Beauty and the Beat

Beauty and the Beat (31)

Monday morning, I didn’t want to get out of bed.

I had to go back to school. I had to go back to bullies, an ex-best friend, judging stares, and no Ethan.

No Ethan. I hated the sound of that.

My mother didn’t have breakfast ready for me like she usually did when I came downstairs. I shouldn’t have been surprised, considering I had been pretty much fending for myself during my week of suspension. Take-out pizza could only do so much when you ate it every day.

I didn’t have time to make myself breakfast. I turned toward the counter, expecting the five dollars my mother usually left for my lunch. It wasn’t there.

I could have gone upstairs to get five dollars from my birthday and Christmas money, but I didn’t want to. I had been wasting it away on pizza all week.

“Mom,” I called out to where she was sitting in the living room. I stomped out to see her sitting, watching TV. “Could I have money for lunch, please?”

She said nothing.

“Mom!”

She didn’t even look at me. “You have money to buy yourself food, Sadie.”

My jaw dropped. Yes, I had money, but if I kept using it, it was going to run out. I didn’t have a job, and I was sure it was going to be really difficult to get one after everything that had happened with Ethan. It’d been all over the news and everyone in town knew about it. And almost everyone was judging me.

“Mom, I need to eat,” I told her.

She still didn’t look at me. “You have your own money to feed yourself. You’re eighteen, Sadie. You do not need me to take care of you any longer. Especially when you are fully capable of being in a relationship with a fully grown man.”

“Mom!” I shouted, fed up with her treating me the way she was. “What is wrong with you? I already told you that I’m sorry! Are you going to hate me forever just because I fell in love with someone? I’m your daughter! Stop treating me like I’m some horrible criminal because I did not do anything wrong. I fell in love with Ethan. Ethan, Mom. Not some random guy. Not a creep that’s twenty years older than me. It’s Ethan Deveraux, the same Ethan Deveraux that you’ve called your third son all his life. He’s no different than he was before! He’s still Ethan. He’s still obnoxious, and aggravating, and practically downright evil, but I still love him. I’ve always loved him. And you have no right to treat me like this just because I fell in love with the guy I’ve been friends with all my life.”

I didn’t wait for my mother to respond. I stormed out, not even thinking about lunch money any longer. I was sure I’d have no appetite once I went back to school anyway.

I didn’t turn on the radio on my drive to school. I didn’t want to. The only thing I wanted to do was drive my car off the side of the road.

It seemed like all eyes were on me the second I got out of my car. I took a deep breath. Here we go.

All eyes really were on me as I made my way through the parking lot. I heard whispers, but I ignored them. Nothing good would have come from retaliating.

“Look,” I heard a snide voice say to someone else. “The slut’s back.”

Yes, I was back. And I was not going to let anyone get to me anymore.

“Hey!” Bennett greeted me with a smile as I made my way into the school, more eyes on me. “I’m glad that you’re back! I missed you.”

I hugged my best friend, glad to see him outside of my house. Though he had been giving me my homework, my mother barely even let me see him. But then she went right ahead and let an angry Freya upstairs and into my room.