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“We are just friends”

“Not for long” He smirked, and her heart jumped under her ribs

Sing, Abby took a sip of her drink, trying her best not to allow hiet you into trouble?”

“Abby, do you think the other night at the park was the first time I noticed you?”

At a loss for words, she parted her lips to speak, but she had no idea what to say Her words lodged in her throat

“Because it’s not” Kaden spoke slowly, staring off to the side like he was picturing the scene in his rade I reether, and we had to write our own poems and read them to the class”

Abby groaned “I hated that”

“We all did But I re you When it was your turn, you read your poem, and you were so monotone it put some of the kids to sleep I mean, you sounded like a robot”

“Hey”

“But the words, they hit me Here” Kaden patted his chest “Maybe you didn’t sound eht have been tense, but your wordsI could feel the was anuht throughyou wrote was exactly how I felt after ht me back to life”

Abby sat, stunned, speechless

Her throat constricted She remembered that poem She had written it about herself About how she never felt nor do she really felt when people all around her so easily expressed themselves Even as a child, she loved her family fiercely, but when it caled

She was the flower in her poe rain Except the poem was fiction In real life, she had never fully opened, and she had always felt like she aiting for that one singularshe stored inside her heart, to co out

“Why didn’t you tellher words

Kaden shter lit his eyes “And have you think I was the strangest kid on the planet? Um, no thanks” He shook his head “Anyway, it doesn’t h But the other night when I saw you at the park, I can’t deny a part ofAnd then, the next day when you hit me—”