“After that, I was determined to live the life my sister would have. To be the kind, caring, and wonderful person the world had thrown away. I stopped going to school. I spend my days going to all the places my sister wrote about. That’s why I needed to repeat junior year.”
“Liam… I am so sorry you went through all of that.”
Liam took another deep breath.
“I couldn’t stand to be in that school anymore, so I transferred. I had already broken up with Cassidy. It was impossible not to see how awful all my friends treated others. How I used to treat others. I may have ignored Sarah, which I feel so guilty over, but I am sure I was someone else’s bully. All I could think about was if my friends had ever made someone else want to kill themselves. I couldn’t live in that world anymore.”
He was sobbing again, and I let him. I scurried off the bed, and he looked at me with panic in his eyes. All I did, though, was grab a box of tissues and hurried back next to him. We both tried to collect ourselves, and he sighed.
“I failed my sister. It’s something I’ve struggled with all year. Knowing that I failed her. When she died, I vowed to become the person she would have been proud of. Who she wished I probably was. We had been close when she was younger. Until I met Dylan and Cassidy. Then… the history assignment happened.”
I smiled softly. He reached out to me again. Touching my cheek, he looked at me with such love in his eyes.
“I thought Mrs. Rogers paired us because she knew you could help me, but now I think it was Sarah that sent you to me. You make me want to be this new version of me. That day at the ice cream parlor, I was sure of it.”
Surprised, I looked at him.
“A few days before she died, she asked me to take her there. We had gone almost every weekend when we were younger. I blew her off. Told her I didn’t have time for her. It was the last thing that was carrying me down.”
“Oh, Liam… I’m sorry if I made it worse. I should have just sat there and let you have your memories.”
He smiled.
“That’s the thing, though. You actually picked her favorite song. She made me play it every time we went. On more than one occasion she even danced with Mr. Lovett to it. That’s how I knew Sarah had forgiven me. That it was okay for me to be happy again. It was all because of you.”
Liam
My head and heart were pounding. I hadn’t wanted this to be the first day of my life with Isabella, but I suppose it was better to let her in now, before it would break my heart even more to see her run away. The thing was, Isabella wasn’t running. I reached out to her again.
“I understand if you don’t want to be with a guy that abandoned his sister.”
Isabella touched my cheek softly.
“Liam, you aren’t that guy. I might not have liked the guy you used to be, but I love the person you are now. You are a good man, Liam. A man I am proud to call mine. You turned something so negative into something so positive. Sarah may have died, but it wasn’t in vain. Her death saved you.”
I started to cry again. Since she left us, I hadn’t spoken to anyone about Sarah. No one knew about the diary, about my determination to take her place in this world. Pulling Isabella against me, I finally released the tension that had been crippling me. She knew my past, and she wasn’t going to run. All my fears were gone now. With Isabella at my side, I could do anything.
“You saved me too, Bella.”
She sat up quickly, her eyes wide.
“I have a confession, but now I need you to promise me you won’t leave me.”
“Isabella, there is nothing in this world that would make me leave you.”
My lovely girlfriend blushed.
“I kissed Marco yesterday.”
I sat up so quickly that I instantly regretted it. Wincing, my head fell back onto the pillows and I closed my eyes. I’m not going to lie, my heart hurt even more. Isabella touched my forehead as if she could make my head stop pounding.
“When we were in the swimming pool, and you told me you weren’t attracted to Cassidy anymore, it hit me. Even after how horrible he treated me, I still was attracted to Marco.”
I clenched my fist.
“This isn’t making me feel better about the situation.”
Isabella forced my hand open and held it.
