*Book one in the Again series*
After a heated argument lands him in the spare bedroom of his grandparents' rancher, late bloomer Leon Snyder finds his love life heating up after multiple unsuccessful run-ins with a mysterious girl. Despite his faile...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"What is it?" Katie asks, her eyes darting between each of mine, then all over my face, searching for answers.
"On our blind date," I begin, trailing off as the memory of our brief conversation about Peyton surfaces, "you asked about mine and Peyton's history."
"I remember," she says, nodding. "You brushed it off and said it was in the past."
"Right." My gaze shifts from hers to the ceiling, then back to her. I take Katie's hand, giving it a gentle tug before guiding her to take a seat at the kitchen table.
She sinks into the wooden chair, holding on to my hand atop the table. "This is bad, isn't it? That's why you had me sit down?"
I nod my head with reluctance, watching her concern grow with each passing second. Taking a deep breath, I begin telling a chapter from my life's story, a chapter I'd hoped I wouldn't ever have to read again. "As a kid, I was bullied by Peyton for being the smallest kid in class. And if all he'd done was spit out some hurtful words, I wouldn't bother telling you this, but unfortunately, that's not the case.
"In the beginning, that's all it was: words of torment. It hurt, yeah, but I learned to ignore him. And that's when the physical assaults started." Katie remains quiet and watchful, so I continue, "It was little shit at first, like bumping into me in the halls or pulling my chair out from underneath me before I sat down. Then, one day, completely out of the blue, he'd gotten me alone and cornered me. He shoved me into the lockers"—I tilt my head back and point at the scar on my chin—"and busted my chin open. I fell to the ground after that. My head and chin were pounding from the impact, and he used my vulnerability to his advantage and started wailing away; kicking and punching me, throwing books at me, grabbing me by my hair, and slamming my head down on the linoleum. I tried like hell to defend myself, and when I finally got the upper hand and almost got away, I'd collapsed from all the blows to my head. That's when he climbed on top of me and wrapped his hands around my throat.
"I thought I was going to die that day," I tell her, my voice cracking and eyes watering up. Through the blur of my tears, I could see Katie's eyes were also full of tears. "I think I would've had it not been for Matt. He'd sensed something wasn't right and asked for a Hall Pass to use the bathroom. When he'd found me, he pulled the fire alarm to get help—which wasn't exactly legal, but he didn't care. He pulled the damn thing then snuck behind Peyton and tried pulling him off of me while our classmates and teachers evacuated the school. Thankfully teachers saw us and intervened before it was too late."
"How badly were you hurt?" Katie's voice and body tremble as she speaks. "Did Matt get in trouble for pulling the alarm?"
"I had some broken ribs and had to get my chin stitched up," I reply. "And believe it or not, he only got detention. After the authorities and higher-ups at the school learned what happened, they realized he'd only done it to call for help while he was helping me."
