his truck, but my ankle feels like it’s going to explode.
“Let me help you.” He slides his arm around my back trying to help me to his truck, but he ends up making me lean my weight on my ankle. I grit my teeth to keep from screaming or throwing up from the pain.
“Forget this.” He opens the door to his truck, picks me up, and sets me inside. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I admit, “but I’ll live.” When he gets back in the truck I say, “Thanks for rescuing me again.”
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I saw you running. You went into the field and it looked like those guys in the truck were coming after you. I had to help.”
“But why did you come back?”
He concentrates on some dried dirt on his jeans, digging at it with his fingernail. “Actually, I was looking for Evan.”
“To give him a ride home?”
Skyler shakes his head in disgust. “No. To kick his butt … or … something.” He glances up to catch my reaction, but I’m not sure how to respond to that. “Sorry. I’m just so sick of him. He gets any girl he wants, treats her like dirt, and then moves on to the next one. I heard he gave you a ride to the lake on his motorcycle and I thought that you … and then you were together at the school.” He’s clenching and unclenching his fist, tendons rippling across a white scar on his wrist. “I’m tired of him thinking he can take whatever is mine.” His face flushes red, like he realizes what he just said. “Not that I think you’re mine or anything, but …”
Everything he said churns through my mind. He was jealous of Evan, to the point where he was ready to start a fight. He even implied that he wants me to be his. I guess that means he really likes me. I’ve never been in this situation before. I’m not sure what I should do or say. I like Skyler, I like him a lot. I just don’t—
For a second I hear Rachel’s voice in my head. “You analyze everything too much. Sometimes you just have to go on instinct.”
So I do what I think Rachel would have done. I lean across the seat and press my lips against his—our second kiss, totally initiated by me.
I pull away, my face blazing, already wondering if I did the right thing. He looks shocked or … I don’t know what. I can barely look at him, but I have to say what I’m thinking before the moment passes. “I’m not interested in Evan. At all.”
As soon as I say it, I know it’s true. I feel free, like the shy, awkward girl who obsessed over the high school jerk is on her way out. Skyler gathers me in his arms and kisses me back, long and deep, until I can feel it in my toes.
As he pulls away I feel a stab of pain, knowing I lost Rachel over someone like Evan and something that could never be real.
Chapter 12
“Come find me, Jaycee.”
Rachel is calling me from somewhere on the far end of the playground. But it’s foggy, one of those days where people disappear and reappear in a haze of gray. I call back, running toward her voice, but when I get there she’s calling from somewhere else, over by the fireplace. I turn and run again, but then I’m underwater, trapped in long flowing weeds that turn into her hair. I’m trying to get free, but the more I struggle, the more I get tangled in Rachel’s hair.
Just when I think I’m going to drown, the scene shifts to the porch of the old house. I’m huddled close to Rachel and everywhere I turn I get a face full of long dark hair. I step backward and then I’m wrapped in thick black curtains. I’m scared, claustrophobic, and I’m not alone.
I tear the blankets away from my face and sit up so hard that I jar my ankle and cry out. I’m disoriented, tangled in a quilt on the couch and my ankle feels like it’s on fire. I takea breath and adjust my position. When I look up, I’m face to face with the emptiness of the front window in the living room, where I fell asleep last night after Skyler brought me home. The long drapes billow out with the breeze
“Let me help you.” He slides his arm around my back trying to help me to his truck, but he ends up making me lean my weight on my ankle. I grit my teeth to keep from screaming or throwing up from the pain.
“Forget this.” He opens the door to his truck, picks me up, and sets me inside. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I admit, “but I’ll live.” When he gets back in the truck I say, “Thanks for rescuing me again.”
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I saw you running. You went into the field and it looked like those guys in the truck were coming after you. I had to help.”
“But why did you come back?”
He concentrates on some dried dirt on his jeans, digging at it with his fingernail. “Actually, I was looking for Evan.”
“To give him a ride home?”
Skyler shakes his head in disgust. “No. To kick his butt … or … something.” He glances up to catch my reaction, but I’m not sure how to respond to that. “Sorry. I’m just so sick of him. He gets any girl he wants, treats her like dirt, and then moves on to the next one. I heard he gave you a ride to the lake on his motorcycle and I thought that you … and then you were together at the school.” He’s clenching and unclenching his fist, tendons rippling across a white scar on his wrist. “I’m tired of him thinking he can take whatever is mine.” His face flushes red, like he realizes what he just said. “Not that I think you’re mine or anything, but …”
Everything he said churns through my mind. He was jealous of Evan, to the point where he was ready to start a fight. He even implied that he wants me to be his. I guess that means he really likes me. I’ve never been in this situation before. I’m not sure what I should do or say. I like Skyler, I like him a lot. I just don’t—
For a second I hear Rachel’s voice in my head. “You analyze everything too much. Sometimes you just have to go on instinct.”
So I do what I think Rachel would have done. I lean across the seat and press my lips against his—our second kiss, totally initiated by me.
I pull away, my face blazing, already wondering if I did the right thing. He looks shocked or … I don’t know what. I can barely look at him, but I have to say what I’m thinking before the moment passes. “I’m not interested in Evan. At all.”
As soon as I say it, I know it’s true. I feel free, like the shy, awkward girl who obsessed over the high school jerk is on her way out. Skyler gathers me in his arms and kisses me back, long and deep, until I can feel it in my toes.
As he pulls away I feel a stab of pain, knowing I lost Rachel over someone like Evan and something that could never be real.
Chapter 12
“Come find me, Jaycee.”
Rachel is calling me from somewhere on the far end of the playground. But it’s foggy, one of those days where people disappear and reappear in a haze of gray. I call back, running toward her voice, but when I get there she’s calling from somewhere else, over by the fireplace. I turn and run again, but then I’m underwater, trapped in long flowing weeds that turn into her hair. I’m trying to get free, but the more I struggle, the more I get tangled in Rachel’s hair.
Just when I think I’m going to drown, the scene shifts to the porch of the old house. I’m huddled close to Rachel and everywhere I turn I get a face full of long dark hair. I step backward and then I’m wrapped in thick black curtains. I’m scared, claustrophobic, and I’m not alone.
I tear the blankets away from my face and sit up so hard that I jar my ankle and cry out. I’m disoriented, tangled in a quilt on the couch and my ankle feels like it’s on fire. I takea breath and adjust my position. When I look up, I’m face to face with the emptiness of the front window in the living room, where I fell asleep last night after Skyler brought me home. The long drapes billow out with the breeze
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