Page 79 of Turning the Tide

"Hanna, remember when you were sixteen, and you went to that pool party?"

"Ha, how could I forget? I was still chubby back then." I can still hear the chanting in my head, "Shamu. Shamu. Shamu."

He grins, "Remember Devin?"

"Yeah, the ring leader of the chants."

"He started that, not Annabeth. He didn't actually think you were fat. He was pissed that Annabeth dumped him for me."

"Wow, I always thought it was Annabeth."

"Nope, remember what happened the next week?"

"Yeah, Devin fell down the stairs after gym class, got himself that nice cast on his arm."

"Except he didn't."

I sit up a little straighter in the chair, "What! You did that to him?"

"Yep, and what about when Ciara Begley was bullying you every single day?"

"Yeah, she was awful."

"What happened to her?" He asks, my memory working on overdrive to remember.

"She moved?" I question, unable to remember precisely.

Adam grins a little bigger, "Nah, she was involved in an armed robbery in town. She was bragging about it after lunch one day, and that same evening I saw her tearing your notes out of your hand. I made an anonymous call to her parents, who shipped her off to boarding school."

My heart swells a little bigger, "You really did that?"

"I've always had your back, every single time. Even when it didn't seem like it, and I've got your back now."

He pulls me into a hug, one we haven't shared since we were kids, and for the first time since those two pink lines appeared, I think that maybe, just maybe, I'll be alright.

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