Hearts and Thorns by Ella Fields

Author:Ella Fields [Fields, Ella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: novel
Publisher: Ella Fields
Published: 2019-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

So swing I did, but it was hard when the person who usually took control and called all the shots decided to leave the ball in a court that was dying without the nourishment it needed to thrive. To find strength and resilience.

Jackson didn’t seem to care. More parties and more sleepless nights, yet I kept calling, kept leaving messages to remind him that I was here, that I loved him, and that we were almost there.

Raindrops splattered onto my windshield as I found a parking spot on the outskirts of school. Reaching into the back seat, I grabbed my umbrella and hurried through the parking lot to the auditorium.

It was crowded, as predicted. Teachers, parents, friends, family, and students stuffing the interior to the point of needing to strip out of the blue cardigan I’d donned.

I didn’t. There wasn’t enough room to move, which was precisely why, regardless of the fact that Mom and Heath would be here, I’d decided to come.

They wouldn’t even know if I was careful.

“Sorry,” I muttered, slipping behind an elderly couple. The husband was taller than my five feet six by a full head of curly gray hair, and so I peeked between him and his shorter wife, watching as Principal Denham handed a student their diploma and shook their hand.

Once my breath had resettled in my lungs and my heart rate had resumed its normal rhythm, I smiled.

We were graduating.

Well, I was graduating next week, but still. We’d made it. We were getting away from the restrictions this town had strapped around us.

Ten minutes later, Jackson was striding up the steps and across the stage, accepting his ticket out of here with a small grin shaping his perfect lips.

My heart danced at the sight of him, danced and sang as he adjusted his cap and joined his peers at the side of the stage.

Then it darkened as Heath stood and his ear-piercing whistle sliced through the air and my chest.

A knot formed in my throat, and I looked down at my purple suede boots, willing the tears away. I hadn’t cried over them in months, and I’d be damned if I did now.

But it killed me, drowned something vital inside me, to know they wouldn’t show up to my graduation. That they would probably never clap at any success I’d found without them in my life.

When they neared the end of the alphabetized surnames, I dragged my numb feet outside and waited against the wall by the bike stands, ready to duck away if Heath and Mom exited before Jackson could.

Some type of quiet rebellion rose within as I stood there, the rain splattering the fabric of my umbrella and boots. What did I even care if they saw me? It wasn’t like I had anything to hide anymore. Anything to lose.

Besides Jackson.

But he would be leaving in a few months, and I was certain if they decided to punish him too severely, he would leave and stay with one of his friends.

I

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