Unchained

Chapter Four

Sean picked me up after school. Mom and Dad were busy at work so Sean had to pick me up. Not like I minded, nor my parents.

I bidded farewell to my friends and walked over to Sean's car. "Hey," he said as I slithered into the front seat next to him. We started to drive.

"What time did you leave last night?" I asked him.

He stared forward, facing the road but I could tell he was stifling in a laugh. "I don't know, maybe... Eleven?"

I laughed, pointing at him. "I knew it! My mom even knew it, too!"

"Your mom knew when I left?" he asked, shocked.

I shrugged. "I guess. That's what she told me this morning. Was I asleep when you left?" he nodded and I started to feel really embarrassed. What if I drooled? Or snored? What if he saw me? Took a picture? Tweeted #patheticgirlandhersleephabits?

"I didn't do anything, if that's what you're wondering," Sean told me, nudging me a bit. "Your snoring secrets are safe with me." I gasped, staring at him but he said, "Well, we're home!"

We were not, but I decided not to say anything. I was a bit too nervous, anyway. I mean, David Pearson wanted me to come with him to the movies this Friday, and that was a bit too much. 

We got to my house and Sean played with Ryker while I fixed us up some snacks. We went into the study room and worked on homework. I did my math which I could do without help while Sean did some chemistry. Then, we started on my history project. That took a while, and after an hour we decided to take a break.

"Do you want something to eat?" I suggested, leaning back on my chair, my brain exhausted from equations and timelines and dates and just school.

"Nah, I'm fine," Sean said. He pushed up his glasses and flipped a page in his book he was reading for English. "What do you think we should do?"

I shrugged, trying not to stare at him too much. "We could play with Ryker." so we went out into the backyard. We threw a tennis ball around with the dog till it flew into the pool and Sean nor I felt like taking a dip so we started to shoot some hoops.

"Man, you're good," Sean panted as I finished a lay up. "Do you play for the school team?"

"Nah," I said. "Too much other stuff to do."

"Well, they're sure missing out on a lot," Sean said and I felt my face heating up.

"What about you?" I asked, trying to get the stress away from me. "How's the debate team coming?"

"Pretty good," he said, dribbling a bit before attempting a two pointer. He missed and I stole it and shot a three pointer, clearly swooshing it in. "We've got a competition coming up this Friday."

"Nice," I said, positioning myself to shoot again.

"You should come," he said. "I'd love to have your support."

I was a bit shocked by this, but I forced myself to nod. "I'd love to," I said, sounding a bit too enthusiastic.

"Great," he said, flashing a smile at me. "It'll be awesome with you there."

"I'm no debater," I said, shooting a two pointer. I missed, strangely. 

Sean reached for the ball and dribbled it around before casually dunking. I was surprised at how well his form looked for someone who just played basketball for fun.

"Debate is not all about being a debater," Sean told me. "It's about knowledge. Critical thinking. Speaking. That kind of stuff."

"Then I would suck at debate," I admitted and Sean laughed.

"Something tells me you're wrong," he said.

"Why?" I demanded.

"Well, we're debating about why you are or are not a debater right now." He was so smart and funny, I just wanted to fall into his arms right now.

I forced a smile. "Good point."

He looked at his watch. "Well, do you want to get back to work now?"

"Sure," I said, but I wanted to wait around and talk with him some more. He was so easy to talk to. 

We headed inside, Ryker licking our hands. I wiped some dirt off of my sweats and looked over at Sean. He had some dirt on his jeans. I hoped Mom wouldn't throw a fit. Which reminded me.

"Do you want to stay for dinner tonight?" I asked. "My parents would enjoy it."

"Yeah, I'm cool with that," he said as he got a water bottle from the refrigerator. "Your dad's a pretty good cook."

"When you're around," I said. "When you're not, it's my mom who takes control."

"Uh-oh," he said, taking a gulp of his water and I laughed. My stomach suddenly growled.

"Wanna snack?" I asked. "We have some leftover turkey from some potluck last week. Mom says we could make sandwhiches."

"Sure," he said. "Do you need my help?" he walked over to where I was standing and reached over to grab the bread. 

"No, I'm fine," I said, conscious of how close he was to me. "You go ahead and get caught up on my history."

"Sounds excellent," he said and winked at me as he headed upstairs to the study room.

I smiled at his back. He was so sweet. If only he knew...

I started to slice some loaves of bread. Meanwhile, my thoughts were preoccupied with what I should do. I looked forward to Sean's debate on Friday. I'm sure he would do good... Plus, the thought of him dressed in a tuxedo debating about some boring topic intrigued me. Wait, his debate thing was on Friday, right? Wasn't that when David wanted to go to the movies with me? Ugh, would I have to cancel with David? But this was my first date, with a nice and smart boy who was actually my age. But I wanted to be there for Sean. I knew him a lot better and plus, well, I felt connected to him, in a way. 

I frowned. As much asI wanted to get to know David, I couldn't just abandon Sean. He was one of my closest friends. Not to mention I knew him really well, from his favorite colors and songs and foods and preferenes to his family life and all that. But David, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I barely knew him, but girls at my school would murder their best friends to go out with him. So why would David choose me, out of all people? Just because I helped him with math? Tamara helped him in art once and he never asked her out. So what made me so special?

Hm, maybe I could divide everything up. I could go to Sean's debate and leave early, maybe after the awards ceremony or whatever and then go see the movie with David. It would be kind of late, but as long as I got to see Sean, right? I don't think I could see the movie with David before Sean's debate. Chances are, that debate would be earlier in the afternoon, and a movie in the afternoon was not exactly romantic, if you get my drift... What would the movie be anyway? David said he would text me. I hadn't checked my messages yet; peraps he sent me some more information on Friday. Like the times and what movie and everything.

It was a horrible choice. A horrible, horrible choice. The last choice I would ever make. Looking back at it now, I wished I hadn't been so stupid.

I turned around to go grab my phone from the table. The knife was still in my hand. I took a step but then remembered I had the knife, so I turned around again to put it back but I was too far from the counter. I reached out but it wasn't enough and then - all of the sudden - I was falling, I was falling, and the knife was pointing up at me. 

I never did know if David texted me.