Page 12 - My FlipBook

Eric Walters

“This is harder for you than it would be for most people.”
“What does that mean?”
“Come on, Soph, let’s not pretend. No one has ever
dumped you before.”
“I’ve had breakups.”
“And you were always the one who did the breaking up.
You were the breaker, not the breakee. Doesn’t feel so good
from this end, right?”
I knew full well that Ella’s last boyfriend had broken her
heart. She’d taken it hard. I’d thought she was so negative
about Luke because of how badly her relationship had ended.
Really, though, she’d just been trying to protect me.
We were friends. She protected me, and I protected her.
In the early grades it was mostly me doing the protecting. Ella
was wonderful, but she was, well, different, and that didn’t
play out so well sometimes in middle school. High school
could be mean, but middle school was meaner—especially
for people like Ella, who said exactly what she was thinking
without really thinking it through. She was getting better
about that, but blurting was still part of her.
I carefully looked both ways before I eased out of the
parking lot and onto the road.
“You’ve been insulated from some of this breakup stuff
because you’re so beautiful,” Ella said.
“I’m not beautiful.”
“Yeah right.”
“Well, you’re beautiful too.”

“No I’m not.”
“Yes you are! Don’t ever put yourself down like that!”
I protested.

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