See Me

Chapter Twenty Two

Our teacher attempts to quiet everyone down, but it isn't working. All eyes are on me, and as soon as the bell rings, I dash out the door.

The text reads, Blast From the Past.

"Queen Bitch, Madison Carliel, and Class A Jackass, Daniel Sanders, gang up to harass victim, Sierra Welsh.

Daniel, after tricking Sierra into falling in love with him, stole her virginity and humiliated her in front of all her peers at a huge party at Madison's house. The real question - Liam Jesop, what say you now?"

I feel tears streaming down my face, because Joey and Laya had gone against me, and I have a sick feeling that this will only make things worse for me and Liam.

I run out into the parking lot, searching, searching, until my eyes land on Joey, rushing towards me.

I kick him in the shin.

"What the fuck Joey! You said you wouldn't! I hate you! I fucking hate you, you asshole! You ruined everything! You just had to include the video too, right? So that everyone would know how shitty I am in bed, and at kissing, and as a girl! You just had to make my living hell an even worse nightmare, didn't you! You're no fucking better than the rest of them and-"

I am screaming and crying and I collapse to the floor. I know people are watching, know I am drawing more attention to myself, but what does it matter? Everyone already knows my biggest secret, my darkest shame, and I can't take anything back.

Joey crouches beside me. "Get away from me," I say, lamely. "I fucking hate you."

"Sierra," he says quietly, "Look."

And for some reason, I do. And what I see is... startling.

The attention isn't focused on me anymore, it's focused on Liam, who is beating the shit out of Daniel.

I zero in on them, listening to him yelling.

"This," he says, kneeing him in the gut, "is for breaking my girlfriends heart. This," he says with a punch to the jaw, "is for taking her virginity, and this," a kick to the side once he is has fallen to the ground, "is for scarring her permanently."

"Liam!" I scream, as he is about to deliver a kick to the head. He stops and turns to me. I shakily stand up and walk to him confidently. More confidently than I feel, incidentally.

"Stop now, okay? He learned his lesson."

"CC -" he starts, and just the sound of my nickname sends my heart racing.

"Beating the shit out him will feel good right now, but it won't fix anything. What's done is done, there's no point acting on it now. Please."

He sighs and warily takes a step towards me. Then another, and another, until we are almost touching, but not quite.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly. "For the things I said at the party, for the way I acted. For," he cringes, "kissing Madison. I should have let you explain."

I shrug, even though everything he did made me feel like someone was individually breaking each rib inside me.

"I wouldn't have explained it, even if you had given me the chance. Telling you about all this, about all the fucked up stuff that happened would have just been too painful."

"I'm sorry," he whispers sadly, "I wish I could have saved you when it happened two years ago."

I give him a small smile and take one step closer so we are chest to chest. I wrap my arms around his waist and press a kiss to the center of his chest.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that you stood up for me now. You stood up for me as soon as you had the chance."

And then, in front of practically the entire school that has gathered around us, he kisses me, fingers on the sides of my face, fingertips tucked into my hair. He draws me closer, and I am thrilled, and overjoyed and a million other adjectives that won't fit in this sentence.

It isn't a sloppy kiss, like the one with Madison and Joey. It is the kind of heart stoping kiss that every girl dreams of. The kind of kiss you want to see in public.

The kind of kiss that tells you everything is going to be okay.