The next few days went by in a blur.
School. Cheer practice. Project meetings with Aiden. And somehow, I was still alive at the end of each day.
The tournament was getting closer. Every morning, the hallways were filled with posters and announcements. The basketball team had practice every day after school. Cade was always there. I saw him running drills through the gym windows sometimes. He looked focused. Different from the guy who joked around at his apartment.
Aiden was still quiet. But he showed up to the library every day now. We worked on our project in silence mostly. But sometimes he would say something that made me laugh. And when I laughed, he would look at me like he was surprised he could make me do that.
I was starting to understand him more. He didn't talk much. But when he did, it meant something. I learned that he got quiet when he was thinking. And he looked away when he didn't want to show that he cared.
"You're staring again," he said one day, not looking up from his laptop.
"Sorry."
"It's fine. Just don't make it weird."
"Too late. I'm already weird."
He almost smiled. "Yeah. You are."
And for some reason, that felt like a compliment.
At cheer practice, Dani and I were becoming closer.
She was easy to talk to. She didn't judge me when I messed up. She just helped me get back up and try again.
"You're getting better," she said one evening after practice.
"Really?"
"Really. You only fell twice today."
I laughed. "That's improvement?"
"That's a lot of improvement."
We walked out of the gym together. The sun was setting. The air was cool.
"Do you ever feel like you're not good enough?" I asked her.
She looked at me. "Sometimes. Everyone does."
"How do you deal with it?"
"I just keep going. That's all you can do."
I nodded. She was right.
When I got home, the house was still empty.
I sat on my bed and looked at my phone. I had a text from Aiden.
"Tomorrow. Same time."
I smiled.
"I'll be there."
***
The next day, I went to the library after school. Aiden was already there. He had two cups of coffee on the table. One for me.
"You brought me coffee," I said.
"Don't get used to it."
I sat down and took the cup. It was warm.
"Thanks."
He nodded and went back to his laptop.
We worked for about an hour. Then he closed his laptop and leaned back.
"Can I ask you something?" he said.
"Sure."
"Why do you keep showing up?"
I blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I know I'm not easy to be around. I know I'm cold. And I don't explain myself." He paused. "So why do you keep coming back?"
I thought about it for a moment.
"Because I think you're not as cold as you pretend to be," I said.
He looked at me. His green eyes were soft.
"That's a risk," he said.
"Everything is a risk."
He was quiet for a long moment. Then he said, "Thanks."
"For what?"
"For not giving up on me."
I smiled. "You're welcome."
Later that night, I couldn't sleep.
I lay in bed, thinking about everything. The tournament. Aiden. Cade. Luke. My parents. Betty.
My life was so different now. Three months ago, I was invisible. Now I was in the middle of everything.
I didn't know if that was good or bad.
But I knew one thing.
I didn't want to go back to the way things were before.