A Thousand Ways to Love

Truly Madly Deeply

Katie“Much better,” Dad says to me as I hit all four corners of the hockey net in the backyard. “You should score ten goals tonight now.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I say. “Are you going to be there?”

“I’ll try, Katie,” Dad says. It’s what he always says, and I know he’ll try, but I don’t expect to see him there.

“Oh, shooting practice!” a voice says and we both turn and see Uncle Joe walking into the backyard. “You know you should always ask me for help, Katie. I’m a much better player than your father.”

“Ha-ha,” Dad says. “In your dreams.”

Uncle Joe grabs Dad’s hockey stick from him and does four slap shots, hitting all four corners. Dad grabs the stick back and does the same, hitting all four corners as well.

“Glad to see you haven’t lost your touch after, what, twenty years?” Uncle Joe jokes.

“Funny,” Dad says. “Why don’t we make this a bit more interesting?”

“I’d never turn down a challenge,” Uncle Joe says.

I look at my phone to check the time. “I think this where I should leave,” I say. I don’t want to be around for my dad and uncle’s brotherly rivalry.

I leave and they don’t even seem to notice as they start shooting again. I walk as fast as I can to get to the red bench in the park that is enclosed within the trees, the crunch of the first snowfall under my feet. I see Colin is already there, so with his back to me, I pack a snowball and throw it and hit his back.

“What the…” Colin says and then turns around and sees me in the trees. “You don’t know what you just started.” Colin gets up from the bench and chases after me.

I turn and run, grabbing a handful of snow on the way as I run deeper into the forest. I feel two snowballs hit my back. I hide behind a big tree to turn and hit Colin with my snowball. I just throw it in the general direction, but it ends up hitting him in the neck. That must be cold, but I just start laughing. Colin comes around the tree and grabs me from behind and lifts me in the air.

“Put me down!” I say as I’m smiling. He puts me back on the ground and I turn to face him. “I swear, I didn’t mean to hit you in the neck,” I say.

"I'm sure," Colin says. He puts a hand on my waist and kisses me. "Katie?"

“Yes?”

“Thank you,” Colin says.

“For what?” I ask.

“For being exactly what I need in my life,” Colin says.

I smile at him. “You’ll never know how much I needed you in my life,” I say, and kiss him.

He holds me close and we don’t break the kiss. I’ve made out with a lot of guys, but it’s never felt like this. It’s never felt this right. I feel his hand touch my neck, but it’s cold from the snowball that was previously in it.

“Too cold,” I say and pull away from him.

“Baby,” Colin says.

“Hey!” I say and then slap his stomach with the back of my hand. He grabs a piece of my hair and pulls it behind my ear.

“I never thought I’d meet someone that would understand me like you do; my humour, my quirks, my being an introvert and an extrovert at the same time. But here you are. I’ve never been happier,” Colin says and then he kisses me.

***

I get off the bus in the morning the next day and I feel like there are more eyes on me than usual. I choose to ignore it as I walk into the school to go to my locker, but it’s even worse inside the school. Conversations stop as I walk by and people just make way for me as I walk through the hallways. They all stare at me. It feels weird. I hear whistling down the hall, and I turn to it and see a bunch of guys just smiling at me.

I turn and continue down the hallway. Another whistle comes from two guys standing at their lockers. “Nice ass,” one of them says.

I turn. “Shut up,” I say. I’m not letting guys treat me like this anymore. I don’t care if they call me a b***h, I shouldn’t have to take this kind of harassment and be made to feel like I am just my appearance.

“Oh, she has a fiery side to her,” the guy says.

“Girls like her always do,” the other one says.

“You guys are pathetic,” I say. “No girl wants your harassment, so stop.” And then I turn around and walk away, but I hear them joking between themselves.

I finally make it to my locker.

“So, how’s life with everyone’s favourite science nerd?” Sierra asks me.

I smile at her. “I like him so much,” I say. “He’s kind, he’s cute, he’s smart, he’s caring. He’s just, everything.”

“Someone’s got it bad,” Sierra says.

“And he’s a fantastic kisser,” I say.

“I’m sure you would know,” Sierra says and then winks at me.

Liam runs over to us, clearly out of breath. “Katie, Katie!” he says quickly.

“Slow down, Liam,” I say. “Take a breath.” Liam looks at me and I can see distraught written all over his face. “What’s wrong, Liam?”

“You don’t know,” Liam says.

“Know what?” I ask, feeling a bit concerned just based on his face.

He’s silent. “What is it, Liam?” Sierra says.

Liam slowly pulls out his phone, searches through it, and then shows it to me. No. I grab the phone from his hands. How could he do this? "Has everyone seen this?" I ask Liam.

"It's being sent around school," Liam says. I look around me and see all the people staring at me in their groups. I look down to Colin's locker, but he's not there. Please, please don't let him see this.

Sierra takes the phone from my hands and puts a hand to her mouth. “Katie,” she says in disbelief.