"I hope so," he said, not removing his eyes from Edward. "Hey, Jock Strap. Soccer is not a sport. That's almost like saying dancing is a sport or, God forbid, cheerleading."
"Oh screw you, Boyd," came Paulina's voice from the front, along with an icy sneer.
"See, I might be surprised if something like that came out of Blondie's mouth over here," he said, gesturing at Sadie but maintaining his gaze on Paulina, "but I know how dirty your mouth is personally, don't I Paulina?" He raised his brow and then mockingly blew a kiss at her.
"Shut up, Boyd," Roxy said, who dramatically slammed her script on the table and turned around so she, too, could get a look at him. "Nobody here cares about you. You can spread that shit, but nobody here is going to believe that Paulina ever liked you." Sadie arched a brow, seeing Paulina's red face and silent mouth. "Not even..." Her eyes landed on Sadie's. "Not even Sadie would screw you, you piece of trash."
"I don't know about that," Paulina said with a very subtle tremor in her voice. Her clear, blue eyes had hardened as she looked over at Sadie. "She dated Tony McAllister. Granted, Tony's not exactly in the same class as Boyd, but he's close." Sadie's mouth dropped open unattractively and she could feel her cheeks burn up. "But I guess after he got what he wanted from you, he dumped you for some other slut."
"Oh shut up, Paulina," Edward said, rolling his blue eyes, indicating he didn't believe a word she said.
"You were the girl Tony was seeing?" Asher asked her, his hair falling in his face.
Sadie ignored everyone as Paulina's words began to sink in. In her whole high school career, Paulina and Sadie rarely ever crossed paths. They only ever saw each other when Paulina went to soccer games because the majority of her friends were on the team. And now Paulina was attacking her like this?
"Just because your love life is recorded on the bathroom walls," Sadie began, making sure her voice came out steady, "doesn't mean you can go around talking about what you think of mine." She blinked back any tears that might have made a point of glistening in her eyes.
"You bitch," Paulina spat, narrowing her eyes at Sadie. From the corner of Sadie's eyes, she could see Roxy swallow slightly, unsure, but her allegiance with Paulina won out, and she, too, narrowed her black eyes at Sadie.
"Shut up," Asher snapped, before looking back at Sadie. He asked his question again. "Were you the girl Tony was dating?"
She really didn't want to deal with this, so instead, she clenched her jaw and turned around, keeping silent.
After another good fifteen minutes, the tension seemed to simmer and everyone returned to what they were originally doing. Edward, however, was now folding a piece of paper into a football, Paulina was now painting her nails, Roxy was still studying her script, and Asher was still smoking his cigarette. Sadie decided to pull out a book and flip it open, starting to read from where she had originally left off.
Chapter 3
“Hey," Edward whispered after he had shot three footballs in three different directions. Sadie glanced up and perked her brow. "Are you going to Liz's party?"
Sadie rolled her eyes. "Why?" she asked him.
"You weren't at Denise's last weekend, and you weren't at Olivia's either," he whispered. "You know the soccer teams love to throw parties every weekend pre-season. Why don't you ever go?"
"I hate parties," she stated simply and shrugged her shoulders.
"The only reason you hate parties so much is that you're never invited," Paulina quipped from her seat.
"Actually, it's because the only reasons people go to parties are the drugs, the alcohol, and the sex," she replied.
"Oh, that's right," Roxy chimed in. "You're such a good girl, aren't you Sadie?"
"I'm not saying that," Sadie replied. "But if that's what you need to do to get off, then I feel sorry for you."
"Some people do it to escape," Asher said from behind her.
Sadie turned so she looked into his eyes. "Everyone has problems," she told him. "There are other ways to feel better about yourself."
"I like to run," the junior piped. "I mean, I'm hoping to join the track team this year. I love running; it gives you a runner's high, but not like an illegal one."
"I like to play soccer," Edward added. His blue eyes seemed to glaze over as he thought about his favorite pastime. "God, when I'm on that field, all the adrenaline is pumping through my veins, I'm just..."
"I like to sing," Roxy put in. "I can lose myself in the moment and just forget... everything."
"I like to dance," Paulina said, a very tiny smile touching her lips. "Escaping in the music..."
"I wanna know what Sadie likes to do," Asher said, his gaze still focused entirely on the girl in front of him. "We've heard from Anthony the dork, Roxy and Paulina the bitch twins, and from Edward the jock strap. What does the good girl like to do to forget about her problems?"
"What about you?" Sadie asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Me?" Asher asked, raising his brow as though he was surprised. "Well, let's see... I get high, get drunk, and have sex."
Sadie rolled her eyes and sneered. "All you stoners are the same," she muttered as she turned back around.
"I'm sorry?" Asher asked on edge.
"I said," Sadie said, turning around to glance at him, "that all you stoners are the same."
"How would you know?" he asked her, raising a challenging brow. "I've never seen you hanging out with one of us. In fact, I've never seen you speak to us, let alone look at us. So don't go thinking that you know us."
"I dated a stoner," she told him.
"So?" Asher asked, furrowing his brow. "Tony McAllister doesn't even go to this school anymore."
Sadie opened her mouth to say something, but then promptly closed it. "I don't want to talk about this anymore," she said, and though her voice was calm, it was also firm. She turned back around and looked back down at her book, hoping to get lost between the pages...
"A book?" Asher asked, pushing his chair back and plopping in between Sadie and Edward. "What, do you read?"
"What are you doing?" Sadie hissed at him, promptly shutting the book and moving it out of his grasp.
"Is that what you do? Read?"
"God, why do you care?"
"I don't care." Asher shrugged nonchalantly. "I just want to know."
"Just tell him, Sadie," Edward said. "It'll get him to shut up."
"Yeah," Asher said, smirking at her. "Listen to your boyfriend."
"Screw you."
"I actually don't swing that way, Sporto," Asher said, tossing his hair out of his face. "Why don't you try asking the dork up there? He looks pretty fruity to me."
"I actually like girls," Anthony corrected, but it went on deaf ears.
"Why don't you just shut up?" Sadie asked, meeting Asher's stare with her own.
He leaned his head forward so their faces were only a few inches apart. Sadie swallowed, suddenly nervous and eager to distant herself from him, but her pride refused to budge. Her mother always told her she had her grandfather's pride, and that it would be her ultimate downfall, much like a Greek hero.
"Why don't you just answer the question?" he asked her softly.
Sadie swallowed again but forced her eyes to narrow into his. "If I do," she began, "will you go back to your seat?"
"Only if you want me to, sweetheart," he murmured in return.
"Poetry," she finally told him. "Lyrical poetry. That's what I like to do."
Asher said absolutely nothing, nor did he move his face away from hers. His brown eyes skimmed her facial features, trying to detect if she was lying or not.
"Will you go now?" she asked, perking her brow up expectantly.
Asher grinned at her and made it a point to slowly stand. He glanced over at Edward who was now focused on his soccer ball once again, causing his hair to follow his sharp movement. Without a word, Asher grabbed the soccer ball from the table and threw it in the opposite direction, nearly hitting the two girls who were once again consumed with
their menial tasks. Two screeches and a muttered swear word caused Asher's smirk to deepen, and he weaseled around Sadie's chair before plopping into his own, as though nothing happened. Sadie watched as the ball bounced a couple of times, and then finally rolled into the computer center.
"What the hell, man?" Edward asked, standing up and turning to face Asher.
"I don't understand the question," Asher said, and though Sadie hated to admit it, she hid an amused smile behind the back of her hand.
"What don't you understand, dipshit?" Edward said, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Sadie felt her body tense; she had seen Edward play soccer before, and there were times when he reminded her more of an animal than a man. Now was definitely one of those times. "Go get my ball."
"I'm not a dog, jock strap," Asher said, his brow furrowing and his eyes narrowing in anger as well.
"You look like one," Roxy put in, smirking as though what she said was funny.
"Like you're one to talk, Roxy," Sadie said before she could stop herself. Immediately, she realized what she said and then closed her mouth abruptly. She chanced a glance up at Asher, who was smirking down at her with a mysterious glint in his dark eyes. "Edward," Sadie said, forcing herself to look at Edward. "Just go get your ball. He's not worth it. He just wants a rise out of you."
"Shut up, Sadie," Edward seethed, his eyes still focused on Asher. "He threw my ball. He can go get it."
"God," Paulina said with a roll of her eyes. "Typical testosterone-filled guys."
Surprisingly, Sadie actually agreed with her.
Without warning, Edward stepped around Sadie so that both he and Asher were in the middle of the aisle, and pushed Asher. While Asher was about a half a head taller than Edward, Edward had more muscle on his body. If the two did get into a fight, it was easy to see who would win. Asher, however, seemed to have the same problem as Sadie had with his pride and pushed Edward back. Anthony popped up from his seat and pushed himself in between the two.
"Fellas," he said, "you guys shouldn't be fighting right now. Who knows when Stewey is going to walk in? You might even get another Saturday School."
Both guys pushed Anthony back, but neither took their eyes off of each other. Before anybody could blink, Edward took a swing at Asher and managed to land one right on Asher's cheek. Asher reacted much quicker than anybody originally anticipated him to. He got in a solid sock to Edward's chin before the senior soccer player lunged at him.
Paulina was still ignoring the tussle, completely focused on painting the last coat of nail polish on her new red nails. Anthony backed up, glancing anxiously between both boys before making eye contact with Sadie and shrugging helplessly. Roxy watched the two intently, a black brow arched and the tips of her teeth grazing her bottom lips. If anything, she looked intrigued.
Sadie, like Anthony, was glancing between both fighters, unsure of what to do. There were punches and groans and rumbles of the tables and chairs moving. She tried verbally distracting them, but they didn't seem to hear her. Without fully realizing what she was doing, she jumped on Edward's back, wrapping her legs around his waist and trying to pull him off of Asher. Edward, clearly not expecting Sadie's weight, fell underneath her. Quickly, Sadie pushed herself off Edward and, for whatever reason, ended up in front of Asher, positioning herself in such a way so that she stood in between them.
"What the hell, Sadie?" Edward asked, furrowing his brow. "God, what are you, defending this scumbag?"
"I don't need a girl to fight my fights," Asher said in a biting tone, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Really?" Sadie asked, turning to look at him, her voice slightly breathless. He was bleeding, and there were a couple places she knew would bruise. Other than that, the damage wasn't too bad. Edward fared a bit better. "Because it looked like you were losing." Asher rolled his eyes but didn't respond. He began to back away, turning to head into the workroom on the second story. "Hey, what about your face?"
"What do you mean, sweetheart?" Asher asked almost condescendingly. "It's not like this is new."
"You're bleeding," Sadie told him, following his retreating figure as he climbed up the stairs.
"Yeah, no shit," Asher asked, pushing his hair back. "What the hell do you care?"
"So you're just going to let the blood crust on your face?" she retorted, easily dodging his pointed question.
"You know what?" Asher asked between gritted teeth, turning so sharply once he reached the top that Sadie nearly ran into him. "Screw you. Leave me alone. I didn't ask for your help then, and I don't want it now. Back the hell off." With that, he turned and stomped over to the library couch.
Chapter 4
His words affected Sadie more than she was willing to say. She forced her eyes to glance up, hoping the tears that had formed would cease from falling. Her face was flaming, and only got hotter when she realized that everybody had watched their exchange. Suddenly, her hurt transformed into anger, and her brow furrowed as she followed Asher over to where he was.
"Just because you're a jackass doesn't mean you can just treat people like that!" Sadie exclaimed at him, her eyes narrowing into his.
"Isn't that exactly what a jackass is?" Asher retorted, standing up. He was a good head taller than she was, but his height hadn't intimidated her in the least. "And what about you, princess? Who the hell do you think you are when you didn't even notice that I'm in your Marine Bio class!? So stop pretending that you care because it doesn't look good on you."
"Well, maybe I'd notice if you actually showed up once in a while," Sadie retorted, her eyes focused on him. Asher took a step forward and she forced herself to stay put.
"Like that would matter," Asher said, rolling his eyes. "Girls like you don't hang out with guys like me. Girls like Paulina screw guys like me because rich girls like that want to slum it up every once in a while. Girls like Roxy screw guys like me because they want to feel better about themselves. But girls like you, good girls like you, barely even look my way."
His voice had increased with every word and he continued to walk toward her. His eyes had grown completely black, much like Roxy's, and Sadie could feel him fume with anger. Asher raised his hands in exasperation, causing Sadie to flinch. Seeing this, Asher paused and studied her intently. Any anger he had for her seemed to completely dissipate.
When Sadie realized how her body had reacted, her breath caught and she had to take a step back. A few tears rolled down both of her cheeks, but she quickly wiped them away and tried to compose herself. Without even looking at Asher, she headed back down the stairs and took a seat in her chair. However, Asher watched her the entire way down.
"I don't know why you even bother," Edward muttered under his breath.
Within fifteen minutes, Asher had taken his usual seat behind Sadie, but instead of finding something to maintain his focus such as setting something inanimate on fire, his attention was firmly on the back of Sadie's head. She could feel him staring.
The room was silent now. Anthony had recently taken his seat and was now reading some sort of textbook though it looked as though he had fallen asleep on it. Paulina was also sleeping, using her Luis Vuitton bag as a pillow. Roxy and Edward were both the same; Roxy was slumped forward, her oversized bag in front of her to block her face if Stewey entered while Edward was leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. Sadie was made a somewhat comfortable pillow out of her forearms, and the majority of her hair covered the majority of her face. Asher was sprawled out across three chairs, his body completely hidden from view.
"Wake up!" Stewey Stewey expected the slouching students to snap to attention, but nobody moved. This set him off a bit, and he bit the inside of his bottom lip to keep his patience. Instead, he tried a different tactic. "Who has to go to the restroom?"
Every hand shot up into the sky.
"Are you going to clean your face?" Sadie asked as she fell into step with Asher, who was purposefully walking slowly, and falling behind his classmates. Her hands
were stuffed into her jean pockets, and her eyes would still not look into his. In fact, she positioned her hair so that it covered the profile of her face.
"Nope," Asher said, as though he didn't give a shit one way or the other.
Sadie rolled her eyes and sped up her pace until she reached the pair of restrooms. She didn't actually have to go to the restroom, but she wanted to get up and out of that room. Instead, as Roxy and Paulina headed into the stalls, she ran the faucet and splashed cold water on her warm cheeks, hoping to wipe away any trace of tears that might have stained her cheeks. She glanced up at the mirror, and took a deep breath, studying herself for a moment. Her face looked a little better, if a bit pale, and her forest green eyes were slightly red. Her long, golden hair fell into her face, but she didn't bother brushing it out of the way. She was wearing a black, Slytherin jacket over a somewhat loose Spaghetti Cat T-shirt she had gotten after seeing comedian Joel McHale live a few months ago. She also had on dark blue, formfitting jeans that hung comfortably on her hipbones, with a Batman belt and a pair of old, worn converses. She wasn't exactly the most fashionable person that went to Uni; that honor went to Paulina undoubtedly. However, her clothing was comfortable and she liked her style, so she didn't exactly care.
When she stepped out of the restroom, the boys were all waiting, as well as a very agitated Vice Principle Stewey. Her eyes quickly skimmed Asher's face and a tiny smirk touched her lips when she realized that he had wiped away any remnants of his fight with Edward. He caught her eye and then rolled his as he began to head back to the library without the appearance of Paulina and Roxy.
Once everyone had finished, Stewey made sure everyone was in their seats before heading back to his office across the back entrance of the library. Sadie glanced over at the clock and was surprised to see that it was 9:31am. Huh. She pulled out her book once again and started to read, hoping time would continue to fly. Maybe fly wasn't the correct word; move. That was better.
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