11 I Kissed Leah Jones Christen Kessler I kissed Leah Jones. Part of me can’t quite believe this is happening, I can feel her lips on mine—so soft and delicate. I wasn’t even planning on doing it. We were just hanging out at the lake as usual and she was lying on the dock looking down at me in the water. A piece of hair fell into her face and I pushed it away and we were so, so close. And I kissed her. She suddenly jerked away and I looked up at her in shock. Neither of us said anything; my mind was still reeling. The look on Leah’s face, the shock, the horror, wiped away that brief moment of euphoria that I felt. “I have to go,” Leah mumbled, while scrambling to her feet. She was halfway to her bike before I could even call after her. I knew she heard me when her shoulders tensed but she didn’t bother to turn around. I cursed silently, dragging myself to dry land. My towel had my clothes and phone wrapped up in it; I dried my hands before picking up the phone. Despite the bright sun making the screen nearly impossible to see, I managed to click the call button next to Leah’s name. Straight to voicemail. I royally fucked up this time, I thought to myself before heading home. * * * Walking into the school building the next morning, I could tell that something was wrong. The whispers were the first hint: as I walked down the hallway their hushed voices followed me. The second hint was when my softball team was not waiting for me by the gym doors—we always caught up together in the morning before classes. My heart jumped to my throat and I shuffled my way toward my locker. The whispers got louder, followed by a round of snickers. I forced myself to keep my back straight and head high as I walked to my locker. When I rounded the corner to my locker I saw why everyone was laughing. Someone had covered my locker in graffiti. Slurs and insults covered nearly every inch of the door. Tears sprung to my eyes but I held them back, opening my locker as if I did not see the cruel words. Laughter doubled behind me as I came face to face with a picture of the kiss at the lake—hundreds of copies were plastered all over the inside of my locker. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying and shut the locker. The bell rang and as the other students all dispersed. I was frozen in my spot. When I finally thawed and turned around, I was face-toface with Leah. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Suddenly, all the tears that I withheld from the crowd came rolling down my face. I turned away from Leah and ran to the bathroom, locking myself in a stall and letting the sobs tear through me. My whole body shook with anger and sorrow. Snot and tears dripped down my face and I wiped them away with my sleeve. I don’t know how long I was in that position, curled into a ball next to the toilet, but eventually there was a knock on the stall door.
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