Chapter 21 The Denial

Chapter 21 The Denial

Wade's POV
It felt like something heavy had been lifted off my chest.
We were no longer enemies. Whatever we were now was something I did not have a clean name for yet but it was warm and real and I wanted to protect it carefully. I had feelings for Lily Johnson and that was no longer something I was going to pretend otherwise about, at least not to myself.
But feelings had consequences. A relationship between us could cost her the job she needed desperately, maybe we could keep it quiet. Or maybe I could talk to Dad and he would understand.
A knock at my door interrupted my thoughts.
Dad stepped in looking more relaxed than he had in weeks.
"How have you been coping son?" he asked.
"Very well, We just missed you as usual," I said.
"Seems like you are getting along with the nanny now," he said.
"Yeah, I mean she is very good at her job. And Mia loves her a lot," I said.
"Yeah, even you too. Saw the way you stared at her throughout today," he said and my heart flew into my stomach.
"No Dad, I—"
"You hate her?" he asked simply.
"No! I mean, she is good. I am just putting up with her."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
I did not know what Dad was trying to do. Did he expect me to tell him I was falling for his employee? I wanted to tell him. But Lily had asked me to keep it quiet and I owed her that much at minimum.
"Yes Dad. That is all," I said.
"Okay then. Goodnight," he said and turned away then stopped. "When is the camp coming up?"
I stared at him.
Dad had never been enthusiastic about the Elite Quarterback Camp, for him to be asking about it now made no sense.
"Next week," I said carefully.
"You are free to go. I will provide whatever you need," he said.
I was across the room in three steps and hugged him before I could stop myself.
"Thank you so much," I said.
He patted my back firmly and left.
I lay back on my bed and thought about what the camp meant. Meeting the best players from every school in the region, professional coaching, scouts watching every session. I had wanted this for two years.
But I would be away from home for a week. Away from Mia, away from whatever was quietly building between me and Lily, still fragile and unnamed and needing careful handling.
The girl I had wanted out of my house was now the person I was most reluctant to leave.
We went to school together the next morning and I prayed I would not encounter Clara. As expected, she was always there.
After class my friends gathered around me.
"Last night was absolutely hot!" Henry said. "I would give anything to experience it again."
I nodded knowing fully well I could not risk what had happened again.
They talked about their experiences from the party while Chris sat listening quietly. Then he pulled me aside.
"How did the plan go?" he asked.
"Which plan?"
"The aim of organising the party obviously."
"Chris, I wanted Lily out of the house but after what happened, I really do not think so anymore," I said lowering my head.
Chris let out a soft laugh. "I knew all along that your hatred was love. You just did not know how to express it."
"Love? Chris, mind your words," I said.
"I saw the way she curled up against you at the pool house. Did you guys hook up?" he asked.
"No! We did not—"
"Talking about hooking up," Clara's voice cut across the room as she walked in with her group, "I cannot believe you hooked up with that fat slut."
The whole class turned toward us.
"What are you talking about Clara?" I asked.
"You want to know what I am talking about? Everyone saw it at the party. The way you carried her out of that pool and locked yourselves in the pool house!" Clara said, raising her voice for the room.
"Come on Clara, do not say what you do not know," Chris said firmly.
"How would you explain this then?" Clara held up her phone and showed the class pictures from the pool house.
"Oh my God!"
"I never knew Lily was really like that!"
"She is never ashamed of herself."
Voices came from every corner of the room.
"Don't you feel irritated by her size?" Frank asked me directly.
"You cannot put words into my mouth!" I tried to find my voice.
"Do you love her?" someone asked.
"Love—?" I stuttered.
"You left all the slim, attractive girls in our class for a double size nerd? Do you know how she'd be on bed?" Henry asked.
"Her stomach! She even has an odour. How do you cope with that?" someone else said.
It was becoming unbearable and my reputation was clearly at stake.
"Can you all shut the hell up!" I screamed. "Who says I love Lily? You are just believing what Clara said?"
"But you kissed her?" Clara asked.
I lost my tongue.
Admitting that I kissed Lily, admitting everything that happened would only put her in more danger. Clara was watching me like a hawk and whatever secret she was holding over me was still very much in play. I had to deny it. I had to protect both of us.
"I did not kiss her! I cannot hook up with a double size nerd, obviously, there is no—"
Lily walked through the classroom door and cut my sentence dead.
She was carrying her water bottle and her books and she stopped in the doorway and our eyes met and I watched the words I had just said reach her face.
The water bottle slipped from her hand and hit the floor.
The class erupted into different emotions pour outs
"Pick me slut!"
"Fat pig!"
"Large stomach!"
But what did I do? I simply stood there numb and watched Lily walk to her locker with tears streaming down her face, grab her bag and run out of the classroom.
"Are you all happy now?" I yelled at the room.
"Let the fat girl go find her size," Frank said.
"Go after her Wade," Chris said quietly.
I moved toward the door and Clara stepped in front of me and grabbed my arm. "If you go after her I will reveal your secret to the whole class," she said.
Chris pulled her hand off me immediately. "Go," he said to me.
I ran all over the school, I checked the restroom, the library, the canteen. Every corridor, every corner, every place I thought she might go to fall apart in private the way I had come to know she did. I ran out of the school building and searched the grounds but she was nowhere.
"What have I done?" The words came out of me loud and broken, standing alone outside the school gates with hot tears running down my face.
How was I supposed to go home and face her?
I sat on the steps outside until Chris came and sat beside me quietly.
"You have to go home and explain that you were trying to protect her," he said.
"Chris, I do not deserve her forgiveness. I have hurt her enough times already."
"You panicked. Clara backed you into a corner," he said. "That is different from wanting to hurt her."
"Is it?" I said.
He did not answer that. He just sat with me until I was ready to move.
Mia kept asking me on the drive home why Lily had not come to pick her up. I told her Lily was not feeling well. She looked at me in a way that said she did not entirely believe me but she did not push it.
When we got home Dad was sitting in the living room waiting.
My stomach dropped the moment I saw his face.
"Lily resigned," he said.
"What? What do you mean she resigned?" I asked.
"She called me this afternoon. Said she was stepping down from the position." He looked at me steadily. "Do you know any reason why she would do that?"
"No. I did not see her in class today," I lied.
Mia had been standing behind me quietly. She stepped forward now and reached for her phone.
Dad, where is big aunty Lily?
Dad crouched to her level. "She has gone away for a while, baby. I will find someone else to look after you. Do not cry." He wiped a tear from her cheek gently.
Mia removed his hand. Then she turned and walked to her bedroom and closed the door.
Dad straightened up and looked at me for a long moment. I held his gaze and said nothing and hoped my face wasn't suspicious.
I walked to my room and closed my door and sat on the edge of my bed and pressed both hands over my face.
The photo from Sunday was still on my desk. The one from the park where both of us squinting into the sun, her shoulder against mine.