"Dude, your friends are really cool." I smile at Nina as the music fades out. "I love that they know nothing about me." I say.

"Right?" She nods, swallowing her food.

"So, is Garett coming?" I ask her.

"Uh, no, he had a thing. Um..so what do you think of Damon? He's been checking you out all afternoon." Nina asks and I turn my head to see him smiling at me. "And the boy can move. He's the best hurdler at Washington." Nina says.

"Washington? That's, like, our rival." I say.

"Yeah. And he's cute, right?" She says and I turn my head to see him looking at me again.

"Yeah." I casually nod.

"Hmm." Nina says with a grin.

"I don't know. I mean...I don't think I know how to flirt anymore." I tell her.

"There's only one way to find out." She says to me and I raise my eyebrows at her. "You feel me?" Nina says and we both laugh.

                                        ||

"I gotta admit something. Every time you've smiled, I forgot where I was cause I get so caught up in it." Damon says and we both laugh.

"Wow, that's...the nicest thing anyone's said to me in a really long time." I say and he smiles.

"Yeah?" He nods and I nod back.

I then lean in and kiss him. He puts his hands on my waist and I hear oohs from my friends, so I hold up the middle finger. I then hear the car honk and I pull away.

"Shit. I'm sorry, I have to go." I tell Damon as I stand up and slip my bag over my shoulder. "I'll see you later, Nina." I say as I keep walking.

"Can I get your number, or..." Damon trails off as I open the car door and take a seat next to my dad.

"The hell you doing with that boy?" My dad asks me through gritted teeth.

"Dad, relax, please." I say.

"How can I? Help me understand, Stephanie. Help me understand how, after everything, how you put yourself out there like that?" My dad says.

"I don't know, dad." I huff, crossing my arms and he sighs.

"I'm just worried about you. About these new friends of yours, this Nina girl." He says and I turn to him in shock. "Are they the best influence for you right now?" He asks.

"What? Why? Because they're black?" I blurt out to him.

"Is that a serious question? Have you looked at me lately." He says and we both start laughing. "Really?" He chuckles and I laugh again.

"Oh, my god." I say, my laughter dying down. "I don't know, dad. It was like it wasn't me up there. I thought I was ready, but...clearly I'm not. I just...I don't wanna make a big deal out of it. I'm just trying to figure everything out, okay?" I say to him.

"Okay. Okay." He nods at me.

"And can we please not tell mom?" I say as he starts the car.

"Oh...you better believe." My dad says and we both laugh as he starts driving off.

                                        ||

"Hey, little sis." Hunter says, standing by my door and I look up at him.

"Hey, Hunter." I say as I return my gaze to my closet of clothes.

"You okay? Did you have a good day at school?" He asks, putting his hands in his pocket.

If you didn't know, I have a white brother. He's has blue eyes and brown hair. That's, right, he's white. It doesn't matter, though. We're all equal.

"Yeah, school was fine. I talked with Clay and Zach was helping me with baseball." I tell him.

"Good, good. Clay's a good kid. And you can't join the team, you know that, right?" He says, raising his eyebrows and I look at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know why. But Coach still lets me play on the field whenever they practice. Besides, I just stay by Zach's side the whole time. I like playing baseball. It's my new hobby." I say, shutting my closet doors.

"Good, that's good. I'm happy you found something that you like. I'm glad you had a good day." He nods at me.

"Thanks, big bro." I grin at him.

"Steph, what the hell is that?" He says and I follow his gaze onto my bed.

"Just clothes I'm getting rid of. Don't worry, it's not what you think." I say, referring to three of Justin's hoodies on my bed.

"Good. I'll even burn them myself if you want." He says and I scoff.

"Thanks, but I got it. I'm gonna take a nap and then come down for dinner." I tell him.

"Okay. See you in a few hours." He says and I nod as he leaves the room.

Once he shuts the door, my grin fades away as I look over at the hoodies on my bed. I walk over to them and I grab the blue one. I smell the collar of it and I close my eyes. It still smells like him. All of them don. The cologne and the regret. I let a single tear roll down my cheek as I set the hoodie back down on my bed.

I really don't know if I can fully let go.