Sunnyside Up with Red Ketchup

by Andrews, Ashley

  She felt her bicep being tugged and Seth's hand fell from her face. Zane was pulling her off of the sofa. She winced when a strange surge of pain ran up her back as she stood. It took a lot of effort to stand straight on her legs.

  "I’m taking you back." Zane pulled hard on her arm, sending another twinge of pain down her body, causing her to stumble over her own feet. Why did she hurt so bad?

  "Zane, be careful with her," Seth demanded.

  She nearly bumped into Zane's back when he stopped suddenly.

  He looked slowly over his left shoulder. A strange tension filled the room as Zane and Seth stared at each other, both completely emotionless.

  She felt as if she were choking on the pressure.

  Casper's expression meant he felt the same.

  Zane was the first to break eye contact. "It's not like she’s disabled," he snapped at his friend, opening the door to his room and pulling her into the hall, and slamming it behind him.

  She looked behind her at the closed door, as though she could see Seth on the other side. Were Zane and Seth fighting?

  Zane half threw, half pushed her toward her door, looking a lot madder than he had before.

  She was confused. So confused. She'd been in Zane's room, her back was stinging, her arm was covered in scratches and she felt happy, yet torn in the pit of her stomach.

  What was going on?

  "Are you pretending to act ignorant so you don't have to thank me?" He crossed his arms and looked at her angrily.

  She looked back. "Why would I need to thank you?" she asked hesitantly, knowing that her answer would probably upset him.

  He scoffed in disbelief. “I don't believe it. The one time I actually hel—" He stopped himself, and then shook his head. “I don't even care anymore."

  He swung around and stormed back into his room.

  She frowned at him, wincing when he slammed the door, and then she let out a big sigh. She knew something had happened, but when she thought back, everything was blank.

  She opened her door. Knowing her, she probably tripped and hit her head on a rock. That would explain the memory loss and scratches. She took one step into her room and stopped. She'd stepped into water. She lifted her head up slowly to find the source.

  Her room was completely flooded, destroyed, and torn apart.

  * * * * *

  Leo sighed dramatically, taking another step to his left as though his sigh would distract her from him slowly edging closer to her.

  Seth pulled him back the other way.

  One of these days she was going to remember why everyone kept pulling Leo away from her. Not that she wanted the creepy guy anywhere near her. Come to think of it, maybe that was the answer. He was creepy and everyone knew it.

  "All three rooms are flooded. Damn. That's either coincidence, or someone hates you, baby." Leo stretched his left arm across to ruffle her hair.

  Casper grabbed his hand and shoved it back down to his side.

  Her eyes were still wide with shock. All of her personal belongings were floating on top of the water that had pooled in the room. Luckily, you had to venture down a step into her room, or else the water would have flooded the entire hallway when the door had been opened.

  She may have been naïve, but she knew it was no coincidence that her wardrobe had been opened and her clothes had been spread across the floor.

  Leo let out another sigh. “I'll look into this. In the meantime, you'll have to share with someone you're close to."

  Share?

  "Aren’t there any rooms available at Royal Nature?" Seth asked him coolly.

  Leo frowned. "Funny thing, that. We had a group of boys come in last night, all last minute reservations and all requesting a single room. There's none left."

  "None at all?" Casper said in shock.

  Leo shook his head.

  Red swallowed hard. There was no chance that she could share with any of the boys on the top floor. So she was limited to seeing if Vikki would take her. She pressed a hand against her heart and sighed. She’d liked this room. “I can share with Vikki."

  "She's gone."

  Everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice, which had come from at the top of the stairs. It was Tiffany. She was leaning against the banister, a satisfied smirk on her pretty face. Her cold eyes met Red’s.

  "Gone?" Red replied in a quiet voice.

  The blonde pushed herself off of the banister and headed towards her, confidence in every step, her stiletto heels clicking against the sparkling wooden flooring. She made sure to stay above the water level. "It seems Vikki had a family crisis to attend to." Tiffany’s slim arms folded across her thin chest as she reached Red. She leaned forward and whispered loudly; “I don't think she'll be coming back."

  The bottom of Red’s stomach sunk. Vikki was gone? Without saying goodbye?

  Tiffany smirked and straightened up, taking another step towards Red.

  She stepped back to keep the bully at a distance.

  "Isn't that strange? Your friend disappearing suddenly? God, I’d be feeling pretty terrible if she ditched me like that, especially when I needed her." Tiffany tilted forward on her heels to peek farther into Red’s room. She tutted when she saw the water, then her eyes widened in mock surprise. "Oh, my. Isn't it a coincidence that Vikki disappeared right after this happened?" Tiffany tapped her chin. “I heard her dad's a rich plumber. Funny. As the daughter of a plumber, I’m sure she knows how to tweak a few pipes…"

  Red’s fist tightened at Tiffany's implication. Vikki wouldn't do that and she’d just like to take a swing at the dumb blonde. Where Vikki wouldn't purposely damage all of the rooms to get Red off of the top level, Tiffany would.

  Suddenly, a fake, forced grin spread across Tiffany's face and she clapped her hands excitably. "Hey, we're friends, I'll let you stay in my room," her smile sent all the wrong signals.

  Leo clapped his hands together. "Great! Looks like you have a roo—"

  “She can stay with me."

  Everyone froze and slowly turned their heads to the voice in surprise. Seth stepped to her side and took hold of her hand, entwining her fingers with his.

  "Red and I, as boyfriend and girlfriend, will share a room."

  Chapter 14: Amber

  The look on Tiffany's face had been terrifying. For her, at least. She was sure no one else noticed the murder in the other girl’s eyes. The blonde had been furious.

  Before she knew it, the word had spread. Red Hart, the manly, unimportant girl had become Seth Cooper's girlfriend.

  One of the rules that Red had overlooked had to do with being over 18. According to the Sunnyside Rule Book, that made you an adult. As adults, you were allowed to share a room with a lover.

  She was definitely, definitely not Seth Cooper's lover.

  She sat uncomfortably on his bed, dropping her shopping bags to the floor. They were the only clothes she had, well, including what she was wearing.

  Leo had found them in Vikki's room with Red’s name on the bags, so he had given them to her. At least she had underwear and clothes that weren't drenched and un-wearable.

  "I’m sorry."

  She lifted her head to look at Seth, who was closing the door to his room behind him. She straightened up and sent him a smile.

  "It's fine, really. I should be thanking you." She stood up to hold out her hand. A hand shake was how you thanked someone properly, right?

  Seth looked at her hand and a small smile spread across his lips. He walked forward and pulled her into him, hugging her. "This is the proper way to say thank you to a close friend," he murmured, resting his warm hand on the back of her head to push her closer to him.

  Her eyes were still wide with surprise, the breath completely knocked out of her. Her arms trembled as she slowly raised them, about to place them onto Seth's back. They were moving by themselves, as though her body was reacting but her brain was still trying to figure things out.

  The door to the room swung open and sla
mmed against the wall. She pulled away quickly, jumping at the loud sound. Seth lazily turned to look at his visitor, not in the least bit frazzled.

  When she noticed it was Zane, she grinned and stepped forward to greet him. "Zane!"

  His glare stopped her.

  He really did not look happy. His eyes were wide, his brow was creased, his hand was still resting on the door and it looked like he was struggling to breathe. His cold, angry eyes were settled intensely on her.

  "You—" his words caught in his throat. His hand slid off of the door, like it had given up following the signals from his brain. "You're together." He made it sound like an accusation.

  She stepped forward to explain, but Seth stepped sideways and wrapped an arm around her waist. She squeaked and moved her hand down to grab his, trying to pry it away. He entwined her fingers with his. She caved. His soft, warm hands always bought her comfort.

  "Yes, we are."

  Zane seemed to regain his composure suddenly, crossing his arms across his chest. He looked between the two of them with narrowed eyes.

  "Since when?" He asked, acting like it was a chore to know. She opened her mouth to explain again, but Seth squeezed her hand.

  "Since the day she played piano."

  She watched Zane's Adam's apple on his neck bob as he swallowed. His posture was stiff and tense.

  "Well…I came to say congratulations," his words sounded forced. It looked like he was extremely uncomfortable, his feet constantly moving and his face unable to settle on a certain expression. He turned around quickly and stalked out, his legs moving like a puppet.

  She waited for him to leave, then broke away from Seth. "What—"

  "It's best if we make sure everyone believes it. If anyone discovered this arrangement is false, Leo will move you into that girl's room for sure." Seth sat on his bed and patted it, indicating that she should sit.

  She stayed standing.

  He sighed and rose to his feet, grasping her shoulders. Her blue eyes bored into his brown ones. "I’m not as dense as the others. You looked horrified at the idea of sharing a room with her, so I stepped in. I’m sure she has been very unkind to you." Seth looked at the floor and removed his hands from her shoulders.

  She felt cold without his warm palms pressed into them.

  He looked back at her, an apologetic expression on his face. "It's my fault you were suffering. This is the least I could do." He smiled at her, raising a hand to ruffle her hair.

  She was still amazed that someone so nice could have chosen to help her when clearly she was the one causing the trouble in the first place.

  "No. I—I’m sorry." She nodded her head at him. "This is my fault entirely. If I’d just moved to the other dorm, where I belonged—"

  His hand clamped over her mouth, preventing her from saying more. Then it was gone and he moved his face so close to hers, she could feel his breath brushing over her skin.

  "There is no right or wrong dorm. Just silly rules that others have made," he whispered.

  She gulped, extremely bothered by his close proximity and at the same time— not. Things just got a whole lot more complicated.

  * * * * *

  Seth waited for the girl to come out of the bathroom impatiently, tapping his foot on the floor. He'd completely acted on impulse, which was extremely unlike him. But Red was different—so different, in fact, that it made him suspicious. He knew she wasn't a threat. That was obvious. He'd been cautious at first and had examined her carefully from the time he’d met her in Zane's room. Her personality was definitely not false. Even though he’d tried to check her out on the Internet, and found nothing. She didn’t have a Facebook page, or anything.

  But discovering that had only made him more curious. As he had told her, he wasn't as dense as the others. Red Hart wasn't famous, wasn't a snob and wasn't rich. So what was she doing at Sunnyside, paying almost $8,000 a week for the top floor of a dorm where she was being bullied?

  It didn’t make sense, and he wanted to find out. With her in his room, he could keep his eye on her.

  But it was such a stupid stunt in order to do that. He'd been thinking of a way to get closer to her and then her room just so happened to be flooded. While that was luck on his part, it was bad luck for her.

  She had just had an experience so bad, she’d blocked it out and forgotten it. Then her room was flooded. Then she found out her friend had upped and left without a word to her.

  Adding a fake boyfriend was bound to add to that pile of crap. He knew that she was grateful. She would be grateful even if she was beaten to a pulp and then given a $20 as a reward for not yelling.

  Wincing, he realized that it was a bad time to use such a stupid example.

  The door to the bathroom opened and he looked up. She was wearing one of his long t-shirts and a pair of her own shorts from her shopping bag. She'd taken his shirt with a bright smile and a sincere, thank you. It fit her perfectly.

  He rose from the bed and gestured to it.

  "You'll be sleeping here," he smiled at her. A look of mild horror crossed her face.

  "N—No! I couldn't. Really, I don't want to take your bed—" she stuttered.

  Seth smiled at her modesty. It was rare to find innocent modesty nowadays. He raised his eyebrows at her and the unrecognizable urge to tease spread through his body. He tilted his head at her questionably. "If you insist on me sleeping in it, fine, I’ll sleep beside you."

  He shouldn't have said it, but the look on her face made his heart stop.

  Her pale cheeks flushed pink and she squeaked, clapping a hand to her mouth.

  The thrill he got out of this was similar to a kid getting a new pet. And everyone knew that once you got a new pet, it was impossible to leave it alone. He let out a gentle laugh. "Don't worry. I'll be fine on the floor." He settled himself down onto the mattress that he’d put on the carpet. He sat, knees bent, elbows resting on them. He linked his hands together. "Now you've got no choice but to use it," he said to Red, smiling warmly at her.

  She moved the hand away from her mouth, still partially in shock at the comment he’d made.

  He watched her swallow and walk slowly towards the luxurious queen-sized bed, resting a hand on it.

  "Thank you. Really. You're just… so nice to me," she said softly.

  He couldn't see her face, but judging by the tone in her voice, she was really emotional. He hadn't expected her to feel so… thankful. Had she never had affection before?

  He knew that feeling. It was probably a shock. To have no affection at all and then suddenly, there's one person in the world who is actually happy to see you.

  It was just like when Red had entered his life.

  His body moved on its own, slowly raising to its feet and plodding quietly over to Red, who was sniffing loudly. He approached behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck and then pulled her back into him.

  She jumped.

  He was pushing it. Pushing the fact they were in a fake relationship. But he was unable to control himself. "Goodnight," he murmured, forcing his arms to let her go. He laid back down onto the mattress, wishing there were restraints there to keep him in place. Bodily contact was something he avoided with all people, when necessary.

  So why was it when Red was around, all he wanted to do was pull her close and hold her forever?

  * * * * *

  He'd saved her. He'd saved her from spending the night in some forest, picking up pieces of a photo, then he goes to the trouble of sticking it together, ready to give it to her when she wakes up and what does she do?

  She moves into his best friend's room. As his girlfriend.

  He glugged down another half a pint of water and took another spoonful of heart burn medicine. He'd been suffering from chest pains since he'd gone out earlier and now they'd just increased tenfold. He'd been unable to sleep, so went to the front of the dorm steps and sat there, looking out into the night. A clock tower in the distance rung twelve times.

  Si
ghing, he gulped down the last of his water. Seth and Red. Red and Seth.

  He'd never even seen it happen. Were he and Casper so clueless, that love was happening beneath their very eyes and they didn't even notice?

  Although, now that he thought about it, they had been unusually intimate in his room, when Seth had stared at her like that… he shook his head, slamming his fist into his chest to get rid of the constricting pain. Ungrateful girl. Clueless, idiotic, innocent girl.

  "Huh? Zane?"

  He winced and then looked over his shoulder, watching as Red slowly ventured down the steps towards him.

  She sat next to him, making him edge away. He really did not like the fact that she was wearing one of Seth's shirts, which he'd seen his friend wear on numerous occasions. He'd never look at it the same way again.

  Especially not since it reached her mid—thigh when she sat next to him. He tore his eyes away, cursing under his breath. Okay, he'd been looking at her legs. What was wrong with him? Clearly he was delirious.

  "You can't sleep?" She said quietly, her hands fiddling with each other in her lap. The sleeves of the shirt were too long for her.

  "Does it matter that she can't?" He replied coldly. Red looked down at her feet.

  “I guess not."

  That was an unexpected reaction. He flicked his eyes to his left, trying to see her expression without making an exaggerated movement that would suggest he was curious about her mood.

  "Why aren't you asleep with your boyfriend?" He couldn't help but say it in such a sardonic tone. Red didn't notice. As usual. She lifted her head and smiled at him weakly.

  "My back hurts," she murmured.

  Oh. Her back hurt. Casper, Seth and him had argued about who would see to the wounds on her back, but none of them had the guts to do it. He remembered cursing the nurse violently for being unable to help them tonight. She’d been sequestered with a girl who might be contagious with some virus. This left the three boys to deal with the untouchable woman in front of him.

  Undressing a girl while she was unconscious was definitely something a rich kid never did.

  Help her.

  Zane stiffened. A voice inside his head?