The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

Chapter fifty-two: Ruined

Harlee

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James had punched Jasper.

He had actually punched him.

Maybe, I should have been grateful that he'd stood up for me, but I wasn't. I didn't see him as heroic for doing so, because he was acting just like Jasper by resorting to his methods.

Thankfully, before things could escalate any worse than they had already, adults walked over and broke everything up. They threatened to make us leave the park for fighting, and that was when Jasper decided to leave.

"I'm done, Harlee. Dating you comes with too much drama," Jasper said to me.

I'd heard what he'd said, but my focus was on how swollen his eye had looked.

How hard did James hit him? I wondered worriedly as Jasper stormed off.

James came over to help me from the ground, asking if I was okay.

He didn't sound the least bit remorseful about what he'd done, and that infuriated me even more.

A perfect night ruined by two boys' egos, I thought, feeling furious with both Jasper and James.

James didn't even seem to understand why Evan, Rachel, and I were so shocked by what he'd done. Nor did he understand why I was so upset with him.

"He started a fight, and I ended it. I don't understand what everyone is so upset about," he said to us.

"Because now you're just as bad as he is!" I cried out in reply.

I didn't stick around to try and explain further.

Fighting back tears, I ran across the park towards the lake for some solitude.

Coming here with Jasper had been a huge mistake.

This entire summer had been nothing but a series of mistakes.

Once I was far enough from the bonfire, I collapsed onto the ground by the lake and started crying.

Not just about the way the night had turned out but about everything.

I cried because I missed being friends with James, I missed being friends with Farrah, and because I hated how much drama had unfolded this summer and how this was only the beginning of being a teenager.

How much harder could it possibly get?

I just wanted things to go back to the way they were.

I just wanted life to be as simple as it used to be.

"I hate growing up. I hate it," I whispered miserably.

Footsteps crunched on the grass beside me, and I realized I'd been followed. I tried quieting down, not wanting whoever it was to find me.

But the light of the fireworks combined with the luminescent stars and moonlight beaming in the sky had lit the path that led right to me.

"Mood of the summer," James' voice said.

I lifted my tear-stained face from my knees and glared up at him,

"Go away, James. I never want to talk to you again," I said.

He shook his head immediately. "No. I'm not running away anymore. I have to tell you this."

"Tell me what?!" I stood up angrily.

"How you did it because you miss being friends with me, and you want to try to start over again, so you can ditch me once more without even telling me why??"