I Love You Just the Way You Are (Book 1- Rock Canyon Series)

Chapter 23 - Maddie

Chapter 23 - Maddie

When I was a little girl I used to watch my dad play old Super Nintendo RPGs. It would take weeks just to finish one. Mom thought I was nuts for enjoying even the parts where dad would spend hours "grinding levels," or fighting enemies over and over again to earn experience points to get through a tough boss.

But I loved everything about the experience: the art, the music, and especially the tough challenges that needed to be overcome so that a small group of teens with cool hair could save the world.

My favorite part though? The moment just after the final boss was beaten. I wouldn't be able to move as I read the text of the characters as they wrapped up their journeys. If anyone spoke during these primitive cutscenes I'd flip out. There was something about going through the most excruciating challenges and beating them, that even at that age, enraptured me.

Afterward, I would close my eyes and imagine myself there with my favorite characters, trying to get closer to their world and feel what they were feeling.

I tilted my head, trying to shake the daydreams away. I focused on the Python script on the monitor in front of me, remembering the last time I had felt something close to this. I looked around the room at the rows of computers and the kids staring half-interested and I could have sworn that none of it was real.

I wasn't supposed to be in computer science right now. I was supposed to be wherever he was, seeing whatever he was seeing, touching whatever he was touching, feeling whatever he was feeling.

His eyes held mine in my thoughts. I couldn't escape it. Didn't want to.

In the hallway after class, I looked for him but felt ridiculous, knowing that the principal wouldn't just release him after what he did to that kid.

The clouds dissipated, and I rushed with a silent scream back to the ground. I started to panic, thinking about what would happen to him. Would they suspend him? Or worse?

By the end of the final period, my hands were shaking as I walked to the bus. I needed to know what happened to him before I completely lost my mind.

Charlotte sensed my apprehension on the bus. She grabbed my hands as soon as she sat next to me.

"Hey, what's wrong? Is everything okay? Were you bullied again?" she asked, eyes frantic.

"Yeah! I mean no, I mean... I don't know!" I threw my hands up quickly and watched them crash awkwardly in my lap. "I'm worried about Kellan. What do you think happened to him?"

Charlotte's hands moved to her heart as relief flooded her face. "Aw, this is so cute! You finally admit to yourself that you like him, and that he is serious!"

I hand shrugged. "Do I have a choice? He just defended me in front of a good chunk of the school. And I don't want to run from it anymore. I just want to know if he's okay." I bounced in little jerky movements, unable to calm down.

"Aw, it's going to be okay! Why don't you skate over to his house and knock on his door? It'll probably make his life."

I glanced at her sideways and bit my lip. Could I really do that? Just go knock on his door? After everything I put him through?

"I guess that's one option... do you have any others?" My eyebrows arched in a nervous smile.

"Wait, hold on a second. Lemme get this straight. Maddie, Ms. Cocky herself, is now suddenly too shy to go knock on a boy's door that she wasn't scared to tell off multiple times? In front of our parents no less?"

I swatted at her shoulder weakly. "It's different. This is... new. I don't know how to do this. I don't know what to say." I fidgeted with my thumb ring and noticed that we were almost to our bus stop. I had wished for this moment all day and now I was terrified.