Page 38 of Never Say Never
“True.” I can’t disagree with that either.
“Obviously, he’s super good-looking too. It seemed like you guys were chatting a lot.” There’s a trace of curiosity in her voice. “Forget the article, are you sure there’s nothing there?”
I dart my eyes around the diner again, deciding we’re safe to keep talking. Still, I keep my voice low.
“I can’t deny he’s hot. He’s physically exactly my type.”
“Oh?” Her eyes widen slightly.
I pause, debating whether to go down this road in our conversation. Sarah’s boyfriend is a pro tennis player, so I’m not sure she’s going to understand my reasoning.
On the other hand, she’s one of a few friends I genuinely trust, and now that we’re teammates, she’s inevitably going to find out about my dating life.
“I haven’t told you this before, but yeah, I don’t date athletes.”
She crinkles her brow. “Why?”
I sigh. “It’s not a pretty story. In high school, I dated this guy on the men’s team for over two years, and from the outside it looked perfect. My parents loved him, he was the most popular guy at school, all of that.”
Sarah looks like she’s bracing for the “but” that’s coming. My own chest tightens at having to say the words out loud.
“It turns out he was sleeping with a cheerleader at the same time and saying horrible things behind my back.”
It was my cousin Wells who told me, and it was the worst conversation of my life.
“I’m so sorry Aves, but I can’t keep this from you. I heard Topher talking shit in the locker room today. About you…”
I freeze, paralyzed. Things have felt off, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.
“Tell me, I need to know.”
He looks pained. “He was calling you a cold bitch. And he…he said he’d been…hooking up Lisa White on the side for months. I’m so sorry, I fucking hate this.”
My heart and my body crumple as I slide down the wall by my locker. He doesn’t look done—I can tell Wells is holding stuff back, trying to protect me.
“What else?”
“He said he was only…sleeping with you because of Uncle Paul. To get closer to him.”
I’m going to throw up. We’d been having sex for over a year, and he was my first.
“Initially, I didn’t do anything because he’s so much bigger than me.”
I get it; Wells is only fifteen to Topher’s eighteen. Plus Topher is six foot six.
“But the last thing was the final straw. I told him to shut the fuck up and was ready to kick his ass before one of the other guys broke it up.”
The implications of what he just says clicks in.
“So other people heard? Everyone knows?” I say, my voice choked.
Wells looks heartbroken. “Yeah.”
And then I can’t hold it in. I start to cry, shaking with pain and embarrassment, right there in the hallway next to homeroom.
Sarah’s face falls when I reach the end of my story. “Oh, Avery, I’m so sorry. What an asshole.”
“It ruined my senior year.” I was so mortified I skipped almost every social event the rest of the year.
