Page 51 of Kicking It with the Point Guard

“Violet…”

“Don’t,” she interrupts. “We both know who’s at fault here, and it’s neither one of us.”

She tries to push herself into a sitting position with her one good arm but quickly gives up, her face twisting in pain.

“Just come here,” she says through gritted teeth.

I scoot up the bed and get as close to her as I can without bumping her ribs.

She rests her good hand on my lap.

“Tell me what happened with Allyson.”

She deserves to know.

“When we were seniors in high school, Allyson and I dated. She was my first real girlfriend.”

Violet grabs my hand and squeezes, silently offering her support.

“We dated almost all the way through senior year. She kept pressuring me to go all the way, but I wasn’t ready. Finally, prom rolled around, and I finally gave in. We had sex.”

I look away, but continue, pushing through everything that’s been keeping me from reliving the memories that locked my feelings away in a vault I thought would never open again.

“We started doing it, but I quickly realized that it wasn’t what I wanted. But she wouldn’t quit. She just laughed at me and ridiculed me for ‘being a pussy.’ Her words. So I rode it out. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I found out she’d filmed the whole thing. She’d been showing her friends, and eventually, the video got leaked.”

Violet gasps, squeezing my hand harder.

“Her parents were livid, blaming me for everything. But she had already turned eighteen, and I was still seventeen. Plus, my parents weren’t around to stick up for me, and I couldn’t afford a lawyer. I didn’t want to burden Oscar’s family with any of this, so I told them if they got rid of the video, I wouldn’t go to the police. I’d keep quiet about the whole thing and forget it ever happened. Allyson and I broke up that day, and I’ve avoided her ever since.”

Tears are streaming down my face as I finish my story, and I look up to see matching ones on Violet’s face.

“I’m so sorry, Cameron. I’m so, so sorry.”

I rushed through it, desperate to get the whole thing out without shutting down. I’m tired of letting Allyson own me, and now that Violet knows, now that I’ve shared this burden that I’ve been carrying all these years, I feel free.

She pulls on my hand, and I shuffle closer until I’m leaning over her, bracing myself above her, extra aware of all her injuries.

She strokes my cheek with her good hand, and I lean down to brush a kiss against her temple.

“Oh, Cameron. You deserve so much better,” she says, her voice just a whisper.

“Don’t worry, Bumblebee Girl. I’ve found my better.” I smile at her.

Violet

The next time I see Allyson Hart, I’m going to bitch slap her into next Tuesday.

After Cameron told me about his past with that C-U-Next-Tuesday, I almost jumped out of my hospital bed. Not really. I probably would have passed out from dizziness and pain. But don’t think I didn’t want to do it.

I’ve never really felt enough rage to be literally shaking with it, but as soon as Cameron fell asleep, I let myself feel every negative emotion that’s been building up in me this semester.

I need to calm down. The nurse has already stopped by once to check on me when my heart monitor reported that my heart rate was elevating.

I stroke my fingers through the curls that I love so much and take as deep of a calming breath as I can with my ribs the way that they are.

After sharing a searing kiss that I will be thinking about until the next one, Cameron pulled one of the hospital chairs next to the bed and laid his head next to my hip on the bed. One hand is stretched to rest on my non-injured ankle and the other is folded under his head.

Mom and Dad come back, and after Mom glares at him for a solid five minutes and he still doesn’t wake up, they pull two of the remaining chairs in the room closer to the bed, and we chat softly.

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