Cat & Drew's Whirlwind Adventure

28. Mistake & Consequence

Hard work isn't anything I'm afraid of, before last summer I would keep my plate full between academics, extracurriculars, and work—an hour here or there when I was only a freshman, up until I could legally work more without it being considered child labor. That was a different kind of work though, work that challenged my mind and my body, but not work that so much challenged my heart. That's the kind of work I'm doing now with the full support of Troy, and to a lesser extent my parents and his dad, who are full of love without any real knowledge of my situation. Even in the last couple weeks, after Troy convinced me to brave this new, unknown territory, there have been a thousand instances where I've wanted to give up.

But I won't.

I still hate having to face Chad at school, and deal with what he did to me, and I hate that even after all this time Cat and I haven't yet said two words to one another. Dad's still in the motel room, and I see no progress in them repairing their marriage, but at least with a little space things are starting to look more normal again. I can get out of bed easily enough, and my head isn't consumed by the dark fog all day. Troy's suspension was up this week, so he's back to school with me, and as of today I've served the last of my detentions. I'm determined now to keep my head down and do the work to get better, like, fully, no matter how hard it may be. Of course that's made easier in a lot of ways, like with the boy in the backwards hat I catch coming into his father's store.

"Finally, feels like I haven't seen you in forever! How's it going, handsome?" Troy makes a dramatic show of it, pacing up to the counter in confident strides before practically hoisting himself over it, relying heavily on his sinewy arms to lean in for a kiss. I oblige, as happy as ever to see him even though we've only been apart since lunch. "So I was thinking that after you get off work you can come back to my place for a movie, and maybe a light make out session? I can have my dad call your mom to get the okay seeing as they're such great friends now apparently."

"Please tell me I'm not the only one still weirded out by that," I joke lightheartedly, maintaining the routine I've gotten myself back into. If nothing else, I'm beginning to regain the same hope he has that I can make it out of this. Coach and my parents have never not been friends necessarily, but they all seem to have bonded over their mutual concern for me. Case in point, I'm fairly certain part of the reason Coach let up on being so strict with Troy's grounding the last few weeks is because my dad ended up making a call to him. As much as I hate being the talk of their little friend group, it did give me back Troy, so I guess I'm fine with it. I kiss the boy in question again. "He can call all he wants, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"She a hard sell? Dang, I respect that, but don't make me beg now, Summers. Come on," he teases, biting his bottom lip seductively.

"It's not so much that, as it is the surprise party she's roped me in to helping her plan for your birthday. I told her we would brainstorm tonight—or, rather, she volunteered me." I shrug, the implication of the spoiled surprise only dawning on me after the fact. I'm just so used to sharing everything with him. "Surprise, by the way."

"That's awful nice of her, but I think we've all had a few too many surprises this year, you should tell her not to bother."

"Good luck with that."

"Stubborn. Well, that settles where you get it from." Troy teases harder. It's been such a relief how normal he's allowed everything to be with us, no matter the nastiness of late, it really does make it easier for me to treat everything else like normal too. With his suspension and my detentions being over, I'm looking forward to the extra time we can go back to spending together now. While I consider that, he starts to lean in, as though he might kiss me for the third time in almost as many minutes. "I suppose a party's not the worst idea, I do like cake. And presents. Even if there is only one thing I want...."