Asher clenched his jaw at the notion that some guy, some prep, was asking Sadie out on a date, to a party no less. But she hadn't told him everything; he could tell by the way her eyes glinted. "And what did you say?" he asked, his voice slow, his tone incredibly articulate. It was getting harder and harder to control his frustration, and he swore that if Tyler came back in the library at all during his duration there, he would certainly be on the receiving side of a tirade Asher was intending to set off.
"I said," Sadie began, and she paused, debating once again whether or not to actually tell him. It took her a moment to decide that she would, except instead of telling him what she responded word for word, she would improvise a little. "I said that I would consider it."
Asher's mouth dropped open as he regarded her, his eyes looking at her with disbelief. "You don't even like parties," he pointed out, raising his brow to emphasize his point.
Sadie shrugged her shoulders, her face taking on a look as though she really didn't care what he thought about the situation. "I felt I should open my mind to the whole thing," she told him. "I mean, isn't that what you told me to do? Open my mind?"
Asher looked as though he was about to respond, but suddenly decided against it and shook his head. There was an enigmatic expression written on his face, but what Sadie could definitely tell was that he didn't look too pleased about her decision. Well good. It wasn't like she was pleased upon walking into the library and seeing Kristen practically riding him.
For the rest of detention, Asher and Sadie were either arguing about something or they were ignoring each other. When they were doing the latter, Sadie's mind couldn't help but analyze what was happening and how it was affecting her. Obviously, Asher wasn't happy about the fact that Sadie was even considering going to a party with some new kid, but Sadie couldn't tell if it was jealousy that caused him to act in such a harsh manner, or if it was the fact that he saw her as an object, a thing that belonged to him, and he'd be damned if someone else was going to take her to a party. She didn't know Asher well enough to pick a side, and it bothered her as the clock ticked time away.
It wasn't long before Stewey came in and announced that they could leave. As Sadie was gathering up her things and slipping them into her bag, she heard the scrape of Asher's chair being pushed against the tile floor, indicating that he was standing up now. From the corner of her eye, Sadie watched as he approached Kristen who was doing relatively the same thing as Sadie was, save for the fact the things she was putting away had more to do with makeup than books. Sadie was unsure why Asher wanted to talk to Kristen; what more could they possibly talk about? But instead of leaving quickly, Sadie slowed down her ministrations in order to overhear what Asher was going to ask the girl.
"Hey," he murmured, and quickly threw his eyes over at Sadie to see if she was watching him. Though it appeared as though she wasn't, he had studied her enough the past week to know that she was. This seemed to encourage him, and when he looked back at Kristen, he smiled. "So, there's a party going on tonight..." Asher let his voice trail off and his pushed his brow up, hoping Kristen would get the point that way.
For a moment, it didn't look as though Kristen understood just what Asher was asking her. Then a smile broke out onto her face and her eyes suddenly sparkled with utter delight. "Are you..." She began, unsure if she should continue in case what he was doing wasn't actually what he was asking her. "Are you asking me to go with you?"
Asher forced a smile onto his lips, however tight it might be, and nodded a couple of times so his hair fell into his face.
"Of course, I'll go to a party with you!"
When Asher turned to see the reaction on Sadie's face, he realized at that moment she was gone. And that he had just asked some girl he didn't really like to some party he didn't even want to go to.
Chapter 20
Sadie had to get out of there. She felt like a bullet ripped straight through her heart, causing it to crumble into tiny bits of pieces. It would take time to put her heart back together, but even as she did, she wouldn't be able to find every piece, wouldn't be able to fit everything back the way it used to be. She had never actually felt this kind of pain before, which was surprising because she had had a serious relationship before. But Tony McGinnis was different, and he always would be. Not, of course, in the romantic sense of him being her first love and all that, but because it was the most dysfunctional relationship she could ever imagine being in. With Tony, she knew it was bad even though she was in it, and knew that Tony wasn't treating her right, which was why she left in the first place.
But Asher...
With Asher, she had higher expectations, and that was why she was so upset. She honestly thought that Asher might feel the same way about her that she felt about him. Why else would he sneak into that supply closet and spend the last couple hours of Saturday school with her knowing full well that Stewey could have walked in at any moment and punished him for it? Why else would he kiss her outside, once they were released? Why would he defend her against Tony – against his friend – when Tony was about to slap her across the face? It just didn't make sense. Her intuition told her that he felt the same way about her, but every indication he was making after that Saturday said otherwise. In fact, it was like he was trying to go out of his way to show her he didn't like her.
God, she didn't want to be that girl. Everyone knew a girl like that. The type of girl who, no matter what a guy did or said, still thought he was into her, that he was just playing hard to get with her. The girl that couldn't see the sign even if she had twenty-twenty vision. Was she currently that girl? She hoped not. She didn't feel like she was.
The odd thing about this whole situation was that if it had been any other guy she liked who purposefully asked a girl out to a party in front of Sadie, Sadie wouldn't think twice about getting over him. It was actually really easy for her because Sadie looked at life this way; if a guy liked her and she knew he liked her while she felt the same way about him, he needed to do something about it, and if he wasn't going to, she would be happy with moving on. Sadie didn't want to wait forever, and if a guy couldn't muster up enough courage to at least indicate he was interested in something with her then she wasn't going to waste her time waiting around for him to attain it. She was always the first one to make a move on a guy; sometimes, she got rejected completely by him, and sometimes it would work out before it just didn't work anymore. Was it so wrong that she wanted to be chased? That she wanted to be the girl a guy did something for in order to show that he liked her?
Sadie was glad that upon walking out of the school, her mother's black Pathfinder was sitting there. When she opened the door to it, she saw her mother reading the latest Dean Koontz book, as she normally did when she had to wait for something while being in the car. Ellen glanced up and smiled at her daughter, and though Sadie managed to smile back, it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Is everything okay?" Ellen asked as her daughter slipped on a seatbelt. She pulled out of the school parking lot before making a right at the light.
Sadie debated a moment about whether or not she should tell her mother about Asher. She didn't want Ellen to think that the only reason why she got the second Saturday school was because she wanted to spend time with him (which obviously wasn't true at all; Paulina's face would definitely prove it). However, she loved her mother very much and trusted her with things like this. Hmm...
"It's just this boy," Sadie said, running her fingers through her hair. "I thought he liked me but he ended up asking this other girl to a party right in front of me." She glanced over at her mother who appeared to be listening despite her focus on the road ahead of her. "It really doesn't feel good. And the worst part is, is that this new guy, Tyler invited me to go but I said no."
"Well, you don't like parties," Ellen pointed out though her voice remained neutral.
"I know that, but still," Sadie said. "I don't think I would have said the same thing if the guy I actually liked asked me
."
"Do you want me to drop you off at Natasha's?" Ellen asked, cocking her head to the side as she regarded her daughter from the corner of her blue eyes. "I mean, I can only say so much to make you feel better, but Natasha might give a better insight on this entire situation only because she probably knows both guys you're talking about."
Sadie smiled at her mother's suggestion, touched that her mother even considered something like that when she had just gotten out of a nine-hour detention after punching some girl in the face. "That would be great, Mom," she said with sincerity.
It only took a short moment until the Pathfinder had pulled up in front of Natasha's house. Sadie leaned over and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, promising to call her later when she needed a ride if Natasha couldn't give her one.
"Sadie," Ellen said, just as Sadie had unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door. Sadie turned her head in order to lock eyes with her mother. "I just want you to know that if this boy you like, if he doesn't see you for what you are, if he doesn't appreciate you, then he doesn't deserve you."
Sadie felt herself smile and her cheeks to crimson slightly. "Thanks, Mom," she said softly. "I love you."
"I love you too," Ellen said. "Tell Natasha I say hi."
"I will." With that, Sadie got out of the car, shut the door, and headed for Natasha's house. Luckily, Natasha was in, and when she saw Sadie standing in front of her door, she immediately opened it to let her friend in.
"You have something to tell me, don't you?" Natasha guessed as Sadie followed her into Natasha's room.
"Ugh, you have no idea," Sadie said, and once Natasha had closed the door behind her friend, Sadie slipped out of her jacket and plopped onto the bed. It took a good half an hour, but Sadie managed to tell Natasha everything that had happened during Saturday school, including Tyler, the arguments she shared with Asher, and Asher asking Kristen out at the very end of detention to that party.
"Well, you know what we have to do," Natasha stated, almost as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Sadie perked her brow, silently urging her friend to go on, but if Sadie was being honest, she had no idea what she was supposed to do. "We have to go to that party."
"What?" Sadie asked sharply, sitting up straight.
"Oh come on Sadie!" Natasha exclaimed. "Here. Let me break it down for you. You said no to Tyler's invitation because you don't like parties and you do like Asher. However, you told Asher that you were considering it in order to make him feel jealous, except that the whole thing backfired because he asked Kristen to make you jealous. Now when he goes to that party, he is going to expect to see you there with Tyler. You need to be there in order to make him jealous. Come on, Sadie. You know you want to." She smiled playfully and Sadie couldn't help but mirror Natasha's own smile with one of her own.
"I don't know, Natasha," Sadie said, glancing down at her hands resting in her lap. "I mean, I don't want to go to a party where I see Kristen and Asher together doing who knows what. I don't even like parties. I kind of feel like it's going to be a waste of my time."
"Don't you want to make him jealous, Sadie?" Natasha asked pointedly, placing her hands firmly on her hips. "Don't you want to do to him what he did to you?"
"I already tried that," Sadie pointed out, perking her brows. "Remember? That whole thing backfired because, as we now know, he asked her to the party."
Natasha let a mysterious smile slide onto her face and there was a mischievous glint sparkling in her dark eyes. "Trust me," she said. "You didn't have me get you ready for Saturday school. This time, our little plan won't backfire."
Chapter 21
Sadie and Natasha could tell which house was holding the party due to the stereotypical blaring music that sent vibrations through the walls, plastic cups littering the lawn, and the kids making out or engaging in risky behavior on the porch. Sadie and Natasha glanced over at each other, mirroring looks on both of their faces. Sadie pulled into a vacant parking place a few houses away and decided that they should try the place out. She felt her stomach clench as she walked to the house, trying to prepare for what she might or might not see. Would Asher even be here? She had no idea.
They opened the door, finding it unlocked. Not like the owner cared or anything. It was a safe neighborhood and they saw no harm in leaving the door unlocked. The music assaulted their ears, and kids were shouting over it, trying to converse. Sadie had no idea as to why people played such loud music at parties; there was no way people could talk over it and it got really old really fast shouting as means of talking.
The air smelled heavily of pot and spilled alcohol, but Sadie couldn't tell if it was just beer or if it was liquor. Hell, it might have been a mixture of both. She wasn't familiar enough with alcohol to actually decipher between the two. Her eyes flitted around, trying to spot people she knew, and when she couldn't, she felt her stomach churn. This was the right party, wasn't it? She glanced over at Natasha who seemed to be as bored with this as she was, and upon seeing that, Sadie felt glad that she had brought her friend along.
They walked over to the kitchen to see tons of kids their age, cramming chips down their mouth, pouring alcohol in plastic cups, and making out on the sink. Sadie hated to admit it, but her sharp eyes double-checked each couple in order to try and figure out whether or not Asher was one half of them. Though it helped to see that he didn't appear to be there, her heart still wasn't satisfied, so she continued to prepare herself for the worst.
"Let's check upstairs," Natasha called before tilting her head over in the direction of the staircase.
Sadie nodded in agreement.
"Okay, but I think we should go after that," she called back. "I'm already starting to get a headache."
Sadie followed Natasha up the stairs, over a couple of kids who had passed out on them, and before they knew it, both of had reached the top. Oddly enough, the upstairs was much quieter than the downstairs, and there were fewer people. Sadie looked at the row of closed doors that she assumed were bedrooms, and idly wondered if Asher and Kristen were occupying one of these. God, she hoped not. If she walked in on them doing that, then there would be no hope for them as a couple, and it would take a while for her to get over it.
But she would. If Sadie was anything, she was strong. However, she chose not go barging in the rooms, and when her eyes scanned the rest of the environment and found that he wasn't up there, she was satisfied enough to head back down the stairs.
"Natasha?" someone called from the living room.
"Bertha?" Natasha called back. "Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in forever. How's college?" Bertha had been a friend of Natasha's, one grade older than she was. She glanced over at Sadie. "I'll be right back, okay? I promise I'm not going to ditch you."
Sadie nodded but decided against verbally responding. Parties, in general, made her feel uncomfortable, and being alone at one made her feel even worse. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to drown out the thumping music with her thoughts. Before she could, however, somebody pinched her side. She glanced over and found Edward standing there with Tyler, both of whom seemed surprised to actually see her there.
"Oh my God!" Edward exclaimed, his blue eyes widening in surprise at Sadie. "I cannot believe you showed up to this thing, Sadie. You never show up to parties."
"Yeah," Tyler agreed, though it wasn't likely he really knew Sadie didn't like parties. "I asked you to come, but you said your mother probably wouldn't let you out of the house...?" He let his voice trail off into what sounded like a question that he probably expected Sadie to answer.
Sadie shrugged, glancing around the room, trying to catch a familiar head of hair somewhere. "I managed to talk her into it," she said with a tight smile. It would seem that the hours of preening and primping with Natasha was for naught. Oh well...
"That's wicked awesome," Tyler said appraisingly, shooting her a charming smile. "So, since you're here, can I get you a beer or something to drink?"
Edward laughed.
"Sorry, buddy," Edward said, clapping Tyler on the back. "Sadie here is straight-edge. She doesn't smoke, she doesn't get high, and she definitely doesn't drink."
"Well, she doesn't have to drink beer," Tyler said, playfully defensive. His eyes shifted back over to Sadie and he smiled at her again. "Would you like a water then? Maybe some soda or something?"
Sadie shook her head. "I'm actually planning to leave soon," she replied honestly, though she was touched at Tyler's sentiment. "But thank you. That’s really sweet."
"Oh, Sadie!" Edward said, his voice dripping with disappointment. "You can't be leaving now! You just got here! Where's the fun in coming to a party only to leave minutes after getting here, hmm?"
Sadie shrugged her shoulders, an amused smile on her face, knowing exactly what she was going to say and knowing exactly how the two boys in front of her would react. "I don't know," she said. "I just think parties are kind of... Oh, what's the word? Lame?"
"What?" Tyler asked, completely baffled at her statement.
Edward rolled his eyes as though he knew Sadie was going to say something like this. "Please don't get her started, Tyler," he said, shaking his head. "She's going to give you a long list of why parties are lame, such as the obvious reasons of getting high, getting drunk, and having sex."
"And you don't do any of those things?" Tyler asked Sadie, looking at her with awe and maybe even slight surprise. Every high school kid did at least one of those things. It was a rarity to find one that abstained from all three.
"You say it like it's the most surprising thing in the world," Sadie said with a laugh. "It's not that weird, and surprisingly enough, I'm not the only person who's like this. But don't worry. I'm not going to judge you if you're into that kind of stuff." She gave them a grin that showed she was teasing them, and from the corner of her eyes, she caught Natasha making her way towards her. "Anyway guys, I have to go, but it was really nice seeing you here." She glanced around the cramped environment she was in a shook her head, still not quite believing she actually showed up here and went to meet Natasha.
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