Free Amplified by Tara Kelly Page A

girl put her book down with a dramatic sigh. She couldn’t have been more than twelve. Definitely too young to work here. At least, I hoped.
    “Who’s that?” I asked.
    “My little sister, Zoe. She’s got the whole apartment to herself, but she insists on reading down here.” Veta lowered her voice. “I think she secretly likes us.”
    “It’s hot up there.” Zoe plopped back on the couch and resumed reading. She was petite like her mom, but round faced and pale. Like a doll.
    “You don’t look alike.”
    “She’s got a different dad from me and Sean. Pete—you might’ve met him at the garage.”
    I remembered his warm smile. “Very briefly. He seemed nice.”
    Veta leaned against the counter, folding her arms. “Pete’s awesome. He’s like a dad to me and Sean too.”
    “What about your biological dad?” I shook my head when she frowned. “Sorry, that’s none of my business.” I hated it when people asked about my mom. It was easier to pretend I never knew her than to tell them the truth.
    “All Mom’s told us is, he’s tall, rich, and Irish. Oh, and Sean looks like him. But it took years to get that out of her. She used to just call him the pendejo .” Veta grinned.
    “Hence your issue with rich people.”
    She twirled the end of her braid around her finger. “Like you?”
    I motioned to my old jeans and the white Seaside Psychic T-shirt I’d borrowed. “Uh, look at me.”
    “There’s a difference between being poor and having no fashion sense. Your refusal of the sundress points to the latter.”
    “I don’t wear dresses. Ever.”
    “Me neither,” Zoe said without taking her eyes off the page. “But I don’t have boobs yet. What’s your excuse?”
    Veta covered her mouth, laughing.
    I folded my arms across my chest. “Boobs are overrated.”
    “Okay, I gotta go meet the boys.” Veta slipped her velvet purse over her shoulder. “Wish yourself luck.”
    Forty-five minutes later, I was sitting in Raul’s Café, staring at my laptop and making a small dent in my bean-and-cheese burrito. Veta said the café next door had the best burritos in town. And maybe they did. I’d have to try one when my stomach wasn’t in my throat.
    There were two new listings for rooms in my price range. One down the street—the worst part of town. Then again, I’d spent last night in my car.
    I called the other place, another room in some family’s house. Taken.
    “Please tell me a nasty stomach virus is preventing you from eating that.” Veta stood over me, her thin eyebrows raised.
    “Oh, hi.” I pressed my laptop shut. “It’s great. I got distracted.”
    She slid in across from me and tore off the back end of my burrito.
    “Didn’t you just eat?” I asked.
    “Yeah, but these things are like crack.”
    “So what’s the verdict?”
    “Can I have another bite?”
    I glared.
    A wide, feline smile took over her face. “Well, there’s good news and bad news.” She drummed her fingertips against the plastic table. “I bet you’re the type who wants the bad news first.”
    I exhaled, stuffing my hands in my lap. “Just tell me.”
    “The bad news is, Bryn thinks you’ve got talent, but he’s not sold on your confidence and stage presence. And Sean…” She shook her head. “What the hell happened between you two?”
    “Nothing! I mean, his first words to me were, ‘Your car is in front of an auto shop, genius.’ He treats me like I’m the biggest ditz on the planet.” Not that it was entirely undeserved.
    “He thinks you’re full of shit.”
    He must’ve told them about finding me in my car. “I was getting my toothbrush. It wasn’t what he thought.”
    Veta wrinkled her nose. “Huh?”
    “This morning in my car…” I trailed off when her confused expression didn’t change.
    “I’m dying to hear the rest of this.” She tore off another chunk of my burrito and relaxed back in the chair.
    I gave her the same story I told Sean. “Then he started interrogating me.