Speak Now

Chapter 5: Senior citizens are groovy

"As part of the healing process, change your perception of yourself from “victim” to that of “advocate” and “survivor."

Don Easton, Angel in the Full Moon (A Jack Taggart Mystery #3)

♤♤♤

A few days after out first hangout, Kayla and I race down my street.
I wear purple skates which clash with my yellow Taylor Swift tshirt but I'm laughing too much to care.

Kayla whizzes by me on her skateboard, her pink hair flying behind her.

"I'm gonna win,loser." Kayla shouts, as she turns to stick out her tongue at me. I grin, and skate faster, her challenge gripping me tight as I find myself determined to reach the lamp post first.

"Someone's delirious," I shout back, and take the lead. Exhilaration threatens to consume me, as I breathe harder and faster.

I look back once to see Kayla stretching out her arms. Before I can dodge her, she grips my shirt and we go teetering over the pavement, laughing wildly as we fall on the sidewalk.

"Cheater," I tell Kayla between rapid breaths, but she's too busy clutching her stomach and giggling.

"Kayla! Maddie!"

Adrian jogs past the lamp post and heads our way. My breathe catches in my throat, as he shoots me a crazed grin. His shirt is wet with sweat, and he wipes his forehead with his arm.

He doesn't lack anything in the looks department, I think secretly.

He's pretty hot.

"Hey" Kayla says,"What're you doing here?"

Adrian stops to glance at us,"You don't remember?"

Kayla and I share a grin,"No"

He rolls his eyes,"C'mon"

"We know it's your birthday Ad" I say, smiling,"You've been shouting about it for two weeks."

"And a football match," he reminds us.

Adrain made the football team last week, and so he barely sat with us during lunch before his teammates swerved him over to their table.

I sigh, as I think of the crowd assembled on the benches, as everyone shouts snd hollers.

"It's not my cup of tea," I inform him,"I'm not a people person, remember?"

Adrain rolls his eyes,"You're coming okay?" He touches my arm and goosebumps begin to creep up both my arms.

And it's TOTALLY not because I like him. I'm just not used to guys touching me.

Kayla shoots me a grin,"Well, I have to go and uh...feed my cat."
Before I can point out that she doesn't HAVE a cat, she rolls away on her skateboard, before winking at me.

For a while me and Adrain sit on the sidewalk,  listening to dogs barking in the distance while I watch the laces on my skates. I fiddle with them.

"So," he says, "Are you up for dinner with me?"
His tone is too casual to be casual and I wince.

For days, Adrain has been trying to get me alone. But I've never been with a boy alone, and so I continued to avoid him until now.

Kayla says I'm too shy for my own good, and that I was pushing Adrian away. Truth is, despite my friends' constant teasing and my denial, I really like Adrain.

But he deserves someone better. A girl who isn't afraid to speak her mind. A girl who, unlike me, isn't haunted by her bloody past.

"Maddie?"