EMBRACE winrina

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Karina POV

When I pulled up to my apartment after Winter had fallen asleep, I tried to tell myself I'd done the right thing. In the end she'd seemed happy that I'd been there to take her home, and at least for the moments I'd been with her, she was safe. I knew the lingering feeling of her lips against mine and her body curled against my chest would make leaving her to Leo's wrath ten times harder, but it was what she wanted. I didn't have it in me to betray Winter's trust.

She might've done it to me, but I had absolutely no desire to hurt her in retaliation.
Leo had hurt her enough.

As I watched the days continue to pass, I realized I'd never been more confused and the confusion wasn't going away. It seemed like there was no right thing to do, so I was stuck. I couldn't do anything about Winter's situation unless I wanted to make her hate me for sending her back into the system. I still wasn't sure why going back, just for a few months, was a worse idea than being abused with a broken beer bottle, but it wasn't my call. It was hers.

A week must've passed before we even muttered a single word to each other again. Christmas was approaching rapidly which meant that the day my mom had died would be too. This would make three years, yet it still hadn't gotten any easier to deal with. Adding the sadness I felt because of Win leaving on top of the anniversary of my mom's death did not make for a good combination. In fact, it made for a really, really, really bad combination.

When Lee approached me that Monday, I was convinced everything with Winter would become much worse. I was drawing from prior experience because the last time we had been alone together certainly hadn't ended on good terms. He approached me right before seventh period, a class period that I didn't actually have any students to teach, and asked me to watch over the students in gym because the teacher wasn't feeling great.

I hadn't minded until I started taking attendance and I realized that Winter had gym during seventh. I tried not to pay much attention to her as all of the students scurried off to their respective activities. But when she coincidentally didn't show up to the activity that I was supervising, I knew I had to start paying attention because she was my responsibility.

I asked another teacher to watch the class I was supposed to be watching. I must've spent twenty or so minutes looking for her when I decided to look under the bleachers even though I doubted she would be under there. I had no idea why she would be under there.

But she was.

She lied there on the floor, her eyes closed. I must have made a noise because she opened them and looked to her right, staring at me before turning to stare at the bleachers. I sighed, "Win, what are you doing?"

She didn't answer me. I was too tall to fit comfortably underneath the bleachers but I squeezed into the small space anyway, lying down next to her. She turned to me, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out why you're lying down underneath the bleachers."

"Because it hurts to move, okay? I don't want to have to explain to my gym teacher why I'm wincing as I run."

I frowned. "I'm your gym teacher."

"What?"

"Never mind," I muttered. Neither of us spoke for a while. We both lied there, staring up at the bleachers, both too nervous to say anything else to one another.

Eventually, she whispered, "Karina."

I tilted my head slightly and met her eyes, staying quiet. She sighed. "I know you're still mad. I need you to know that the only reason I left in the middle of the night is because if I had waited until morning when you and Addy were awake, I wouldn't have been able to leave. And you know I needed to leave."