Leland eases back,brushing his fingers gently over my cheek. He’s about to saysomething when the blankets peel back and Wesley peeksin.
“Youstuck in there, man? My wonky knee from that basketball injury ingrade twelve makes it hard for me to get up and down from the floorthese days. Need a hand?”
“Yeah,thanks.” Leland gives me an almost rueful smile as he reaches ahand out to Wesley, who hauls him from the fort. He ducks back into say, “Night, Stella. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
When he movesaside, Wesley peers into the fort once more. “All good, LittleStar?”
“Yeah,great, thanks. And thanks for dessert.”
“Anytime. The four of us still need to go on a double date somenight. Maybe afterward I’ll build us a massive blanket fort we canall fit inside.”
The image makes melaugh. “Even with your wonky knee?”
“Anything for my two girls.” The words, paired with theaffection in his eyes, fills me with warm fuzzies. “I’ll evenstring it with those fairy lights you and Evie like somuch.”
“I’llhold you to that, big brother.”
When he leaves, Iflop back onto the pile of blankets and pillows once more. Myfingers ghost over my lips, which are still tingling from Leland’skiss.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Leland’s hand inmine is the only thing keeping me from bolting. His grip is firmerthan usual, which tells me he senses my nerves and likely also mydesire to turn and run in the opposite direction.
I don’t think I’vesaid a word since Leland picked me up at Evie’s ten minutes ago. Ormaybe I have and I’m in too much of a daze to remember. My legsshake as Leland helps me from the car in the parking lot ofBellevue Secondary School. I attempt to smile, hoping to ease theconcern on Leland’s face, but from the deepening of his frown I’mguessing it looks more like a grimace.
We’re halfway tothe front doors of the school when Leland steps in front of me,stopping my progress by gripping both my shoulders.
“Saythe word and we’ll turn around right now and go back to the car,”he says. “We can drive around for a while or go somewhere fordinner. We could head to the movie theater, fill up on candy andpopcorn, and forget about everything for a couple ofhours.”
His words have theeffect of finally snapping me from my self-centered haze. “No,Leland. Absolutely not. I lo—” I clamp my mouth shut around theword. I was about to say ‘I love you for being so thoughtful’.Where did that come from?
I suck in a deepbreath, and Leland’s hands tighten on my shoulders. “I appreciateyour offer, but I know how much you care about Coach Black, andit’s a big deal that you were asked to give a speech tonight. Iwon’t take that away from you.”
Leland glancesover his shoulder at the school. When he turns back, the sameconcern is still etched on his face. On impulse, I throw my armsaround him. He lets out a soft sound of surprise as he wraps hisarms around me. I expect him to ask questions, but he simply holdsme close, one hand moving over my back through my coat.
“I’mbeing ridiculous,” I say. “It’s just a building. I had three mostlygood years here, but for that one, awful year…it felt like aprison. A reminder of my old life and all I’d lost.”
Leland’s hold onme loosens as if he means to pull away. I grip him tighter, notready for the contact to end, and afraid he’ll see the tearsswimming in my eyes.
“You’renot being ridiculous, Stella.” His voice is soft and soothing, andhis hand is moving over my back once more. “High school is hard fora lot of people, and that year must have been hellish foryou.”
It was. Once I wasmobile again, I begged my parents to homeschool me the way Louisa’sdad was doing with her. They gently refused, asserting that Ineeded to return to school and some semblance of normalcy. Therewas no normalcy, though. I became an oddity, a curiosity. Everyoneseemed to know what had happened, and there were both whispers andcomments directly to my face about the accident, my weight gain, mylimp, the scars on my face and arm from where the shattered carwindow had sliced into my skin. I hated nearly everyone andeverything that year, including myself and my forever-changedbody.
I pull away fromLeland when a tear slips down my cheek. I dash it away quickly, notwanting to ruin the makeup Evie helped me with. She picked out myoutfit too; she thought I should splurge on something new, but Ibalked at the idea. I donated a huge chunk of my wardrobe beforemoving back to Bellevue, since most of my clothes consisted ofbland pieces Lars helped pick out and were therefore things I neverwanted to wear again. I kept a few things, though, like the blackpalazzo pants and pale coffee-colored blouse Evie selected for meto wear tonight. Despite the subdued color palette, the clothes arewell made and comfortable, and I feel confident in them. Or atleast as confident as I can be when returning to a place I’d hopedto never see the inside of again.
“Ugh,I’m a mess.” I flap my hands in front of my face to stop the tears.“And don’t try to be nice by saying I’m not.”
Lelandcatches my fluttering hands. “You, Stella McGrath, arenota mess. But ifyouarea mess,you’remymess.”
Stunnedspeechless, I let Leland lace his fingers with mine and lead me therest of the way to the doors of the school. We meet a group ofpeople who know Leland and engage him in conversation. Their timingis perfect because it means I’m able to focus on them instead ofglancing around as we make our way to the gym, where the banquet isbeing held. We drop our coats off in the makeshift cloak room—alarge sporting supply closet that’s been cleared out for thenight—and go in search of our table.
“Oh,the universe really does have a funny sense of humor,” Leland saysquietly.
I peer past him tosee what’s caught his attention. We’ve nearly reached our table,which is already full except for two empty seats. Sitting in one ofthe occupied seats is none other than Nelle Bryant. Ofcourse.
Leland’s handtightens around mine. “Ready to put on a show?”
His words make meimagine things couples would naturally do in a public setting: holdhands, look at each other adoringly, speak softly into each other’sears…kiss. That last one lights me up more than it should.“Ready.”
