Reaching Answers (Artemis University #8) - Erin R Flynn Page 0,98
turn. I’m sorry, agra.”
“I’m not.” I bumped his shoulder. “I’m having fun with you, even in hell.”
“I love you too,” he breathed in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
Something we both noticed and neither of us could hide our shock from. Things hadn’t been like that between us for… Too long. Personally, I thought we both kept trying too hard to force things to get better and with how complicated my life was, it never worked out. We became discouraged and defeated and then it was a vicious cycle of being hesitant and not wanting to try.
Or lowering our expectations. At least I did.
Constantly. Which was sad since I loved him, and we’d hit such levels of passion and fire, that I longed for it again with him.
Who knew high school could bring that out in us?
Yeah, simply thinking that made me feel weird. Him too, from the frown he sported as we kept eating.
“We’ll pick up more food later, but you have too many eyes now for second and third trays,” he warned as we wrapped up. “People are already chatting and texting everyone they know.”
“I’m shocked they let the kids have their phones during the school day at a fancy boarding school.”
“I meant the adults,” he drawled.
Ahh, yeah, they were pains too.
He showed me the dorm for vamps where he told me several stories that hurt my heart, namely how no one wanted to room with him so they weren’t a target too. Next, it was the lounges where people had fun or saw their families when they visited… Which his never did since they objected to him going to a fancy school and accepting charity.
We went to some of his classes, keeping quiet because they were currently in session. But nothing he told me made me happy and my soul ached for how horribly he had been treated. It was all I could see and feel, and I really didn’t understand the point of the field trip besides he was trying to let me in more.
I was glad for that. I wanted to know more about Darby and see this side of him.
I simply didn’t understand the master plan, and my boyfriend always had one.
Always.
He took me out to the football field and led me up the bleachers. “I spent a lot of time here. It was required for scholarship students to come and cheer on the teams, show our school spirit, and support the school that was giving us a better life.” He snorted as we sat down. “I raised the school’s GPA and test scores, tutored half the idiots in my class, and was forced to help them cheat. Yeah, a better life.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, hugging his arm to me. “I really am.”
“I know you are.” He kissed my hair and gestured out to the empty football field. “This is what you missed, agra. This is the normal that makes you feel so weird and different from the rest of us because you missed.”
And there it was. The master plan. It hit me hard as I stared out at the snow covered grass, not even knowing what state we were in. I couldn’t even make my mouth work as I tried to take in what he was pushing me towards.
“While you were out there saving people and learning more than in any book, I was here being bullied and dealing with every stupid cliché we hate. You were doing something real and making a difference, and I sat in chemistry getting spitballs thrown at me or stuffed in lockers. That’s what you missed.”
He turned to straddle the bleacher and made me do the same so we were facing each other, cupping my cheeks as he stared into my eyes.
“You are so much more than normal. You are extraordinary, agra. You are what people aspire to ever be, and you are only twenty. I know you feel alone and different, an outcast because you weren’t raised like them nor us. But you were never going to be like any of us because you were always going to be more, and I’m not talking about who you were born to.
“I don’t care about that and I never will.” He moved one of his hands to over my heart. “I mean here. This is what matters. Your heart. Your soul was never going to be one of a normal woman who experienced anything ordinary. You were always meant to be above all of this. You