Page 18 of Sweetheart
My jaw dropped. "You remember that?"
"Yeah." Sam gave me a nod. "I also remember you forcing everyone elsein our class to learn too."
"But that was in the fifth grade," I said.
"Hmmm. Then insixth, didn't you become the youngest person ever to audition and get first chair violin in all-state orchestra?"
"I was."
"In eighth grade, you organized that meet-and-greet pet drive and didn't leave until you made sure all the animals went to good homes."
"My cousin, Viola, helped with that."
"Yeah, but it was your idea. Wasn't it?"
I nodded.
"And when we were freshmen, did you or did you not start up your own mentoring program, convince the school board to fund it, and get other students to sign up and help kids without support?"
"Or with absent parents," I mumbled then shook my head, staring at him like I'd never seen him before. "How could you possibly know all that?"
Sam rolled his eyes. "Told you, Kent. We're not strangers, far from it."
"Yeah, butwho told you about my mentoring program? We weren't even friends in the ninth grade."
"Didn't know we stopped being friends," he said.
I bit my cheek then said, "Well, you stopped talking to me after middle school. So, I just assumed."
He chuckled, but this time it held a bitter edge. "You stopped talking to me too."
"Because I didn't want to embarrass you in front of your jock friends."
"Whatever you say."
"You went out of your way to avoid me."
Sam scoffed.
"You did," I said. "You totallyfroze me out, and I never knew why."
"Maybe you made yourself believe that," he said, "because you were the one embarrassed. You couldn't handle the fact that I wasjust a jock and you were what you've always been."
"Oh, and what's that?"
"An overachieving know-it-all."
My turn to scoff.
"Perfect Scarlett Kent," Sam said. "I get it. You didn't want to lower yourself to be seen with a guy like me."
"That is ridiculous," I said.
"More ridiculous than you thinking I wouldn't want you to talk to me in front of the guys on the team? Please." He pulled the car to a stop then turned to face me. "They wouldn't have cared."
"Yeah, right," I retorted.
"And even if they did, I wouldn't.I've never cared what anyone thought."
