Unexpected Attraction. Stella MacLean
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Название: Unexpected Attraction
Автор: Stella MacLean
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
isbn: 9781474068369
isbn:
“Mom, please stay out of this.”
“You need to come home.” She grabbed Shannon’s arm.
“Stop.” Shannon pulled her arm away.
“Let me talk to her for a minute,” Kyle said, barely above a whisper.
“Why?” Andrea demanded.
“Because I need to tell her something.”
What was going on with these two? Andrea glanced between the two teenagers. They were totally focused on each other. “Okay, you’ve got five minutes, and then Shannon’s coming with me, whether she likes it or not.”
* * *
SHANNON TOOK KYLE’S hand then followed him to a quiet corner with two empty seats.
“Hey, what’s all this about?” Kyle asked. “You’re leaving without talking to me? I thought we had a deal, that we’d stick together and figure out what to do. Did your dad really call?”
“No. I had a fight with Chloe. I can’t believe she’s defending Stuart when she saw what he did yesterday. She won’t tell people what he did to me, how he bullied you and me. And after what he did last night—” Reliving those awful minutes made Shannon shake. She rested her hand on her knee and winced at the sudden pain. She’d been awake most of the night with pain, had heard her mom talking to Gina and she was so sorry for all the worry her mother was going through because of her. “I’m afraid of what will happen. I can’t tell Mom because she’ll be so upset. I don’t know what else to do. Going to Dad’s will give me a chance to think things through.”
“Why did you bother calling Chloe?” Kyle asked.
“She’s my best friend. I needed to—” She pressed her fists into her forehead. “I am so angry with her. I just needed to get away. I have that ticket Dad sent me, so...” She shrugged.
“Your mom didn’t know about that ticket.”
“No, she didn’t. You told her?”
“Mr. Polegato said I needed to help with anything I knew. Your mom really cares,” Kyle offered, taking her hand again.
“So that’s how she ended up here. You told her,” she said, hurt that Kyle did it.
“I had to. I don’t want you to go. You need to face these bullies. You can’t run away and ruin your school year, miss out on volleyball and all your friends.”
Shannon wanted to believe him. But if her mother found out that she was gay, that her perfect daughter wanted to come out, to speak up at school...who knew what she’d do? She loved her mother, but she couldn’t face her anger. Not until she figured out how she could deal with everything that was going wrong in her life. Her dad’s place would give her a little time and space to consider her options. She hadn’t told him anything, but she was sure he’d understand when she did. “I know... I’m sorry. I called my dad. He’ll be waiting for me. I can’t let him down.”
“What about your mother?”
Shannon knew only too well that her mother would be really upset with her over going to her dad’s. But she was so tired of her parents not getting along. Did they know that she needed both of them? If only they’d try a little harder to be friendly with each other, things would be better.
“Mom? She grounded me like I’m some little kid. Besides, she made it clear she doesn’t trust me, or you, for that matter. I could tell by the look on her face last night that she didn’t believe our story about me falling.”
“What can I say to convince you to stay?” Kyle asked. “How can I help you when you’re half a continent away?”
Shannon sighed and closed her eyes. “You’ve already helped me so much. I’m so thankful you were with me when Stuart pushed me. If you hadn’t been there I would have been seriously hurt.” She hugged him close, wanting to remember this moment. What she couldn’t tell him or anyone else was that if things worked out with her dad, she planned to move to Phoenix, start over and find her place in the world. Being gay wasn’t a crime; it was simply the way things were. She couldn’t go on denying it.
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