Page 49 of You Belong With Me

“I’m glad we cleared that up,” he murmured. And I worried again for a second, sure that he was going to step away and tell me that it was over now. That he took back everything he’d said in the car and we were just friends. But as if he could read my mind, he ran a finger over my cheek and said, “But just to make sure we’re on the same page… I’m going to kiss you again.”

And he did. Again and again. And I knew, right then and there, that this boy in my arms was my forever. He belonged with me.

epilogue

I stoodbetween the wall and the ajar door of the women’s locker room as I watched the crowd fill in to the pool stands. I was bouncing on the balls of my feet, feeling more nervous than I had at any swim meet before and searching the crowd for the faces I was worried wouldn’t show up.

And when I did find them, I was almost sure I’d imagined them.

My parents were sitting in the second row of the stands and sitting as upright as always, but instead of wearing their classic business attire, they were dressed in… T-shirts. Not just any T-shirts but Parkhurst Prep shirts, probably bought straight from the school store.

Never once in my life had I seen my mother wear a not-plain shirt, and certainly not something with a name all the way across the chest like that. I openly gaped at them, wondering for a moment if my parents had been replaced by aliens.

“What are we looking at?” a peppy voice asked in my ear.

I almost screamed from surprise and I let go of the door so quickly that it slammed against the side of my face before I could move out of the way. When I turned around, Clementine and Ainsley were right behind me—the former with a smirk on her face and the latter looking concerned. Ainsley elbowed Clementine subtly like she was telling her off for scaring me then looked at me apologetically.

“Nothing,” I sighed, pressing my back against the door. I was wearing sweats over my swim suit for now, but the cool metal handle was pressed against the bare skin of my back where theswim suit had a cutout and it made me realize just how flushed I was. Was it normal to be so flustered at the sight of my parents showing up at a swim meet in regular clothes? I’d ask my friends, but since I knew how Mrs. Novak treated her kids and I’d seen Clementine’s mother enough times to know my mother would hate her, I had a feeling they would both look at me like I was insane.

After the conversation with my mom a couple of weeks ago, things had been changing in my house. They were small changes, but after years of my home life getting continuously worse, it was very obvious to me when it was getting better. My mom had taken up asking me how my day was and actually waiting around for an answer that was longer than justgood. My parents were still fighting but they weren’t doing it nearly as much, or at least not when I was home anymore. And today, when I left for school, Mom not only hugged me, but said that she would be proud no matter how I performed in the swim meet. I was relieved that something came out of the conversation, because I’d been worried everything would go back tousual the next day, but I was also feeling really unsettled by it all. I guess it took time to be able to appreciate the good things without feeling like it was all just utterly bizarre and like it could end at any moment.

I was worried Clementine was going to push me about what I’d been looking at, and I would have to somehow explain to her that the sight of my parents in T-shirts had gotten me thinking about potential alien abductions—that would explain my mom hugging me this morning too, because seriously that sounded more likely than her listening to something I had to say and actually changing her actions based on it—but she just grabbed my wrist and tugged me deeper into the locker room again.

“Uh, Clementine?” I asked as she pulled me past the rest of the team, who were chatting and getting ready. I thought she might have wanted me back for the pre-meet hype-up time, but she blew past them without a second glance. “Where are we going?”

Clementine just glanced back at me briefly with a smirk before turning her sights forward again without responding. I looked at Ainsley quizzically, hoping she might have an explanation for whatever was going on, but she just smiled as well. She didn’t look quite as scheming as Clementine, but it was obvious they were in on something together.

Our flip-flops all smacked against the tile floor of the hallway out of the locker room and the chatter of the rest of our team fell away. I shivered as we reached the regular hallway and lost the humidity that came in from the pool.

“Seriously, Clem,” I said as we stepped out. The tile underfoot turned to the rough black mats set up in thehallway so the floors wouldn’t get wet from everyone walking out of the pool. “What?—”

And then for the second time in five minutes, I screamed as I felt someone come up behind me. But instead of a voice, it was arms wrapping around my waist. I clearly had no defensive skills, though, because instead of trying to elbow my assailant in the face or break free of the hold, I spun around to see…

My boyfriend.

Sebastian smiled at me, the wide and imperfect smile that only his true friends got to see. I squealed and kissed him happily. His brown hair was all mussed and he was dressed in his soccer uniform, which was quickly becoming my favorite look on him.

We’d barely gotten to see each other today since our schedules hadn’t lined up. We’d driven to school together, but Ainsley and Imogen had caught a ride with us, complaining that now that Dean and Lavender could be open about their relationship, they were “even more nauseating” than me and Sebastian, which gave us zero alone time.

When we got to school, I tried pretending I lost something in the glove box so I had an excuse to stay back in the car with Sebastian after the twins left, but Ainsley pulled a total Victorian act on us, saying she didn’t trust me to be alone with her brother. I probably would have been more annoyed about it if I didn’t know that it came from a place of her wanting to make sure that she didn’t lose me as a friend. I was just grateful she was okay with it at all because I’d been scared she would think I only befriended her to get to her brother, so I was doingeverything I could to show her that she and I were friends regardless.

After getting out of the car, Sebastian and I seemed to be constantly missing each other because of our teachers letting us out late and him needing to make up a test at lunch. He wasn’t even supposed to be here right now because?—

I pushed him away with a gasp. “But you have an away game! You’re supposed to be?—”

“On the bus right now?” he asked in his smooth voice. “Yes, and if you find my body on the side of the road somewhere tonight, I can tell you right now the killer will be my coach. But I couldn’t help myself—I had to see you before the meet.”

He kissed me again and even though I knew I should be telling him to go, I found myself melting into his kiss. There was something about him that did that to me—made me forget the world around us and any issues we might have because all that mattered was him.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough!” an adult voice came from down the hall. I pulled back hesitantly, not wanting to step back but knowing not to ignore a teacher. And I was glad I did because the person who had spoken was my coach.

I flushed and stepped back, toying with the drawstring of my sweats. Luckily, she didn’t seem too mad, but maybe that was just the Sebastian Novak effect. He smiled brilliantly at her and said in his perfect accent, “I’m so sorry for interrupting ma’am. I just had to wish the girls good luck.”

“He’s her good luck charm!” Clementine piped up from behind us, and I flushed evendeeper.

Coach watched him for a moment then nodded, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“I believe your coaches are looking for you,” she told him. “I suggest you get out of here before they find out where you are. The last I saw, they were in the foyer.”

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