“That was a very sanitized version of what happened. We broke because one night he tried to force himself on me.”
“Oh my gosh,” my mom says. I hear my dad exhale sharply.
“That bastard,” he mutters.
“Did he hurt you?” My mom’s voice trembles.
Tears prick my eyes. “A little, but I fought him off. I got away.” I sniffle. “I broke up with him right then and there. But he was so mad, and he took it out on me. He started an awful rumor about me. He told his teammates and our mutual friends that I was just using him to get to the rest of the team so I could sleep with all the guys.”
Tears tumble down my cheeks.
“Oh, honey,” my mom says in a watery voice. She’s crying.
“It was all lies,” I say.
“We know that, Briar,” my dad says in a gentle voice. “We know you wouldn’t do that.”
“I really cared about Logan, and I was so blindsided when he became so aggressive and hateful to me. All my friends turnedon me because of the lies he told. Total strangers were harassing me on campus, calling me awful names. I had to get out of there. That’s why I left and transferred to Hollis.”
They’re quiet for a long moment.
“Briar honey, why didn’t you tell us this?” my dad asks.
“Because I hated thinking about it. I didn’t want to talk about it. I just wanted to move on with my life and never think about him again.” My throat aches. “And I…I was scared you guys would think I was stupid for getting myself into a situation like that.”
“Oh, honey,” my mom says.
I let out a shaky breath and wipe my eyes on my sleeves. “I didn’t want to disappoint you. You were already so upset that I transferred schools. I didn’t want to make you even more upset by telling you the real reason for it.”
“Briar honey, listen to me. If we had known the real reason why you transferred—if we knew what Logan did to you—we wouldn’t have been upset. We just…” My mom’s voice starts to tremble. “We just want the best for you.” She’s quiet for a long moment. “But maybe we shouldn’t have come down on you so hard in the first place. We should have known that you must have been going through something terrible for you to suddenly leave school like that.”
“It was just so out of character, honey,” my dad says. “We were shocked and upset. And when you didn’t want to talk about it, we didn’t know what to do. So I suppose that’s why we reacted so harshly.”
I’m quiet as I think about everything they’re saying. It was all such a mess. A mix of me being scared to disappoint my parents and them misunderstanding my closed-off behavior when I transferred.
“We’re sorry, honey,” my dad says. “We shouldn’t have reacted the way we did, regardless of the reason. We should have just supported you.”
I grab a tissue from Blake’s desk and wipe my face. “It’s okay. I’m sorry for not telling you the whole story behind why I left Chicago.”
“Is Logan still harassing you?” Dad asks.
“No. I’ve blocked him everywhere.” I hesitate for a second. “He sent me a hurtful message right before his hockey team played Blake’s hockey team recently. But Blake took care of him for that. Logan won’t ever bother me again.”
“I see.” Understanding laces my dad’s serious tone.
My parents don’t pay attention to sports, so I’m sure they haven’t seen the news of Blake’s fight with Logan online or on sports news. They don’t need to know the graphic details of that brawl.
“Blake’s a fine young man,” my dad says.
“He really is,” my mom says. “I don’t know if this is a weird time to bring it up, but the way he stood up for you that day at brunch was impressive. I could tell how protective he was of you. And even though we were fighting in that moment, I was touched to see him look after my little girl.”
That warm feeling burrows deeper into my chest. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Please don’t hide from us like this, honey,” Dad says. “No matter how hard or awful something is, please tell us. I swear, we won’t react the way we did when you transferred to Hollis. We promise we won’t.”
“We’ll be better, honey. We swear it.”
I tuck my feet underneath my legs, feeling lighter. I’m tired from crying, but the stress riddling my body is starting to fade. It feels comforting to talk to my parents like this. To work throughthis rough patch in our relationship and come out on the other side, forgiving each other and promising to be better.
