They managed to get to the cafeteria before the biggest rush thanks to Lucy bulldozing everyone out of their way. Sarah let herself to be pulled along like a ragdoll. Even though the main masses were still queueing their way in, the cafeteria was still full of noise as the students from the previous lunch slot were finishing their meals and trying to get out of the way of the third year students.
Sarah, Lucy and Amanda stopped at the end of the food line. Today’s meal was rice and beans with green salad. Not the worst thing since Sarah liked rice. She wasn’t the biggest fan of beans, but they weren’t terrible either, so she took a decent serving, not too much because they had PE next. Running and jumping with full stomach was not pleasant, even though they had over half an hour to digest their food.
While they walked through the cafeteria to one of the few empty tables, Sarah could feel eyes staring at her. At first, she thought it was just her imagination but every time she looked at some direction, someone turned their head away. Sarah bit the inside of her lip when she sat down. Lucy and Amanda had picked a secluded spot, a table that was mostly behind a big pillar.
“So, who gave it to you?” Lucy asked before Sarah could even take a first bite of her food.
“Lucy don’t be so brash,” Amanda chided. “We weren’t supposed to be grilling her about this.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just very curious. I didn’t expect you of all people to get a hickey. You seem so nice and quiet.”
Sarah sighed.
“You don’t need to tell,” Amanda said. “But if you want to talk, we’re here to listen.”
“Yeah. We want you to be alright. You have nothing to be ashamed of. People get hickeys all the time,” Lucy said. “People might talk about it now, but they’ll forget it soon once something more interesting happens. I can give you some make up to cover it if you want. We have pretty similar skin tone I think.”
“That’d be nice. Thank you.”
“Soooo…. who was it?”
“Lucy!”
“It was Castiel,” Sarah whispered and her face flushed red. Both girls stared at her in total loss of words. It took them several seconds to recover.
“Really? That’s, uh, wow. I didn’t expect that at all,” Lucy said, and the surprise was visible on her face.
“That’s so nice,” Amanda smiled. “I knew Leon knew something, but he didn’t tell me.”
“We wanted to keep low profile,” Sarah muttered. “So Castiel asked him to not tell anyone. He could’ve told you though.”
“It’s very like him to keep his promise to the fullest. If Castiel didn’t say he could tell me, he wouldn’t.”
“So, are you like dating?” Lucy asked while piercing three beans with her fork.
“Yes.”
“It’s about time he finds someone else after Rachel.”
“Mmmh.”
“Have you dated for long?”
“Only a couple of days.”
“Was it the baby project that brought you together?”
“Obviously… I wouldn’t even talk to him without it.”
“There was something good in it then. I thought it was a complete waste of time. I don’t want kids and I’m pretty sure Morgan doesn’t either.”
Lucy glanced at Amanda to seek confirmation to her words, but she just shrugged her shoulders.
“How would I know? You’re his girlfriend.”
“I was just thinking if he had told something to Leon.”
“Well if he has, I don’t know about it.”
“Fair enough,” Lucy sighed and skewered pieces of cucumber in her fork.
Sarah took the opportunity of Lucy being quiet to eat her own lunch. It proved to be a mistake because Lucy chewed faster than she did.
“So, have you done it already?” she asked.
Sarah inhaled rice in the wrong pipe and started to cough furiously. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to not choke on rice.
“Lucy!” Amanda chided again, patting Sarah’s back to help her.
“I was just curious,” Lucy shrugged her shoulders. “She has a hickey so…”
“We haven’t done anything,” Sarah wheezed and took a gulp of water. “And I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Right. Sorry…”
“It’s alright. I gotta go now. Thanks for keeping me company,” Sarah said.
She left the table with a half-finished plate before the others could say anything.
“You were too nosy again,” Amanda sighed. “You scared her away.”
“I know... It’s just in my blood. I can’t help it.”
“You should try sometimes.”
Sarah headed out of the cafeteria and towards the basement where Castiel wanted to meet her, but she was stopped on her tracks by three annoyed princesses. Mercedes glared at her while Victoria and Lind stood next to her with their arms crossed. They were leaning against a wall and when Sarah tried ignoring them and walk past, Mercedes kicked her leg straight in Sarah’s path, making her stumble and almost fall.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Mercedes asked.
“It’s none of your business really,” Sarah replied after recovering her balance.
“Pretty rough marks you have on your neck. I didn’t think you were that kind of girl, but I guess looks are deceiving.”
“What do you mean?”
Mercedes smiled but she wasn’t amused.
“That you’re a girl who jumps into anyone’s bed for little bit of attention.”
“And how do you know I did that?”
“Well it’s obvious. You couldn’t get a boyfriend so the only way to get some action is to do it with some random guy. Unless you did those marks yourself which would be even more embarrassing.”
“And how do you know it was some random guy?” Sarah asked with a smile on her face.
Mercedes narrowed her eyes.
“Who was it?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Tell me!”
“Why should I? I can ‘get some action’ with whoever I want.”
“If I find out it was Castiel then I…”
“You what? I’m sorry Mercedes but it is none of your business. You’re the one who’s embarrassing. You should let go and move on.”
“How dare you! I’m thousand times more interesting than you’ll ever be! You’re so plain these walls are more exciting than you are. Castiel would never really get interested in you! He’ll move on once he realises how boring you are.”
“Keep telling that to yourself if it makes you feel better,” Sarah said, “but I have to go now. Unlike you, I have other things to do than torment innocent people.”
And with that, Sarah walked away. Her cheeks were burning, and her heart hammered in her chest from the adrenaline. She could hardly believe that she had said those things to Mercedes. But it had felt so good. Mercedes had no right to act like that, and it had been amazing to say back to her. But a small seed of doubt started to dig its way in her mind. Why did Castiel like her?
Mercedes was fuming. Sarah’s behaviour was outrageous. That kind of insolence was unacceptable.
“She’s being pretty arrogant,” Lind said.
“She thinks she’s something special after the attention she’s got from Castiel. I think she needs to be reminded of her place,” Victoria added.
“Definitely. She’ll remember where she stands and that Castiel is mine.”
Sarah glanced around to make sure no one was around when she opened the basement door and slipped inside. Castiel was already there waiting for her and got up from the floor when Sarah walked in. He had a serious expression on his face that made Sarah fidget.
“Hi,” she said.
Castiel didn’t say anything but crossed the distance between them with a few quick strides. He wrapped his arms around Sarah and pulled her against him.
“Castiel? Is something wrong?”
“I should ask that from you,” he replied and leaned his chin on Sarah’s head. “Are you alright?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine, I think.”
“You look a bit down.”
“I ran into Mercedes…”
“Oh great.”
“…and she wasn’t happy. At all.”
“What did she say?”
“Well, first she implied that I’m someone who’s ready to jump into anyone’s bed for attention. And then she kindly reminded me that I’m so boring you’d never like me and that she’s the only one for you.”
“For fuck’s sake. When does she understand I’m not interested in her?”
Sarah shrugged. “I doubt never. Unless you spell it out for her.”
“I don’t know if she’d understand spelling,” Castiel scoffed. “Her thick skull blocks any voice of reason.”
Sarah pushed herself away from Castiel to look him in the eyes.
“Why is she so obsessed with you anyway?”
“She’s been like that since we were kids,” Castiel sighed. “We were in the same second grade. She was small and quiet at that time. One day she was being bullied by some other boys. I stepped in and told them off, and ever since she’s been like that.”
“Oh, so you’re her hero.”
“I didn’t even try to be! The boys were just pissing me off, and I didn’t want to listen to their annoying voices.”
Sarah muffled a laugh. That sounded like something Castiel would do.
“And no matter how many times I tell her, she just doesn’t listen.”
“Maybe you just haven’t said it convincingly enough. She clearly still harbours some hope.”
“She shouldn’t. I’m not interested in her. She used to be nice I guess, but now she’s just a bitch, being mean to everyone and thinking she’s better than others.”
“Yeah, it’s annoying. But there has to be a reason she became like that.”
“I don’t know if there is and I don’t really care. She’s just a spoiled brat. Don’t listen to what she says. There’s nothing wrong with you, and I do like you for real. Switching to Mercedes would be a serious downgrade and I’m not about that.” Castiel laughed and kissed Sarah’s forehead. She smiled and in turn pressed a kiss on Castiel’s chin.
“I believe you,” she said. Castiel didn’t like Mercedes that much was clear to her.
“Good. And let’s forget Mercedes. I missed you,” Castiel hummed in Sarah’s ear and sent shivers down her spine.
“It’s been like three hours,” Sarah chuckled and let Castiel wrap his arms around her waist and pull her closer again.
“Three hours too much,” he muttered against her neck and then kissed Sarah on the lips. Butterflies fluttered to flight in Sarah’s stomach. She smiled and threw her arms around Castiel’s neck. She had missed him too.
Sarah opened the basement door and peeked outside to see if there was anyone in the hallway. The coast was clear, so she slipped outside and Castiel followed behind her. Sarah felt like she was doing something forbidden sneaking around like this.
They were climbing the stairs when two guys Sarah didn’t know walked towards them. Sarah tensed and slowed down. The guys stopped their discussion when they noticed Sarah and Castiel.
“Hey, you’re that girl with the hickey, right?”
Sarah’s face flushed red. How did these two random people know about it? She didn’t even know which class they were from.
“What are you doing with Castiel? Is it really true that he gave it to you?”
Sarah’s stomach twisted. The rumours were already flying around the school. People already thought it was Castiel.
“What if I did?” Castiel asked and threw his arm around Sarah’s shoulders. Sarah flinched but couldn’t look at Castiel. “Are you jealous?” he added and smiled.
“Wha— no, I didn’t mean that. It’s totally fine if you’re doing that.”
“It’s nothing like that,” Sarah muttered. “We just happened to bump into each other. That’s all.”
She shook Castiel’s arm from her shoulder. It made her heart wrench.
“I’m sorry but I have to go, or I’ll be late from class,” she said then and pushed herself past the two guys. Castiel was left standing in the stairs. He looked after Sarah with a worried wrinkle in his brow.
Sarah hurried to the gym with uneasiness welling in her stomach. She felt bad for running away like that. Maybe she had hurt Castiel. She didn’t really know why she had panicked like that. If everyone was already suspecting she and Castiel were a thing, what would it matter if they found out? But she didn’t want anyone to know. If everyone knew, things would get more serious and more official. People would look at her differently. Mercedes would hate her more than she did now. If things didn’t work out, people would talk. She’d embarrass Castiel.
Almost all girls were already in the locker room when Sarah arrived. Gathered into their own friend groups, they were chatting and changing clothes. Sometimes they forgot the latter for a while and stood there half-dressed while talking about the latest gossip.
When Sarah walked in, all the talk quieted down for a moment and everyone looked at her. Colour rose back to Sarah’s face when she lowered her eyes to the floor and walked across the room to find the most secluded corner. Before she reached that spot, she was stopped by Lucy and Amanda who grabbed her arm.
“Sit with us,” Amanda said.
“You need to cover that mark, right,” Lucy added.
Sarah didn’t say anything but nodded. She dropped her bag on the bench and started to pull out her gym clothes: a simple t-shirt, grey joggers and shoes to be used indoors.
Unwrapping the scarf made Sarah’s heart thump in her chest. She tried to tell to herself that no one would care but she still had to glance at other people to see if they were looking. Most weren’t but few did look, and it made Sarah’s skin trickle with nervousness. She bit the inside of her lip and quickly brushed her hair to cover her neck.
She took off her shirt and while she was reaching for the other one, it fell down the chair. Sarah sighed and grouched to pick it up, brushing it quickly and pulling it on. Lucy pulled out her make-up kit and started working on Sarah’s neck, assuring her that the concealer would withstand physical exercise as long as Sarah wouldn’t sweat a waterfall.
When Sarah finished getting dressed, Mercedes quickly slipped her phone back in her bag, and Victoria and Lind moved from being an obstruction of view to the outsiders. Mercedes smiled. That stupid girl would soon learn her lesson and would regret touching Castiel.
Comments (3)
See all