AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I could feel the electricity in the room when April walked in. From the dull ache in my chest to the electricity that crackled across my skin. But I had to accept that healing happened at different paces. That if she wasn’t ready, I couldn’t force her to be.
No matter how much I wished I could.
So I focused on my computer screen, answering questions we’d gone over in class. Before I knew it, I’d reached the last question.
Janice came up behind me, patting my shoulder. “Good job, Diego. You’ll have your results in a couple weeks.” She handed me an envelope. “This is your assignment with Emerson Acres to get your clinical hours in. They’ve worked it out so you can do it during your school’s volunteer time.”
I nodded, feeling a sense of finality come over me.
April wouldn’t be coming over to my house anymore, and since we only had first hour together and didn’t run in overlapping circles, I’d hardly see her at school. She could walk Heidi in another direction.
We were over.
Over.
My breath felt ragged as it passed through my lips. My heart felt torn.
But I got in my car and drove to the school for the football game, because I was a member of the team. My friends, my coach wanted me there.
When I took my position by the water coolers, I glanced toward the stands.
And there was my family, holding up a sign that said: We <3 Diego.
And I felt it, just like that tug I’d given April at the lesson, saying they’d be there for me. That I wasn’t alone.
And that somehow, no matter how much this hurt, I’d make it through to ride another wave.
Fifty-Two
Sadie
I’ve never beenthe kind of girl who has friends.
In fact, I’m the kind of girl who doesn’t.
So I didn’t expect to like April as much as I did. I didn’t plan to like having her company during lunch or enjoy getting milkshakes at Waldo’s after football games.
But this Friday, sitting at my parents’ pottery studio with a lump of clay spinning between my hands, I knew something was missing. Even before my mom unplugged my pottery wheel and said, “We need to talk.”
I wished my hands weren’t wet and muddy so I could plug the wheel back in and ignore her comment altogether. But Mom wasn’t moving. And she was holding out a wet rag for me to wipe off my hands.
I took the rag, wiping between my fingers, and heard a chair scrape over the floor. Dad was coming over too. The three of us were sitting in a triangle like they thought they were hosting some kind of intervention.
I let out a sigh, my eyes already stinging as I mumbled, “Can we justsaywe had this talk and move on?”
Dad chuckled quietly. “I wish, kiddo.”
Mom leaned forward on her chair, her elbows resting on her knees. “The football season’s going to be over before you know it.”
I raised my eyebrows. That was the last thing I’d expected to hear.
“And you haven’t been to a game since homecoming,” Mom said. “That’s two games gone that you’ll never get back.”
“You’ve been keeping track?” I asked.
Dad raised his hand. “Me actually. You know your mom’s terrible with tracking time. It’s her creative brain.”
Mom nodded. “I knew it had been awhile, but Dad said it’s been two weeks since you gone out with April after school, honey. Is everything okay?”
