The Winning Team

Chapter 8

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Story belongs to Danielle Richardson

Hey everyone! Okay, so I'm trying to get to 200 hundred votes by the time I reach 1000 reads. Maybe you guys could help me out with that a little... ;) And what do you all think of my new cover??? And i'm sorry about the chapters being so short. I don;t do it on purpose, they just come out this way. I'll try to make the next one longer though. :)

Chapter 8

“I got ‘em,” Sara proclaimed, turning her backpack upside down on my bed to dump out its contents.

  I watched as several cell phones fell onto my black sheets, making loud clacking sounds as all the plastics rubbed against one another.

  My eyes lit up. “You’re positively sure that’s every last one of them?”

  Sara nodded. “Positive. I know these teachers like the back of my hand. It was easy to steal all of their phones when they weren’t looking. It also helps that half of them are either old or absent-minded.”    

  I threw my arms around her then, squeezing her tightly against my chest.

  “Thank you!” I shrieked, dropping my hands to my sides after a moment.

  “No problem. I did promise you, didn’t I?”

  It was a completely rhetorical question, but I felt the need to answer it anyway.

  “Yes, you did.” I smiled appreciatively at her.

  “Well, I better head off before your mom starts to wonder what I’m doing here,” Sara said, picking up her now completely empty backpack.

  I shrugged, waving my hand nonchalantly. “She won’t notice. She only comes out of her room to grab food and go back in. She’s been like this since… you know…”

  Sara walked back towards me from her position at the door and wrapped her arms around me. She smelled like rain and fresh oranges.

  “This must all be rough on you,” she whispered, keeping her arms tightly wound around my neck.

  I reciprocated her gesture, wrapping my arms around her neck too. “Not really, I responded. My voice sounded tired to my own ears.

  Truth be told, my mind had somehow adapted itself to some kind of numbness. I didn’t feel anything concerning my mom’s depression, or Damian’s betrayal, or even me getting kicked out of the school. The only thing I ever felt these days was my hunger for revenge, and my anger towards almost every adult around me.

  I hadn’t seen Tristan in forever, but I was beginning to feel this strange pain in my gut. Something inside of me told me that it was me missing Tristan. I just couldn’t seem to bring myself to face him just yet.

  Sara pulled away from me. She was smiling, but I could see straight through her act. Something underneath her façade seemed… disturbed.

  Giving my shoulders a gentle squeeze, she said “You need to stop doing this to yourself.”

  I pretended to be oblivious. “Doing what?” I asked innocently, batting my eyelashes for good measure.

  Sara ignored my games. “You need to stop acting like you don’t care about anything. You need to feel. This isn’t healthy, and eventually, holding in all of these emotions is going to make you crazy. We’re humans, Al. It’s in our nature to feel.”

  And with that, Sara strode out of my room, leaving me speechless.

  If anyone could read me like an open book, it was Sara… and Tristan.