Free Rebellion Project by Sara Schoen

dead wrong. That wouldn’t make up for what he’s done to me, not even close.
    “Well, no. I have a feeling it has to do with your plan to keep your minimal freedom. You still want to shed the goodie-goodie reputation and try living life on the edge, right?”
    I nodded my head, shocked he had the intelligence to make the connection. I kept that remark to myself though, we needed to make progress in our relationship if this was going to work, and snide comments weren’t going to help. “Can you help me with this? Because that’s the only way I’m going to forgive you for what you’ve done to me over the years.”
    “What have I done that’s been so bad that you’re going to force me to be your rebellion tutor? It couldn’t have been that bad,” he said with a disbelieving gleam in his eye.
    I didn’t miss a beat as I rattled off one of the more embarrassing things he’d done to me over the years. “Do you remember that time you put fake blood on my pants when I first started high school and everyone laughed at me because they thought I had my period?” There were worse, but I decided to start off small in case he didn’t get it.
    “Oh yeah! That was great!” He laughed as the memory came back to him. Glad I held back the worse ones now. Kayden had no heart if he didn’t feel bad for everything he’d done to me over the years. He had to know they weren’t right, and were downright demeaning.
    “Or how about when you pulled down my shorts in gym and everyone saw my underwear and told me to be careful or I’d ruin them on my next period?”
    “That sounds like good advice to me,” he replied with a nonchalant shrug, as if that made it all better and I’d suddenly understand his crass humor and forgive him. Wrong.
    “Oh, and let’s not forget blurting out what happened to my parents in front of the whole school a few weeks before my mom died,” I said with a glare, practically choking on the words. I tried to force back the tears, I had gotten better at it, but a few still managed to slip out. It would never stop hurting.
    Kayden straightened up suddenly, shocked at the news, and I knew I had won this fight. I just wish I hadn’t needed to pull the ‘my mom died’ card. He’d think I used it as a ploy later, and I’d never hear the end of it. He clamored for an answer and settled with a mediocre apology. “I didn’t mean to, Lauren. I didn’t know. It was―”
    “I really don’t want to hear the excuses, Kayden. I just want one answer—are you going to help me or not?”
    We locked eyes for a second. I could see the mental debate going on through his icy blue eyes, but the decision came quickly. “I will, but you know the terms in order for you to get my assist, GG. If I have to spend months on this project, then I want something out of it too. Doing it for a month would make up for all that stuff I did to you, but if you’re dedicated, it’s going to take a couple months to make it stick and not just be a phase.”
    “What are your terms again?” I asked, hoping he would change them since he wanted to make it up to me for telling the whole school my family problems. I wasn’t sure I could risk something that I held so highly. I was trying to save it for when I fell in love, but so far that hadn’t happened, and if my dad had his way, it wouldn’t happen until after medical school. I was okay with waiting though, if that’s what it took. I wanted it to be special, and not just another lay for some high school guy.
    “Your virginity. It’s got to go, and it’s got to be by me, my little rebel.” He offered me the smile he used to win the other girls over. When was he going to learn that it didn’t work on me?
    “Would you stop calling me that?” I asked as I tried to think about how to get around his terms and not have to give him my virginity.
    “I thought you’d like it better than GG, but I can stop if you like. So what do you say, GG? Do we have a deal?” he asked