She sighed. It wasn’t the sweet kind of sigh, but the kind that signaled she was irritated with me. “I’ll sneak away this weekend. Maybe we can meet halfway in Spencer? In our normal place?” she asked.

I should’ve been excited that she was willing to go against her parents, but I wasn’t. I felt like it was a pity meeting and my anger flared. “Don’t worry about it. Listen, I have to get out on the field. I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up, grabbed my helmet, and jogged to the field.

When we finally met at the park in Spencer the following weekend, I forgot about all the heartache of the last few weeks. Parker looked amazing. She slipped into my front seat and pulled me into her arms. I cried as I held her.

“How are you? Are you okay?” I asked.

She nodded before her lips captured mine in the kind of kiss that reminded me why I would do anything for her.

“I’m doing all right. I’m fitting in, but it’s so hard to start senior year at a different school,” she said.

She stroked my face and ran her fingers through my hair. I felt the love in her touch. I’d forgotten how blue her eyes were. I used to tease her that they were the same color as the cornflower crayon because I’d never seen eyes that color before.

“Your parents suck.” I was being nice. They were awful. Her dad got transferred to a different branch of whatever insurance company he worked for, but Emilia told Parker that he requested it. She overheard her mother and Parker’s mom discussing the reason behind the move. It was because of me, the sinner who defiled their sweet, innocent daughter. Again, their words, not mine.

“I know this is hard, Sutton.” She started crying.

A wave of protectiveness bubbled up from deep inside me. I hated that they hurt her, hurt us by keeping us apart. “One day when we’re done with high school, we’ll be together. Nothing’s going to keep us apart. Not them, and not the world,” I said.

She sobbed against me and I thought we were crying about the same thing, but I was wrong.

“I can’t do this anymore, Sutton. It’s just so hard.”

I pulled out of her embrace, stunned. “What do you mean? What can’t you do?”

“My parents treat me like I’m worthless. It’s hard making new friends. I’m an outsider trying to fit in. I have cheer practice every day and finding time to sneak away is almost impossible. I feel like I’m lying to everyone in my life.”

She tried touching me, but I pulled back. “Are you breaking up with me?” Fresh tears popped up in the corners of my eyes but I didn’t care.