When Our Worlds Collide by Lindsey Iler Page B

you,” I explain honestly. After
hearing the way it sounds coming out of my mouth and the way Kennedy is
questionably staring at me, I realize my slip up.
    “Someone like me...?” Kennedy questions my words obviously
irritated how I shoved her into a category that she is unaware of. She’s
disappointed.
    You’re an ass hat.
    “You’re better than me,” I blurt out. “I’ve never done
anything to deserve you being nice to me, but still here you sit acting as if
we have been friends forever. I’m an asshole, Kennedy. I don’t treat girls the
way that they deserve to be treated. What does that say about me? All of the
girls that hang around me I have probably slept with,” I answer with full
honesty.
    I don’t know what it is about this girl, but Kennedy makes
me want to be honest. Don’t tell anyone I am admitting this. Not like anyone
would believe you. Things are coming out of my mouth and I am thinking things
that I don’t understand but I know they are the truth. No one holds me
accountable for the way I treat people, but as Kennedy’s big blue eyes look up
at me I feel the need to rectify my past. She is far too good of a person to be
around. I’m being pulled to her whether I deserve to or not.
    “Surely you’ve had friends that are girls?” she smiles
innocently at me. This time it makes it up to her eyes. I’d like to believe she
is humoring me knowing what my reputation is like. I have a feeling she is
being serious by the way her eyes dance across my face trying to figure out
what I can’t say out loud to her.
    “In elementary school I guess I did when all I cared about
was video games and hanging out with my friends. As soon as I hit a certain
age, it was all purely based on sex,” I pause to see her reaction. She’s
holding her breath. “Once I made it on varsity as a freshman, girls started
throwing themselves at me. Being in a relationship was and is the furthest thing
from my mind. I know that it is all based on physical attraction. I’ve never
had any reason to keep friendships with girls.” Kennedy accepted this answer
and changes the subject quicker than you can imagine.
    We continue to talk for the next few hours. She avoids the
topic of my “friendships”. I know it makes her uncomfortable, which is why I
shamefully slid it into the conversation a few times. I like seeing her blush
creep up her cheeks. Kennedy is too innocent compared to my debauchery. She
explains to me that the talent show was the first time anyone at the school had
seen her dance. She has gone to the same dance studio since she had moved here
as a freshman. Before that, she was part of a very small studio where she used
to live back in Michigan. I enjoyed watching her eyes light up when she talked
about dancing. I look the same way when I talk about baseball.
    “Why aren’t you on the dance team at school?” I ask
curiously. She is clearly good enough, much better than any of the other
dancers at our school.
    “Dance has always been my hiding spot. It would turn into
something else if I did it every Friday at the pep rallies…” she trails off
leaving the thought in the air.
    “But you chose to dance in the talent show? Not exactly the
most discreet, Ken,” I raise an eyebrow at her. She smiles at me knowing that I
am right. Everyone goes to those talent shows. Most of us are bribed with extra
credit. None the less, we are all known to be there.
    “Violet pushed me to do it actually. She’s the only one
who’s seen me dance.”
    “You’re too good not to dance in front of people.” I lean
forward to get a better look in her eyes. She had leaned away from me trying to
avoid eye contact earlier, but looks up at me when I reach up to place a finger
under her chin to try to coax her into acknowledging what I just said. She
humors me and looks through her eyelashes directly into my eyes.
    Something comes over me. I don’t know why I do it, but I
lean in to her leaving only a mere inch between our