Trainwreck (9 page)

Chapter 15

To be honest, Sadie should have expected Asher's abrupt departure as the norm and brushed it off. Instead, she took the entire scenario personal. Maybe she was that easy to affect, maybe she really did care about what Asher thought of her and liked him sort of kind of maybe just a little and was hoping he might like her in return. She couldn't have misread the signs he was giving her Saturday, could she? Maybe he just used her as a means to his end. It didn't really look as though anyone would have amused him save for her, and maybe he just wanted to get through detention.

"Maybe, maybe, maybe," she mumbled to herself as she walked down a small hill before turning right, glancing at the empty baseball field as she headed to her English class located in the Village.

There were too many maybes.

Sadie was notorious in her small group of friends for overanalyzing things to an extraneous extent. In fact, that was probably why she got along with Natasha so much. Natasha was known for the same thing, and at least together, they could understand each other. Both were spiritual rather than religious, both believed in fate, and both believed that there were no such things as coincidences. With logic ruling today's day and age, it was rather difficult to find someone likeminded, so they each considered themselves to be quite lucky to have each other to bounce ideas off of. Too bad they didn't have any classes together.

"Well," the teacher, Mrs. Arnds, said once the whole class had settled down. "I hope you brought
Brand New World
with you today."

Sadie reached into her bag and pulled out the book, but as she did a worksheet based on the reading she had done over the weekend, her mind was obviously elsewhere. The more she thought about the situation, the more she began to get frustrated with herself, but even more so, upset at Asher. Why would he lead her on? Why would he make her think that that he could possibly like her in return when he so obviously didn't?

When have you ever seen Asher with a steady girlfriend?
a voice in her mind asked.

Okay, so Asher Boyd wasn't notorious for being a doting boyfriend or a doting anything, really. Every week, sometimes every day, he was seen with a new girl on his arm. In fact, Sadie tried to think of a time when Asher either had an actual girlfriend or didn't have anyone at all, but found she couldn't come up with either scenario.

So she was just a passing fling, something to pass the time in detention with no real feelings.


Then why is he wearing your ring?
a more romantic, passionate voice insisted.
Why is that chain still hanging from his neck? If he didn't care about you, if he didn't like you, there's no reason why he would be wearing it.

Sadie scrawled an answer down for question number three, but as she tried to rationalize why someone like him would be wearing the ring someone like her gave him, she came up with absolutely nothing. This, of course, did not mean that Asher Boyd had any sort of remote feelings for Sadie at all, despite her heart's point, but it did mean there was a reason he was wearing her ring around his neck that was still unknown to Sadie herself.

"Sadie!" a voice snapped, and it took a moment for Sadie to realize that it wasn't coming from inside her mind. Her eyes snapped up only to see Mrs. Arnds looking at her expectantly. "What did you get for number four? Why would these people allow the children to run around naked, to look at sexual gratification as a means to an end?"

"They want children desensitized to sex," Sadie said, glancing down at the worksheet. "This way, sex isn't special and feelings and emotions wouldn't go along with it."

"Good," Mrs. Arnds said, giving a curt nod in Sadie's direction before glancing back down at her own marked-up worksheet.

"I'm sure you know a lot about sex and emotions," someone she didn't even know whispered in her direction.

Sadie looked back at him, narrowing her green eyes into hers. "Do I even know you?" she whispered back, arching a brow as Mrs. Arnds proceeded to ask another one of her students a different question. "It's none of your business."

"Actually," the boy replied with a smug smirk on his lips. "It's everyone's business."

It was at that moment that Sadie realized how many people had heard the rumor and, as a result, continued to spread it. Hell, she was sure some of the teachers had heard about her little escapade but hoped they had the decency not to question her about it. If it wasn't Asher who had spread the rumor, then who had done it? Did it even matter? Everyone was going to think they did it, so there was no point in stressing out too much about it, and really, she could have been paired with someone worse. The thing was, it was no one's business.

And how foolish of her to think that whatever had happened that fateful Saturday between her and Asher could be so much more than just a kiss. She needed to get over it. Nothing was going to happen between them because they were two different people. Asher was right. They belonged to two different worlds and no one, no matter badly she wanted to, could change that. Best to just get over it now and save herself from any more pain.

---

The day went by. Most of the day consisted of the classes ending after what felt like the longest hour in her life. It was probably because Sadie was so engrossed in her thoughts and she had hoped that maybe she would catch of glimpse of Asher on her way to a class. The problem with open high schools was the campuses were so big that it was hard to run into anyone only because there were so many opportunities to get from one class to another.

By the time lunch came around, Sadie's head hurt and she glanced down at the small field, where she usually went for sixth-period soccer practice. She ate little, only a banana and some water, and she and Natasha sat in Sadie's car the whole time. They didn't have to say anything; they knew each other too well, had been friends for too long, to have to fill the silence with something trivial or forced.

When the bell rang, Sadie quickly changed into clothes she could work out with, shin guards, knee-socks, and cleats before pulling her hair into a ponytail, grabbing her ball from the trunk, and handing Natasha her keys. Since Natasha didn't have a sixth period, she would often give Natasha her keys so Natasha was capable of doing something rather than sit around campus all day. Natasha would go to the Starbucks across the street, sometimes to the Subway a few blocks west of the school, but she was always on time when it came to picking Sadie up.

After Sadie got to the field, she noticed that, like usual, the soccer players had to share it with the cheerleaders and the band. Everyone was already warming up in some way; some of her teammates were dribbling in a tight environment while others were juggling. Sadie dropped her ball to the ground and started dribbling herself; at least this way her mind would be focused and concentrated.

"Hey," a familiar voice called out in Sadie's direction. At first, Sadie didn't think the voice was addressing her, but upon it actually saying her name, she stopped her ministrations and glanced around before coming in contact with blue eyes. It was Edward. He offered her a warm smile and came over to her, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so.

"Hey," Sadie murmured in return, silently wondering why he was here. She glanced behind him, catching that his male counterparts were practicing on the opposite field as they normally did. The boys and girls rarely ever played together unless they were scrimmaging.

"So I heard the rumors," Edward said, running his fingers through his thick, blond hair. "I want you to know that I don't believe them at all. I mean, who knows where that kid went after he left the library while you were in the closet? That's not for us to say, you know? And I know you, Sadie. I know you would never sleep with a stoner like that. He's a total waste of space and –"

"Edward," Sadie said, her voice soft but slightly sharp. "I appreciate what you're trying to do here. Really, I do. But I know I didn't sleep with the guy and I know you don't think I did. So thank you. But really, it's no one's business, you know?"

Edward nodded, lifting his cheek up in a half-smile. "Absolutely, Sadie," he agreed. "Absolutely." He reached out and patted her back before heading back to join his teammates.

Sadie felt her stomach crawl. Though what Edward said was nice, it definitely did not help her warring thoughts.

Chapter 16

Practice continued with the team doing the usual drills. Sadie was best at any sort of defense position, but if she had to choose one she was particularly fond of, it would have to be sweeper. Sweeper was the last line of defense after an opposing team's offense got past the fullbacks, but some coaches preferred that the sweeper be placed in front of the fullbacks. Sadie's coach, Ramon Reid chose to place her behind the fullbacks, and that's what Sadie preferred, if she was being honest.

By the time practice let out, Sadie's hair was frizzy, matted with sweat, but she felt exhilarated and alive. Her face, as always, was red due to how fast and how hard she ran, and as she started heading to the parking lot, her lips were greedily sucking out water from her plastic reusable water bottle.

"Sadie!" a cheerful voice exclaimed, though the way she said Sadie's name caused the soccer player to pause. "Sadie, oh Sadie!" Her voice sing-songed from behind Sadie and Sadie felt her body stop walking though she wanted nothing more than to keep going and ignore the person altogether.

Sadie knew exactly who it was calling out to her. Only one person would have such a ridiculously sweet while simultaneously annoying voice and that person was none other than Paulina.

"What do you want Paulina?" Sadie asked through gritted teeth, rolling her eyes up to the sky as she turned around. Without any control on her part, her eyes slowly narrowed into Paulina's and she cocked her head to the side, hoping the cheerleader would get this over with as quickly as possible.

"Ouch," Paulina said, feigning hurt. "What a way to talk to me." She plastered on a fake smile and Sadie could swear she saw the cheerleader bat her eyes. "Anyway, can't two old friends catch up? I just wanted to chat with you, see how things were going, you know, since we reconnected in detention."

"First of all," Sadie said, trying to figure out Paulina's ulterior motive. "We did
not
reconnect in detention. You treated me like shit, I treated you like shit, that's how it's been and that's probably the way it will remain until we finally graduate from this school and never have to see each other again. Secondly, I can talk to you any way I want, Paulina, because you talk to me any way
you
want. Just because we spent nine hours in detention together does not make us friends again."

"Trust me," Paulina said dismissively. "I do
not
want to be your friend again. I was just bullshitting you."

"Then what," Sadie started slowly, making sure to articulate each and every word. She found that if she did, it would help her control her flaring temper. "Do you want?"

"I wanted to talk to you," she said, and Sadie noticed that the corners of Paulina's lips twitched up into an unreadable smirk. This could definitely not be good.

"You know," she began as she started to walk around the exhausted soccer player. Despite the fact that both the soccer teams and the cheerleaders had been out on the field practicing at the same time, Paulina looked perfectly pretty while Sadie looked incredibly tired. "I've been hearing some interesting things about what happened between you and Asher in the supply closet during detention. You do know that it's, like, illegal to have sex in public places, right?"

Sadie rolled her eyes. Was she really going to stand around and get legal advice from Paulina? "So is having sex with someone who is legal while you're still a minor," she retorted flatly. "Was this really all you came to do, Paulina? Lecture me on proper behavioral skills concerning the opposite sex? I think it's rich that out of all people,
you
would be telling
me
how to act."

"Oh, shut up Sadie," Paulina said, finally losing her cool. "God, you think you're so much better than everyone else. There is such a thing as being too good, you know. You're not perfect even though you might think you are. And obviously so; you screwed Asher Boyd in the supply closet." She crossed her arms over her chest as she smirked triumphantly.

"No, I didn't!" Sadie exclaimed before tightening her resolve. "Actually, you know, you're going to believe whatever you want no matter what I say, so I give up. I don't care. Think whatever you want to think."

"Is that an admission, Sadie Brown?" Paulina asked, excited that Sadie was actually going to say she did it.

"No, you dumbass," Sadie said flatly. "Did you listen to
anything
I just said? It doesn't matter what I say because no matter what that is, you're going to think that I slept with Asher one way or the other and I really don't have time to fight with you." She started to walk along, pushing past Paulina, and heading out, off the green grass and to the parking lot when Paulina said something to her that caused her to stop once again.

"I knew it!" the cheerleader called and smiled triumphantly, seeing Sadie stop and then finally turn to meet her stare. "I knew it." She walked over to Sadie so they were a couple of feet from one another. "You always did like getting my sloppy seconds, didn't you? After finding out what happened between me and Asher, you couldn't stand it, so you had to screw him to one up me. God, you're pathetic."

Without fully comprehending what she was doing, Sadie dropped her bag, reached back, and punched Paulina in the face. The shriek she emitted from her glossed lips caused anyone in the surrounding area to stop what they were doing and look at who had screeched like that. When they saw Paulina holding her nose and Sadie holding her hand, both in some amount of pain, they started to murmur and point before heading closer to the scene.

"You bitch!" Paulina exclaimed, and without warning, leaped from her standing position so her hands clutched onto Sadie's shoulders, knocking both girls down.

From their positions on the grass, they started to slap, scratch, shove, push, and even kick at each other. Paulina even managed to grab a hold of Sadie's hair and pull. The original crowd they had drawn over their antics only grew, and soon, people started chanting 'Fight' before creating a circle around the two girls.

Sadie couldn't say for sure just how long she and Paulina had been going at it. Maybe it was because she was determined to be the cause of the biggest bruise Paulina had ever had on her face or maybe it was because, for a cheerleader, Paulina could actually inflict pain on someone else. But the length of time didn't matter because soon, the audience they had attracted got quiet – some even scattered – and they parted in a similar fashion, compared to the Red Sea.

"Just what do you two girls think you're doing?" a familiar voice boomed. Stewey reached down and grabbed the back of Sadie's shirt, pulling her up and away from Paulina's body.

"Oh, Mr. Stewey!" Paulina whined, bursting into tears that had not yet littered her face since their fight had commenced. "It was all Sadie's fault! She took the first swing, sir. Not me. I would never! I'm a cheerleader, for chrissake's!" She glared at Sadie, knowing her face was an unattractive shade of red. "I was only defending myself, but she, she, she's an animal. You saw her. I was begging her to stop knowing that fighting is wrong no matter how badly I want to do it, but she wouldn't let me. And now my practice uniform is ruined because of her and my face probably has the biggest –"

"Stop for a moment," Stewey said abruptly, trying to keep his annoyance out of his voice. "Well?" he asked, throwing his attention in Sadie's direction. "Is this true?"

"What?" Sadie asked sharply, not fully believing that Stewey would actually entertain the thought that Paulina was actually telling the truth. "No, of course -"

But Stewey interrupted her. "So you're saying you didn't throw the first punch?" he asked, and before Sadie could answer, said, "And remember, young lady, I'm sure we could find a slew of witnesses ready to tell me the real story should you choose to lie."

"Well, I might have thrown the first punch," Sadie admitted, but again, before she could further explain, Stewey caught her off.

"I cannot tell you how incredibly disappointed I am in you, missy," he said, lecturing her in front of a good portion of her peers. From the corner of her eye, she could Paulina smirking triumphantly. "Throwing the first punch when you know fighting is wrong? There is no justification for violence, Sadie. Since it happened off of school's time, I'm not going to call your mother. You should feel very lucky. However, I am assigning you a Saturday school." He glanced over at Paulina. "You, young lady, are getting an hour's detention Thursday before class starts. I know you were just trying to defend yourself, but you still need to be punished." He looked back at Sadie, his eyes hard and unwavering. "I'll see you Saturday. I strongly suggest you control yourself lest you want to make these meetings more habitual." With one final look at both girls, he turned around and stalked off.

It wasn't long before the crowd dispersed, leaving Sadie alone with her thoughts. Despite all that had happened, seeing Paulina's lower face covered with tears, grass, and snot made everything worth it.