Disarmed (Fence #2)

by Sarah Rees Brennan

Falling in love with Aiden shouldn’t have changed everything.

What was Aiden supposed to say? I hate being touched by someone who’s not Harvard? I hate you for not being Harvard?

Being unrequitedly in love with your best friend since you were a little kid?

He looked like everything Aiden had ever wanted in his whole life.

Aiden had always known that if he ever pursued anything with Harvard, he would ruin the best thing in his life. Well, here was ruin.

“That was the lie I told you. I’d only realized what I wanted the night before. I was terrified of losing you. I should have realized how I felt about you before, but how do you see the planet you live on? The air you breathe? It was always there. It was too big for me to see. You were always just there. I could look at you every day, the same way I can look at the stars every day. I never had to think about how much I wanted to look.”

“That’s not because—that’s just how you are. You never remember anybody’s name!” “Don’t I?” Aiden drawled, and the amusement was back in his voice. “Harvard. Harvard. Harvard. I love you.”

Beautiful and his.

Aiden loves Harvard, for far longer than a year and a day.