Page 37 of Feeding Hope
“I know,” she murmured.
She tried to turn her face from me, so I recaptured her attention by cupping the side of her face in my hand, preventing her from turning away.
Gathering my courage, I asked a girl out for the very first time. “Will you go with me to the Snow Ball?”
Happiness sparked in her eyes at my question, but it quickly disappeared.
“You said you already had a date.”
“I just told Natasha that so I didn’t have to be cruel when I told her no.”
She smiled sadly. “Thank you for asking me, Jesse, but you don’t have to ask me to save face with Natasha.”
What the hell? Saving face was the last thing on my mind. “That’s not why I asked you. I like you, Lyrical,” I admitted. “I have since I first saw you, and when we worked on our project for English, I only liked you more.”
She turned her head away to glance at her apartment building. “We don’t belong together, Jesse.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
“People will be upset. I’m not the sort of person you should be with.”
“The sort of person I should be with? You mean someone kind? Someone smart? Lyrical, you’re the type of person I want to know better. You are everything that’s good. You’re so damn pretty, it makes my heart hurt.”
Her pupils flared, then the light in them died completely. She wanted to believe me, but over the years, people’s words and actions had damaged her belief in herself.
“Don’t play dumb, Jesse.” Tears threatened to fall. “Everyone knows rich boys don’t date poor girls, not unless they’re at a kegger and looking for someone easy.”
Anger welled up inside me. “Did someone do that to you? Some boy use you like that?”
“No,” she admitted. Her spine straightened, and she pushed the tears back. “I don’t go to parties, but I hear other girls like me talking.”
“Any guy who does that isn’t worth any girl’s time.”
Reaching out, I gently tugged on her hand to get her to look at me. She glanced down at our connected hands, as though she doubted I had touched her, yet she avoided my gaze.
“I really want to take you to the dance. You deserve to go as much as anyone else. If you don’t go with me, I don’t plan to go at all.”
“I’ve never even been on a date,” she whispered. “No one’s ever asked me out.”
My heart expanded. It seemed crazy that my classmates were this stupid, but I wasn’t dwelling on it. To be her first date made me feel like a superhero.
“Well, that makes two of us.”
Her head whipped up, and her expression was so surprised that her mouth opened. It was cute how no sound came out.
“I’ve never asked a girl out before, so no dates for me either,” I admitted.
“That’s impossible.”
Chuckling, I shook my head. “Never met a girl I thought was worth the time. Until now.”
Stars in her eyes was a phrase I’d heard, but never really understood. Now I did. Hers sparkled for several seconds, then once again, the light went out, and she stared at where our hands clung to each other.
“I can’t, Jesse. I’d love to say yes, but…” She bit her lip.
“Why can’t you say yes?”
She glanced at the apartment building again for a minute. “You see where I live. We use the food bank to make sure we eat. My boots have holes in them, but I wear them anyway because I can’t afford a new pair. Even if I could, I’d have to buy them from a thrift store.”
