Nico Vaughan, the junior class "Nice Girl" wants to be free from her abusive and obsessive ex-boyfriend.
Valen Henford, the school's resident "Rich Guy meets Bad Boy" wants to spend his senior year with the girl he's been in love with for years.
W...
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"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever." (Alfred Lord Tennyson).
|◁ II ▷|
A loud knock startles me from my homework, and I look up from the paper sitting on my bed to West who is standing in the doorway.
"Hey, dude," I chirp. "What's going on?"
West sighs and walks in, taking a seat on the edge of my bed.
"Hey!" I interject. "No, your butt is dirty. Get off."
"Nico," West whines. "I need to tell you something important."
That gets my attention. "Ah! Did you finally officially ask Judith to be your girlfriend?"
West frowns at me. "No, and it isn't good news, okay?"
I frown back. "Okay..."
"So, music practice ran late," West starts explaining. "I told Sam I'd meet him at the baseball field today and we could carpool to Walmart or something."
Oh, no.
West seems to notice my recognition. He winces. "Ah, so you knew."
"What happened?" I bit the inside of my cheek. "Did it go badly?"
West stares at me. "What's surprising me is that you thought it could go well."
"Well, Valen said he'd be calm and stuff," I defend. "So, it was a physical fight?"
West nods.
"So, Sam threw the first punch," I unwaveringly tell West. "Because Valen said he'd be calm and try not to get in a physical fight, which means he wouldn't throw the first punch."
West winces and runs the back of his neck. I feel my heart drop.
"What happened?" I ask again, much quieter this time.
"Sam said some horrible things about you, and he said some bad things about Valen," West explains calmly. "After saying something bad about you, Valen hit him. Sam won't be at our house or the lunch table anymore, so don't worry about him."
"Okay," I whisper.
West leans forward and presses a kiss to the top of my head. "Love you, Nico."
"Love you, too, West," I manage as he leaves my room.
I really didn't want Valen to start a physical fight. I'm pretty sure Valen knew that, too. And, he said he'd be calm.
