Love & Resistance by Kara H.L. Chen
Author:Kara H.L. Chen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-07-04T00:00:00+00:00
Twenty-Four
Winter Break, Broken
Griff followed me out.
It didnât matter. I knew exactly what was going to happen because this was exactly what had happened at my old schools, before I had implemented my isolationist policies. I opened my mouth and blurted out some things. People got uncomfortable. And then the invitations stopped coming.
It was the natural order of things, like the summer follows the spring, or the promises that my dad made were inevitably broken.
Griff put a gentle hand around my wrist. âHey,â he said. âWhy are you in such a hurry?â
âIââ I said. âDo you believe what Peter was saying back there? So the VIPs are secretly, what? Kind-hearted saints or something?â
Griff tilted his head. âThat wasnât what he was saying.â
âThatâs what it sounded like to me.â
I donât know why I was trying to pick a fight with Griff, one of the few people who had ever wanted to be my friend. But I had been at the bottom; I had been tormented while the Lake View sheeple stood and watched. No one helped me. They just let it happen.
âPeter is just saying sometimes itâs not simple,â Griff said.
âDo you think so? Really?â
Griffâs hand was still around my wrist, his fingers in a loose circle. âI donât know.â
I wouldnât know why he would, after what had happened to him at his last school.
âBut,â he said, âit might be something to consider. For both of us.â
âWhy do you want to spend time with me?â I should just know now. Get it over with. âIf Peterâs right, and Iâm so condescending and reductive?â
âHe didnât say you were condescending and reductive. He said your comments were,â Griff said. âThereâs a difference.â
Was there? I didnât think so.
âOne is something that youâve said. The other is who you are,â Griff said. âHeâs not saying that youâre a terrible person. Heâs just disagreeing with you.â
That distinction had never occurred to me. Maybe because no one had ever made the effortâor had the patienceâto point it out before.
Griff slid his hand around mine. âCome next week. Only once. Weâre on break, so we have plenty of time.â
I remembered the other boys I had known, at my other schools. Luke-from-the-bookstore had invited me to a basketball game. I had been excitedâI thought it might be my first actual dateâbut when I mentioned I didnât like basketball and wanted to do something else, he just took someone else. He didnât ask me again. And that was that.
âIâll pass,â I said.
Griff didnât look mad, like Iâd expected. And he didnât pull his hand from mine. âThatâs fine. But I might ask you again.â
âIâll still say no.â
âOkay.â
But I knew it wasnât. It never was.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
This One's for You by Kate Sweeney(477)
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood(476)
Firebug by Marianne Mitchell(440)
Teenagers and Parents by Roger McIntire(336)
The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera(329)
The Outsider by Galia Ryan(315)
Heartstopper #1: A Graphic Novel by Alice Oseman(303)
Land and Overland - Omnibus by Bob Shaw(296)
Secondary Characters by Rachel Schieffelbein(261)
Lockdown by Augusta Li(255)
Heartstopper: Volume 3: A Graphic Novel (Heartstopper #3) by Alice Oseman(246)
Kerstcadeaus by Sophie Kinsella(238)
Alex Rider 02: Gemini-Project: Alex Riders zweiter Fall by Anthony Horowitz(237)
Heartstopper: Volume 4: A Graphic Novel by Alice Oseman(237)
Het recht om te zwijgen by Michael Connelly(233)
Sanctuary(232)
Breaking Laura by J. A. Bailey(207)
Sometimes a Helix is a Circle by Michael Thomas(204)
Echo by Katherine MaClean(195)