Page 95 of I'm Gonna Get You Back
Shetsks, and I can picture her smiling eye roll.
I close my eyes, savoring the feel of her in my arms. “I stand by it.”
“Okay, RiRi.”
I laugh. It feels strange. And good. I don’t know what territory we’ve crossed into now, or even how we did it, but there’s an ease between us that hasn’t been there since last year.
Despite how good this feels, my knee is stiff and sore. I apologetically maneuver myself and stretch my arms high over my head. Cool air hits my stomach where my shirt rides up. Clara eases off me, her cheeks pink, which fills me with a feeling dangerously close to smug.
“Be right back.” She hops off the bed and uses the adjoining bathroom. Then I do, too. While I brush my teeth, I prepare myself for the inevitable. Clara will be sitting in the living room when I get out, ready to go. Ready to put distance between us again by pretending like this never even happened. Whatever it was.
But when I emerge, she’s settled back on the bed, sitting upright. Waiting for me instead of hiding from me.
“How’re you feeling? Did you sleep?” she asks.
I nod and perch beside her again, leaning back against the headboard.Best sleep I’ve had in months, I think ruefully. “Pretty sure you saved me with that water. I’m never drinking again.”
She tries to laugh, but it doesn’t quite get there. When she turns toward me, the sleeve of her shirt slips down her shoulder. I quickly flick my gaze upward to stare at the ceiling. If I keep looking at her rumpled in my bed I won’t be able to stop myself from crashing my lips to hers.
Which would be averybad idea.
“I heard something last night I need to ask you about,” she says, her tone turning the air serious.
Never good words in Woodhurst. “Okay…”
“Did you really try to give up your Legacy spot for me?”
My pulse picks up. It was never something I wanted her to know since it hadn’t worked. Which made no fucking sense. But there’s no point in lying to her about it now, so I nod.
Anyone else might hug me or cry. Instead, she smacks me, right in the chest.
“Ow.”
A shocked laugh escapes as I rub the spot. There’s the Clara I knew.
“How could you do that? I never wanted you to hold yourself back for me. Ever.”
I don’t like the way she says that. Like she’s someone who isn’t worth bending—even breaking—for.
“I also have my athletic scholarship; it would’ve been okay.”
She frowns. “That only covers part of your tuition. You told me that having both was a big help to your family. You deserve them. Why would you do that?”
I meet her gaze. “Because you deserved it, too.”
She’s so close I can see the flecks of gold in her green eyes. Emotions I could never name pass through them.
I look away first.
“It won’t matter much longer since I’m probably going to get kicked out anyway.”
Her gasp is loud in the quiet room. “Because you’re injured?”
“No,” I sigh. “Because I’m failing. I just found out I’m on academic probation.”
It’s a weird relief to finally say it out loud. But she doesn’t respond right away. In the silence, the sounds of the birds outside filter in as the mountain wakes up.
She shifts to lean back against the headboard beside me, her expression a bit stunned. “Then shouldn’t they give you a tutor or extra credit or something? I mean, they can’t justkick you out. You’re the state champion—”
