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If I talked, they’d want me to talk about hiive him as I screamed for my mother to wake up And I couldn’t do that I wasn’t ready I doubted I ever would be I had watched him verbally and sometimes physically abuse my mother most of my life Then he’d buy her jewelry or flowers and tell both of us over and over howthe way he would refer to us as "an to get dressed and put those h back in the tightly shut box I kept them in
Brady parked the truck in front of school, but instead of getting right out, he looked over at
"West has been my best friend since ere little kids I love hih all this with his dad alone, but it’s also so like hiet too close He’s never been one to trust people He always trusted hed heavily "He’s decided to trust you I think he’s being honest about wanting to just be your friend But I also worry about you getting attached to hiie I don’t want him to use you He won’t uard yourself Understand he needs you right now Maybe having someone to talk to that doesn’t talk back is what he needs, and you fit that bill But just don’t let hiht about my attraction to West He was hard not to be attracted to But I wasn’t going to take his need to have so more I knew he didn’t look at me that way Heck, he didn’t even act like we’d ever kissed It had been no big deal to hiiven him for the harsh cruelty I’d seen in hi out because he was hurting He pushed everyone away But he wasn’t pushing me away anymore, and noas hard to reth
I just nodded I appreciated that Brady was trying to protect me
He reached for the truck door and opened it That was the end of this conversation I grabbedtoto see West Last night had been as special as it had been difficult Even after Brady gaveI really needed to listen to, I couldn’t help but feel very giddy about being near West Having him look at iddiness and fluttery feeling in my stomach was snatched away instantly West was there, but so was so her at the pep rally Her long blond hair was curled and styled to perfection as she bit her bottom lip and batted her eyes up at West Then there was the way West was looking at her The way he never looked at me Like he wanted to eat her up
My stoirl put her hand on his chest and he reached up and covered it with his own Then he winked at her That was enough for me I would just carry all my books to first period, and I’d make do with one ofnot to think about irl Sure, I had seen hih a bunch of ti unfair and probably ridiculous, because as West’s friend I should be glad he was s sad But as the girl currently secretly crushing on West, I was a little cracked around the edges
Brady’s words came back to me as I sat down at an empty desk I needed to be careful West just wantedabout him any other way And I had to find the off switch to the flutters in my stomach Maybe the blonde was just the off switch I needed
Mr Trout ca around outside in the halls began to file into the classroo with Ryker Lee Ryker glanced over atto the back of the class to sit beside Gunner The football players always stayed together
Next class I had to face Charlie After yesterday’s lunch fiasco, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that But I didn’t have a choice At least in this class no one ever spoke to ed ht he needed to yell so I could hear him I always did my best not to draw attention to
My phone vibrated in et my notebook and textbook ready for the lecture when it vibrated again After checking tothe newspaper at his desk, I pulled et texts at school The last ti to talk toBrady said you were here You okay?
It was fro He’d been too wrapped up in that cheerleader Dang it, I was doing it again I couldn’t be this way if ere going to be friends He needed a friend But this was so hard I hadn’t i West Ashby’s friend would be this difficult Why I hadn’t thought this all through, I don’t know I kneas I kne he acted out to deal with his inner turmoil But stillthis wasn’t easy