by Blair Young
So, I shook my head. “It’s fine. He’s working and I don’t want him to get the wrong impression. I can’t really tell him that I’m not going to date him, then hop in to see how he’s doing when he’s at work, right? I mean, I don’t want to be giving him the wrong impression.”
Abby smiled. “Good point.”
Besides,” I said. “We already talked about it, and we’re going to have a day about us. No boys, remember?”
“I didn’t forget,” she said as she looped her arm through mine. We walked side by side the rest of the way to her house, and I did my best to focus on the day and hanging out with her other than what had gone on the week before, or what I was going to do with Damon.
Those were things I could figure out later. For now, I just wanted to brush them all off and have a good time with my best friend. My only friend, really.
For the afternoon at least, life could wait. It would have to wait.
I was busy with Abby.
Chapter 10
Damon
There was no denying the fact I was fuming over what happened to Sutton in the cafeteria. I hadn’t been in the room when it all went down, or I would have really given Chad a piece of my mind right there.
Sutton might be afraid to get expelled again, but I certainly wasn’t. And, since Chad didn’t have the same favoritism showed to him that Molly had shown to her, I had a feeling I could get away with giving him a punch square in his nose without anyone doing anything but reprimanding me.
Sure, I’d have to deal with my mother when I got home from school, but even that would have been worth it to put Chad back in his place. Not only that, but to do it right in front of everyone else in the school would have felt good, too.
There was a part of me that really admired Sutton for what she did to Molly, though it had been impulsive and likely wouldn’t have happened if Molly had just given her the space she asked for. But, still. It was nice to know she was the talk of the halls in more ways than just the gossip that surrounded her past.
I felt sorry for Sutton, and it pissed me off the other kids felt so free to treat her the way they did. They acted as though she was a novelty – someone who had come in out of nowhere and was the talk of the school.
There had been a time when I used to engage in that sort of thing, too, but I never felt right about myself for doing it. I had gone along with the rest of the school, and it all got out of hand. Way out of hand, if I was perfectly honest. I never thought it would get to the point where she would have such mean things written on her locker, or for someone to send that text message from my phone.
I had my suspicions over who it was, but years after the fact there wasn’t any way for me to prove it was her or not. And the fact Sutton had really nearly gone through with killing herself because of what was being said to her and about her was just too much for me to handle.
I wasn’t going to let anyone else push her to that point. I hadn’t been there for before, and I felt really crappy not being there for her now. It felt like I should be standing up for her more now than ever, after all what she’d gone through was more than what anyone should in life.
Then, to lose her parents on top of it and only be subjected to more bullying now, it made me seethe with rage. The thought of Chad made me seethe with rage. I couldn’t believe, of all people, a guy I considered to be one of my closest friends had stooped to that level. Whether he was just mad at me or was trying to team up with Molly for whatever reason, I wasn’t going to put up with it, and that was final.
He would get what was coming to him, and I would be the one to deliver the message. I didn’t care what it took to get my point across. By the time I was done with him, I wasn’t going to ever have to hear about him doing anything else to Sutton. I could promise myself and the rest of the school that.
The only problem was that I had to have the chance to get to him. I had made it clear more than once that I wanted nothing more to do with him, and if he had half a brain, he would give me that space.
But, that didn’t mean he was going to target Sutton as a result. No, he was going to leave us both alone – especially her. I didn’t care if he waned to be friends with Molly, I didn’t even care if the two of them got together to try to get revenge on me because of it.
For all I cared, they could do what they wanted, and that was just fine with me.
As long as they left me and my friends out of it.
I was pretty sure Peter had taken our side in the whole thing as well, though with the way he was acting recently, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something going on with him and Abby. He and I hadn’t really talked about it, but he was sure acting like something was off, and I wondered what it could be.
I wasn’t going to pry. It wasn’t our style. If he wanted to talk about it, then he knew where to find me. And, since it appeared as though Chad was officially out of the picture, I had a feeling I was one of the only options he had.
Peter didn’t seem to be any closer to his parents than I was with Susan, though they might be his biological parents. It was just DNA as far as I was concerned. I didn’t even know where my real mom and dad were, and I didn’t care. I was happy enough living with Susan most of the time, and I would be a lot happier living with her if she would be more understanding of the things Sutton and I were going through.
I had told Sutton already I wasn’t going to let anyone stand up to the woman I loved without me getting involved. She was the one I wanted, and I would do anything in my power to prove it to her. I didn’t care if that meant I had to turn the entire school against me as well as my mother.
I would stand for her, and by her, no matter what.
“So you just not going to do anything today? You’ve spent a good portion of your time staring at the wall over there, and, for the life of me, I can’t figure out what it is you’re staring at,” Dean’s voice cut into my thoughts, and I looked over at him with a small smile.
“Sorry, I guess you could say I was lost in thought,” I said.
“That’s one way to put it,” he replied with a smile. “Makes me think you weren’t thinking about what I was saying, and, here I was, bearing my soul out to you.”
“Sorry,” I said again. “I really care, I just was lost in thought, like I said.”
“Well, I’ll tell you if you tell me what’s going on. I might not be living with you anymore, but, you know, I still care about you like my son,” he said.
I smiled, broader this time. It felt good to hear the words. There were times I wished Dean really was my father. He was a whole lot better than my real dad, wherever he was. I didn’t even know if the guy was still alive, and I had to say, I didn’t really care one way or the other.
It was terrible to feel that way, but with the way he treated me when I was younger, I didn’t blame myself for not wanting him around. If I remembered right, he didn’t treat my mother well either, and it was the entire reason why I got taken from them in the first place.
Sure, it might have been the best thing for me, but I still resented the fact that I didn’t get to grow up in a real home with a real family. It would hurt Susan to hear my say so, but there was no denying how I felt about the situation at times.
I was grateful for all that she had done for me through the years – and the fact that she had taken me in at all was more than I could ever hope to thank her for. But, I still had the growing resentment toward her over the fact I really wasn’t her kid, and I didn’t like it when she told me what to do.
To throw onto that fact she didn’t want me seeing Sutton – and that Sutton would just listen to her because of it, I really didn’t know what to do. So, I did my best to ignore that situation and just focus on how I could prove to Sutton that she truly was the love of my life, and I would stand up to her against anyone who tried to bully her.
But, if Dean wanted to talk about what was going on in his own life, that was fine with me, too. It was nice to hear from someone else’s point of view at times, eve
n if we didn’t see eye to ever on everything.
“So what were you talking about?” I asked.
“Your mom, ironically enough,” he said.
I gave him a surprised look. “Susan?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I thought a lot about what you were saying the other day, about how we should put our differences behind us, and well, I think you’re right.”
“Really?” I asked in surprise.
“Your mother tends to be stubborn in more ways than one, and I think we might be able to work out what was going on between us. I’m not saying that it’s going to be easy, or even that there’s any real chance of me actually winning her back, but I do want to try. Not just for my sake, but for yours,” he replied.
I smiled, but said nothing. I knew he understood how hard it was for me that the two of them had broken up, and it was part of the driving force that was putting tension on the relationship I had with my foster mother.
“Maybe if there’s a way I could convince her to take things slow with me. I’m not saying that I’ll be moving back into the house tomorrow, but you know what I mean. I think she might have gotten cold feet over the situation and did something rash, and that’s what I want to undo,” he said.
“If there’s anyone who has a real shot of doing this, it’s you,” I encouraged. “Like I said, she really doesn’t do a lot besides hang out with her girlfriends and try to get Sutton to not hate her as much as she does.”
“I’m sure Sutton’s going to come around, too. The poor girl has been through a lot from the sounds of things, and I’m not at all happy with the fact she had to deal with that asshole pouring milk over her head in the middle of a school day, either. Chad’s more than old enough to not pull crap like that,” he said.
I nodded. “Chad never gets told what to do by anyone. His parents have always just let him do anything he wants, and he thinks the world owes him a favor now because of it. But, I’m not going to let him get away with this. I’m beyond livid at the situation, and I’m going to make sure he learns his lesson.”
“Don’t get yourself in too much trouble in the process,” Dean warned. “You’re so close to graduation, you don’t want to do anything that’s going to ruin that for you.”
“I’ll graduate, I’m not going to let anything stop me from doing that,” I said with conviction in my voice. “But I’m going to make sure Sutton also makes it all the way to graduation. I’m not going to let her do anything stupid to herself, and I’m sure as heck not going to let Molly bully her out of Secret Bay. I know that’s what she’s trying to do, and I’m not going to let it work.
“I trust you know what you’re doing, just be careful,” Dean warned. “You know Susan is going to be protective of both of you, and you don’t want to make anything harder on her than it has to be. Especially if you want me to have a chance of coming back into the picture.”
“You’re going to have plenty of your own work cut out for you on that one, but I think you can do it,” I said with a smirk. “With your charm, how can she resist when you come calling all over again?”
Dean laughed and looked at the clock. “Well, you think that’s been long enough to call it a day?”
“You’re the boss,” I said with a shrug. “I’m not planning on going home yet. I need to cool off and clear my head if I’m going to get through the next fight.”
“You’ll do fine, you always do,” he said as he put his hand on my shoulder. “But I agree. With all that you’ve got on your mind – and with what you have waiting for you when you get back home, it might be a good idea for you to take the bike out for awhile and just let the wind wash away some of the angst.”
“That’s the plan,” I said as I grabbed my helmet from behind the counter. I told Dean goodnight and headed out the door, eager to get on the back of my bike and down to the coast. It was one of my favorite drives, and it was just what I needed to cool down after all that I’d been thinking about all day.
I did have to really relax if I was going to stay calm and collected during the next fight, but it was hard when Chad was on the forefront of my mind. How I wanted to kick his ass after everything. But, I wasn’t going to do anything to him yet. I had to get through the fight first.
When I won that, I would turn my attention to Chad – and make sure he knew to stay as far away from both Sutton and me as possible. Then again, it was nice to think about Dean getting Susan back. I missed having him around, and I really wanted them to work things out.
It still didn’t make any sense to me why they broke up in the first place, and Susan wasn’t giving me anything to go on. She would just brush it off as one of those things that didn’t work out, and it irritated me more than I could say.
But, I did miss the fun times we used to have together, and I hoped if she were to come around with Dean, then I had a better chance with Sutton. Maybe after we all didn’t live under one roof and she didn’t have to deal with Susan’s drama. Maybe after the two of us were graduated and I could convince her that we were right together.
Either way, I knew I’d never find another woman as good as Sutton, and I would do anything in my power to make sure she was happy. She was the love of my life, I was sure of it. I didn’t care that I was only seventeen. I knew what I wanted, and her name was Sutton.
And I would do anything I could to prove it to her.
Even if it meant kicking the ass of a former buddy.
Chapter 11
Sutton
I stared at the book in my hand, the chicken scratches on the paper next to it. I was getting tired of math. Though I didn’t mind helping Damon most of the time, working on it as much as I was was getting boring. But, nothing else really sounded appealing, either.
Though Secret Bay was a wealthy town, there wasn’t a lot to do without money. And I wasn’t about to go ask Susan if she would give me some cash to go out and do something.
She and I had been a little more distant than normal in light of all that had happened in the past few weeks, and I wasn’t too keen on asking her for any kind of help. I knew Damon largely felt the same way, and that was why he didn’t often ask her for cash.
He would earn money through the fighting he did, and while it wasn’t the way she wanted him to earn a living, it was financing a lot of what he did. Not to mention, with the new job he’d taken on working with Dean, he was making a lot more money than before.
He didn’t have to ask her for anything if he didn’t want to, and there was a part of me that envied that.
Sure, I could get a job myself. But, I wasn’t in the mood. It was hard enough to get out of bed much of the time, I didn’t want to throw the obligation of getting a job on top of it.
Though the money would be nice, I would miss hanging out with Abby whenever we could, though she herself had been rather distant the past few days. I knew there was more going on with her than what she was letting on, and I tried to be understanding, but I missed my friend.
I hoped she got over this breakup soon and things could go back to the way they were before we let these stupid guys get into our heads. But, there was another part of me that wondered if there was more going on with her than what she let on. I didn’t want to assume anything, that was for sure, but I still couldn’t help but wonder.
She was so secretive about some things she had been open about before, and I couldn’t help but notice we were spending more time hanging out around town than we were at her place.
There was a part of me that thought I was being rather paranoid and putting things into her life that weren’t there, but still, I had good intuition, and it was hard to ignore. So, I did my best just to let it go and wait for her to text me.
I had to get through the homework anyway. At least, I had wanted to get through it before the night was over. I liked going into the weekend without a lot to do, even if it did make for a boring couple of days.
At least it was a break from the other things that were going on in my life. I coul
d hide in my room all weekend and not have to even give school another thought. And that’s largely what I planned to do.
Planned to, anyway.
I had scarcely pushed my brain to focus on the math problems in front of me when I suddenly heard the sound of someone playing the piano downstairs. I hadn’t heard Damon play since that night I had gone down and talked to him about it – the night he had tried to kiss me and I turned him down.
The thought of making out with him now sounded incredibly appealing, and I had to shake my head, forcing myself to focus on what was in front of me. If I was going to get through living in this house with him and Susan, I couldn’t let those thoughts take root in my mind.
I always felt like there was a storm brewing inside me. One day I was sure I was in love with him, and the next I wasn’t sure how I felt at all. Confused, that was the best way to put it, but I wasn’t sure how much of it was real, and how much of it was me trying to please everyone else in my life.
I had always been the kind of girl who wanted to please the rest of the world. I wanted to blend into the background and not cause a lot of drama. But that had changed since coming to Secret Bay. At least, part of it had changed.
I still kept my head down most of the time, that was for sure. But, I didn’t let myself get pushed around like I once did. Not by Molly and her friends at least. Even if it was easier to walk away from people like Chad in the lunch room, it didn’t mean I was going to let him push me around.
With a sigh, I realized I wasn’t going to get any work done with the music drifting up the stairs. And, even with the door closed, I could hear the sound of the melody.
But, what surprised me, was the fact that the song was soon joined with the woman’s voice. I hadn’t expected that, and the curiosity got the best of me. I crept down the stairs and headed for the music room, peering around the side and hoping I wasn’t going to be seen.
Susan was sitting on the bench next to Damon, singing her heart out to the music. I had to admit, they were good together. It was clear they had put in a lot of time and practice into their performances, even if they were the only two who got to enjoy it.