Page 22 of In the Danger Zone
“That’s the least hurtful thing A-Asher has ever done to m-me,” I mumbled. “I’ll b-be fine.”
Evan frowned, looking at me with what felt like caution. “What… What happened with you two exactly?”
“Can you please just leave m-me alone already?” I asked, a purposeful edge to my voice. Maybe he’d get the hint and go. “I’m b-busy.”
Evan cleared his throat. “Yeah, I get it. I’ll see you around?”
“I hope n-not,” I said quickly.
Evan tapped a hand to the table before getting up, the noise soft. But I could feel the frustration and tension. I could also feel his gaze on me as he made his way to the front desk. But I kept my head down, pretending to read, my head suddenly a jumbled mess.
I couldn’t let Asher win whatever stupid game he was playing. He was trying to get to me through Evan. I could tell. He was trying to get into my head since he couldn’t put his hands on me on campus. That meant getting suspended. And that meant getting kicked off the hockey team.
But maybe it would have been easier and less painful if he just hit me.
My phone buzzed on my desk, and I looked down to see a text from my dad:
Keep smiling and keep your head up :-) Hope all is well! We’ll call you tonight!
All was not well. But they couldn’t know that.
Chapter 11
EVAN
My eyes were tired as I rubbed at them. I wasn’t used to reading so much for such a long amount of time. Even for my classes. But I was determined to make some changes, to learn more.
Keeping my eyes shut, I thought about Daisy. She had been so pissed at me in the library the other day. Well, she was more suspicious than pissed. I couldn’t hold that against her. And I wouldn’t. But I just wanted to get past that and let her see that I was a good guy, that I wasn’t like Asher.
That was why I was on my bed with a bunch of books in front of me. After talking to her that afternoon I had pestered the librarian to help me find some books on stuttering. He had been a little angry at me that I practically dragged him all over the building to find the best ones.
I had quickly learned that doctors believed that people stuttered for a few different reasons. It could be genetics or the way they grew up. For a lot of kids their stuttering went away when they got older. For other people, it never went away. Daisy was one of those people. But that wasn’t something I wanted her to change, anyway.
I had to learn, though. Normally I was more of a visual learner. One of the ways I became such a good defenseman was by watching hockey game after hockey game. Reading was something I normally avoided. I just wasn’t a book guy. It was worth it if I could learn some new things about stuttering. And I did find out a few things.
Stuttering wasn’t psychological. It just happened. Everything I read told me that people who stuttered shouldn’t ever have to hide that part of themselves. Did Daisy know that? Did she know she didn’t have to pretend like that part of her didn’t exist? I didn’t ever want her to feel that way.
I took in every piece of advice the books gave me. Don’t interrupt. Don’t tell them to just slow down. Don’t cut them off and finish their sentences. That had made me frown. What kind of asshole did that?
All I wanted to do was prove to Daisy that I wasn’t some dumb jock. Maybe guys like me had given her a hard time in the past, but that wasn’t me. I had never been that guy: that athlete who thought the world owed them everything ‘cause they were good at what they did. Just because I was good at hockey didn’t mean I expected people to bow down to me. I wasn’t a hockey God and I never considered myself one. I was just a guy who loved the sport.
And I needed Daisy to know that. I would have to earn her trust. That much was obvious.
And I was going to do that. There was just something about her that I couldn’t get enough of. It might have been how sweet and shy she was. Being a hockey player meant you had to get used to people being loud and in your face. You had to deal with coaches screaming at you and your teammates losing their shit on the ice. Angry opponents, pissed off fans. It was all so noisy.
Daisy wasn’t like that. She was quiet, she was shy. And I liked her like that. A lot. I didn’t want her to change. All I wanted was to get to know her better. Talking to her in the library had been so nice. It felt good to just sit down and have a conversation with her – even if she felt like she couldn’t trust me. It had just been me and her. No Asher in the way. Just us two.
All I wanted was a chance.
***
I saw Daisy walking to class two days later. She waved goodbye to Leena before taking a left, probably walking to her next class. I could have stood there all day just staring at her. She looked as pretty as ever – just like all the other times I had seen her.
Jogging over to Daisy, I slowed down when I was by her side. “Hey, can I walk you to class?”
Daisy’s head snapped over to me. She stepped back, stopping beside me. “W-Where did you come from?”
“Just had a lecture. You’re going to your next class, right? Any chance I could walk you?”
