Page 32 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. “Our youth is not an excuse for how bad he hurt me.”
“I never said it was. All I’m trying to say is I love you, Lina, and I don’t want this to be something that you carry around for the rest of your life. It’s already been fifteen years, and you’re just as riled up about it now as you were then. Can’t you see that’s a little… unhealthy?”
“What do you suggest I do about it?”
Kelli shrugged. “Have you talked to a professional about it?”
“About how my high school boyfriend dumped me? No. They’d say the same thing you just did. It happens all the time.”
Kelli frowned. “I didn’t mean it like that. You’re twisting my words. All I meant was you don’t need to feel alone. Okay, seriously though, Lina, slow down. It’s below freezing, and there might be ice on the roads.”
I clenched my teeth. “He’s just such an ignorant jerk. I wish I never wasted my time on him.”
“It wasn’t wasted,” Kelli said.
“Oh, it definitely was. He never would have hurt me like that if I’d seen the signs.”
“What signs?” Kelli asked in exasperation. “There were no damn signs, Lina! I was there. I know how it went down. You were blindsided. I get that. And he fucked up. But it’s done. It’s been done for a long time. You need to find a way to move on.”
“I can’t.”
“Lina—”
“I can’t, Kelli!”
“No, Lina, watch out!” Kelli leaned forward and braced herself against the dashboard. Her eyes were wide with fear, and a scream tore out of her before I put two and two together.
The road was slick and glossy in front of us, and I didn’t have time to slow down before the tires slid over the black ice.
The car spun in three quick circles before the tires on Kelli’s side hit the grass on the opposite side of the street. The sudden traction sent us tipping over. The hood crumpled when we landed upside down, and then we slid down the embankment, which was filled with about a foot of half frozen water. The roof of the car broke through and filled with stagnant water.
Someone was screaming.
I realized it was me.
I stopped and peered around. I was upside down and disoriented. My head was killing me. I must have hit it at some point. Everything had happened so damn fast.
“Kelli?” I called.
No answer.
I whimpered and tried to undo my seatbelt. “Kelli?”
I was stuck. Everything started spinning as hysteria descended upon me, making me even more lightheaded than I already was.
“Kelli!”
I craned my neck to try to look over at my best friend, but stars exploded in my eyes. Dizziness rushed in like a wave. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Something wet trickled down the side of my face. The sound of cracking ice in my ears ebbed away until it sounded very, very far away, and then the darkness came and wrapped itself around me like a warm blanket.
13
CALLUM
David found me out in the hallway shortly after I watched Lina and Kelli leave through the emergency exit. I was leaning up against the lockers when he came out the gym doors and turned toward me.
“Damn. She still hates your guts, huh?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
