Page 40 of Pride High

“Ow!” they both said simultaneously while pulling away.

Omar was covering his mouth while looking mortified. Silvia rubbed a front tooth with her finger, willing the pain to go away, which it did soon enough.

“I’m so sorry,” Omar stammered. “IknewI was going to mess it up. Fuck! The truth is, I’ve never kissed anyone before.”

“Me neither,” she admitted.

“Really?” He looked adorably relieved. “Thank god! That was so embarrassing.”

“For us both,” she said. “I think it was my fault.”

“Maybe we both messed up,” Omar said. “Why don’t they teach this sort of thing in school?”

She laughed. “I can think of a few reasons.”

“Yeah,” Omar said with a chuckle. “I guess so.”

“That was a terrible first kiss.”

“It really was.”

She smiled at him demurely. “Do you want to try again?”

“Yeah!” He guffawed before clearing his throat. “Definitely. Maybe this time…”

He put a hand on her cheek.

“Here,” she said, grabbing one of his shoulders. “If we go in a little slower…”

“How do people get their lips lined up?” Omar murmured.

As soon as their faces drew near, they both laughed and had to pull away. They had a few false starts like this, but finally, he managed to find her lips and she was more careful about howshe kissed him back. And it felt nice. Still a little unusual, but she was starting to see why people enjoyed it so much.

“We’ve definitely gotta do that again sometime,” he breathed. “The entire night.”

“That’s a long time to kiss someone,” she replied.

“No,” he said with a chuckle. “I want another night like this with you. All of it. Can I get your phone number?”

“Just call me here,” she said, hoping it wouldn’t ruin the moment. “There’s not enough privacy at home.”

“Okay.” Omar took a deep breath. “I’ll see you at school on Monday.”

“Yeah,” she said, briefly biting her bottom lip. “I’ll see you around.”

She watched him swagger over to his skateboard, which slipped out from under his foot and nearly made him fall, but he winked like it was intentional. Judging from how smoothly he glided around on it, Omar was probably clowning around for her benefit. He skated in loops while she got on her bike, and when she started to ride, he followed her down the street.

“I live in this direction,” he kept saying, even when it became increasingly unlikely. “I really do!”

“Go home, Omar,” she said while laughing.

He grinned at her one last time before turning and skating in the other direction. Silvia considered following him, just for the hell of it. Then she thought about how excited Mindy would be to hear about all of this, because she’d done it. Silvia had finally kissed someone!

CHAPTER 12

September 21st, 1992

“Jesus Christ! What the hell happened to your fingernails?”

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