The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

Chapter fifty-six: In it together

Harlee

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The realization I had feelings for James took me a bit of time to figure out how to handle.

On the one hand, I was still hurt by him for all he'd put me through, and I needed time away from him. (Thankfully, the Whitmires had left for their two-week vacation two nights after the bonfire, giving me the time I needed to process things.)

On the other hand, I felt drawn to him even more now.

Realizing the turmoil he'd gone through to keep his feelings a secret out of care for me and care for our friendship deepened my adoration for him even more.

Yes, he'd put me through a lot, but he'd put himself through a lot too.

The more I thought about all he'd done out of love for me, the more my anger toward how he'd hurt me dissipated. As the anger faded, I found myself missing him in my life more and more each day. There would be times I'd want to text him and confess my feelings, but I'd never go through with it because I knew it needed to be done in person.

So I resolved I'd wait to talk to him until he got back.

But school was scheduled to start back up the fourth week of July, and James wouldn't be back until the end of the week before that. We wouldn't have much time to talk, much less hang out in between that, because we'd be so busy preparing to start classes.

The thought saddened me.

So much of our summer had been wasted because of dishonesty, confusion, and fear.

I hoped next summer would have less drama and more fun.

The week before school started, though, I got to make things right with the other friend of mine that I'd been missing so deeply.

I'd constantly been wondering how she was doing but knew she didn't want to talk to me.

It was Tuesday afternoon, and I was in my room organizing my school supplies when I heard the doorbell ring. Even though school was still a week away, Mom was forcing me to "get in the mindset" like it had already begun.

The doorbell ringing was the perfect reason to escape.

I raced downstairs at light speed, hoping that James would be behind the door.

Maybe, he's home early, I thought excitedly as I hurried towards the door.

But he wasn't.

When I swung the front door open, I saw that my visitor was Farrah.

"Hey, Sparkly Harlee," she said sheepishly, clutching a small box in her hand.

I raised my eyebrows at it, then met her eyes.

Her bright blue orbs looked like they were about to spill over with tears.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Not at all," she said tearfully.

"What's wrong?" I asked, stepping closer to her.

A rookie mistake on my part, honestly.

Right then, she wrapped me in one of her choker hugs and started crying on me.

"Just the way I treated you! I was such a bad friend!" she sobbed.

"Uh, Farrah-" I said as she clung to my neck. "It's alright, but you're choking me."

She pulled away and faced me, blue orbs darting in confusion.

"What do you mean, 'it's alright'?? You should be furious with me! I was such a jerk to you," she said, then lowered her head in shame.