The Trouble with Kissing Connor

Chapter 31 - Connor

I sat in my bedroom staring out the window expecting to see Sadie, but as the hours past, and Sadie didn't appear, I started to wonder if her dad had locked her up in a room somewhere.

It was official, Mr. Glover was just about the most intimidating person I'd ever met. Especially when he smiled and acted nice and patted you on the back. That was when he was at his most intimidating. Yes, I'd shook on it, but how the hell was I meant to stay away from Sadie for a whole week? I needed to talk to her. To figure this whole crazy mess out and restore sanity. And why did she get suspended? I messaged Brett.

Connor: Hey, did you know Sadie got suspended?

Brett: Duh. You haven't seen? Check Tik Tok. #twinwars

I logged into Tik Tok and there it was. Chase had posted it and almost all our friends had seen it, or reposted it. I gasped when the video started playing. Sadie and McKenzie were really going for it. There was hitting, slapping and hair pulling. Sadie was screaming something at Mckenzie over and over again. And then the teachers had stepped in to stop the fighting and that's where the video ended. I started reading the comments and my blood started to boil.

Chase: Nothing like seeing two hot chicks fighting. #hottwinwars

Tyler: Bitches be Craaaazy.

That was it! I'd had enough of these two, I should have had enough of them ages ago, because Sadie was right, she was always right. They were total assholes and I wasn't going to spend another second of my life being "friends" with them. I never wanted to anything to do with them again, and next time I saw them, I was going to tell them that.

I tossed my phone on my desk and felt totally lost. It had only been a few hours since I'd seen Sadie, but somehow I felt like a ship without an anchor and it made me realize just how dependent I was on her, and perhaps she on me. We'd been wrapped up in our own world for most of our lives. Without her.... well, I don't know.

I saw movement in her room and raced to the window. The curtains were closed but I could see a shadow, wait, two shadows. I wanted to throw a stone at the window, but feared that Mr. Glover would pop out from behind the curtain. I started typing a message to Sadie.

Connor: U ok?

My finger hovered over the send button. I wondered what kind of punishment Mr. Glover would inflict if I disobeyed him. He was a man of means; he could probably hire a hit man at the snap of his executive finger.

I heard a loud noise and looked at their driveway. Sadie's mothers had pulled the car out, and Sadie and McKenzie were walking out dragging suitcases behind them—WTF? I watched as they loaded the suitcases into the back of the car. Mr. and Mrs. Glover then followed suit, loading bags into the car and then all climbing in.

Where are they all going?

I jumped up, ran from my room and flew down the stairs. I ran out of my house and into the road just as the car pulled off and started driving away down the street. I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could, but it wasn't enough. My lungs felt like they were going to explode. But as the car rounded the corner, Sadie turned and looked at me. She was so far away, but I could still make out the tiny wave as she disappeared out of sight.

I stood in the middle of the street trying to catch my breath. Where were they going? And when were they coming back? Maybe there was a clue in her room?

I ran back to Sadie's house, climbed through the window and started to look around. Nothing. I pulled out my phone. Fuck, I didn't care what her dad did to me at this point. I was phoning her.

I dialled her number, and as her phone started to ring I heard a strange, echoing sound from downstairs. I hung up and the echo stopped. I leaned out of her bedroom door, dialed again and heard it more clearly that time.

My heart sunk as the reality hit me... how am I going to get ahold of her? Why did she leave her phone? I looked through my contacts for McKenzie's number and rang it. I followed the sound downstairs to find both of their phones on the dining room table. Sadie and McKenzie were gone, with suitcases. Rushed away by their parents. I had visions of their parents driving them off to some girl's boarding school. For all I knew, Sadie's mother was shipping them off to a finishing school in Switzerland.

Deflated, I walked back up to Sadie's room, and when I got there, I threw myself onto her bed. Her bed always gave me a familiar comfort. I'd laid on it so many times over the years, always taking it for granted that Sadie would be there. But now, a darker reality settled in. Sadie might not always be here. For some reason she felt further away, and not just physically.

I closed my eyes and her face came clearly into view. I saw the tiny scar on the top of her forehead—I remember the day she got it. I saw all her freckles and the three on her left cheek that formed the corners of a perfect triangle. She smiled at me, like she always did. Fuck. How had I never noticed how beautiful she was before?—She's perfect. Brett was right, the girl of my dreams had been staring me in the face all along.

Suddenly, a week seemed like an infinitely long time. I opened my eyes again, and an impending sense of doom began to swallow me up. I was overcome by a terrible feeling.

I was too late.