Page 32 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

girl and a plain bagel with

strawberry cream cheese.

Omg!I swear, I’m not

lying. That’s exactly what I

was planning to get.

No way!

It’s a match-a made in

heaven! ;)

With Arden having my back,I no longer felt like I needed to fake sick. I climbed out of bed and started to get ready, excited to get to my new friend and forge a new path through this high school that didn’t involve Tristan at all.

After snickering as I opened my locker, I loaded my things in and started to pull out the things I would need for my first few classes. A few people were keeping a close gaze on me, for a reason I didn’t quite understand until I closed my locker door. Tristan was standing there waiting. He had a pair of purple tulips wrapped up in some tissue paper, and it irritated me that he remembered both my favorite color and my favorite flower.

I looked between them and him a few times before completely turning my back on him and walking away. I half expected him to not even know that I was upset, but Taylor must have told him. Whatever the case, it didn’t matter much to me. Nothing good would come from looking at his face or giving him any sort of sympathy, so I tried my best to walk away.

But he was a little more persistent.

“Aria,” he called out, running up until he could cut in front of me. He held out the flowers and looked at me like a puppy that had just been scolded for getting in the trash. “These are for you.”

“I don’t want them. Move,” I growled.

He slumped a little bit. “Aria, I’m sorry. I never should have said that stuff. I didn’t even mean it, I just got caught up in the moment.”

“Somehow that makes it worse,” I said. “Apology not accepted.” Then I walked around him and tried to keep going, but he reached out and grabbed my arm. I whipped back towards him, looking up into his truly anguished gaze, and feeling my heart crack a little bit. “Let me go. You don’t get to look at me like that after what you said. You mocked my gift. You mocked my weight. Do you have any idea how it feels to be made fun of like that?”

“I do, remember?” he said.

“Yeah, I remember standing up for you. Thanks a lot for doing the same for me.” I tried to pull my arm back, but Tristan held on tight. “Stop. Let me go.”

“Aria, I know you felt the same stuff that I felt back at my house. I don’t care what other people think. I like you. I’m sorry, I fell into a bad habit. Let me make it up to you.”

It would have been helpful if he wasn’t so gorgeous, or if my body wasn’t warming at the memory of his hands on me. I stared into his eyes and could see how genuine he was. If he was under pressure to present himself in a certain way, I could see him giving into that pressure. Maybe if he could change going forward it would be okay.

“If we’re going to do this,” I said, bringing a little light to Tristan’s eyes, “we can’t—”

“Tris?” Without even seeing who had called his name, Tristan let go of me and jumped backwards like I was a boogeyman. I looked over and saw some of Tristan’s friends standing off to the side, looking in our direction. It must have been Hannah who beckoned to him, because she pressed on saying, “Let’s go so we aren’t late.”

He backstepped, almost immediately about to follow them, but then hesitated and looked at me with desperation. He was begging me for permission to go.

And he would get it.

“Don’t let me hold you up,” I hissed. “This is proof positive that nothing good can come from being with you.”

“Aria…” Tristan said.

I shook my head. “Don’t say my name. In fact, don’t speak to me again.”

12

Tristan

For a year that I thought was going to bring a big and exciting change to my life, by the end of the first month I was toeing the line just like any other year.

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