"Now you surrender, and I will let you go." Lincoln holds her tight, but Ronnie-Anne kicks him in the stomach, where he gets stitches from his fight with Robert and the stitches he got from Billy, causing the white-haired boy much pain. Ronnie-Anne took the opportunity to pounce on him and hold him in the same way he had just a moment ago.
"I will never surrender to someone like you."
"Someone like me?"
"Yes, a pathetic nerd."
Lincoln turned over, and he was over Ronnie-Anne. "I can't believe that after all this time you still have this damned attitude."
That confused the Latin girl. "What are you talking about now?"
"of that? You were always a fucking bully. When I said you hadn't changed one bit, it wasn't a compliment. You've always had and always will have a fucking bully attitude. And I'll tell you what, it stinks, and I'm sick of it. When are you going to grow up?"
Ronnie-Anne gets angry and turns on Lincoln. "Look who's talking—the mister watching the comic in his underwear."
"The difference is that I stopped doing it at the age of 12, long before I went blind. You'll know if you care to get to know your so-called 'friend' better."
"Ha! As if you knew something about me."
"Your name is Ronalda Anne Santiago; you like skating and wrestling; feeding pigeons; pastries; tamales; guacamole; grape juice; and K-pop."
"You hate singing in public and taking selfies."
"Your favorite color is purple, and even if you don't admit it, you miss Royal Woods."
Ronnie-Anne was speechless when she heard how much Lincoln knew about her, which the boy took advantage of to change places and go up. "Do you know how I knew? Because I've been paying attention. Paying attention to everything you like. But contrary to what you thought, you don't know anything about me. And you call yourself my friend? The truth is, I doubted it for a long time."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, you've always been a bitch to me."
Those words enraged Ronnie-Anne, who tried to turn around again, but Lincoln had a good grip on her. "Repeat that to me, you idiot! I'll kill you! No one calls me a bitch and comes out alive to tell about it."
"See? That's what I mean. You've always refused to admit that you're a bad person. I wanted to be your friend. The good times we had together can be counted on one hand, and there will still be fingers left."
"I didn't act like a bitch with you."
"Shall I tell you the list? You played dirty pranks on me all the time, as if the ones my sister did to me weren't enough. When I came here, you refused to call me your friend just to impress a bunch of town kids. Do you have any idea how bad it is? The feeling if they did that to you? You left me outside a train in a place I didn't know. They could have kidnapped me. You put noodles in my pants, and it wasn't the first time you'd done it. As if food was something you could waste, you got off My pants in public, and the whole town watched on the big screen; you humiliated me, slandered me, refused to recognize me in your town, and worst of all, you always acted like a victim."
"I do not do that."
"Oh, why not? When we were 11, you made your other joke on me, and I said I'd rather lick the floor than kiss you, and you got offended and started crying like you'd been begging me for years to go to hell, and for the record, it looks like you were looking for them to tell you. But of course, you can treat me like shit, and that's fine, but I say a few words, and suddenly I'm the bad guy and you're a nice innocent girl. But you know? I forgave you, and I felt bad for hurting your feelings. Why? Because I loved you!"
Ronnie-Anne stopped suffering at Lincoln's words. "What, what, what?"
"I like you. That kiss we gave each other at Jean-Joan's French and Mexican Restaurant was the best thing I've ever felt in my life, and I kept thinking about it day and night. I thought we could date after that, but I knew your reputation was more important, so I committed Silence. I thought if I were patient, we could be more open with how we felt, but you preferred your reputation as a bully to what is obvious to everyone, but we're still too embarrassed to say, and like I said, you haven't changed one bit. We haven't been in touch for three years, and I was looking forward to hearing from you again, but the first thing you offered me was a punch on my arm, and don't you dare say you were just playing. I realized that those punches were supposed to hurt me, just because you were frustrated that I dodged them. Besides, you ask me to repeat a match just because, according to you, "I humiliated you!" in front of your family, and only for something as stupid as the fact that you brought me here to fight. As if I owe you something."
Lincoln finished his sermon, and he could hear nothing from Ronnie-Anne but her breathing, except for sobbing.
"Ronnie? Ronnie-Anne?..." Lincoln let go of Ronnie-Anne's wrists and got down on his knees.
Ronnie-Anne rose and knelt, wiping away her tears. "sniff...you're right. I've always been a bully to you, even though you always tolerated my way of being, and I didn't know how to see it. But it wasn't because I preferred my reputation to our friendship; it's just that I didn't dare tell you how I felt. Not out of shame or pride, but out of fear."
"I was afraid you wouldn't reciprocate, and that's why I upset you. When I moved here, I preferred to keep the image I created here, and that's why I did it all, but I knew I was hurting you again. You're right, I'll never change... I'm the worst thing ever." Ronnie-Anne cried again, but this time she felt her tears being wiped away. It was Lincoln who ran his thumb across her face, wiping away the tears and caressing her cheek.
"Okay. There is one thing I haven't changed either." Lincoln said, placing his hand on Ronnie-Anne's cheek.
"Huh? And what is this thing?" Ronnie-Anne asked with glassy eyes from crying.
Lincoln smiled and replied. "I still forgive you easily."