Page 10 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

We started off from her locker arm-in-arm, but it didn’t take me long to notice people watching us. Students whispered to one another and pointed, and I knew it was probably just a matter of time before one of my friends showed up. I remembered their ridicule from lunch and Hannah’s attempts to keep me from embarrassing myself and knew I had to get my arm released from Aria’s somehow. I waited until we’d taken a few more steps, then unlooped my arm from hers to fish my hand into my pocket for my phone. Her smile faded a little, but not totally, and I was just hoping she couldn’t see that I was trying to distance myself a little.

“Do you normally have football everyday after school?” she asked finally.

“Mondays through Thursdays,” I responded. “Fridays are typically game days, and if they aren’t, we get the day off. Coach is strict about making sure we have time to take care of ourselves and our studies too, so she makes sure we have a good balance.”

“Are you planning on trying to get a scholarship?”

I smiled a bit wider then, even puffing out my chest a little bit. “Yeah. I’ve already had a couple of recruiters talk to me and Coach says this year will be instrumental in getting me out there. I was featured on ESPN’s high school and college channel last year. She really thinks I won’t have a problem getting noticed.”

“That’s awesome,” Aria said.

“What about you?” I asked. “Any post-high school plans?”

She wrinkled up her nose. “Honestly, I think I’m going to end up taking a few years off. Don’t get me wrong, academics are my thing. I really wanna get my degree in social work so I can keep moving up at the homeless shelter, but I’m looking forward to getting away from all the politics of being in a public education institution.”

I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”

She gave something between a scoff and a snort. “Well, I know you’re super popular and hot and all that, so your experience is probably not so bad, but here at the bottom of the food chain, things are a little different. I’ve been bullied, called every name in the book. Hell, my mom thought we had to completely move out of our city for me to be free of the torment. Maybe I’ll do online school or something. I just don’t think I can jump right into more of the same, especially not mixing in people who can legally drink.”

So Aria’s experience had been the same at her old school as Ceradi and the rest of my friends were already trying to make it here. That killed me. If she knew that I even tacitly agreed with anything they said, she’d probably never talk to me again. It was honestly something I just didn’t understand. From being a victim to now being friends with the people who do it, bullying didn’t benefit anyone. Why was it so necessary to break others down just to feel powerful? What was the point?

“Honestly,” Aria continued. “I’m a little surprised you’re friends with those kids. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging, and I don’t even really know them, maybe they’re great. It just seems like they’re not all that far from the kids who gave you that scar ten years ago.”

My pec throbbed a little as if to remind me. I had a permanent scar from my shoulder to my ribcage where a kid had broken the skin pretty badly when he and some others were whipping me with sticks. Simply because my mom had lost it and been in the news, they felt that gave them the right to both verbally and physically abuse me, and while they were turning me into a human pinata, one particularly sharp stick caused permanent damage.

“They’re not so bad,” I said, and the words felt problematic coming out.

We turned down the wing of all the club rooms and came to a stop in front of the door to the debate club. I relaxed a little bit, knowing none of my friends would be anywhere around. “So… uh. Could I call you tonight maybe?”

Aria looked up into my eyes and my stomach did a backflip. “Yeah. I’d like that. I’m having dinner with a friend after this, but I should be home by 7 or so.”

“Okay. Then I will call you around 7 or so.” I opened my arms and Aria walked into my embrace. I wrapped my arms around her and it felt amazing just to be holding her close. “Have a good meeting.”

“Thank you.” When she pulled back, our eyes met, and sparks of electricity flew between us. Finally, she turned, saying “I gotta go, or I won’t go.” Then walked into the debate room.

It was like I was a guy in a romance movie. My heart was fluttering and my whole body was riding a high I never knew was possible. Eight years we hadn’t seen each other, but it didn’t seem to matter.

“Why are you doing this?” I turned and came face-to-face with Hannah, looking concerned. “Tristan. This is a mistake.”

4

Aria

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t stumble into the debate room after my playful flirting with Tristan. It was crazy to me still that after all of this time, we’d reunited, and it was even more incredible that apparently we were hitting it off. If someone had told me a year ago that I’d have my arm looped through the arm of an unbelievably gorgeous guy, whose personality gelled with my own like we belonged together, and seemed just as interested in me as I was in him, I’d have told them to fuck off. Tristan was the exact kind of guy I’d avoid in the past, now I was looking forward to our planned phone call.

Way to go, Aria.

I shook my head, pushing the thoughts of Tristan away for the time being. I’d been looking forward to getting my hands on the rich school’s debate club since I first found out my mom was transferring me. It was the one thing that I felt was going to salvage an otherwise horrible situation, and even though the school swap itself was turning out okay, I was still anxious to see what the debate club had to offer.

Boy were my expectationswaytoo low.

Here I thought the thing I’d be most astounded by was the fact that it had a dedicated room as opposed to being shoved in an unused English classroom. Not only was that the case, but it was a true, actual debate hall. At the front of the room were two tall wooden podiums raised slightly off the floor on a platform with stairs leading up both sides. Slots on each side of the podium would hold either paper notes or a tablet for electronic notes, and small microphones jutted up from the center of the podium for the debaters.

Facing these podiums, towards the center of the room, was a legitimate judge’s table along with clocks for keeping time and scoring stations. Behind those were rows of college-style seats with the side desks that could be pulled up for writing on, or tucked away if they weren’t needed. The wall opposite the podiums had what appeared to be a smart board for any kind of use both for the club itself or the specific debaters.

From the number of kids gathered around, I could tell the club supported both solo debaters and teams. I’d never had a team opportunity in the past before, mainly because so few kids participated in the debate club to begin with. Maybe there’d be a chance to do some duo tournaments now that I was there.

It was incredible.

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