Page 163 of Redeeming Heart

Bat for the opposite team? What was she implying?

Clarissa must have realized what she just said because she suddenly didn’t look thrilled.

“Are you saying you are into girls?” I showed no judgment because there was no judgment to give.

I sensed she was unsure about confessing her true feelings and I didn’t blame her because the world has reached a disastrous cliff where they shared their criticism in a pretty low manner of ways.

“That’s why you broke things off with Brandon…” I noted when everything started to make sense and how they can be friends without having any tension between them.

She shook her head. “He found out threw my sister,” She confessed. “But we weren’t dating at that stage,”

She gave an amused chuckle. “We never dated,”

Huh?

“Brandon was friends with Daphne long before he met me, they were scheduled together on a group project and he came over one night to work on it with my sister and that’s how we met.” She started to explain.

“I was bullied for being into girls instead of boys,”

I felt infuriated at the people who would bully a person with different views than them.

“Brandon being the nice guy, offered to help me out by having us pretend to be a couple until the bullies stopped harassing me.” She confessed.

“To have people convinced that I wasn’t lesbian we had to spend significant time together and through spending time together we learned a lot about each other. Like finding out about his crush on a certain, badass hockey player.”

“You knew all this time,” I noted.

She nodded.

“I ended the relationship because I felt for keeping him away from the girl he was interested in and it was my time to let out the truth about who I truly am without being ashamed.”

“Only, you never did,” I observed.

She shook her head. “I was afraid about getting kicked off the team because I like girls.”

“We will never do that to you,” I informed her.

“Just like you, Sash. I am afraid of judgment and criticism. Especially being an athlete. You know how tough people can be on us who are different.”

“Screw them. Screw everybody. Your happiness matters. They are just a bunch of critics who have nothing better to do.”

She chuckled and nodded her head. “Thank you, Sasha.”

“Hey,” I rested my hand on her shoulder. “That’s what friends and teammates are for. We are one big ass family and we should trust one another.”

She lowered her eyes and nodded. “I just enjoyed being part of your team so much that I didn’t want to lose my only chance.”

“You would have never,” I reassured her because I am not a person to judge someone.

“And if anyone else even thought about kicking you off the team or had a nasty remark to deliver—I would have kicked them off or punched in their nose for being an idiot.”

She chuckled and hugged me.

“Let’s help Brandon’s mom clean up so we can go home,” I said with a smile picking up plates and taking them to the back.

“Sash…” I turned around at Clarissa saying my name.

“Brandon has met your mom before she passed away. We both did.” She came over closing the gap.

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