked as though he completely didn't belong in a crowd, he almost stood out as much as Una did.

His hand was rubbing the back of his neck near the collar of the shirt he wore under a jumper and his messy hair was in all sorts of places until Kasey pushed herself onto her tiptoes in order to fix it for him. It was a weird sight seeing her sister blush over a boy she didn't even know but getting out of the crowd was her first priority. She made sure to keep it in her head, though.

It felt like longer than a lifetime when she finally pushed herself out of the pit of teenagers all hanging around the beach. It was a terrible inconvenience for families and for people like Una who would rather not suffocate under the multiple limbs flying around in a group so big, she felt rather relieved to get a breath again.

The ice cream parlour was right in front of her finally, but it felt as though she had to go on a three-day quest in order to get to it. The cold air engulfed her when she entered and the grin on her brother's face was wide as he served customers, all of which were unfamiliar to Una who had to be tourists visiting the sunny beach for the summer.

"Una!" Beck beamed, opening the small hatch for her to enter behind the counter, "you look terrible."

"Thanks," she grumbled, "I just had to force myself through a crowd of teenagers, all of which looked at me like I was something beneath them."

"Well with your shortness-"

"That is so uncalled for!" she exclaimed, pushing his arm whilst he let out a howl of laughter as though it was the funniest thing he had heard in the longest time.

"So, what did you do today?" asked Beck. He had left early in the morning to open up the parlour for the owner who was running late and thankfully didn't wake up his mother whose antic's he wasn't looking forward to when he went home.

"I had breakfast but then mum woke up so I left to go to the tea shop." She shrugged, "I went to the bookshop though after what happened last time!" she near enough cringed at the thought, trying to shake it from her mind whilst her brother laughed.

"I heard the employee that worked there, names Jason talking about it not that long ago," Beck scoffed, "said he's never met someone so clumsy. Didn't look mad though."

"Well, that's good because he looked livid when it happened," Una mumbled, shaking her head with a sigh. She fell onto one of the couches in the back that was used as a little staff room for Beck and the two other employees that took shifts occasionally.

"Did you even pay attention to what you were doing?" asked Beck, his eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips at the sight of Una's glare.

"Yes! I was paying a lot of attention. All of my attention...actually was on that table!" she exclaimed, her arms flailing around her until he handed her a tub filled with cookie dough ice cream.

"Because of the table, or?" he trailed off, leaning on the arm of the couch across from the one she sat on with a smirk on his lips only there for the purpose of teasing the girl who in turn was glaring at him.

"I wanted the book, alright! it was a new arrival, and it was part of a series and I wanted it!" she was sure if anyone could hear her in the main part of the parlour they would think she was crazy.

"Well maybe tone down your excitement next time you see a book," Beck scoffed, falling onto the sofa, "y'know, it is summer, Una. You can wear something other than jumpers."

She made a face at the very thought, "I would...prefer not to."

"It's summer."

"They're comfy." She merely shrugged. She scooped up some ice cream onto the small plastic spoon coloured yellow, a happy sight to see her favourite colour and knew that Beck grabbed that one for her on purpose, "I did something embarrassing today, too."

"When do you not?"

"Good question. No answer. Anyway," she smirked, "I was in the tea shop and I asked for some more sugar, that was embarrassing in itself. Of course. But anyway! Someone needed past me, so I moved out of the way and all of a sudden - completely not my fault, obviously, this pyramid of tea boxes appeared out of nowhere and tumbled to the ground!"

"But not your fault?" asked Beck, knowing that she was very clearly lying.

"Course not, what do you take me for?" she shook her head, scooping more ice cream into her mouth whilst he merely laughed.

"I take you for a liar because I wasn't even there and knew that it was your fault," Beck said, leaning over to ruffle her ginger hair, something she got from her father. Beck was sporting his blonde hair that he got from his mother, something he had dyed multiple times but soon stopped when the roots would ruin the look he was going for.

Her sister Kasey seemed to get a mixture of the two, calling it 'strawberry blonde' and she loved it very much. She took her hair very seriously, making sure it was styled to perfection and usually straightened down her back or curled into ringlets that she had spent hours on. Una wished she had the time in the morning to care as much about her hair and whilst she didn't at all mind it, she knew she should spend more time on it, at least getting it cut when it needed to.

The girl was sporting much shorter hair, just falling over her shoulders with split ends tied in with her bushy curls that she wished could look better. Of course, if she just tried a little harder to maintain her locks, it would look a lot less messy and a lot more casual.

"It was very humiliating," she groaned. She knew the thought would be in her head for a while, replaying the painful memory of her embarrassment until she would cringe it away.

"Honestly, I thought you would be used to it by now."

"Uncalled for," Una grumbled, "I think it's time I go."

"You just got here, Una!" Beck exclaimed, seeing her empty tub of ice cream which she quickly threw into the bin.

"I know, but my book is calling me and so is my bed." She leaned over to hug him, "hopefully our dear mother is out."

"Or in bed."

"Or off doing whoever, wherever," Una rolled her eyes, "I don't care if she wants to 'get herself out there' but I mean, the woman could think of her kids first."

"What do you want to eat tonight?" Beck ignored his younger sister, seeing the pain on the girls face that she wrote off as a joke. He didn't want to feed the fire of hurting her even more as they talked about their mother, so instead, he changed the subject, "I was thinking pizza."

"Pizza sounds good. When will you be home?"

"Eight, maybe." Beck shrugged, forcing a smile for her, "Kasey will be home though. We can all watch a film or something."

"Yeah, sounds good," Una nodded, waving goodbye when she left the staff room and crouching under the hatch to go under it instead of getting Beck to unlock it. She pulled on the straps of her bag as she exited the parlour, the sun still bright in the sky regardless of the time, and with a heavy sigh, she pushed herself back into the crowd of teenagers.

She didn't understand her intimidation with people her age and even younger, she was far too awkward to function most times which made for some terrible humiliation on her part. She always wished she was more sociable, having friends outside of her brother and sister, and for a while she did, only one friend though but she disappeared and Una was left alone once again to fend for herself.

She stumbled in her step when she walked up one of the small towns hills on her way home, only having a ten-minute walk until she was home, for the most part, it was relaxing for her if she was alone. But there were times that she wasn't truly alone, maybe by herself but a couple of people who had taken to making her their victim liked to make sure that she had company.

Like now, for example.

"Oi, ginger!" she braced herself for what was to come, quickly speed walking faster up the hill she was walking on in order to get out of sight but it just made the boys hurry to catch up.

One pulled on her backpack, allowing her to stumble back with a yelp and stop in their view, "we're talking to you, Reynolds." The boy, his name was Lucas and previously dated Una's sister last year for two weeks or so.

Because Kasey didn't like him, he decided to move onto the other sister in an entirely different way.

Una's head ducked, trying her best to scurry away but it didn't work out in her favour. The backpack she wore was soon dumped on the ground away from her and when she moved to pick it up, Lucas and his friend Nick grabbed each side of her.

"I work in a garage with cars," Nick scoffed, "and you're still heavier!"

All the boys laughed whilst Una resisted the urge to roll her eyes, a fat joke. Good one.

She let out a groan when the other boy whose name she had not yet found out punched her right in the stomach, wincing when the pain erupted and the boys laughed, "that one is for your sister, Reynolds. Tell her I want her back, will you?"

Una stayed silent, trying to pull herself from their grip but failing, and when she was kicked on her knee, she felt herself falling to the ground with a loud yelp of pain, scrambling to clutch the pain whilst Lucas grabbed her hair and yanked her head to look at him.

His glare was nothing but hatred and his green eyes bore into her brown ones with something she had seen countless times, "you know. Just by existing, Reynolds, you manage to make my life so much worse."

She bit back her tears when he punched her on the cheek, her hands leaving her knee to her face in order to cradle the already throbbing pain.

"Oi!" she was too busy tending to herself to lift her head, ignorant to the boys scrambling around her as the teenager appeared with an anger worse than the boys in his eye. She heard several groans around her and wondered what the hell was going on but her glasses had fallen off of her face and as she scrambled to get them, she was trying to get her bag too.

She pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose, trying to ignore the pain her body was in and not a moment later was she getting pulled to her feet, much to her protest, "let me go!" she had had enough of the boys pushing her about and with a spurt of rage erupting from the tip of her tongue, she was almost ready to hurt the boy who didn't hurt her, but in fact, helped her.

"Bloody he- calm down!" he let her go, but when her feet hit the ground she almost fell right back down again, "okay, new plan."

He guided her arm around his neck, supporting her whilst the leather bag she had dropped hung over her other shoulder, and with her eyebrows knitted in confusion, she turned to him, her eyes wide and her mouth dropped in shock, and with a shaky breath erupting from her lips, she spoke, "...Angus?"

And with a small smile on his lips and his hand running through his messy - dyed - black hair, he said, "I prefer Gus."