Second Chances: Stargirl

Chapter 25

Henry King Jr. was currently walking through the halls of Blue Valley High, feeling even more dejected than usual, since not only had his father fallen into a coma following a car accident last night, but his girlfriend Cindy Burman had ghosted him when he needed her. Not that he really felt sad about that last part, since he'd never really felt anything for Cindy anyways, but he could still use her support during this time, since he'd already lost his mom when he was a kid and now he might lose his dad.

"Henry." He heard a voice he never thought would say his name in a tone other than angry again and he turned to see Courtney walk up to him.

"You here to yell at me again?" Henry asked, not in the mood for Courtney to yell at him again, especially now.

"No, I'm here to offer my condolences over what happened to your dad." Courtney said, though she was deliberately not mentioning that she was the one responsible for his coma.

"Wow, I honestly thought that you'd be telling me I deserved it." Henry said.

"No matter how angry I might've been at you before, no one deserves to lose their father, especially since I've had to grow up without mine." Courtney said.

"Thanks Courtney. And for what it's worth, I am sorry about what happened with Yolanda." Henry said.

"We know that wasn't your fault. It was Cindy and you just took the fall." Courtney said.

"She told you that?" Henry asked, shocked.

"More or less. But I think that Yolanda has calmed down enough to maybe consider giving you a chance to be friends again, just don't blow it." Courtney said.

"As long as you promise not to hurt her." Henry said, shocking Courtney.

"What are you talking about?" Courtney asked.

"You think I don't know how you feel about Yolanda? I've known since sixth grade, so why aren't you two together now, since I would've thought that the one good thing about what happened is that now you know you can ask Yolanda out." Henry asked her.

"Trust me, I want to, but she's not ready for that. Even though she was outed, it was against her will." Courtney said.

"How bad was her reaction?" Henry asked, even though he knew that it would only make him feel worse.

"She cried for a week after her biggest secret was revealed to everyone and her whole family rejected her. Thank god my mom and stepdad were more than happy to take her in and that we have plenty of room for her." Courtney said.

"And it definitely makes it easier for you to get a shot with her." Henry said and Courtney playfully smacked his arm.

"Very funny. I don't want her to think that she has to go out with me just because she's living with my family and she'll get kicked out if she says no." Courtney said.

"I think it's been long enough that she wouldn't worry about that. Besides, the homecoming dance is coming up and since I'm obviously not going to be taking her anymore, why don't you?" Henry asked and Courtney smiled.

"Are you just trying to make up for being a huge jerk or because you genuinely care?" Courtney asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Why can't it be both?" Henry asked and Courtney smiled.

"I'll think about it. But now we'd better get to class before you do something that destroys any chance of us forgiving you." Courtney said and Henry nodded as he followed her to class, neither of them aware that Yolanda had overheard their conversation and she was now smiling as she began to come up with a plan about what she'd just heard.