Remember When **Under MAJOR Editing**

Chapter 7

"Mya."

"I'm up!" I sat straighter on whatever I'd slumped against. It had a bottom and a high back, so it must be a sofa. Whose sofa? I hoped no one had seen me fall asleep in public. I was captain of the swim team, a school leader. I couldn't go around falling asleep just anywhere. And I wasn't drunk. I never lost control that way, ever.
"You had a wreck." It took me a second to place the smooth voice: Dade. His voice had the slightest edge, like he'd seen the wreck happen and was a little freaked out but was trying to remain calm."You need to get out of the car."

Issuing commands was not Dade's usual style. Getting pissed when other people issued commands, yes. Issuing them himself, no. Now he was telling me what to do, and it scared me.

I was in the driver's seat. I slid toward his voice on the passenger side. He was lying on the ground and leaning through the doorway, half in and half out of the car. Headlights from outside blanked his face like an overexposed photo in shades of white. His hair hung black over his forehead, and his shadowed eyes were two black sockets. Something must be horribly wrong.
"I totaled my Bug," I wailed.
"Yes, you did," he said grimly.
"Did I total your Jeep?"
"Get out of the car." He nodded toward the empty space beside him in the doorway. "Get out of the car now, Mya."

I slid farther toward him. When I reached the passenger side, the dashboard leaned so far forward that it blocked my way. To get by, I had to draw my legs up onto the seat. Then I slid them beside Dade on the ground and stood up.

And fell down, splatting into mud.
"That's what I was afraid of," Dade called from several feet away. "You can't stand up?"
"I can stand up," I protested. It was better to lie down, though. I just wished the headlights from the car I'd hit weren't so bright, streaming into my eyes.

Long blades of grass glowed green around us, and white raindrops streaked down on us. Beyond the small circle where we lay, the night was black, and I couldn't see.

I felt him crawling beside me until his face was even with mine. He rose above me. His arm circled me, warm after the cool wet grass. He hoisted me upward and groaned.
"I am not fat," I said.
"Of course you're not fat." Now he sounded like he was talking with his teeth clenched.

"Zack told me I look like I've gained weight since the summer." He hadn't meant it as an insult. He was just kidding around, flirting with me. I'd actually lost weight since the competitive swim season began. But since Zack had texted that message to me on Tuesday, I'd skipped breakfast, just to make sure.

"Zack," grunted Dade as he took a big step and slung me forward. "Can." He took another step and groaned again. "Kiss. My. Broken. Ass." He let me slip through his arms to the ground, and he collapsed beside me.
From this distance, through the bright raindrops in the dark night, I could see the two cars kissing each other with steam rising from their lips. My Bug and definitely not Dade's Jeep. "Whose car?"

"Mike's Miata."
"Mike Abrams ?" I'd wrecked the whole swim team.
"He's not hurt, but he's stuck inside. He's calling 911. We'll get help soon. Don't worry."
I hadn't been worried. But now that he brought it up, the gravity of the situation sank in. It was night. It was raining. We'd crashed head-on. And Dade must be hurt, or he wouldn't be lying down in the grass in a rainstorm. "Dade, I'm so sorry."
"Sorry! It's not your fault. Don't you remember what happened? You and Mike both swerved to keep from hitting a deer in the road."
No, I didn't remember the deer. "Is the deer okay?"
"Fuck the deer. Hush now." Gently he drew me to him and pressed down on the back of my neck until I lay my head on his chest.

It was totally innocent. Dade was comforting me after we'd been in a wreck together. Zack still would not approve. But I couldn't do anything about it because I felt dizzy. My hands found Dade's T-shirt, and I gripped fistfuls of fabric to keep from falling off the edge of the earth. I nuzzled his warm chest. He smelled faintly of chlorine.
He stroked my hair, which had fallen free of the bun I'd knotted. He stroked from the roots all the way past my shoulders to the ends, firmly, with both hands, in a way I hadn't even known I'd ached for Zack to touch me. Lightning flashed, thunder rolled, and the dull roar of rain grew louder.