Page 126 of The Forever After Bet

“You’re staring.” She sing-songs, still looking at her phone.

“Can you really blame me?” I ask walking up to her.

She tilts her head, twisting up her mouth. “I guess not.”

I stand in front of her, caging her in with my hands on either side of her head, then lean my forehead against hers.

She wraps her arms around my back. “I feel lighter.”

“Me too. I’m so glad that’s over. I felt like I was being suffocated.”

“You’re a rockstar the way you handled Bree. You deserve an award.” Hannah rubs her hands up and down my back.

“An award, huh?”

“Yeah, come here.”

Hannah threads her free hand through my hair, and I lean down, covering my mouth with hers. She flicks her tongue out, and I deepen the kiss. When we break apart with both breathless.

“I need to do more stuff that earns me awards.” I laugh.

“Just as long as it doesn’t involve any more drama. I’m so over it.”

“Me too. But whatever life throws at us, we’ll get through it together.” I push Hannah’s curls behind her ear.

“Together, that’s a promise.”

The bell rings, ending third period. Jack and Ty come down the hall, their arms outstretched.

“Well?” Jack asks.

“It’s all over, man.” I smile, slapping his hand.

“Seriously, like over, over?” Ty asks, shaking his head.

“Yeah, we met with my dad, Jim, and Bree’s parents. She gave Principal Forrest what she had on Hannah, which wasn’t anything. It was that science fair project from middle school. She freaked out when she realized I wouldn’t date her, but yeah, it’s over.”

“That’s awesome. No more drama,” Jack says, laughing, but he’s dead serious.

“Hannah and I said the same thing.” I laugh.

“We have to celebrate!” Ty exclaims. “Let’s go to Poncho’s for lunch.”

“I’m down for that.” I look at Hannah. “What do you say?”

“Yeah, Mexican food sounds fantastic. I’ll text my girls.” Hannah smiles.

We spend lunch at Poncho’s, telling our friends an abbreviated version of what happened with Bree. We leave out all the dirty details. Nobody needs to know those. I feel light and free and excited for life.

By Thursday, a rumor is circulating that Bree had some kind of breakdown, but nobody seems to know what happened. The gossip is that her parents pulled her out of school for health reasons. Hannah and I are not the type of people to feed into gossip, so the reason behind her sudden breakdown and school departure remains a mystery. It also seems her friends are loyal because they’re super closed-lipped, for as much as they like to gossip. They probably don’t have the whole story.

I feel bad about the gossip about Bree, but not that bad. She circulated plenty of gossip about me and Hannah. If she ends up coming back to school, I hope she is over the delusion that I will fall in love with her. I don’t want to go through this again. When I told Gigi about it, she said it happens a lot more than we know, but most people don’t go to the lengths that Bree did.

The rest of January passes in a happy daze. Hannah and I fall into a routine we haven’t had since the summer. We study together on weeknights, hang out with our friends on weekends, and sneak in some alone time whenever possible.

Basketball is fantastic. We’re undefeated—something our team hasn’t done in the history of Lake City High. More and more people show up to games to cheer us on. Hannah spends a lot of time practicing and rehearsing for her dance competition in February in Portland. Life feels normal for the first time in a long while.

49. Pink Leotard

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