Page 126 of I Don't Need Your Romance

But when he sees it’s me, his body comes to life. “Sophie.” His arms wrap around me and he buries his face in my hair.

Then he pulls back to look into my eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Are you?”

He nods. “Did she hurt you?”

“No. You?”

He shakes his head.

“But she called me to her office this morning.” I spend a few minutes telling her everything she said to me.

He lifts his hand and lightly punches the wall. “She threatened to kick you out if you dared talk to me?” Sighing heavily, he plops down on the floor. “I’m so sorry for all of this, Sophie. Really, I am.”

I join him on the floor, sliding my hand into his. “I’m not sorry. And I won’t be threatened, not by your mom or anyone else.”

He searches my eyes. “What are you saying?”

“I’m done letting other people tell me what to do. If I want to be with you, then I’ll be with you. And I really want to be with you, Damian. Not being able to talk to you is like I’m losing a limb. It’s just not possible to exist.”

His hand lifts to stroke my cheek. “I feel the same way. But what about your scholarship? What if you get kicked out?”

I shrug. “There are other schools. HBA might be a good school, but it’s not the only one.”

He shakes his head. “No. I won’t let you jeopardize your future because of me.”

“But I want to.”

“No, Sophie. Please.”

I sit on his lap and turn around to face him. “Damian, listen to me. All my life it was school, school, school. And my books. But being with you has taught me that there’s more to life. Yes, school is important, but so are other things. Like you. You’re the most important person in my life, and I won’t lose you. Ican’tlose you.”

He presses his forehead to mine. “I can’t lose you, either.” He pulls back to look at me. “But what can we do? My mom will kick you out the second she sees us talking. And I don’t want that for you. I’ll never forgive myself.”

My eyebrows furrow as I think. “There may be a way this could work.”

“What?”

“We’ll sneak behind your mom’s back. That way I can still attend HBA and we can see each other.”

He’s quiet as he thinks. “Can’t she catch us?”

“We’ll have to be super careful. We’ll need to meet secretly and make sure no one is watching us. It’ll be very hard, but it’s possible. If we both want it, we can do it.”

He closes his arms around me. “I want it. I want it more than anything, but I’m worried about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I’ll be okay,” I whisper in his ear.

He searches my eyes again. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I do. Do you?”

“Yes. I’m just so worried about you.”

I place my hands on either side of his face and kiss him. “We can do it. Because there’s no way in heck I’m not being with you. Besides, it’ll be fun.”

“Fun sneaking around?”