***1st Place Winner in Teen Fiction for the Undiscovered Writer Awards***
***One of the EarnestyWriterAwards favorite female leads***
Lulu's mom is sick and Lulu desperately wants to be free of all her troubles so she convinces herself that she no l...
Finally, the wind ran out of breath and it was quiet again. The window no longer rattled and the rain had stopped. The only thing that shook was Lulu as she lay so close to Zac that she could feel his heart against her ear, beating while she rested on his chest.
Zac was still asleep, despite the soft daylight coming in from the window. His face was buried in her hair, his breathing warm and even, and she didn't want to move and wake him. With his arms still wrapped tightly around her, Lulu felt safe. Safe from the storm, safe from the world, safe from herself. She didn't want to let go.
But that wasn't up to her. Zac jolted awake, and as soon as he realized he was tangled with her, he let go of Lulu and sat up. Ignoring the instant chill that washed over her body, Lulu reached for the phone on her mat to check the time, and saw a myriad of missed calls and text messages from Selene and Liam and Gemma. At some point during the night, the phone had received signal and the calls had managed to come through.
"Do we have signal now?" Zac's voice was thick with sleep. "Can we call for help?"
"We did at some point, but it's gone again."
Desperation clawed at her throat. At least the sun was out and she could see so much better than last night. To distract herself, she got up and stretched out her tense muscles and gave the locker room another walk through. She found a couple of protein bars in the coach's desk and brought them back to where Zac still sat.
"Here." She placed one of the bars into Zac's hand, noticing how warm his skin was compared to the freezing state he was in last night. "So," she began, settling back onto her mat. "Why were you in here last night?"
He fiddled with the wrapper of his protein bar before responding. "Liam and Gemma. It's not easy being in love, apparently." He shook his head dramatically. "It's also not easy being around two people who shouldn't be in love. Luckily, I got away and managed to make it to the weight room, where I stayed talking to Selene on the phone, until I heard someone come in. I thought it was my cousin, so I came downstairs. Then you showed up."
He posed that last bit almost as a question, and she knew he was wondering why she would leave the dance and come into the smelly boy's locker room. Prevaricating, she took a bite out of the protein bar, mulling over how to respond best. She figured the truth was easiest. He probably already had an idea. It had only taken him a few minutes to figure out her feelings for Matty that day at the party.
"Then I showed up. Because of Matty."
"Ah. Prince charming."
"Yeah. Only he had another damsel in distress to rescue."
Ups! Tento obrázek porušuje naše pokyny k obsahu. Před publikováním ho, prosím, buď odstraň, nebo nahraď jiným.
"You don't need rescuing."
She had to smile at that. He had no clue. No idea. He didn't know anything about her, but how she longed to believe him. Wanted to feel his empty and unaware words, to live them and become them. But she couldn't. She didn't want to be a victim, but what other role could she play?
