I grabbed a cab off the street and jumped into it. I made him take me straight to the airport. I didn’t waste any time. I called the airport from the cab and booked a ticked on the next flight. I had an hour before it took off. That was just enough time to get through the check in, even if they decided to stop me again.
But they didn’t stop me again. I made it to the gate in good time, and for the first time ever I was thankful that air travel existed. I could feel my body shaking at the core, as I waited for time to pass, so that I could board the plane and get back to college.
I had an image of Sam looking on at the meal I’d had with Eric. I had to make things right. I had to make him understand that I didn’t want to be with Eric. I didn’t even want to lie for him. I was being forced and I was being forced because I didn’t want to lose Sam.
The speaker crackled into life and called for first class to start boarding. I found myself at the front of the line and got myself into my seat. It took another endless length of time before the plane actually set off. I spent the bulk of the time tapping my fingers against the arm of my chair, but then we took off and I finally felt as though I was getting somewhere.
I didn’t even bother to unpack anything from my bag during the trip. I just focused on what was going to happen once the plane landed and I got my chance to explain everything to Sam.
I was the first person off of the plane when it landed. I managed to get through the airport fuss pretty quickly and I pulled out my cell as I stepped into one of the cabs that were waiting outside. I told the cab driver about the college and then I called the college. The receptionist answered and I got the room number that Sam was staying in.
It was hard to believe that I’d travelled hundreds of miles to talk to him, when he’d been sitting right across campus from me.
CHAPTER 7
“So, you met my mom?” Sam said, as he pulled open the door and looked at me. I was surprised that he didn’t look disgusted. I hadn’t even gone back to my room, before going over to talk to him. I still had that film of plane travel on my skin. My hair was a mess of fly-aways and frizz. “I can’t believe you went to my parent’s house.” He looked kind of amused.
“Sam, we need to talk.” I let my eyes meet his. “I need to explain about what you saw.”
“You think that you have an explanation for all of that?” his eyebrow arched with surprise. “Do you really think there is an explanation to what I saw that could make any of this any better? I transferred over for you. I forced myself to trust you, because I thought better of what I said. I realized that I hadn’t been fair. I realized that you’d never given me any reason to believe that you would lie, so I transferred. I was going to surprise you. I was going to show up and ask you out to dinner, but instead, I saw you being taken out to dinner by that guy you seem to belong to. I mean, out of all the people on campus, why did you have to go to him?”
“It wasn’t like that,” I said quickly. “When you left, Eric came over and gave me this spin about wanting to get back together. I told him that I would never get back with him, even after I thought I’d lost you. He admitted to me that his father was cutting off his trust fund if he didn’t get back with me. I agreed to pretend to get back together with him, so that he could get his money. I was going to get some cash out of it and I figured that Eric owed me.”
“So, you lied to his father?”
I nodded. “We went out for one meal, but then I realized I couldn’t do it. Mr Norwood is a great guy and I felt terrible, so I told Eric that I was going to tell him the truth.”
“Did you tell him the truth?”
“I tried to.” I looked down at the ground.
“You tried to?” I could hear the sneer in Sam’s voice without having to check to see whether it was there. “What stopped you?”
“Eric,” I told him simply. “He told me something about my past, about our past and I didn’t know what to do. I took the coward’s way out and he had me trapped. He’s making me pretend to be his girlfriend, because he knows that I’m terrified of losing you.”
“You’re scared of losing me?” he asked me in disbelief. “What could Eric have on you that would be worse than me seeing you with him?”
“Do you remember the fire that ran through the arts hall at school?”
“Sure,” he nodded. “I lost some of my best pieces in that.”
“The fire, it was my fault. I was trying to pull a prank with the science lab, but it backfired. I set a chair on fire and I knew that no one would be going in the arts hall until the next day, so I threw it in. I thought that it would go out. I thought that all that would happen was that a half burned chair would be found, but the fire caught and made a super mess.”
“That was you?”
“Yes.”
“What did you think would happen if you told me?”
I shrugged. “Eric told me about the competition. I thought I’d ruined your chances for the future. I thought I’d stopped you from being able to come to a college like this. I thought you’d hate me.”
“I can’t say money has ever been that important,” he told me lightly, “and that competition was a long-shot for me at best. And I’ve made better art since then, much better than what I lost.” He looked closely at me. “You really aren’t with Eric?”
“No,” I shook my head.
A smile crept across his face. “And the only reason that you haven’t told the truth is because of the secret you just told me?”
“Yes.”
“Then, you better make a phone call to Eric’s father,” he said, as he stood aside so that I could come into his room. “You know, I really can’t believe you went all the way over to my parents. I barely even believed my mom when she told me.”
“Are we,” I cut myself off. I didn’t dare ask him. I wanted to know whether there was anything left between us. I wanted to ask if we were going to be okay. I couldn’t, though. My voice got stuck in my throat.
I pulled out my cell and made the call, clearing my throat over and over while it rang so I could speak when Eric’s father finally answered. It took a while. Eric’s father was angry with me, as well as with his son, but he was glad that I’d told him the truth.
I wasn’t sure what that would mean for Eric. I wasn’t sure whether he’d ever see a dime of his father’s money, but I knew that it wasn’t my problem. I knew that the lies he’d forced me to tell weren’t my fault and that he had to deal with the consequences of them.
I turned to Sam when I’d finished on the phone. “I’ve sorted it,” I told him, and I could feel a genuine weight lift from my body. “I’ve told him the truth and now he knows.”
“I’m proud of you,” Sam smiled, as he stood from his bed and walked over to me. “I guess there’s only really one thing left to sort out now, isn’t there?” he stopped walking when his body was only inches away from mine.
“Oh?” I asked him. “And what’s that?”
He smiled. I could tell that he wasn’t going to answer me with words.
He leaned forward as though to prove me right. He kissed me. He kissed me as though he’d been waiting his whole life to to share a kiss with me. I could feel the passion and the longing burning through his lips and it was burning up the world around us.
Sam had once asked me who I was and I’d said popular, but that wasn’t true. It wasn’t even what I wanted to be. The answer to who I was, who I am and who I always will be is more simple than that. By being with Sam I finally found it out.
I’m me, and that’s something that can never be laughed at.
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ISBN: 9781681851846
She Always Wins Page 3