Rev Girl by Leigh Hutton Page A

wind whistled from around the rink, and hit her face. Her whole body trembled. She reached up quickly to kiss him he was so warm and her legs turned to jelly as their lips met.
    This was it, she realised, her moment to say the three magical words. For the very first time.
    â€˜Dallas?’ she said. ‘I’ve gotta tell you something.’
    â€˜Shoot.’
    â€˜Here’s the thing. I was pretty freaked out about New Year’s … ’
    â€˜I know.’ He reached down and pressed his palm against her cold cheek.
    He was so affectionate, Clover thought. So mature about being seen with her in public, about holding hands, hugging. She was sure this was one of the things she loved most about him. That and his rock-hard body. His strong thighs. She had to catch her breath at the thought.
    â€˜I’m sorry about what happened,’ Dallas said. ‘But you don’t have to worry, you’re what’s important to me and we can go at whatever pace you’d like.’ He dropped his chin and kissed her on the cheek.
    â€˜There’s something you need to know.’
    He cocked his head to the side.
    â€˜I love you, too.’
    As soon as she’d spoken the words, Clover knew they were true. Her heart seemed to swell, mend itself, covering over all the wounds of regret, uncertainty, and shame. Fully healed.
    Dallas pulled her up against his body, and kissed her hard.
    If Clover had been thinking clearly, if she hadn’t been subjected to Dallas in that tight T-shirt, if his hands hadn’t been on her body, his tongue in her mouth, she might have remembered to tell him about Florida and the World’s.

SIXTEEN

    Clover was sound asleep when the blizzard hit during the night.
    She only noticed the change in the weather the next morning. It wasn’t severe enough a storm for school to be called off, so she was forced to make her morning trek from the house to the garage and to her truck. Snow was still blowing sideways at 8.00am as she hurried across the yard, Dallas’s white and black jacket pulled tightly around her. By the time she made it to Silvertown High, fought her way through the wind and sharp snow into the warm building and tucked herself up at a desk in the English room, Clover had forgotten all about the weather. About most of everything, actually.
    All the other kids in the room disappeared, her chest inflating with pride, as she stared at the bold, red ‘ 95% ’ in the top corner of the cover page of the assignment Mrs. Frost had just handed back. She looked up at her teacher, blinking with disbelief.
    Mrs. Frost nodded. ‘Good work, Clover! It’s nice to see you finally applying yourself.’
    Clover laughed, feeling good about the fact that she’d actually come to enjoy school work while being grounded for those two months. She’d continued the routine in the Christmas break, and was even making it to school early some days, to make sure she was on top of things. Was Clover Kassedy actually getting her shit together?!
    Clover was relieved and excited that things were looking up on the school front. There were only three weeks left of term, all she had to do was get through mid-terms and finish off a few more assignments. Just sit down and do it was a phrase she’d started telling herself any time she tried to procrastinate. It actually worked.
    Her next class was math. She was in the ‘dumb kid’ level, but was hoping to work her way up. She took her usual seat, next to Sera, who seemed even more abrasive than normal, and had a distant look in her eyes, too. It was obvious she was upset about something. But when Clover asked if she was alright, Sera shot back, ‘Fine!’ so Clover didn’t push the issue.
    Sera didn’t speak another word for the rest of the period. She just stared at the chalkboard, occasionally checking her phone. Clover was struggling to understand the problems in her textbook she was