The Dating Class

42 // The Minor Confession

HANNAH // DECEMBER 2

I saw Ben and Delilah talking very animatedly near the lockers. Ben's back was too me, but from the looks on Delilah's face, I could tell this was not a good talk. The angel on my shoulder told me to stay away but the devil on my other shoulder was whispering for me to eavesdrop.

The devil won and I wished I had listened to the angel.

Ben turned around after Delilah left to see me standing there with tears streaming down my face. The Popular Girl is never supposed to cry in school. Ever.

"How much did you hear?" he asked with a sigh, taking a step towards me, and I wasn't sure if I wanted his arms around me or not.

"Enough," I choked back a sob.

His hand landed on my upper arm and at that moment, all I wanted to do was collapse into him, but instead, I wrenched my arm out of his grip and stormed down the hall and out the front doors. To my surprise, Ben followed.

"Hannah!" he called out.

"What? Was I just another girl for you to fuck? Was it your mission to get me to like you just so you could break my heart?"

"In the beginning, I was supposed to get you to like me and then break your heart. Yeah. But then—"

"Then what?" I threw my hands up into the air.

"Then I fell for you," Ben shouted at me. "I told Delilah I was done with her little game so long ago. I came here today to get her to stop, but she didn't sound like she had any intentions of doing that any time soon."

"So all those rumors that were going around, Delilah sent them in to RA Knows and you were okay with that?" I angrily wiped some tears that were making their way down my cheeks.

"I was okay with the rumors until Delilah wanted to start one that I knew would actually hurt you," Ben put his hands on his head, like he didn't know what to do. "I was okay with the rumors because I knew you could handle them. I knew that you didn't let them get to you. But the next rumor Delilah was going to leak wouldn't have been fair to you and you didn't deserve this." Ben shook my head.

"What was the rumor?" I whispered and Ben walked over to me.

"She was going to tell RA Knows that your parents were dead." He cringed, taking my hand. "She still might... I'm not sure what Delilah is going to do anymore..."

"Oh..." I trailed off.

"Hannah?" he asked me, and I looked up at him. "Getting paired up with you in Mr. Hart's class was one of the best things that could have happened to me," he said. "So thanks, and I'm sorry I almost ruined your life," he told me awkwardly before letting my hand go. "I still wanna be with you, Hannah. You make me feel..." he trailed off searching for the right word. "You make me feel," he repeated, but this time with more assurance.

I made him feel.

Then he walked away, but I didn't want him to walk away.

I took a few ragged breaths of cold, icy air and made up my mind.

"Ben," I called out and he turned around, waiting for me. I ran to catch up with him and flung myself into his arms. He caught me effortlessly. "I wanna be with you too," I told him before crashing my lips onto his. With my legs wrapped around his waist and my arms around his neck, I was content.