Page 153 of The Revenge Game

I can’t say it’s the best kiss Justin and I have ever shared. It definitely wins the award for the wettest though, becauseit appears my eyes have decided to leak all the emotions I’m feeling right now.

Justin draws back just enough to frame my face with his hands, using his thumbs to brush away my tears.

He smiles at me, not his charming salesperson smile, but his real one.

And I’m smiling back, a ridiculous, happy, relieved, giddy, and untethered smile that makes my cheeks ache.

It’s a smile that feels like it might become permanently embedded on my face.

Applause starts slowly at first but then becomes an overwhelming roar that makes the cheering for the football team championship games in high school sound like polite golf claps in comparison.

“What the everlasting fuck?” Connor says.

“Yeah, what he said,” I say.

Justin laughs, a bright and effortless sound.

Connor looks between us with the same expression he used to wear when trying to understand calculus, equal parts confusion and desperate hope that someone will explain it in small words.

“So, you’re gay?” he asks Justin.

“Yup.”

“And you’re in love with Andrew Yates?”

“Yup. Good to see your comprehension skills haven’t failed you.” Justin slaps him on the back.

But then his hand finds my waist, pulling me in tight against him.

The message is loud and clear.

It’s Justin and me united against the world.

The scoreboard in the gym still shows the results of the last volleyball game, and I can’t help thinking how fitting it isthat this moment is happening right here in high school, where everything first began.

Maddie’s on the stage now, blinking down at her notes. I’m guessing it wasn’t in her script for her ex-boyfriend to announce his love for the class nerd.

“Um…thank you, Justin, for your speech. It was…unexpected,” she manages to say into the microphone.

But Maddie’s words and the crowd’s stares don’t matter because Justin’s arm is warm around my waist, his thumb stroking patterns against my hip like he’s writing his own version of our story.

And maybe that’s exactly what we’re doing here. We’re rewriting all those old high school roles. The quarterback and the computer nerd. The bully and his target. The golden boy and the guy who hid in the shadows.

Except now we’re just Justin and Andrew. Or maybe Drew.

As Justin presses a kiss to my temple, I realize I don’t actually care what name he uses.

As long as he calls me his.

Chapter Forty-One

Justin

I never thought I’d find my happy ever after in Coyote High School, the place where I spent four years hiding who I really am. But then again, I never thought I’d fall in love with Andrew Yates, who turned out to be the most amazing man on the planet.

Maddie finally regains everyone’s attention by tapping the microphone, the feedback cutting through the excited chatter like a car alarm trying to harmonize with an ice cream truck.

“Let’s all settle down,” she says, tapping her watch. “We’re already running behind on our schedule, and the catering staff are giving me that look.”