Page 40

I stood between the wall and the ajar door of the women’s locker room as I watched the crowd fill in to the pool stands. I was bouncing on the balls of my feet, feeling more nervous than I had at any swim meet before and searching the crowd for the faces I was worried wouldn’t show up.

And when I did find them, I was almost sure I’d imagined them.

My parents were sitting in the second row of the stands and sitting as upright as always, but instead of wearing their classic business attire, they were dressed in… T-shirts. Not just any T-shirts but Parkhurst Prep shirts, probably bought straight from the school store.

Never once in my life had I seen my mother wear a not-plain shirt, and certainly not something with a name all the way across the chest like that. I openly gaped at them, wondering for a moment if my parents had been replaced by aliens.

“What are we looking at?” a peppy voice asked in my ear.

I almost screamed from surprise and I let go of the door so quickly that it slammed against the side of my face before I could move out of the way.

When I turned around, Clementine and Ainsley were right behind me—the former with a smirk on her face and the latter looking concerned.

Ainsley elbowed Clementine subtly like she was telling her off for scaring me then looked at me apologetically.

“Nothing,” I sighed, pressing my back against the door.

I was wearing sweats over my swim suit for now, but the cool metal handle was pressed against the bare skin of my back where theswim suit had a cutout and it made me realize just how flushed I was.

Was it normal to be so flustered at the sight of my parents showing up at a swim meet in regular clothes?

I’d ask my friends, but since I knew how Mrs. Novak treated her kids and I’d seen Clementine’s mother enough times to know my mother would hate her, I had a feeling they would both look at me like I was insane.

After the conversation with my mom a couple of weeks ago, things had been changing in my house.

They were small changes, but after years of my home life getting continuously worse, it was very obvious to me when it was getting better.

My mom had taken up asking me how my day was and actually waiting around for an answer that was longer than just good .

My parents were still fighting but they weren’t doing it nearly as much, or at least not when I was home anymore.

And today, when I left for school, Mom not only hugged me, but said that she would be proud no matter how I performed in the swim meet.

I was relieved that something came out of the conversation, because I’d been worried everything would go back to usual the next day, but I was also feeling really unsettled by it all.

I guess it took time to be able to appreciate the good things without feeling like it was all just utterly bizarre and like it could end at any moment.

I was worried Clementine was going to push me about what I’d been looking at, and I would have to somehow explain to her that the sight of my parents in T-shirts had gotten me thinking about potential alien abductions— that would explain my mom hugging me this morning too, because seriously that sounded more likely than her listening to something I had to say and actually changing her actions based on it —but she just grabbed my wrist and tugged me deeper into the locker room again.

“Uh, Clementine?” I asked as she pulled me past the rest of the team, who were chatting and getting ready. I thought she might have wanted me back for the pre-meet hype-up time, but she blew past them without a second glance. “Where are we going?”

Clementine just glanced back at me briefly with a smirk before turning her sights forward again without responding.

I looked at Ainsley quizzically, hoping she might have an explanation for whatever was going on, but she just smiled as well.

She didn’t look quite as scheming as Clementine, but it was obvious they were in on something together.

Our flip-flops all smacked against the tile floor of the hallway out of the locker room and the chatter of the rest of our team fell away. I shivered as we reached the regular hallway and lost the humidity that came in from the pool.

“Seriously, Clem,” I said as we stepped out. The tile underfoot turned to the rough black mats set up in the hallway so the floors wouldn’t get wet from everyone walking out of the pool. “What?—”

And then for the second time in five minutes, I screamed as I felt someone come up behind me.

But instead of a voice, it was arms wrapping around my waist. I clearly had no defensive skills, though, because instead of trying to elbow my assailant in the face or break free of the hold, I spun around to see…

My boyfriend.

Sebastian smiled at me, the wide and imperfect smile that only his true friends got to see. I squealed and kissed him happily. His brown hair was all mussed and he was dressed in his soccer uniform, which was quickly becoming my favorite look on him.

We’d barely gotten to see each other today since our schedules hadn’t lined up.

We’d driven to school together, but Ainsley and Imogen had caught a ride with us, complaining that now that Dean and Lavender could be open about their relationship, they were “even more nauseating” than me and Sebastian, which gave us zero alone time.

When we got to school, I tried pretending I lost something in the glove box so I had an excuse to stay back in the car with Sebastian after the twins left, but Ainsley pulled a total Victorian act on us, saying she didn’t trust me to be alone with her brother.

I probably would have been more annoyed about it if I didn’t know that it came from a place of her wanting to make sure that she didn’t lose me as a friend.

I was just grateful she was okay with it at all because I’d been scared she would think I only befriended her to get to her brother, so I was doing everything I could to show her that she and I were friends regardless.

After getting out of the car, Sebastian and I seemed to be constantly missing each other because of our teachers letting us out late and him needing to make up a test at lunch. He wasn’t even supposed to be here right now because?—

I pushed him away with a gasp. “But you have an away game! You’re supposed to be?—”

“On the bus right now?” he asked in his smooth voice. “Yes, and if you find my body on the side of the road somewhere tonight, I can tell you right now the killer will be my coach. But I couldn’t help myself—I had to see you before the meet.”

He kissed me again and even though I knew I should be telling him to go, I found myself melting into his kiss. There was something about him that did that to me—made me forget the world around us and any issues we might have because all that mattered was him.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough!” an adult voice came from down the hall. I pulled back hesitantly, not wanting to step back but knowing not to ignore a teacher. And I was glad I did because the person who had spoken was my coach.

I flushed and stepped back, toying with the drawstring of my sweats. Luckily, she didn’t seem too mad, but maybe that was just the Sebastian Novak effect. He smiled brilliantly at her and said in his perfect accent, “I’m so sorry for interrupting ma’am. I just had to wish the girls good luck.”

“He’s her good luck charm!” Clementine piped up from behind us, and I flushed even deeper.

Coach watched him for a moment then nodded, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“I believe your coaches are looking for you,” she told him. “I suggest you get out of here before they find out where you are. The last I saw, they were in the foyer.”

“Yes ma’am,” Sebastian said, bobbing his head in a nod. He kissed me one more time then whispered in my ear, “By the way, that swimsuit looks great on you.”

If I blushed any more, I would probably catch on fire.

He turned to Ainsley next, pulling her in for a tight hug and whispering, “Good luck, sis,” to her. He even pulled Clementine in for a quick hug and good luck wish, even though I was pretty sure they barely knew each other.

He turned to head the way Coach had come from, but she put out a hand to stop him. She glanced over her shoulder at the empty hallway, then said, “Don’t forget there’s an emergency exit from the boy’s locker room.”

We all stared at her blankly, but Sebastian seemed to clue in first as he cheerfully said, “Yes, ma’am!” and took off running down the hall.

We all watched him leave then turned to Coach, who said, “If he’s on the bus before they get back, they can’t prove just how late he was.”

“And the emergency exit backs right onto the parking lot,” Ainsley said. She looked at Coach appraisingly. “Not like you to be so sneaky.”

Coach shrugged. “I’m happy to help anyone who cares about my girls. Now come on.”

She ushered us back into the locker room, right on time for us to start heading out onto the pool deck.

And with the taste of Sebastian’s kiss lingering on my lips, my friends surrounding me, and my parents watching from the sidelines— did my mom just cheer my name?

—I felt more energized than ever and set a new personal best.

I thought Sebastian’s driving was insane, but he had nothing on Clementine when she had somewhere she wanted to be.

She’d driven me home a few times last year and had obeyed the speed limit perfectly every time, but now I was starting to become a little worried she wouldn’t even notice if she started driving on the sidewalk by accident.

“Clementine, we’re really not in that big of a rush!” I yelled over the sound of her blaring music, which she claimed helped her focus.

“We have to get there in time for the end of the game!” she yelled back.

After the swim meet ended, my parents had been waiting for me in the foyer of the school, just like usual.

I braced myself for the criticism, sure that the new balance that we had was going to be disrupted, because even when I swam my best, they couldn’t help but find something to critique.

Instead, Mom just brushed my wet hair behind my ear and said, “Good job.” I watched her silently, waiting for the follow-up— but your dive wasn’t perfect or you should have had a better lead on the girl in lane five —but there was nothing.

I couldn’t tell if she had nothing to say or if she was trying to hold back because of what I’d said about her being my mother, not my coach.

Either way, I was grateful. And maybe that was the only reason I had the confidence to say my next words: “We wanted to drive to Crofton to watch the end of the soccer game.”

Mom’s face tightened, clearly unhappy with the request. I could see all the reasons she wanted to say no crossing her face—it was a weeknight, I always came home with them after swim meets, she’d never known me to like soccer games, I would be home late if we were driving all the way across town…

Normally, this was the time I would look to Dad for back-up, since he was more likely to argue on behalf of me getting to go out. But this wasn’t just about getting to go—this was about my mom and me. I needed to see just how much she was willing to let me go.

“Are you going to see Sebastian?” she asked, and though there wasn’t any hostility or anger in her voice, I shrunk in on myself all the same.

The reflexes of the perfect daughter came out and I immediately wanted to say of course not, I don’t talk to boys .

But she already knew about Sebastian. And trust was a two-way street—I couldn’t lie to her now and expect her to let me go out again.

Still, my hands were shaking and my voice was meek as I murmured, “Yes.”

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. For her to say yes? To go back on everything we’d built the last couple of weeks and say no? But instead, she surprised me more than I thought was possible as she smiled gently, ran a hand over my cheek, and whispered, “I think that’s a great idea.”

So now I was in the passenger seat of Clementine’s car and wondering if all my friends were this crazy when they drove.

I was debating whether I thought Ainsley would drive like this once she had her license—seemed unlikely but she probably would if Sebastian had anything to do with her learning to drive—when she whipped into a parking spot at Crofton Academy and practically shoved me out the door.

We got to the field just as the game was ending.

I barely held myself up from collapsing onto the stone steps of the bleachers, huffing and puffing as the final whistle blew and I watched the Parkhurst Prep team begin to celebrate.

Ainsley was yelling about the team winning in my ear and I thought I should probably be checking the scoreboard or jumping from excitement with her, but instead, I was busy searching for the one face on the field that I would recognize.

It was like the world shifted on its axis when he turned to face the bleachers and spotted me.

I honestly wasn’t sure if I was falling down or running toward him as my body began to move forward.

I ran toward him and he ran toward me, and the next thing I knew, his arms were around my waist and I was spinning through the air and Sebastian’s lips were on mine.

“We won,” he whispered against my lips, barely bothering to pull away. I stared into his shining eyes, so happy and full of life.

“We won,” I repeated back to him. And I thought we both knew I wasn’t just talking about the game.

“Pictures!” Clementine called from behind me. I glanced back to see she’d appeared on the bleachers as well and she was waving a phone around in her hand. Once she saw she had our attention, she held the phone up and said, “Say cheese!”

My face flushed but I smiled for the camera anyway, still relishing in the feeling of Sebastian’s arms around me.

He barely gave her enough time to snap a photo before he put a hand on my cheek, turning my face back to his so he could capture my lips in another kiss.

I knew from the flash that went off a moment later that Clementine was still taking photos, but I didn’t pull away or try to stop her.

And unlike a month ago, I didn’t even have to hide my face from the camera.

Sebastian Novak was mine and the whole world could know it.

Thank you for reading!