Page 63 of We Shouldn't Be Together
I smirk. “No.”
“We can’t access the school portal over the weekend,” she explains. “They’re doing maintenance on it.”
“Oh.”
She sighs, looking off to the side. “How their upgrades are gonna stop cyber bullying is beyond me.”
Bullying?
For a moment, I forget how to blink and my breath chokes in my throat. I cough roughly and ask, “That’s what the assembly was about?”
Her eyebrows lift. “You really didn’t pay attention at all? Wow, and you call me the airhead.”
“I just think it’s rich. You were paying attention to an anti-bullying talk.”
Her chin drops, and she takes a step back. “What? Umm… No, I…”
I tilt my head and fold my arms. “You what?”
She bites her bottom lip and then whispers, “Do we have to fight?”
The softness of her tone makes me pause. I drop my arms to my sides and exhaling slowly. “You think I want to?”
“You’re starting it again.”
My hands ball into fists as I resist the urge to cross my arms again. My jaw strains under the pressure, and I blurt, “Look, if you’d stop bullying my best friend, I wouldn’t hate you so much.”
A gasp shoots out of her and she takes another two steps backward. Her hands clasp over her chest. “You hate me?”
I blink my confusion at her. “I… I…”
She sniffs hard, and I notice something wet along her lash line. Man, those long lashes. “Look,” she whimpers. “I don’t hate your friend. I… I… My friends are… Uh, what does it matter? You don’t care. You hate me.”
I take two steps forward. “Why do you care if I hate you? I thought it was obvious. I thought you hated me back.”
“I don’t hate anyone.” She sniffs hard and hooks a finger to dab at her lash line. “Except, maybe, myself.”
I frown at the stabbing pain in my chest. “Man, don’t say you hate yourself.”
She turns away. “What do you care?”
I gently grab her shoulder and swing her back around. “I care if someone’s ragging on themselves. That’s not cool.”
Her gaze dips to my hand on her, and I swiftly remove it. She watches me awkwardly shift my weight, fidgeting my hands into my pockets.
Why did I touch her?
She sniffs hard and then exhales hard. “I don’t hate your friend.”
I wait for more, but it doesn’t come. “Okay?”
Her bottom lip quivers, and she steadies it by looking off to the side. “I don’t mean for the things I say to come out. It’s just…”
Again, I wait for the excuse, but it doesn’t come. “It’s just, what?”
Her throat pulsates with a slow swallow. She looks up at me and there’s something different in her eyes. Determination? Authenticity? Whatever it is,it sends a lightning bolt through me. Whatever it is, there’s something deep inside me insisting this will be important.
“I… I…” she hesitates. “I’m bullied.”
