Trainwreck (2 page)

Chapter 2

The person in charge of detention was a familiar face. Vice Principal Stewey Stewey was in a sharp grey suit with a black shirt underneath his blazer. His dark, graying hair was swept out of his face, every lock accounted for in perfect place. His dark grey eyes swept over the students with anger and annoyance, as though he didn't exactly want to be here, giving up nine hours of his Saturday either. His hands were squarely on his hips, causing his blazer to bunch where his shoulders were, and his thin lips were pressed into an even thinner line.

"Well, well, well," he began as he started to pace up and down the cool, white tile of the library floor. "What a bunch of kids we have today. Though, Boyd, I'm not surprised to see
you
here." His eyes narrowed in Boyd's general direction.

"I can't say I feel the same." Boyd's voice was like low velvet with a very slight rasp to it. There was obvious disdain in his current tone, as well as arrogance. He did look like the type that constantly got into trouble. "I thought you would be at the sorority's panty raid."

"You better watch your mouth," Stewey threatened, his voice getting sharper.

Sadie pulled her dark blonde hair over one shoulder so she could catch a glimpse of the guy behind her from the corner of her eyes. He was leaning nonchalantly in his chair, his feet resting on the surface of the desk, and a small smirk touching his face. Almost as though he could feel her watching him, his eyes dropped from the vice principal and moved to Sadie. Immediately, Sadie looked away and back up at Stewey. "Now, you six are here until four o'clock. There will be no talking. There will be no getting up out of your seat. You are to sit here for those nine hours." He paused, letting the silence indicate how serious he was. "Now, I will be right across the way in my office. If I so much hear a peep out of any one of you, you can bet you'll be here next Saturday." Another long, serious pause. "Any questions?"

"What do we do if we have to go to the bathroom?" the junior asked.

Stewey didn’t even look at him. He swept his eyes over the students once again before he turned around and headed out the back entrance of the library.

"
Shit
!" Boyd exclaimed, causing everyone else to turn and look at him. He didn't seem to notice his newly- found audience watching him, and shrugged nonchalantly. "He’s right!” 

“Well, if you gotta go, you gotta go, right?" With that, Sadie heard a jingle as the chains hanging from his pants clinked together and then a zipper being undone.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, her face contorting into a scowl of disbelief.

“That's gross," Paulina said, turning back around to face forward.


"Totally," Roxy agreed, shaking her head.

"You had better not," Edward said, his blue eyes glaring at Boyd's.

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it, pretty boy?" Boyd asked, tossing his hair back so he could see Edward better.

"Why don't you push me and find out," Edward threatened, his brow pushed up almost tauntingly.

"You know, guys," the boy from the front row began, his voice a shaky baritone, "there's a bathroom right around the corner. I mean, I'm sure” -

"Shut up," Boyd and Edward said simultaneously.

Boyd cast his glance back at Sadie, who was frowning now. "You're still looking at me, Blondie," he taunted, and then looked over at Edward before returning his eyes in Sadie's. "Your boyfriend won't show you his pecker, is that it?"

"You're an asshole," Sadie replied and then turned around just as Edward said, "She's not my girlfriend, dipshit."

Both Edward and Sadie turned back around. The latter let out a deep but inaudible sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. It was silent, save for the loud, taunting ticking of the wall clock. Sadie tried not to stare at it, knowing that time would only move slower if she did. However, she snatched a peak and realized it was barely a quarter after seven. She heard shifting next to her and looked over at Edward. A soccer ball was now sitting on the surface of the table, being pushed back and forth between Edward's palms. Roxy seemed to be studying something, and Sadie craned her neck to see what. When she caught glimpses of a yellow highlighter, she realized this must be the script for the fall play. Her eyes shifted over to Paulina who, unsurprisingly, had opened a compact and seemed to be reapplying her lip gloss. The kid in the front row seemed to be doing the same thing as Roxy, except that instead of a script, he had the periodic table in front of him. Glancing down at her hands that were resting flat on the table, she had a sudden desire to turn around and see what, exactly, this Boyd guy was doing. At first, she refrained. But after a long moment, she tilted her head in a very subtle manner and once again looked at him from the corner of her eyes. He was in the same position as before, only now his chair was resting on two legs instead of four. He had a match in one hand and a cigarette in another. Then, to the utter amazement of the senior, he reached into his mouth with the match and struck it on the back of his teeth, producing a flame. With his other hand, he stuck the cigarette between his lips, lit it, and then waved the match out.

"Hey man," Edward said with annoyance, turning around to look at Boyd.


"The name's Asher," the guy replied, smoke slipping out of his mouth with each word he spoke. "Asher Boyd."

"Yeah, whatever," Edward told him. "I'm an athlete. I don't need you to be smoking and infecting my lungs with that shit."

"Secondhand smoke has been proven to kill," the boy said, turning around and looking at the scene.

"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.