Her Absent Memory

Chapter Eleven

Riley steps away from me and peers into the dark. At the edge of the playground, Cora comes into perspective. Morgan sheepishly follows her, looking riddled with guilt. The two stand there for a minute before Riley speaks up.

"What do you want?" She snarls, stepping in front of me.

"Looks like it's strike two, Sutton. You're almost out." Cora warns me, cracking her gum.

"Why are you doing this?" I yell at her.

"You're a disgrace. To everyone. To the cheer team, to the church, to your family, to your friends, to God." She informs me with an icy tone.

"That isn't true." I rebuttal, starting to get angry.

"Yes it is. How would your dad feel if he saw this?" Cora asks me, flashing the picture on her phone to me.

"Go ahead!" I challenge.

She looks at me for a moment, taken aback by my response. She looks at the phone screen and then back to me. I nod and step closer to her.

"Go ahead. Show him. See what I care. I'm happy and that's all that matters. If he really loves me and cares about me, he'll accept me any way that I am. You've always said that you can ruin anyone's life so easily. But I don't see you making any real moves. Are you afraid?" I ask, getting in her face.

"Uh, Sutton..." Riley's voice whispers nervously from behind me.

"No!" Cora hollers, "I'm waiting for the right opportunity! Don't worry, Sutton. Once you let your guard down, you'll find yourself surrounded by chaos. Your life will be in shambles if you keep this up."

"Okay, well I'll be waiting around for it with Riley, then." I smirk, hugging Riley.

She places an arm around me and stares down Cora with an expressionless face. Cora rolls her eyes as I step away from Riley. She looks over at Morgan and folds her arms.

"Disgusting, isn't it? Two girls, thinking they can be together." She scoffs.

"You know what's disgusting?" Morgan begins.

"What?" Cora asks, an excited grin covering her lips.

"How you can be so judgmental of these two human beings who are happy together and haven't done anything to harm you in any way. You say you're a Christian, but you're forgetting one of the most important pieces of the Bible. Love thy neighbor, Cora. Don't you know that you're supposed to treat everyone with respect and compassion? I don't think you do. You're a mean girl, Cora. I won't stand here and do this to someone. I don't want to be a part of this. Consider our friendship over." Morgan says to Cora.

Cora's eyes widen in disbelief and her jaw looks like it might hit the floor, "What?"

"Did I fucking stutter?" Morgan grumbles.

"Okay, then. You can walk home." Cora gawks.

"Gladly." She shoots back, walking back into the darkness and out of sight.

I can't help but smile as Cora curses under her breath and runs off after Morgan. I look up to Riley and she smirks back at me. She plants a gentle kiss on my lips and then hugs me tight. We walk back to her car and I invite her over to my place. Thankfully, Parker doesn't murder her and the evening actually turns out to be excellent once again.

"Okay, so, you would rate Piper a ten and only a six for Alex?" I ask, my eyes wide at Riley as we watch an episode of Orange Is The New Black.

When we got back to my house, she introduced me to the show. Now, it's 2 AM and we're nearly halfway through the first season. We munch on popcorn and discuss the various characters and what we would rate them.