I Swear I Still Hate Him (Atlas Lawson) novel Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Emery’s POV

¢

69

55 vouchers

I’ve come to the very real, very painful conclusion that Sophie, freaking, hates me. Like, truly. Deep in her icy little heart, she’s got a personal vendetta against me and only me.

Because explain to me why we’ve been here for over thirty minutes, and all she’s had me do is “work on your dive, Collins.”

Ma’am. I’m a swimmer. Not a freaking dolphin.

I swear if I hear her say “again” one more time, I might just pretend to drown and hope someone pulls me out of this misery.

“Again,” she called, voice sharp as ever.

I let out a breath through my nose, smiled like I wasn’t mentally flipping her off, and got back in position. Arms up. Core tight. Toes curled on the edge. Dive. Splash. Repeat.

Honestly, I lost count after the seventh round. Or tenth. Or fifty-second. I don’t know anymore. My soul left my body somewhere around jump number five.

Finally…finally, I heard the magic words.

“That’s enough.”

Thank you, Lord.

If there was a choir of angels, I swear I heard them.

I was ready to start actually swimming now, stretch out, loosen up, but then I saw her.

Sophie. Picking up her bag.

Wait…what?!

Um, excuse me, Ice Queen, where the hell are you going? I wanted to say that out loud. I almost did. But I value

my life, so instead, I pasted on my best Miss Congeniality smile.

“Hey Soph…um…where are you going?”

She didn’t even flinch. “Bio practical. Gotta prep.”

Cool, Cool, cool, cool. Totally great. Totally fine. Love that for you. “Oh, awesome. Have fun,” I said, grinning so hard I was pretty sure my jaw would cramp.

Sophie nodded like we were just two normal girls having a chill conversation, then slung her bag over her shoulder. “Tomorrow it is.”

15:00 Tue, Dec 30

Chapter 44

…

:

And with that, she left. Like a villain in a movie. No goodbye. No wave. No nothing.

I stood there, soaking wet, goggles pushed to my forehead, chlorine clinging to my soul.

“Tomorrow it is,” I muttered with a scoff. “Would it kill her to just say bye?”

69

55 vouchers

I dropped my arms dramatically to my sides, let out a very theatrical groan, and flopped backward into the pool like the overworked, underappreciated swimmer I was.

“And then she told me ‘tomorrow it is’ like we’re some kind of emotionless robots!” I flailed my hands in the air, pacing back and forth near the lake like a deranged duck in swim shoes. “I mean, who even says that?! Just say bye, Sophie! BYE!”

Howard sat calmly on the bench, watching me with an amused expression, like he was trying not to laugh but was absolutely failing.

I sighed, loud and dramatic, and finally flopped down beside him, sinking into the bench like my soul weighed a thousand pounds.

“I’m so sorry,” I muttered, rubbing my temples. “I’ve been ranting for like… an hour. You must be bored out of your mind.”

Howard shook his head. “Hey, don’t apologize.”

I peeked at him, skeptical. “Seriously?”

He smiled, warm and easy. “Nah. I actually enjoy you talking.”

And cue the stomach doing the whole fluttery backflip routine. Ugh. This boy. With his soft eyes and calm energy, and the way he listened like every word I said mattered.

Howard and I had gotten… closer. We’d been bumping into each other at the library a lot lately, and somehow we always ended up here by the lake. It was becoming a thing. A nice, quiet, comfortable thing. The more I got to know him, the more I liked him.

He was sweet. Thoughtful. Always kind. And honestly, too patient for a guy who’s heard me complain about dive drills like twelve times now.

I sighed again, pushing my hair back and letting the breeze cool my face. “I just can’t get to her. I mean, if I did something wrong, she should just tell me, right? Instead, she just… stares at me like I broke her childhood dreams or something.”

Howard

gave a thoughtful nod. “I get that. It sucks. But, I don’t know much about Sophie… my roommate, Todd’s her lab partner though, and from what I’ve heard, she’s not that bad. A little intense, maybe. But some people just take time to open up.”

I blinked, letting that sink in. Huh.

Maybe he had a point. The girls on the team had never said anything bad about Sophie. In fact, most of them

15:00 Tue, Dec 30

Chapter 44

:

69

55 vouchers

praised her for being a solid captain. So maybe it wasn’t just me. Maybe Sophie was just… ice with layers. Like a frozen onion. With a stopwatch.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify