Page 36 of The Tattered Gloves
I, on the other hand, held back, until every last one of them had their turn before I approached.
Some were pleased with their pairings, giving high fives as they exited to the hallway. Others swore under their breaths or threw their hands up in the air, like the entire world had just ended.
I cautiously walked up to the list and felt my stomach hit the floor.
Great.
Just freaking great.
Turning toward Mrs. Landers, I spoke, “Is there any way I can switch?”
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she took out a duplicate list from her desk and found my name.
“Is there a reason you can’t be partnered with Mr. Shepherd?” she asked, neatly folding her hands in her lap.
He does funny things to my insides.
He said I was pretty, and I don’t know what that means.
“No,” I replied, followed by, “I mean, it’s just—”
She smiled warmly. “I get it. You don’t know him. You’re new here. But that is why I paired everyone the way I did. I purposely put students together who might not know each other well. This will push you outside your boundaries, force you to get to know someone you might otherwise ignore.”
“But I do know him. We work together!” I blurted out, thinking I’d found a loophole in her carefully thought-out plan.
“Oh? Well, that could change things. Tell me then, where does he live? What does Sam like to do when he’s not at school?”
“Uh…” I struggled to answer. “I don’t know.”
Her smile widened, almost as if she’d expected my answer. “There is a difference between knowing someone and truly understanding them. Maybe this will help you discover that distinction. Good luck with your assignment.”
I nodded, realizing she’d given me a firm no to my request.
As I exited the room, my head reeling while I tried to figure out just how I was going to make all this work, I ran straight into a brick wall.
Looking up, I realized it wasn’t a brick wall at all.
It was Sam.
The expression on his face was just as hard and unyielding.
“Read,” he said.
“What?”
“That’s what I like to do when I’m not at school.”
And then he walked away.
I TRIED TO be the first one in the store that day. I’d even briefly considered ditching my last class just so I could be the one hiding in the back when school let out.
But I knew hiding wasn’t the answer to this problem.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the answer to any problem, no matter how much I wished it.
Once again, I’d managed to hurt Sam Shepherd without even trying, and now, more than ever, I needed to make amends. It was one thing for my grades to suffer but an entirely different story all together to see his plummet just because I was a royal jerk.
I really had no idea what I was going to say to him, and much to my dismay, the short walk between the school and the main drag in town wasn’t enough time for me to come up with something.
