"Young love tends to be based on nothing but feelings. The couple has not yet faced and overcome a challenge or difficulty together. They are passionate about each other. They think about each other constantly and want to spend all their time"
Isaac...
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After a while in the hospital, I tried to find Angie again.
I needed to make sure she was okay, but she was nowhere to be found.
Ms. Ava looked stressed, shuffling through paperwork behind the counter. My dad had stepped away to take a call, leaving me standing there alone with her. I wanted to ask where Angie had gone — if she'd seen her leave — but I wasn't sure she even knew we were friends.
Were we even friends?
I spent the night with her, but Ms. Ava didn't know that. Nobody did.
Even when Angie and I talked, it felt like we were walking in circles. There was something there — I knew it, I felt it — but every time it got close to becoming real, she'd pull away. And maybe I did too. There were so many things in the way. Lydia missing. The pack drama. The unspoken rules of this town. Our parents.
I wondered what it would even look like if we made it official. Would I fit in with her friends? Would they care? Would they look at me the way people look at you once they know too much?
Would her mom hate me? Would my dad find out and make it worse?
It felt impossible.
"Penny for your thoughts, Isaac," Ms. Ava spoke up, setting a clipboard down on the counter, snapping me out of it.
"Oh — I was just...thinking about everything going on," I covered quickly, knowing I couldn't exactly tell her I'd been replaying the last time I'd been in her daughter's bed.
"I know it's a lot," she said, pulling a few papers into a stack. Then she hesitated, glancing over at me. "You doing okay though?"
"Yeah. I'm okay." I cleared my throat, feeling my stomach twist.
I'd almost forgotten — she knew about my dad. About the bruises. About the things people weren't supposed to see.
And what I didn't get... was why she hadn't told anyone.
"Why didn't you tell?" The words slipped out before I could stop them. "About... you know."
She paused, her gaze dropping to the counter for a second before meeting mine again. I regretted asking the second it left my mouth. It wasn't something you just asked. But she didn't seem angry.
"I never told anyone about my parents," she said quietly. "Only one person. The other figured it out on their own. But I trusted one person enough to say it out loud. Because when you don't — when it gets out — people start looking at you different. They treat you like you're breakable. Or they watch what they say around you like you're contagious. It's not fun."
