Page 46 of My High School Rebel Boyfriend
this girl with determination and courage and fortitude and a never-say-die attitude.
Who had battles bigger than my own.
“I have a confession.” My words surprised the both of us, but it occurred to me that I had to come clean. I didn’t want any secrets between us. She pulled back. “It was me. Me and the boys. We took your bag of candy on the hike.” Her brow furrowed ever so slightly. “I felt so bad. Imean, you nearly died. All because we stole your sugar stash. I’m sorry, Harper. I acted like a total jerk.”
She brought her hand up to her face, like she was contemplating something. I feared I was about to get kicked out of the car, another apology was on the tip of my tongue.
“Can you remember that first volleyball training?” She faced me with a fixed gaze. “You told me to do full pushups, proper ones.” I hung my head in shame—wow, I’d been such a bully to her—was there such a thing as Mean Boys? “Ten of them,” she said forcefully, obliging me to reestablish eye contact.
“Yeah,” I muttered, “I’m sorry about-”
She cut me off. “You made me do something I didn’t think I could do. Or should do. I’d been using my diabetes as an excuse. Not to do stuff. Not to push myself.” She filled her lungs with air. “Mitchell, you helped me to challenge myself. I’m going to play volleyball in college because you helped me believe that I could.”
She was giving me accolades that I didn’t deserve. “Didn’t you hear me? You could have died on that hike.”
Harper shook her head. “I wasn’t going to die. Even if youstole my candy,”—she gritted her teeth and glared at me as she said it—“I should have tested myself after lunch.” She huffed. “It was a good wakeup call for me. A lesson I needed to learn. I wasn’t managing my diabetes very well.”
I ran my hand through my hair. This girl was incredible. She was finding merit in my despicable behavior and making me look like a saint. And at the same time, she was full of resilience and strength.
“You’re kinda amazing,” I said in one of the biggest understatements of all time.
“You’re kinda amazing yourself,” she said, and there we were, sitting in her car, face-to-face, eye-to-eye, nose-to-nose.
There was only one more connectionthat needed to be made.
And I made it.
My move was slow
Tentative
A rush of nerves
A brush of lips
A flow of warmth
And then
Fireworks
An explosion
All the colors of the rainbow flashing before me
But in my mind I saw only waves of copper
As my fingers entangled in her silky mane of hair
And for now
Every bruise, every beating forgotten
Not a single care in the world
Other than holding this girl in my arms.
Epilogue
