My Sweet Punishment by Amelia Brooks (best book club books of all time .TXT) 📕

Liam took my words with skepticism but did not dig into me. And for that, I appreciate him greatly. I couldn’t tell him anything. It was so embarrassing. And I don’t want to lie.

For the rest of the evening, I was sitting down in the dumps. And even though I hadn’t eaten anything since morning, it was sickening to look at all this festive food, and even more – to talk to someone. Therefore, citing poor health, I went to suffer in my room.

After the guests left, my mother looked in on me several more times with concern. To her increased anxiety, I simply replied that I had been a little overworked the past week.

Yeah, Mia. Completely out of brains… How could I’ve complained to a parent who already has one child in the hospital for poor health. No wonder mom was so nervous.

The next day, my mood didn’t improve. I also received a call from the institute, informing me of the “wonderful” news – I have my first reprimand for skipping. Apparently, our monitor will not be able to cover me so easily anymore. Especially if the test week starts.

Things are going from bad to worse. I need to get serious and focus on my studies before I get expelled, being a step to getting the cherished diploma.

In the afternoon, we went with my mother to the clinic and visited James.

And then the melancholy came over me again. Everything seemed so pale and gray. A couple of times I got such a strong desire to get on the Internet and rummage through the Instagram page of the “ideal” bride. But thinking that there were already enough worries for me now, I banished this sudden impulse.

“Darling, it’s for you,” my mom said, coming into the room and handing me her phone.

“Hello?” I answered warily. To tell the truth, at first I thought it might be Collins.

“Hey, patty!” Liam’s cheerful voice came over the phone. “Get ready, I’ll pick you up soon.”

“Why should you?” I asked, genuinely puzzled.

“What do you mean, why should I?” the guy said, offended. “Does a childhood friend, whom you have not seen for almost ten years, come to you every day?” Before I could get a word in, he went on quickly. “Yeah, I don’t think so too. So don’t make me nervous, patty. Get your pretty ass out of here. I’ll be with you in half an hour.”

Although I had no desire to go anywhere now, knowing Liam, he won’t leave me alone until I say “yes”! And maybe it’s really time to air out...

“Okay, okay,” I sighed, quickly giving in. And, by the way, stop calling me that!” I muttered discontentedly. “We’re not kids anymore”

“Whatever you say, patty,” this immortal chuckled and quickly hung up. What a pain in the ass he is. I rolled my eyes.

I got that stupid nickname back in childhood because I was a pretty chubby kid. At school, they also teased me quite often for the same reason. Now you can hardly say that I once even barely fit into the children’s swing. But, thank God, I’ve outgrown it over time.

Liam really came exactly half an hour later. On the threshold of the apartment there stood and smiled at me a tall, handsome brown-haired young man. And those dimples looked better than ever now. He’d probably already bowled many girls over by them.

Chuckling, I picked up my backpack and walked over to the guy. I was still not used to seeing my childhood friend so...  different in appearance.

We went out to the street, where a rather luxurious foreign car was waiting for us. I don’t know much about cars, but this one was far from being cheap.

“Wow, when did you rob the bank?” I almost whistled.

“Don’t worry,” the guy winked at me cheerfully. “I covered up my tracks well. But... if I get locked up, you’ll visit me, won’t you?”

“Of course! What else do you need best friends for,” I winked back, playing along, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

No, he is still the same carefree joker.

Liam and I had a really eventful day. First, he pulled me into the cinema, on the ground of the fact that he has not seen any movie in English for ages.

We spent an hour and a half, watching some boring comedy. And I guess, that pretty soon, I would have just fallen asleep if Liam did not start animatedly commenting on the stupid actions of the heroes in my ear. And I snorted merrily until, at one point, I burst into hysterical laughter, and we were asked to leave the hall.

Next in our entertainment program was a snack. And although I tried in every possible way to convey to the stubborn guy that I was not hungry at all – he, with the words “Be silent, woman!” pulled me into some cozy cafe.

We decided not to go home by car, but to take a walk in our park. Especially now, it was early warm autumn. Everything was covered in a golden-scarlet blanket of leaves. Such an unimaginable beauty.

“Wow, it’s still here! Liam, do you remember?” I exclaimed as I caught sight of our swing set. We often liked to spend time here after school.

“Let’s go,” Liam suddenly took my hand and pulled me towards the empty swing.