𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇|𝐆𝐄𝐍 𝐕

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨

Fifteen year old Margaret dragged herself throughout the gala that she had unfortunately got invited too, her exhausted eyes flickering around the group of adults who seemed to only care about themselves and filling up their bodies with alcoholic substances. Her father, who had disappeared long ago to butter up a sponsor, had gave her one instruction and one instruction only. Don't embarrass him. Margaret liked to think she was following his orders, however with the way that everyone's gaze seemed to linger upon her for more than one second, it seemed as if she was failing miserably.

Margaret felt the anxiety and dread bubble up in the pit of her stomach as soon as her father glanced her way, a stern and cold look in his eyes. She quickly turned away and faced forward, staring at the numerous alcoholic drinks before her. Now, she was fifteen, which meant she had a long way to go before she was legally even allowed to touch a single sip of beer or any other alcoholic substance. But she couldn't take it anymore. She needed something to take off the edge, to make her feel semi normal in a room full of people who looked down on her because of who she was and the powers she unfortunately possessed. In the end Margaret only ended up with sparkling cider, the bartender not believing she was twenty one for a single second. But anything was better than nothing.

"One of those nights, huh?" A voice rang out in her ear as she slowly turned her head to face a boy who moved to sit beside her. He was gorgeous, Margaret wasn't ashamed to admit that. His curls, his eyes, his smile,  everything about him was just so perfect compared to Margaret who looked as if she was on the verge of death, all because of her neglectful father who would rather see her perish than prosper. Pushing that aside, Margaret quickly straightened up in her seat and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear to make her look at least a little more presentable in front of the beautiful boy who had chosen to sit next to her of all people.

"Y-You could say that," Margret stammered, her voice cracking causing for her eyes to widen in embarrassment. Of course she had to embarrass herself, for she could never seem to do anything right. Especially when it came to interaction faith anyone who wasn't her father. "Sorry, um, I'm Margaret."

"Sam." The boy introduced, Margaret's reaching her trembling hand to shake Sam's much colder and calmer one. Margret had tried everything under the sun to make herself calm down in front of the beautiful boy, but nothing would work. It wasn't as if she really knew how to talk with boys, for her father would kill her before even allowing the thought to be placed inside of her mind. Margaret was simply going based off what she had seen in the many romantic movies she watched as a child with her mother.

"Sam," The name slipped from Margaret's lips naturally, almost as if she was destined to say that name. "That's a nice, yet very ordinary name, Sam."

"I could say the same thing about you, Margaret," Sam retorted, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. His eyes flickered over towards Margaret's father who was still talking with one of the boosters before glancing over towards the younger Sawyer who had decided to preoccupy herself with her glass of warm sparkling water. "You wanna get out of here? Go do something?"

"What?" Margaret furrowed her brows, facing Sam with a look of surprise. "Oh, that's a really sweet offer, but I can't leave. My dad would literally rip my head off."

"You shouldn't let your dad tell you what to do all the time," Sam stated, slowly shaking his head. In that moment Margaret felt the sudden urge to snap at him, to tell him that he didn't know what the hell he was talking about. No words dared to escape from her lips which made her end up looking twice as stupid as before. She glanced back over towards her father who was still talking with the man before looking back at Sam, who now held his warm hand out towards her.