Sarah stared at her reflection and tried to hold back panic. The bruise on her neck had grown and darkened during the night, and now it was screamingly noticeable on her skin. She wished someone in the house used make up so she could’ve concealed it but there wasn’t even a vial of mascara to be found. Scarf was her only hope and option.
She picked a simple black long sleeved shirt from her wardrobe to combine with the purple checkered scarf she chose to wear. Sarah looked at her reflection again and brushed her hair on the sides of her neck to bring extra coverage, even though the scarf concealed the hickey perfectly. She sighed in relief. Maybe she’d survive the day.
“Why are you wearing a scarf?” Steffie asked in the breakfast table. She was still in her pyjamas, and normally Sarah would’ve been as well, but she couldn’t take any risks now.
“I just wanted to wear one.”
“Are you sick?”
“No. I just thought it’d look nice.”
“Mum can I have a scarf too?”
“Not today. I’m not gonna start looking for a scarf now. If you’ve finished your breakfast, go get dressed.”
Steffie sighed and left the table dragging her feet. Mum turned to look at Sarah.
“You’re not trying to hide anything with that scarf, are you?”
Sarah almost choked on milk. She coughed and blinked tears from her eyes.
“Of course not. What would I try to hide? A surprise tattoo I took yesterday?” She let out a nervous chuckle and gulped the rest of the milk. “Thank you for breakfast.”
She put the plate in the sink and hurried out of the kitchen. Mum narrowed her eyes. Something was up.
Sarah’s heart thumped in her chest. Did mum suspect something already? How would she explain this? She packed her bag and gym clothes in a hurry. It was still early to leave for school, but she didn’t want to stay at home. She threw the bag on her shoulder and headed to the hallway.
“Sarah, seriously, you can talk to me if something’s happened,” mum said when Sarah was putting on her coat.
“Nothing’s happened. Everything’s fine.”
“Are you sure? You’re acting strange.”
“Everything’s fine! Sorry… It’s nothing. I just wanted to wear a scarf, okay?”
“Okay then…”
Mum-senses tingled stronger than before. She’d have to talk about this after Sarah got back.
“I’ll be going now. See you later. Love you.”
Sarah slammed the door closed slightly too hard. Mum wrinkled her eyebrows. Steffie came from her room fully dressed.
“I’m ready!” she announced. “Will you braid my hair?”
“Of course.”
She sat Steffie down on a chair. The girl babbled on about her coming day, how they’d talk about jungles and deserts. She was excited to meet her friends and could hardly wait for lunch because they had pancakes as dessert. And then after school she’d go to her friend’s house. The best day ever.
“Never grow up, baby,” mother sighed under her breath. Teenagers were a lot of work.
The closer Sarah got to the school, the more nervous she got. What would she say if someone found out that she had a hickey? It was unlikely that anyone would pay enough attention to her to question why she was wearing a scarf; let alone guess that it was to hide a love bite, but what if? She was a terrible liar and had made mother suspect something for sure. And teens were even more susceptible of jumping in to conclusions. Maybe she should just pretend she had a cold? No one would surely question that. The weather was getting colder, so it wasn’t unthinkable to get sick. But what would she say to Castiel?
Sarah stopped on the spot. What would she say to him? She didn’t want to lie, but she was embarrassed.
“Why are you just standing there?”
Castiel’s voice struck Sarah like a lightning. She spun around. Castiel was standing right in front of her.
“Are you alright? You’re white as a sheet.”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine. You just scared me a bit,” Sarah said. She took a deep breath that fogged in the chilly air.
“Sorry. But you’re blocking the way. Starting to have doubts about going to school? We can ditch if you want.”
“Wipe that smirk from your face. I’m not gonna ditch,” Sarah huffed. “I was just thinking about something.”
“What?”
“Nothing special.”
“How are you here so early?” she asked then. It was unusual for Castiel to arrive anything but just on time for class.
“I’m gonna have a quick band meeting with Leon before class. What about you? I didn’t think even you’d be on the move this early.”
“I got ready early and thought I’d just leave. I didn’t really feel like being at home.”
“Did something happen?”
“Kinda? But nothing serious. Mum was just being a bit nosy.”
“I know that feel all too well,” Castiel sighed. Her mother was nothing but nosy.
They walked towards the school together. Sarah’s nervousness eased a bit. Castiel’s presence was calming.
But the stress picked up again when they got inside and left their coats in the racks. There weren’t many students in the hallways since they were almost an hour early for the first class. Sarah adjusted her scarf which Castiel of course noted right away.
“Did you get sick from yesterday?” he asked.
“N-no.”
Sarah’s cheeks flushed. She looked around but there was no one nearby. It was better to just tell. Castiel would find out eventually, and she didn’t want to hide things.
“It’s because of this,” she said and lowered her scarf revealing the dark red mark on her neck.
It took Castiel few seconds to register what he was looking at, and he was struck by guilt.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
Castiel ran his hand through his hair. Sarah pulled the edge of the scarf back up.
“I know. Don’t worry about it.”
“This is the exact opposite of keeping low profile. I don’t understand how I was so careless.”
If Castiel was honest with himself, he was surprised there was only one mark on Sarah. He wanted all of her, and it was hard to hold back.
“Well no one should be able to see it. And it’ll go away in a day or two, right?”
“Yeah it should. You can try ice on it. It should help it go away faster.”
“I’ll try that. It doesn’t bother me, but I don’t really want mum to see it. She’ll make a scene.”
Castiel swallowed. Had he added another entry to the ‘unfavourable boyfriend’ list?
“Is she against…these kinds of things?”
“Not really, I think. She wouldn’t be mad, but she’d start fussing a lot. And I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”
There’d be so many questions, too many in fact. Mum would want to know everything, and Sarah wasn’t ready to share. She wasn’t even sure if she’d have answers to all the questions.
“I get it. My mum would probably be the same, “ Castiel sighed, slightly relieved. He hadn’t told her parents yet and while he wanted to, he wasn’t looking forward to it too much. Mum would be unbearable.
“But it’ll be fine,” Sarah smiled. “I’m sure she won’t be angry. I just want to keep it a secret here at school.”
“It shouldn’t be too hard. That scarf hides it well. I doubt no one would guess the reason for it.”
“Yeah, it’d be hard for them to imagine me doing anything promiscuous,” Sarah grinned. A hickey on Sarah the Boring? Impossible.
“You might be right. No one could ever suspect a little lamb doing such naughty things,” Castiel said and leaned closer to kiss Sarah.
“Here you are, Castiel.”
Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. Castiel jumped away from her and spun around, hiding Sarah behind his back. Leon was standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt you?” A mischievous smile creeped up on Leon’s face when he walked closer. He knew he was interrupting and did it on purpose.
Sarah sighed in relief to hear it was just Leon.
“A bit,” Castiel mumbled. “I was gonna come soon. Sorry if I made you wait.”
“No problem. I just got here a little bit ago myself. Hello Sarah.”
“Hi.”
“And congratulations. Castiel told me.”
“Thanks.”
“Good job on keeping low profile,” Leon grinned then at Castiel.
“There’s no one else here apart from us.”
“I suppose. But if I could ask a moment of your time? If you bear to be apart from your girlfriend.”
“I’m starting to think it was a mistake to tell you. Let’s go. Sarah doesn’t need to listen to your nonsense.”
Leon laughed.
“I promise I won’t tell anyone,” he said to Sarah. “And I’ll make sure he doesn’t babble too much either.”
“Okay, come on now. Weren’t you in a hurry?” Castiel said and started heading towards the stairs.
“I’ll see you later, okay?”
Sarah nodded with a shy smile on her lips.
“Have fun,” she said when the boys headed to their meeting. Sarah wondered how much of it would be discussing the band and how much Leon teasing Castiel. At least he had seemed happy about his friend’s relationship. It would’ve been sad if Leon hadn’t liked Castiel dating Sarah. Things would’ve been awkward.
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