Edge of Almost Excerpt: A Night at the Pole Vault Pit
Edge of Almost started with a loose end.
When I wrote Between the Bells, I brought in a new character, Amber Brown. By the last chapter, she and Matt Garrett were dating. But you never got to see how that happened.
Truth is, I didn't know how Matt and Amber got together either. So I wrote a whole book to find out. That book became Beyond the Goalposts Book Two: Edge of Almost. It's also the reason I went back and rewrote Book One, Junior Year.
Once those two started talking, they didn't hold much back. They decided to tell each other everything, and boy, did they pour it all out.
This scene is from Chapter 9. It's just the two of them, late at night, on the foam mat of the pole vault pit.
EXCERPT FROM BEYOND THE GOALPOSTS: EDGE OF ALMOST, CHAPTER 9
Matt went quiet. He didn't have that. Anyone he could just spill everything to. Even Rick who he'd been tight with since the fourth grade, but they didn't talk about real things. The closest he'd had to anyone was Bec Sanders, and even she didn't know half of what went on in his head. "Must be nice," he said, forcing a casual tone. "Havin' someone who knows all your crap." "It is." Amber turned to look at him. "It's also terrifyin' sometimes." "How's that?" Matt up on his elbows. "Because once someone knows absolutely everything about you..." She hesitated. "They have everything they need to completely destroy you." Matt nodded. "Yeah. I get that. Why I don't talk to anyone about important stuff." "But it's worth it." Amber pulled her knees up to her chest. "That's... that's cool." Matt picked at the foam mat beneath them. "That you got that." Amber turned her head. "You ain't got anyone like that?" "Nah.." He scratched his head. "Guys usually just, you know... talk about football or whatever." He avoided her eyes, focusing instead on a point somewhere over her shoulder. Amber watched him. "But you don't really talk-talk to them, do you? About the real stuff?" Matt's shoulders tensed, uncomfortable with how much he wanted to explain. "It's different. We don't sit around talkin' feelings." "So what do y'all talk about?" "Football. Music. Parties." Matt's shoulders lifted in a half-shrug. "Normal stuff. Most of 'em try to brag about girls." "And the not-normal stuff?" Matt looked away, his jaw tightening visibly. He picked at a loose thread on the mat, pulling it until it snapped. "You just... handle it. Figure your own crap out." He shrugged again. "That sounds lonely," Amber said softly. "It's just how it is." Matt's thumb began tapping on the mat. "No one wants to hear that heavy crap anyway." "I do." Her hand touched his arm. "If you wanted to tell someone." Matt blew out a long breath. Amber pulled one foot under her other leg. "My sophomore year, I dated this guy. Thought it was real, you know? Like, really real." Matt looked up at her. "I gave him... everything." She spoke quietly. "Thought we were gonna be together forever, all that ridiculous stuff you convince yourself of at sixteen." She looked down at her hands. "Found out he was cheatin' on me. With my cousin." "Jesus, Amber. Your own freakin' cousin?" "Callie." Amber nodded, her mouth forming a tight line. "Two years older. Always the pretty one at family gatherings." "That's total bull," Matt said immediately. "No way she's prettier than you." A small smile crossed Amber's face. "Thanks for that. But it wasn't even about looks. It was..." She paused. "She knew exactly what it would do to me. That's the part I still can't understand." "What happened when you found out?" Matt's voice dropped lower.
Why This Scene Matters to Me
Matt's always the smooth one. On the field, around his buddies, he knows exactly what to say. But up on that pit, he doesn't have an answer. He's never had anybody he could tell the real stuff to.
That's really what this book is about. Two people who've gotten good at hiding finally letting somebody see them. And honestly, these characters are the ones in control. I just try to keep up.
The chapter doesn't stop there, and neither does Amber's story. To find out what she tells him, pick up Edge of Almost.
New to the series? Read the first chapter of Edge of Almost free.
The song that fits this scene is "Who Am I When the Lights Go Off?" from Pretty Armor, the music I've made for Amber.
Listen to all the songs on the album at Pretty Armor.
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