Saving Sutton [ radish ]

[ 03 ]

C H A P T E R      T H R E E

SUTTON WAS ENJOYING her lunch. It'd been a good day. She told herself she wasn't giddy because of her conversation with Nolan but rather her good grade on her most recent English test, but either way, when she slipped into the corner seat at her empty table, there was a small smile on her face.

She and Nolan had been having amicable conversations during class, mostly about Mr. Mullen and his failure as a teacher, but conversations nevertheless. He was kind and funny and Sutton only felt a little like throwing up every time she saw him. In a good way, if that was possible.

It was when she got up to throw away her trash that everything went wrong.

Someone bumped into her, hard, and an icy cold liquid sloshed all over her chest, dripping down immediately.

Sutton had literally been drenched in the icy truth of reality.

"Sorry!" It was Angela who stood next to her, giggling with an empty cup in hand. "I had no idea you were there. Totally my fault." She had several members of her posse in tow, and Sutton realized with a start that Nolan was with them. He looked fidgety, like he'd rather be anywhere but there. The problem was that he was there. He had taken part in embarrassing Sutton.

Their eyes met for a second, and Sutton ripped her gaze away. Her movements were jerky, rushing.

She should've known.

Sutton picked up her bag and ran to the nearest door, ducking her head and furiously shaking wet strands of hair from sticking to her chin.

Laughs and jeers filled the air and still she ran, and all she could think about was Nolan's dark eyes, practically void of an emotion, while her own ones stung with the possibility of tears.

Oh god, now she was crying over a boy.

No, not over a boy. Over the band of people whose idea of fun was pouring a drink over someone.

She should've known. She should've known. She should've known.

You couldn't trust a guy like Nolan Hale and not end up with a heavy heart. You couldn't mess with a girl like Angela Hamilton and not end up on the losing side.

You couldn't think, not even for a second, that life would get better, because you would always just get soaked in sticky soda.

Sutton opened the bathroom door and flung herself into a stall. She should've known.

She had always prided herself in being strong, in not letting people get to the better of her. Sutton couldn't help laughing bitterly at where that led her.

Crying, sitting on a dirty toilet in a school bathroom. Sutton thought about just ten minutes earlier, when she actually thought she had a shot at a new beginning.

How naïve.

"Sutton?" An unfamiliar and decidedly male voice brought Sutton out of her thoughts and interrupted her mid-sniffle.

Sutton peered beneath the stall door, and two dark sneakers greeted her.

She stood up.

She was furious. How could she have let herself believe she and Nolan were actually friends?

She didn't make friends, and especially not with people like Nolan. Friends just didn't work with Sutton. Nothing worked, when it came to Sutton.

So why did she think that, this time, with Nolan, it would've been any different?