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“Those two have the weirdest friendship I’ve ever witnessed,” Feely, who had come to stand beside us, stated when Claire and Gerard left the bar. “Like, ever,” he added with a small shake of his head. “It’s beyond strange.”

I wanted to respond to him, but my attention was riveted on the girl glaring at me. Surprisingly, I held my ground and eye contact, staring back at Bella Wilkinson with my head held high.

“Let’s go for a game of pool in the lounge,” Cormac said to the boy standing next to him. “I’m done with this shit.” Turning to Bella, he asked, “Are you coming?”

“No,” she replied, not taking her eyes off me.

“Bella, just leave it alone—”

“What are you looking at, foster baby?” she sneered, glaring at me.

“You better take that back, bitch,” Lizzie snarled, moving toward her.

“It’s okay, Liz.” Holding a hand up, I stopped my friend from pouncing, never once breaking eye contact with Bella. “Her words don’t hurt me.”

“You need to pack it in and leave her alone,” Cormac warned, glaring at his girlfriend. “I told you, Bel, I’m not going through this with you again. If you’re with me, you need to let this shit with her and Johnny go.”

“I bet you’re happy with yourself,” Bella hissed, inclining her chin toward the television screen, ignoring her boyfriend.

“I’m happy forhim,” I corrected, not backing down.

“You must give one hell of a blow job to get yourself and your band of bastard brothers shacked up in the Kavanagh house,” Bella continued. “Are you sucking his daddy off, too, foster baby?”

“Oh my god, you’re fucking obsessed with him!” Cormac said. Shaking his head, he grabbed his jacket off the bar and stood up. “I’m right here and you just…you don’t even see me! All you’re thinking about is him. I don’t know what else I can do—”

“Of course I see you,” she snapped, tearing her gaze off me to look at her boyfriend. “I’m with you, aren’t I?”

“Only because he’s withher,” Cormac shot back, eyes laced with pain. “They were all right about you, weren’t they? You don’t love me.”

“Now you’re just being a pussy,” she tossed back. “Man up.”

“I love you,” he told her, red-faced. “I honestly do, but I can’t keep doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“Being second best,” he growled. “I’m done with this shit, Bella. I’m done with being used. And I’m done withyou!”

“You’re not done with anything,” she shot back, laughing. “You’ll come crawling back.”

“I’m not cruel, Bella, and what you’re doing to her iscruel,” he told her, shaking. “What you’re doing to me is worse.” Swallowing, he added, “I’m not coming back this time… This time we’re done.”

“Then go,” she dared him.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Shoving past Feely, Cormac stalked out of the bar. “I’m already gone.”

The lack of feeling she had for her boyfriend was clear because when Cormac walked out of the bar, Bella didn’t even flinch. She just continued to spew venom at me, throwing cruel comments and words like bullets intended to hurt me, but she couldn’t do that anymore. Because I wasoverher. I was honest to god over Bella Wilkinson and every other mean girl that had targeted me from the age of three to now. What I’d endured this past year—burying my parents, losing my home, almost losing my brother to drugs, almost losing mylife—had changed me. I was different now, stronger, and she couldn’t hurt me because I refused to hand that kind of power over to her or anyone else.

All the fear? I pushed it off my shoulders like a blanket, letting it fall away from my body as I channeled the strength Iknewwas inside of me. There would always be another Bella, but just like my counselor had told me, there wouldn’t be anotherme, and that was my strength, my special power. I would never be a rocket scientist or a world-class rugby player, but Iwasa survivor, and a damn good one at that. So with my head held high, I looked her straight in the eyes and gave her something she would never ask for and probably never deserve. “I forgive you for what you did to me that day.” She could keep her anger and cling to her grudge, but that didn’t mean I had to. “And I hope you find some peace.” With that, I turned around and walked back to my friends.

“Whoa,” Lizzie mused, sinking down on the booth opposite my chair. “I don’t know if you should be slapped for not giving that bitch what she deserved or sainted for taking the high road.”

“Sainted,” Feely offered, sliding into the booth alongside her. “Definitely sainted.”

“Guys,” I mumbled, blushing. “It’s no big deal.”

“You are the definition of kill them with kindness and bury them with a smile,” Feely told me.

“Screw the high road,” Lizzie tossed out. “I would have kicked her ass.”

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