Page 25 of What If We Break?
As I sat in the locker room, cooling my knee from falling onto it ten minutes prior, I grabbed my phone to check if Reece texted me.
He had to stay longer for hockey practice, and hepromised to text me once he was on his way home, but even at eight PM, there wasn’t a single text from him. He wanted to call Anthony Gillis today, but I suppose that was a task for tomorrow, then.
Since I was already checking my notifications, I saw that Rina had sent a few messages a couple of hours ago.
Rina
I just overheard Ms. Dubois and Mrs. Kent talk about you
Well, Ms. Dubois was talking about you, Mrs. Kent was just listening
B, that woman HATES you
Great… like I didn’t already know she couldn’t stand me.
Me
What did she say?
Rina
You finally done with skating?
Welcome back to earth, my dearest friend!
She was saying how your posture is off all the time and that she can’t see how you’ll make it past Junior year
Me
It’s September… the year literally just started?
Rina
Right?
She thinks you’re the worst dancer in class and she might send your parents a letter to inform them about your “awful dancing”
Me
What is this, High School?
Rina
Apparently
A knock appeared on the door, and a moment later, Dad came walking inside holding two hot chocolates in his hands. Almost immediately, I felt the corners of my lips lift into a smile.
“Been a while,” I said when he handed me my drink.
“I know, I’m sorry.” He set his drink down on the bench beside me, then kneeled before me and pulled my foot onto his knee to check on mine. He removed the ice pack and after a moment of inspection, he said, “That doesn’t look good.”
Dad added a bit of pressure on the sides of my knee. It wasn’t even a lot and yet pain shot through my entire leg, making me wince.
“I can’t believe he purposefully dropped me,” I muttered. I just knew he did it on purpose. “Erik’s mad at me.”
“I got the sense he might be, but that’s no excuse to hurt you.” Dad laid my leg back down on the bench, grasped his hot chocolate, and took a seat across from me.
“He wants me to break up with Reece.” I instantly felt lighter finally telling him about it. “We did break up… for like a whole day before my birthday.”
