"I learned from the best."
"Excuse me?" She sounds offended. "I am not stubborn. I am determined. There's a difference."
"Is there?"
"Yes. Stubborn is when you refuse to admit you're wrong. Determined is when you refuse to give up on something important."
"And which one am I?"
"Both." She laughs. "Definitely both."
Despite everything, I feel my lips twitch.
"Remember when we were twelve?" Sophia continues. "And you decided you were going to learn how to skateboard?"
"Oh god."
"You fell off that thing at least fifty times. Scraped your knees so bad your mom threatened to throw the skateboard away."
"She did throw it away."
"And you dug it out of the trash at two in the morning."
I laugh. Actually laugh. The sound surprises me.
"I forgot about that."
"I didn't." Sophia's voice is warm. "You practiced every day for three months. Fell on your face more times than I could count. But by the end of summer, you could do tricks that made the boys jealous."
"What's your point?"
"My point is that you don't give up." She pauses. "Even when it hurts. Even when it's hard. Even when everyone tells you to stop."
I close my eyes.
"This is different."
"Is it?"
"Skateboarding didn't involve a man who could kill me with his bare hands."
"No," Sophia agrees. "But it did involve facing something that scared you. Over and over again. Until it didn't scare you anymore."
I think about that.
About the fear I felt every time I got on that skateboard. The way my heart would race. The way my palms would sweat.
And then I think about Dante.
About the way my heart races when he looks at me. The way my palms sweat when he gets too close.
"You think I should talk to him," I say.
"I think you need answers." Sophia's voice is serious now. "And he's the only one who can give them to you."
"What if I don't like what he says?"
"Then at least you'll know." She pauses. "Isn't that better than wondering?"
