day it could be all sun and the next there could be a blizzard.
“I can drive myself. Now move that truck.” She waves her hand toward my truck as she says it. She looks so determined that it’s adorable.
“I’m not moving. So you can either get in the truck or we can stand here all day.” She rolls her eyes at me as she shuts the door to her car. I walk over to the garage and hit the code to shut the door. She gawks at me.
“It’s been the same code since we were little. Your birthday.” Her face softens a little.
“Right.” She really doesn't need my help to get into the truck. She could do it on her own, but I wanted to touch her and this allowed me to. It isn't until I’m headed toward the school that she says anything again. “Everyone is going to be talking about us.”
“I don’t give a shit.” I shrug. She glares at me. The softness on her face is gone.
“That’s because you’re the freaking star of the school. Everyone loves you and follows your lead. Part of that lead for all these years has been pretending that I don’t exist. Middle school was hell because of that crap. You don’t know what it’s like to be treated like you have the plague.”
“The fuck?” is all I can get out. I have no clue as to what she’s talking about. “People have been mean to you?” My hands on the steering wheel tighten.
“What did you think everyone was going to do, Reid? They follow your lead. Some of your friends are disgusting, by the way. The way they talk about other girls and who they’ve slept with. Oh, and the small jabs they take at me for likely being a virgin.”
“Who said that fucking shit?” I am going to fuck them all up. I told them to stay the fuck away from her, not to be rude and disrespectful toward her. Taking small jabs at her isn't staying away.
“Your. Friends.” She punctuates each word. “You hang out with them. You know what they say about girls. Pigs.”
“I hang out with Jackson.” The football team is always around, but out of school Jackson is the only one I do shit with. Those others are disgusting and gross at times. It’s one of the reasons I don't hang with them unless it is pretty much forced.
“Whatever. Don’t think you being nice to me for a few days changes anything.” I can see the hurt on her face. I know she would never talk to me this way if I hadn’t hurt her. It’s not who she is.
“I’m so fucking sorry.” I pull the truck over. We’re almost to the school. “I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn't realize people were doing shit to you.” My throat feels tight. “I’m sorry,” I say again. I’ll say it over and over if I have to. She relaxes some, but the hurt doesn’t leave her eyes.
“I don’t like being late,” she says. I nod and pull back onto the road to school. When my truck stops, she’s out and taking off toward the school before I can stop her. I let her go. Everyone turned to look our way when we pulled into the parking lot.
I run my hand down my face seeing how fucked-up this is. She got picked on because of me. Here my dumbass was thinking I was keeping her safe from me when a whole bunch of others were taking digs at her. Fuck.
There is no going back in time to bitch slap my thirteen-year-old self. Even though I really wish I could. All I can do now is try to make it right. Zoey can keep on running all she wants, but she’s going to quickly learn I’ll never stop chasing her.
9
Zoey
I can hear people whisper and feel their stares as I head into Advanced Chemistry. I rush over to where Willow is sitting. She’s my lab partner, and we share a desk. She looks up from her phone, giving me a smirk.
“I hear Reid brought you to school today.”
“How the hell?”
She shrugs at my response. “You know the gossip runs rampant around here.” That’s true. “So much for ignoring him.”
That was my plan. I told her everything that happened. In fact, after Reid dropped me off at home, I’d told her to get her ass to my house.
“That was the plan,” I mumble. I didn't know how