Page 12 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

She let out a barking laugh. “Come on, Aria. I like you and you’re super hot, but I can’t just go giving away my secrets like that.”

I held up my hands in surrender, laughing as I did so. “You’re right. Sorry about that.”

“One last thing,” she pointed across the room to where a massive, golden trophy was situated in the middle of a trophy case, towering over the others around it. “I’m the reigning champ. If you want to take me down, you’re gonna have to bring your A-game.”

As a highly competitive person, I burned with a desire to do just that. “You’re on.”

A loud bang and scatter of papers preceded a man stumbling into the room. He had hair that had been dyed black, but the blond roots were showing through at the crest of his head. Arden sat up, wincing. “Ugh. I’ll have to get your notes later. This is our fearless leader.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

She walked over to the door and started helping him pick up the papers. Out of impulse, both for wanting to help, and not liking the mess, I started picking papers up as well. Arden collected the papers I stacked up and handed them to the man. “Forgot how to walk?”

“Ha ha,” the man grumbled back. “Lay off me. I got a whole new class of freshmen today. It’s not easy.” His eyes scanned over and landed on me. “Oh. Hello.”

“Hi,” I said, holding out my hand. “I’m Aria. I’m a senior that just transferred here this year.”

“Ah.” He took my hand and gave me such a vigorous shake that I nearly fell over. “I’m Beck Hanson.” I opened my mouth and he cut me off. “Ahhh, yes. Stop it. Don’t ask. I am notthatBeck. He spells his last name with an e, I spell mine with an o. Why do you think I dye my hair black?”

“Was your mom a fan?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I have never asked that question because I don’t want to know. Anyway, just call me Beck.”

“You got it.”

“Nice to meet you, Aria,” Beck said. “You’re here to join the debate team, I imagine.”

“Yeah. I participated at my last school, but it wasn’t a lucrative operation so we didn’t have a ton of opportunities there,” I explained.

Beck set his papers down on a small desk behind the podiums as he spoke. “I’ve been there before. Don’t worry. If you’ve got the drive to participate, we’ve always got an opening for the ambitious.”

That made me more excited than I could imagine. “Yes.”

“Okay!” he clapped his hands. “Come on up to the front rows, guys. We’re gonna hit the ground running this season.” Arden and I took a couple of seats near the front as everyone else in the room flooded into the front few rows of the audience section of the room. “Listen, I’m just as excited for a new season as all of you are, but we’re gonna have to catch up fast. I just got an email literally five minutes before I came in here that East End is hosting a tournament next weekend. New Year, New Meet.” Snickers and sputters erupted all around the room and Beck held up a hand. “I know. I know, but a tournament is a tournament. It’s going to be a lot of hard work, but if you guys are up for it, I’ll submit us for it.” There was no hesitation. The entire room responded with immediate affirmations and positive responses. “I knew you’d go for it. Let’s do it.”

My heart started beating faster immediately. I was so used to being the one working overtime and being the most ambitious. Everyone in the room was raising the bar, and it was unbelievably exciting.

Finally, I’d found my people.

For the first time in my entire life, I was actually a little disappointed to be leaving school. My classes all went so well, I reconnected with Tristan and it seemed like there could be a flame, and I was already making new friends in a new, electrifying debate club. It was unbelievable.

That said, I was glad to meet with Lucky and talk about how his first day without me there had gone. We met at a diner close to where I used to live that we used to frequent together. We exchanged hugs and cheery greetings while we were seated and ordered and then got into the nitty gritty.

“So. Did South fall apart without me?” I asked sarcastically.

“The whole school? No,” Lucky said. “Me. Definitely.”

“Aw. What happened?”

He just shook his head, his unkempt blond hair flopping around his head. “It was just a trainwreck. Even though we were both the target of the big bullies, it’s like, with you gone, everyone feels like they can do it. I was beating people off with a stick today.”

That broke my heart. It was similar to how things were with Tristan when we were kids. I could handle the pressure more, so I would defend him and keep kids away from him, and those who still couldn’t resist the urge to bully, would bully me instead, and I would take it and shield him from it. I didn’t even realize I was doing the same for Lucky.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “If I’d known…”

“No, hey, come on. Gives me a chance to figure out how to stand up for myself, huh? I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Lucky wasn’t an unattractive guy. In fact, if it weren’t for his association with me, he may have been able to sift himself more into the run-of-the-mill students, or maybe even aim for the top. He was a little under six feet tall, but had some bulk to him, and a nice face, the kind that you’d see in a magazine. His freckles were adorable and if he put some effort into styling his feathery hair, it’d be similar to the kind of hair that people paid thousands of dollars to get. Maybe it was hard at the outset, but without me around, maybe he could do a little better.

---