"Sometimes love is not enough."
With a complicated relationship with her mother, a loud household, an unrequited love and a scholarship to get, Iris Kingston thinks she already has enough on her plate.
But life has a wicked sense of humor, doesn'...
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After the weekend, I wassitting again in my English class. We were due to read To Kill A Mockingbird by HarperLee, and as the book addict that I was, what began as reading a chapter endedin binge reading for hours, despite it not being my ultimate book genre.
Or maybe I did binge read it to avoid thinking about the fact that my friends went to enjoy themselves at a party while I was stuck in a dinner with our new neighbors and their jerk of a son on friday night? maybe...
I noticed Chris stealing glaces my way, I avoided looking in his direction because I wasn't sure my breakfast would stay in my stomach if I see one of his face smacking grins again. I had to talk to him after class, partly because I was tired of avoiding hallways and being teased by my friends, but the real reason was I was afraid he actually had false hopes and I am not the kind of person to leave him with an untrue fantasy just to enjoy the attention. When the bell rang, I slowly put the books in my backpack, waiting for the class to be empty, he seemed to be doing the same.
In the hall, I faced him, determined, I took a breath, then opened my mouth: "Chris, listen."
"Listen Iris."
We let out nervous laughs simultaneously.
"You go first." He averted his eyes scratching his neck. "No you first." I mentioned for him to talk.
"I know I have been a total jerk with you back in freshman year, it was pathetic what I did, really." Another nervous laugh. "Honestly, I fell so quickly for you it scared out the shit out of me no matter how cliche that sounds and the fact that I began to think about commitement at such a young age made it worse, because after my father left me and my mom those kind of thoughts never even crossed my mind." He paused then said: "It doesn't really matter, and it's not an excuse to treat you the way I did." I was about to interrupt but he held out a hand and continued: "I was so hurt when you left and I drank a lot after that in parties, I went for drugs too. I tried to move on and see other girls but I couldn't, which explains the phone calls, I don't really remember what I said in them, and I was so ashamed I realised I should just leave you alone. I was wrecking my life at sixteen so mum made me change school. Oh man that opening up shit is hard." he murmured "But you know this year I wanted to act like nothing happened and I'm sorry for coming off as a jerk because to be honest I still don't know how to act around you. And man I really don't want you to hate me or avoid me." He stopped breathless after his long speech, his eyes were so raw with emotions I panicked.
