by Blair Young
Swinging my backpack over my shoulder further, I walked along the sidewalk and toward the shop. It was right along the edge of the beach, and I paused for a moment, looking out across the shoreline and toward the water. Just like a few days before, there were people out enjoying the sunshine, soaking up the last few weeks of summer before the colder months of fall and winter set in.
There wasn’t any sign of the three men I’d seen the other day around, but, I couldn’t help but think about how they had just come out of nowhere. I was there one minute minding my own business, then the next minute they were all right in front of me, their dark hooks up and their faces mostly blocked by those sunglasses.
It didn’t matter they only wanted to pass a message along to Damon, I still felt shaken by the entire thing, and I didn’t feel comfortable going out there on my own anymore. Not for a while at least. Not until this all blew over and I found out for sure what Damon was tied up in.
But, I didn’t want that to be the only thing I had to talk about with him. It had been a long day at school, and I was looking forward to seeing him for a few minutes before I headed back home. Being a Thursday, I knew Susan would be off early, and it was likely her and Dean were either in the living room watching something or in the kitchen putting together dinner plans.
Either way, it was going to be harder slipping through the kitchen undetected this part of the week than it was Monday or Tuesday.
I stepped into the board shop, glad there weren’t any customers inside. It was nice to be able to talk to Damon without having to worry about anyone butting into the conversation or interrupting us with a question they had about something in the shop.
I walked around the corner of the aisle, heading for the counter with a smile on my face. But, as soon as I was in view of the register, my smile faded and I nearly turned around and walked right back out of the shop without saying a word.
In fact, if Dean hadn’t spotted me just as I came around the corner, I probably would have. I didn’t think he was going to be there, and I hadn’t seen his truck parked out front. But, he saw me before I had the chance to duck back out, so it was too late to pretend like I didn’t notice him.
“Sutton!” he said with a grin. “What brings you in here?”
“I was looking for Damon,” I said, certain that he already knew that was the real reason I was there. “He’s normally here around the time I get out of school and I thought I’d say hi before heading home.”
“He’s running a little late today,” Dean said with a small pout on his lips. I hated it when he tried to be playful with me. I had no interest in being friends with him, and any of his attempts at reaching out to me I wanted to shut down quickly and entirely.
“Susan wanted to talk to him, I guess. She said that she had something to ask him and that he would be in as soon as they were done talking, so I’m sure it’s not going to be too long if you want to wait. I’ll tell her when I get home where you are so she doesn’t worry,” he said with a wink.
“That’s alright,” I said, wondering what Susan would want to ask Damon enough she kept him late to work. “I’ll just head home.”
“What! You don’t want to stick around and talk to me for a while? I get lonely standing in here, too, you know, I could use a pretty smile to cheer me up before you get out of here,” he said. “Nothing brightens my day like seeing you or Damon, you know that, right?”
I wanted to laugh out loud, but I held it back. I didn’t want to talk to Dean, and I always got the impression he was happier when I left rather than when I walked into a room. But, I didn’t want to keep building the tension between us, so I just shook my head.
“I’ve got homework and stuff to do anyway. I just thought I’d say hi if Damon was here, but since he’s not, I may as well get to work on things that I should actually be doing,” I said.
Dean grinned. “That’s a good girl. Rushing right home to take care of your homework. You know that’s why you’re going to go places in your life. When Susan told me all that you’ve gone through, I thought for sure we’d be dealing with a punk girl who had a chip on her shoulder against the world, but you’ve proven to be quite the opposite. I’m sure you’ve got to be right there at the top of your class, right?”
“I guess,” I said with a shrug, wanting to get out of the conversation. “I’m not really paying much attention to what the other students are doing. Mostly I just want to get good enough grades to get into a good college.”
“That’s smart. You see, I was hoping when I heard you were doing so well in school that you would be a good influence on Damon. I mean, from what Susan has said, the two of you hit it off almost instantly, and I figured you might be the driving force he needed to get his life on track. Sadly, it seems some of the opposite has happened,” Dean shook his head with a disappointed tone to his voice, and I bristled.
I wanted to tell him to fuck off, but I bit my tongue. I didn’t think Damon was on the wrong track, and I really didn’t appreciate him implying I had anything to do with the life choices Damon made. He was his own person, and he was nearly an adult. He was free to do as he pleased, and I had nothing to do with it.
Of course, there was another part of me that wondered if Dean was just trying to get a rise out of me. Perhaps he was trying to draw me into an argument, or make the tension grow even more between us. Every time I was around him, I got a bad taste in my mouth.
I didn’t want to have anything to do with him, and I hated that he acted like he knew anything about my life or what I where I was going in the future. He knew nothing about me, that was for dang sure, and I planned to keep it that way. I had no interest in forming any kind of a bond with him, and I hated that he implied he knew any sort of intimate detail about me – whether it was true or not.
“Well,” I said, trying to brush off what he was saying, “Damon does make his own decisions, and I’m sure he’s happy with them. He’s going places, too, you know.”
Dean laughed. “He might be going places, but I’m not sure any of us are going to be happy with where those places are.”
The statement angered me, and I wanted to tell him off, but I merely turned to go. “I need to get to my homework. I’ll talk to Damon later when he gets off.”
“See you at home!” Dean called after me, but I ignored him. I hoped I wouldn’t see him at home, and if I had my way, I wouldn’t. I was going to head straight to my room as soon as I got there, unless Damon still happened to be there when I arrived.
I didn’t know how long Susan would keep him, and I had a feeling Susan’s question was more of a lecture than anything. Susan wasn’t the type to really ask questions without having a lecture attached in some way, that was for sure.
But, Damon was giving her less and less of his time the closer we got to graduation, so perhaps he wasn’t going to sit through one of her lectures when he had to work that afternoon. Either way, I had a bad feeling about the conversation I’d just had with Dean, and I felt much the same unsettledness in the pit of my stomach as I thought about the conversation as I had when I spoke with those three men in the black hoodies.
I just didn’t like Dean, and I wished he and Susan hadn’t ever gotten together. Not just these past few months, but ever. If Susan hadn’t ever met the guy, I had a feeling she would be much, much happier in her life. I knew she would be. People like Dean didn’t leave people like Susan happy.
They might pretend that they were a good couple when Damon and I were around, or they might try to force the relationship on their own, but the fact of the matter was I knew it wasn’t genuine. True love shouldn’t take that much work, and yet, they were constantly pushing it.
But, they were adults, and they were able to make their own decisions. If Susan was going to be foolish enough to stay with Dean despite how miserable he made her, well, that was her decision. She had broken up with him once, so I knew she had it in her to make that call.
Would she do it again?
Sus
an’s car was in front of the house when I walked up to the door, but the garage door was closed so I didn’t know if Damon had gotten his bike fixed up enough to take to work yet or not. He had been working on putting it back together, and I was surprised how fast it was all coming along.
It would be nice when he was able to take it back out on the road. I missed riding to school with him.
As I walked into the house, I was slightly surprised to find that the kitchen and living room were both empty. There wasn’t any sign of Damon or Susan anywhere. Knowing that they were having some kind of discussion that likely wasn’t pleasant didn’t exactly make me excited to walk in on them mid-conversation, and I really didn’t want to talk to Susan at all if I could help it.
I didn’t want to get involved in whatever it was she wanted to talk to him about, and there were times when she would try to get more information out of me than she was able to get out of Damon himself. I was determined not to share anything more with her than he himself would, even if she did try to convince me it was for his own good.
There was a pile of mail on the counter, and I casually glanced at it as I walked to the fridge to grab a soda. An envelope with my name on the front caught my eye, and I paused.
Good thing I saw this before Dean did. He probably feels free to check anyone’s mail if he’s here alone.
I scoffed quietly to myself as I peeled off the flap and opened the envelope, pulling out a brochure. It was for Harvard, the college of my dreams. The thought of going to that school filled me with excitement, and a shiver ran down my spine. Of course, there were many times when I would just dismiss the idea as nothing more than a dream.
What a nice ambition it would be to go to one of the most prestigious schools in the entire country. But, could I do it? My grades were good enough, that was for sure. But the money involved was something to be considered. Perhaps I could get scholarships or something. Maybe Susan would be willing to lend a hand in the beginning.
I could pay her back as I got more money myself, and it would help with some of the student loans that I would need. She had the money, I knew that, but would she be willing to help me? After all, biological mother or not she barely knew me, and I still had a hard time thinking of her as my actual mother rather than the foster mom who took me in out of the goodness of her heart.
Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it. Sure, it was quite a ways from Secret bay. Up the coast nearly twelve hours by car – it would certainly be a leap from everything I’d ever known. Then again, I had been eager to get out of Secret Bay practically since the day I moved to the town.
It wasn’t like it would be a bad thing to leave it behind. And, Massachusetts, while small in itself, was close enough to a lot of places I thought Damon might like. Perhaps I could convince him to go to a nearby college, or at the very least, to come with me.
I didn’t know if he would, but I didn’t want to be faced with the idea of having to choose between him and the life I had dreamt of living. I had promised Susan I wasn’t going to let Damon distract me from my goals, but on the other hand, was it really a distraction to choose a life of happiness with him at the cost of one of the dream schools in my life?
I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t want to think about that side of the decision. Right now, I wanted to head up to my room with the brochure in hand and get online, checking out the campus as much as I could from the seat by my desk. After all, it wasn’t going to be long before prospective students could start visiting and deciding if they wanted to attend the college the following year – and I already knew that I did without ever being there.
This was just reigniting the spark I had let fade through the past few months. But, I wasn’t going to let it die out completely. My parents would have been so proud if they knew I wanted to get into such a good school, and shoot, I knew I would be proud of myself for doing it, too.
Molly probably wasn’t going to get into a place as good as Harvard, or Chad or Trent, for that matter. It would feel so good to rise above the people who had made my life so miserable for so long.
And what better way to get away from Dean, too?
With excitement running through me, I rolled up the brochure in my hand as I grabbed my soda and headed up the stairs, a new skip in my step. This was the ray of sunshine that I needed to see, that was for sure. It didn’t solve any of the problems that I currently faced, but it certainly was a light at the end of the tunnel.
And when it felt like my world was just one big dark blur, I could use any light that I could get my hands on. Secret Bay didn’t have to be home forever. I could move as far from here as I wanted. I could be free of this place and most of the things I wanted to leave behind in it. And this college could be the first step to making that happen. Who knew where life would take me after I made it through there?
The thought alone was enough to make me jump for joy.
Chapter 7
Sutton
I finally closed down my computer with a contented sigh. I had all but made up my mind I wanted to attend Harvard in the fall, even to the point I didn’t see how any other school could change my mind.
The requirements to get into the school were steep, but I was confident. My grades were excellent, and though they had faltered a bit during the time I was really dedicating myself to finding the person who killed my parents, I had worked hard to bring them back up to where they should be.
Though I had told Dean I didn’t know what the other kids’ grades were in school, there was only a small shred of truth to that. I didn’t know everyone’s grades, but I did know that I was at the top of the class. If I wasn’t the absolute top, then I was darn close to being there, and I was proud of it.
I already knew that was going to help with scholarships, and I planned on talking to the principle and a few teachers about what I could do to get more financial help. Then, there was Susan. I had a feeling she was going to be happy with the news I planned to go do Harvard, and I hoped she would be willing to help me if it were possible for her to do so.
Right now, I certainly didn’t see why she couldn’t help. It only made sense to me that she’d be able to with the money she not only already had, but with the income she made. If Dean were helping with any of the household expenses, she might be even more willing to give me a hand academically.
One thing was for certain, however, I didn’t want a single penny from Dean himself. I didn’t want anything from him in life, and to think that he would help with my college education just wasn’t going to happen. I could work and scrimp and save to get it myself if it came down to it. But, I wasn’t going to ask him for anything.
My phone buzzed, bringing my attention back to my bedroom. I was glad to see Abby’s name on the screen. She had been so busy lately, it was hard for her even to find the time to text. I had grown used to the fact she and I weren’t able to hang out much, but I did miss hearing from her.
I was glad when she seemed to be excited.
Clear your lunch schedule tomorrow! I’ve got news to share!
My heart skipped a beat, and I wondered if she might not have to move. That would be like a dream come true. Sure, she would have to deal with all the unpacking and putting the house back together, but maybe she would let me help her.
With a smile, I messaged her back.
Consider it done. I’ll see you then!
She sent back an excited emoji, and I grinned. It was nice to see her happy about something, whatever it might be. She had been through so much herself, I wanted her to be happy. But, I was also full of curiosity.
What could possibly be so exciting she messaged me about it but didn’t want to tell me until we were in person? Knowing Abby, it could be just about anything, and I hoped I was right in my speculation she wasn’t going to move. That would take a lot of the stress out of my life, even if it was just in that one area.
But, I wouldn’t know until lunch. And it gave me something else to think about all evening rat
her than Harvard.
“So, what do you want to tell me?” I asked with a smile.
Abby grinned and looked around at the students in line. “Not here, I don’t want anyone else to hear me. Come here!”
She pulled me over to one of the tables in the corner of the cafeteria before turning to me with another broad grin on her face. “You’ll never guess what happened!”
“What!” I asked with wide eyes. I hoped against hope she was going to make the announcement I was guessing – that she wasn’t going to be moving after all. But, what she did say was certainly the last thing I thought would come out of her mouth.
“We did it!” she beamed.
“Did what? Who did?” I asked, confused.
“Peter and I! We finally went all the way. You know, together,” she winked.
“You had sex?” I asked.
“Yup!” she grinned. “And it was amazing.”
“That’s awesome!” I said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. I was happy for her, but the truth was that I thought she and Peter were already having sex. They had acted like it was happening when they first got together, and I was sure that was what was going on behind closed doors.
Shoot, they all but did the deed right in front of me more than once when I was over at her house watching movies with the two of them. I was sure that was happening either right before, or right after, I left.
“You look so surprised!” she said with a laugh. “Did you think I wasn’t going to go through with it?”
“I thought you already had,” I said with a laugh when I finally found my voice. “I mean, with the way you were acting, and the way you encouraged me and Damon to get together, I thought that’s what you were doing this whole time.”
Abby laughed, too. “Yeah, well I guess you could say we were doing everything but the actual dirty. I mean, we certainly were naked enough and getting each other off as much as we could. He’s a master with his tongue, if you know what I mean.”