Drew

Here’s the thing about my girlfriend—she’s competitive in the extreme. I led our baseball team to win the playoffs, so what did she do? She took her soccer team to state.

Half the school turned out to watch them win, but when she came out of the locker room afterward, she sought me out in the crowd, just like she’s the person I look for first anytime I walk into a room. It’s always been like that between us, ever since we made our relationship official back in the fall of our junior year. Now we’re seniors and graduation will be coming up before we know it.

I wave her down and she fights her way through a crowd of classmates who are vying for her attention outside the locker rooms. She’s nice about it, but she’s steadily making her way over to me, where I’m waiting with Trent and Margo. The four of us made plans to go out afterward to celebrate her win.

Or commiserate her loss, she’d been quick to add before tonight’s game. Apparently my superstitious nature has rubbed off on her.

But her team won so we’ll be celebrating along with the rest of the school. Funny that after all her efforts to be the kind of popular girl she thought people would like, Veronica was beloved at Briarwood thanks to her mad skills on the field.

When she reaches my side, she’s still sweaty from kicking ass out on the field. Her hair is pulled back out of her face and she’s beaming over her victory. Honest to God, she has never been more beautiful. I draw her in for a kiss that leaves us both out of breath and aching for more.

But she’s got friends to greet and a team to celebrate with, and we’ve got all the time in the world to be together. I guess it’s obvious that I’ve had a change of heart about high school relationships. Maybe they’re not all doomed to failure. Being with Veronica has made me optimistic like that.

She’s also turned me into quite the romantic. I love surprising her and coming up with new ways to make her blush. It drives her crazy, which makes it all the more rewarding.

I’ve got a big surprise planned for her later tonight, because I’ve got news of my own to celebrate. After what feels like the longest wait of my life, I got my acceptance letter to Boston University today. Veronica had gotten early acceptance to Boston College, where she received a soccer scholarship. We’d been hoping to stay near each other when we went off to college, and now we would.

Don’t get me wrong. If there was any relationship that could handle long distance, it was ours. But I didn’t want to be away from Veronica. Not now, and hopefully not ever. It’s a crazy feeling when you find your best friend and the love of your life in one person, and that’s what I have in Veronica.

We get a lot of flak from people who say that young love doesn’t last. You’ll change, they tell us. You’ll grow apart.

Here’s the thing that Veronica helped me realize. We’re always changing. We’re always growing. It didn’t mean that we had to be moving in different directions, not as long as we support one another and give each other room to grow.

But the thing people don’t always understand is that Veronica helps me to be the kind of man I want to be. She sees the best in me, just like I see that in her. When we’re together we’re the very best versions of ourselves.

She wraps one arm around my waist as Trent and Margo come over to congratulate her on the win. I wait patiently for her to accept the praise she’s so rightfully due, and when we’re alone once again, I seize my chance and steal another kiss.

“What was that for?” she asks with a grin.

“I’m so proud of you,” I say.

Her smile grows as she leans in for another quick kiss. “I wish we could celebrate by ourselves for a little while.”

I give her a squeeze. “Later,” I promise. “But right now you deserve to revel in your win. Besides, there’s a school full of people who want to tell you how amazing you are.”

She rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling. With a fake sigh, she says, “It’s so hard to be loved. How do you do it all the time?”

I laugh at her teasing, because I know as well as she does that she’s just as beloved as I am, if not more so. But the funniest part is, she doesn’t care about any of that anymore and neither do I. It feels so long ago that any of that was important, even though it was only last year. Since then she’s realized that she was never invisible, not in any way that mattered, just like I realized that being popular wasn’t the same as having good friends.

With an arm around her shoulders, I lead her toward the crowd who’s waiting to talk to her. She might not care about being popular anymore, but I’m glad for her sake that she’s finally being recognized for her talents and for her beautiful personality.

She squeezes my waist as one of her teammates beckons for her to join them. Looking up at me with those warm brown eyes, she asks, “We’ll celebrate together later?”

I drop a kiss on top of her head. “Of course.” Then with a grin I add, “You and I have all the time in the world.”

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it, reviews are always welcome. For more YA romance by Maggie Dallen, check out her Summer Love series. Turn the page to read a sneak peek from her latest, full-length standalone novel in the series, .