Page 74 of Follow My Voice
Something inside me snaps, the image of Adrian’s wounded expression stuck in my mind. I look down at my hand entwined with Yana’s.
Don’t let fear of death stop you from living life.
For some reason the words on Dario’s tombstone suddenly come to me. Fear has been a constant in my life; it has bested me so many times, but I have gotten up, dusted myself off, and carried on. And thanks to so many moments of vulnerability, so many defeats, so many triumphs over fear, I have a newfound understanding of what my own strength is and how much more it could one day be.
What better moment than the present to put that strength to the test.
I press my lips together and I pull my arm away from her.
Yana turns to me. “What are you doing? Come on, Klara,” she says.
The image of my mother’s smiling face fills my mind and I feel her gentle caress on my cheek, giving me the courage I need. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Yana is shocked and speechless, but she eventually recovers. “Oh, don’t act all brave now,” she hisses. “You know, I did somedigging, asked around. It would be so easy for me to go downstairs right now and tell everyone at this party your pathetic story.”
Adrian is still behind me, watching us.
“Do it.”
Again, she’s momentarily speechless. “What?”
“Do it. Go tell everyone my story if you want to. I’m not ashamed,” I say, and either because of the adrenaline or how fed up I am in this moment, that’s true. “I’m just like everybody else. The only difference is that my wounds are visible, while most people’s are hidden. I’m not afraid of you, Yana, and that strips you of any power you may have had over me.”
“You aresogoing to regret this.”
“I don’t think so. I may be thin, I may not have long, lavish hair, I may be fragile and weak, but I’ve overcome things much worse than anything you could possibly do to me,” I say, turning my back on her.
Yana scoffs and storms down the staircase, back toward the party.
I stop beside Adrian and smile. “I’ve been secretly hoping you and Ben were an item—you look really cute together.”
Adrian looks down nervously, avoiding eye contact with me.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “Take your time, but when you’re ready to be yourself openly, for the world—or at least Durham—to see, I’m sure you’ll have a lot of people cheering you on, including myself. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Adrian. Who you are, who you like, what you’ve been through, is never anything to be ashamed of.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“You got this.”
I’m about to walk away when he pulls me into a big hug. “Thank you, Klara.”
I squeeze him tightly and, as he returns to the party, I walk back to the balcony—back to the guy who, more than being my crush,has been my friend. I can’t repress the huge smile on my face. Now that I’ve put Yana in her place, my fear of her, her clique, and that anonymous account has completely vanished.
Every defeat is a step toward victory.
You’re always right, Mom, even in death.
32Confuse Me
IT’S AMAZING HOWmuch you can learn about a person by exchanging simple questions back and forth. I find out that although Kang loves pop and rock music, his favorite genre is movie soundtracks, especially instrumental scores. His passion for singing was born from making up his own words to the music he loved.
We sit on the bench under the covered part of the balcony. The snow is falling a little faster and the view is perfect. We’re facing each other, our knees almost touching; it feels very natural and comfortable.
“Your turn to ask a question.”
Kang hesitates for a second. His beautiful black eyes dance around, as if doubting whether to say what’s on his mind.
“Kang?”
