"Don't make promises you can't keep."
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Noah Reed is lost. Fed up with his constant attitude and need for self-destruction, his mother sends him to live out the rest of the year with his father in hop...
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Since I've been suspended, I've found myself spending an increasing amount of time at my father's repair shop, working on the Ford that I still haven't managed to get running.
Tinkering on the truck gives me something to focus on during the day, so I don't mind. I hadn't realized what a big aspect school was on my life until I'm no longer allowed to go. The days pass slowly and are rather boring, especially considering the punishment my father decided upon was a week without my phone.
My thoughts drift to my mother, realizing it's been a few days since I last called her. I miss my mom more than I'd like to admit. I feel shitty, like I've taken her for granted. I don't think I understood all that my mother has sacrificed for me up until now, forced to look back on the past and see everything she's done for me.
My thoughts shift again, and I'm suddenly hit with an image of Blake. I haven't seen her in a few days, though thinking of the look on her face the last time I'd seen her, I'd say I most likely won't be seeing her again any time soon.
Thinking about her leads me to remember what Mason said to me about how guys like me don't end up with girls like Blake Rhodes in the schoolyard before we fought. Mulling this over, a voice in my head captures my attention.
If there was a chance you could end up with Blake Rhodes, I find myself thinking, would you not be irrevocably in love with everything about her? Would be not cherish every undeniably perfect thing about her? You're not even with her—you've only kissed her once—and you already love her like that.
The realization gives me a start. Did I just say I'm in love with Blake Rhodes?
That can't be. How can I claim to be in love with someone and not even know what love is?
Noah Reed, I think to myself, you are in deep shit.
At that moment, I hear the sound of tires crunching gravel. I remove myself from my thoughts and curiously step toward the garage door. It's late and it's already gotten dark outside, so it's just me here. Or, at least, it had been just me.
I watch as the car door of a silver Acura is thrown open and out emerges Blake, as if my thoughts have conjured her. I stiffen at the sight of her, drinking her in, eyes roaming over her small frame.
Blake approaches me with purpose, fire dancing in her brown-eyed gaze. I notice the way her features are pinched. She looks mad.
"Noah Reed!" Blake cries, crossing the threshold from grass to garage, walking up to me. "What is wrong with you? You've been ignoring all of my calls and texts, and I haven't seen you in days! You just . . . disappeared on me!"
I clear my throat before mumbling, "I, uh, got my phone taken. You know, because I got suspended."
"How could you, Noah?" Blake questions. "I specifically told you not to go after Mason, and you went behind my back! What were you thinking, getting into a fight on school property? Did you think that—"
