Page 50 of Happy Harbor
“You’re going to be a therapist?”
“Yeah. A child therapist. I don’t want other kids to feel like being different is a bad thing.”
She smiled. “That’s really nice, Scotty.”
“Now, what’s your deepest fear?”
She paused, unsure of what she wanted to say. “Being alone, I guess. Like, losing my family and having nobody.”
“You’ll always have me, Kendra.”
“We barely know each other.”
“So? Is there a time limit on when you can care about somebody?”
“For me, there always has been.”
“Okay, ask me one.”
“Truth or dare?”
“Dare.”
“I want you to stand up and skip around the whole quad,” Kendra said, giggling. The place was full of kids studying and a couple of band members practicing in one corner.
Without another word, Scotty stood up and proceeded to skip all over the place, other students staring at him like he was a nut. Kendra cackled with laughter, finally falling over on her back.
“How was that?” he asked, sitting down quickly, out of breath.
“Epic!”
“Your turn again. Truth or dare?”
“I don’t want to get deep again, so I guess dare.”
Scotty stood up. “Dance with me.”
“What?”
He opened a playlist on his phone and started a slow song. It was actually one of her favorites. “Dance with me.”
“Right here? In front of everybody?”
He looked around. “Who cares about them?”
“Um, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m trying to make a good impression here.”
“And dancing makes a bad impression?”
She stared up at him. “When you randomly dance in the quad, yes.”
His face fell a bit. “So, you won’t dance with me?”
Kendra felt a pang of guilt. “Okay, but can we move behind the wall?” She pointed to a brick wall that would get them out of sight and not make her feel like an idiot.
