by Sophie Stern
I’m not exactly known for my honesty.
“I want her to have another chance to take the exam. She knows the material. You know she does. Wilson knows it, too. She deserves another opportunity.”
Principal Davis considers this for a long minute.
“You know that we have a no-tolerance policy for bullying of this nature, Reynolds.”
“I understand.”
“Are you certain this is a confession you want to be making?”
“I’m certain.”
“Can you tell me why?”
Why?
There are a million reasons why.
How many can I give him?
Something changed in me. Emilia stood up to me and showed me that I was so wrong about her. She demonstrated that she’s more than just a girl. She’s more than just a victim. She’s a fighter. She’s brave. She’s wonderful.
Last night, I spent the evening buried inside of her, connecting with her, but it’s not just about the sex. It’s not just about how beautiful she looks when she lets go and comes.
It’s about how wonderful it feels when she finally lets go.
It’s about how wonderful I feel when I’m with her.
“I love her,” I tell him.
I should be embarrassed by this childish confession. I should be ashamed to think that I could even guess what love feels like, but I’m not because it’s her, and it’s me, and it’s us, and I have a feeling that this thing between Emilia and me is only just beginning.
Principal Davis doesn’t laugh, though. He doesn’t say anything at first. He just looks at me carefully. Finally, he puts his hands down.
“Gavin,” he drops the formalities. “I’ve known you a long time, and you’ve never been one to do anything for anyone else. You’re one of the most selfish students I’ve ever seen at this school, and let’s keep this between us, but you’re also one of the smartest. I’ve never really felt like you’ve reached your full potential and I certainly never would have thought you’d manage to win over a girl like Emilia Riley.”
I stay silent, knowing there is a big, huge “but” coming.
“I’m very pleased by your admittance of what happened, but you know this means I’m going to have to punish you.”
I know, and I’m ready.
What I did was truly shitty, and he can’t let it slide. I get that.
This is it.
This is when he kicks me out.
He banishes me.
This is when he says I’ve taken things too far, and I’m going to be booted from my school in its entirety.
“Obviously,” he says. “I can’t permit you to play football. I realize that you have a big game tonight, but you’re out.”
I gulp.
The guys are going to be pissed.
They’re going to be beyond livid that my decision has affected them in this way. I hate knowing that I’ve let them down, especially after so much hard work and dedication. I don’t personally care about missing the game. I like playing, but football, for me, has been a way to ramp up my college scholarship applications more than anything else.
I wait to hear what comes next.
“You’re suspended for one week. That’s also effective immediately.”
“Okay,” I nod, but then it hits me.
“You aren’t expelling me?”
“I should.”
He stares at me, and for a minute, I wonder why he’s giving me a second chance. What I did was pretty much evil. I mean, I shared a picture of Emilia in an embarrassing situation. It was something cruel and terrible. We all saw it happen, but nobody needed to see it happen again.
“But I like the fact that you showed the initiative in coming in here,” he says. “You put aside your own future in order to better hers. That’s the kind of thing I like to see at my school, Reynolds.”
“Yes, sir.” I swallow hard, still not quite believing it. “Thank you, sir.”
“I’ll talk to Mr. Wilson about Emilia,” he says. “And as for you, you’ll be staying late every day for the rest of the year. You won’t be in football anymore, so you’ll have plenty of time to tutor the freshman in their literature courses.”
“Yes, sir.” I repeat, still in a bit of a daze.
It worked.
It fucking worked.
I was honest, and I’m being punished, but knowing that Emilia is going to get a second chance makes this a huge weight off of my chest. In addition to knowing I didn’t completely fuck up her future, I’ll have a second chance myself.
I’m still going to get to graduate.
I doubt I’ll do it with any sort of honors, but I took a stand, and I finally made things right.
“Thank you for giving me another chance,” I say.
“Don’t make me regret it.”
He motions for me to leave, and I do, and as I walk out of the office and back to my class, I can’t help but wonder what the future holds for us. Emilia didn’t have to take a chance on me, but she did, and now everything is going to be okay. Somehow, everything is going to work out, and I just know that the two of us are going to have a beautiful future.
No matter what.
Timothy and Jared are still lurking outside of the principal’s office and they follow me silently back to my class. When I stop outside of the doors and look at them, they don’t speak at first. Finally, Timothy pipes up.
“He booted you from the team, didn’t he?”
“I’m not booted from the team, but I am out of the game.”
“You know we’re going to lose now, don’t you?” He frowns.
“Timothy, I was an asshole for no good reason. I deserve to be punished.”
“You’re punishing the rest of us!” He protests. “None of us shared that stupid picture, so why are you taking us down with you?”
“I’m not,” I tell him. “I’m giving you the chance to be the star of the team,” I smile. I slap him lightly on the shoulder. “You’ve got this, man. I believe in you.” I look to Jared. “Both of you. You can do this. You don’t need me.”
Then I go into my class.
I make my way to Mr. Wilson’s desk where he’s standing, and I pull him aside.
“I spoke to the principal,” I whisper to him.
“Is that right?” He raises an eyebrow.
“He’s going to be contacting you about Emilia, so please hold back on giving her the grade from the test.”
Mr. Wilson says nothing, but he raises his eyebrows. He’s not used to me being like this. Generally, I slump down in the back corner and do the bare minimum required to be considered part of the class, but today is different.
Today I have someone to live for.
Someone to be better for.
“And I’m going to be assisting your freshmen students with their homework for the rest of the year,” I tell him.
I don’t know how he reacts to that news because I turn to my seat. I pass Emilia on the way and she looks up and smiles at me. I reach down, cupping her cheek, and in a brazen move, I kiss her right there in front of the whole class. A few people gasp and whisper, but I don’t care.
I love her, and I’m not afraid who knows it.
I would do anything for this girl, and starting right now, I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing her just that.
“I love you,” I whisper.
Then I go to my seat, and Mr. Wilson clears his throat.
“Well,” he says. “If you’ll all turn to page 231 in your books...”
I smile to myself. I really am the luckiest guy alive because I have the honor and the privilege of loving the sweetest girl at Crescent Academy, and I hope that never changes. She deserves someone so much better than me, but I’m ready to spend the rest of my life making this all up to her.
I’ll be better for her.
I’ll do whatever it takes.
Starting today.
Epilogue
Emilia
MAYBE THE SCHOOL YEA
R started out rocky, but it sure ended on a high note.
Who would have thought I’d be graduating with Gavin and going off to the same college with him just because we were brave enough to give it a go?
Not me.
That’s for damn sure.
On graduation night, I look over at him. We’re sitting side-by-side in his little Hyundai, which I’ve taken to calling the LoveMobile. It’s a stupid name and we both hate it, but it stuck, so that’s the car’s official name now.
“We did it,” I say.
“So we did.”
It wasn’t easy.
Life at Crescent Academy was its own series of ups and downs. There were twists and turns and not all of them were fun. In fact, most of them were downright horrible, but we did it. Together, we made it through, and now we’re going on to face the future in a new and incredible way.
“What happens now?” I ask. I know what happens. We’ve talked about it a million times. We’re going to get an apartment together in our new city and go to school together. We’ll work to make it through. We’ll figure out a way to make things happen for us. It’s not going to be easy. Neither one of us has the support of our mothers. We have messy histories and we don’t have dads or extended families, but we have each other.
That has to be enough.
We’ll make sure that it’s enough.
“Now?” He looks at me and smiles. That panty-melting grin has gotten me into more trouble than I care to admit because it’s me, and it’s him, and it’s us. Our journey has been anything but easy. It’s been hard and messy and complicated, but I know that if we stick it out and we keep working on this thing together, somehow, we’ll find a way to make it work.
We have to.
Gavin truly is my other half and yeah, maybe we found love really young. I knew when I was just 13 years old that he was the one I wanted to be with, but somehow, I think finding each other when we were only kids is totally fine.
Somehow, it feels like it was meant to be.
“Now, I show you just how important you are to me,” he says, and then he pulls me close. He whispers against my ear. “I haven’t stopped thinking about your sweet little pussy all day.”
I blush, still embarrassed at his crass words, but he doesn’t seem to mind at all.
“Gavin...”
“Did you do it?”
“Do what?” I ask, feigning innocence, but he grabs my hair, fisting my ponytail, and pulls it back.
“You know what I’m asking,” he says, and I grin.
“Yeah,” I whisper. “I did it.”
“Let me see.”
I reach for the zipper on my graduation gown and tug it down to reveal...me.
All of me.
I didn’t wear a damn thing under my gown at graduation. He dared me not to, and I figured, why not? It seemed like a fun and sexy way to go out with a bang, and well, I guess that’s exactly what I did.
The way his eyes roam my skin, I think he likes what he sees.
Still, I’ll ask him. I want to hear him say it.
“Well?”
“You’re fucking gorgeous.”
“Did you like knowing I was being naughty for you?”
“Baby, I fucking loved it,” he laughs, grabbing me, and he kisses me on the mouth. He cups my face as he devours me, kissing me like this is the last time we’ll see each other, even though it won’t.
Me and Gavin?
We’re forever.
It took an eternity for us to find each other but now I’m never letting him go.
The road might be hard and the journey might be tricky, but he’s worth it. He kisses me over and over again, and I realize that no matter what obstacles we face, we’ll always be able to get past them because we’re a team.
Now and forever.
“I love you,” he whispers.
And oh, I love him too.
THE END
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Deleted Scenes
AUTHORS NOTE: DO YOU want more of Emilia and Gavin? Writing a book takes a lot of time, effort, and difficult choices. One of the tough decisions placed on writers is which scenes to curate once a book is complete. If you want just a little bit more of what life is like for these incredible characters, you can keep reading for a sneak peek into the lives of our heroes. These scenes take place randomly throughout the story but have been placed here for your enjoyment. Thank you for reading! -Sophie
Emilia
IT’S NOT THAT I HATE Gavin.
I don’t.
Not really.
How could I?
Long ago, he was always there for me. He looked after me when I was a kid. We looked after each other. We spent all of our time together and then...we just didn’t. I know he acts like he hates me, but sometimes I wonder if there’s more to it than general disgust.
Maybe Gavin’s hurting.
Maybe there’s something I’m not seeing.
There’s a chance that maybe he’s dealing with something that has nothing to do with me and sometimes I wonder if I’m all wrong about him.
Gavin
WHEN I LOOK AT HER, I just see the past. I see the beautiful girl who would dance at the skate rink when she knew everyone was looking. I see the hard worker who was always willing to help me with my English homework. I see the kid who was always willing to get out of her comfort zone to help other people.
I see the girl who was never afraid to try.
I’m supposed to hate her, and sometimes, I really think that I do. That’s why I’m such a damn prick to her. I do blame her for my father’s death. I blame her whole family. It’s just that I don’t have to see her mom or anyone else that reminds me of him. I see Emilia, though. I see her every damn day and it’s just...the worst.
Emilia
“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING about?” Karen reaches for a piece of broccoli, but I slap it out of her hand.
“Stop eating vegetables,” I tell her. “Try some real food. You’re going to starve yourself if you keep this up.”
With a sigh, Karen drops the sad little floret back on her plate where it belongs.
“You still haven’t told me what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t really know.”
“You don’t know how you feel? Or you don’t want to talk about it?’
“I just...don’t know,” I shrug. “There’s too much there. It’s too hard to unpack.”
“You like him, don’t you?” She asks. “Even after everything he’s done, you really like him?”
“No,” I whisper.
“Liar.”
“How could I?” I whisper. “He’s been horrible. A bully.”
“Sometimes people fall in love for all the wrong reasons,” Karen says carefully. “But sometimes, people act out for the wrong reasons, too.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“I think you both have a shared, sordid past.”
“So?”
“Maybe you two have a lot more in common than you think. You say he’s a bad boy with a heart of gold, right? Well, maybe that heart is just a little bit broken.”
“You think he’s acting out because he wants my attention?”
“I think you’re the only person who could possibly understand what it’s like to be Gavin,” she says. “And I think you both know it.”
I close my eyes for a second and try to process what she’s saying. Could Karen be right? Could I be the only person who really understands what he’s going through? It doesn’t make a lot of sense. I would never treat someone that way, but Gavin and I are two very different people, and everyone processes grief a little differently, right?
“Maybe,” I finally admit.
Karen grins and reaches for the broccoli again.
“Don’t start,” she says before I can say anything. “I like broccoli,” she insists.
“Then why are you staring at my cheeseburger?”
<
br /> She frowns.
“I am not.”
I move the burger away from my plate and then back again. Her eyes never leave it. I drop it to the plate and she looks up at me sharply.
“Now that’s not fair,” she says. “Nobody should treat a burger that beautiful like it’s not important.”
“You just proved my point.”
“I did nothing of the sort,” she frowns, and she reaches for more vegetables.
Gavin
WHEN I FINALLY COLLAPSE in my bed for the night, it’s with a heavy heart. I’m tired of everything hurting and feeling so damn raw all of the time. That’s what my life has come to. It’s just raw. Everything hurts and everything’s sore. I just want some reprieve.
When I’m with Emilia, I feel like my heart is going to be okay. She’s beautiful and kind, but she’s passionate, too, and sometimes, I think she’s the only person who can ever help me feel whole again.
I miss my father more than I could ever put into words. I miss him so much more than I ought to, especially considering everything he’s done, but that’s my dad. That’s just him.
And sometimes, when I look at Emilia, all I can think about are the nights we used to spend hanging out together when our dads were working. Even when I was a kid, she was the one person who always made my world seem just a little lighter, just a little sweeter.
Somehow, no matter what I was going through, she always made things seem not quite so shitty.
And I miss that feeling of being so very carefree.
And I miss her.
So.
Much.
Author
SOPHIE STERN LOVES cowboys, soldiers, and shifters. When she’s not busy writing, she’s got her nose buried in a book. Sophie lives with her husband and two little boys who are always keeping her on her toes.
You can connect with Sophie through her website or on Facebook.
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