The Renegades

Chapter 4

It's Monday. Sabina feels half dead as she walks to the school. Landon's next to her, his arm draped around Rae's shoulders. Rae keeps looking at Sabina, noticing a small smile on her lips. It's weird. Sabina usually doesn't smile, especially not at school. Sabina hates school. Sabina hates most things in and about Ruby.

"Why are you so happy?" Rae asks. She takes a sip from her smoothie. She has one every morning. It's one of those healthy green ones. It looks like shit to Sabina. Actual shit, not figurative.

Of course Rae would notice. Rae notices everything. It pisses Sabina off just as much as she appreciates it.

Landon looks at his sister and then at his girlfriend. "That's what you think happiness looks like?" Landon doesn't notice shit. It pisses both Rae and Sabina off.

"She's smiling, dummy," Rae says. The comment gets her a kiss from Landon. Sabina groans. She loves them, but she hates them. Rae was her best friend when she was a cheerleader. Rae's still a cheerleader. Sabina invited Rae over for a sleepover once in seventh grade. Rae and Landon talked for the first time. They started dating a few weeks later. Rae's still her best friend. It's hard for her not to be her best friend when she's her only friend. It just hasn't been the same. Rae comes over to hang out with Sabina and ends up spending the entire time with Landon instead. Sabina still appreciates that Rae's the only person who doesn't think of her as a freak.

"That's a sad excuse of a smile," Landon says. He nudges Sabina to show that he's joking. It makes her smile. "Ok, something's definitely wrong. That was an actual smile."

"Spill the beans, Bean," Rae says.

Sabina doesn't want to say anything in front of Landon. He'll freak out. He might be ok with dating Sabina's best friend, but he definitely won't be ok with Sabina doing anything with his best friend. Hypocrite.

Sabina grabs Rae's arm and drags her away from Landon. Landon's shoulder nearly dislocates due to the tug. Sabina may be small, but she's strong. She takes Rae to the side of the building.

"Wes kissed me at the party on Friday." Sabina tries to keep the excitement out of her voice. She fails. So much for her hiding her crush from Rae.

"Shut up!" Rae squeals. She's always known Sabina likes Wesley, even if Sabina hasn't always known. "How was it? How'd it happen? I need to know everything!" She starts jumping up and down in excitement.

Sabina tells her everything. "And he texted me all weekend."

"So are you guys a thing now?"

"Probably not. He probably just feels obligated to keep talking to me now."

"You really think Wesley Parker is one to feel obligated to keep talking to a girl just because he kissed her?" Rae asks. Sabina thinks about it. Wesley has a reputation for humping and dumping. "Exactly. You're special." She starts poking Sabina in the side. Sabina swats her hand away.

"You can't say anything to Landon. He'll freak out."

As much as Landon loves Wesley, he'd hate that he kissed his sister. Landon knows way too much about Wesley and his history with girls. Everyone knows Wesley's reputation, but only Landon knows the details. Landon tried telling Wesley that there's no point in dating if you're not looking for love. Wesley said not everyone meets their soulmate in middle school like Landon did with Rae. Wesley said he was happy he hadn't. He'd get bored too quickly. Landon's too protective of Sabina to knowingly accept her and Wesley knowing all that.

Not that there's anything to accept, of course. It was just a few kisses. Nothing more.

Rae acts out zipping her lips. "I know nothing."

The bell rings. Sabina heads her own way to get to class, trying to avoid Lilly and her cheerleading minions on the way. Rae goes back and meets up with Landon. He's sitting with Wesley and some other football players. He gets up when he sees her and walks over to her.

"Did you find out what's up?" he asks.

She just shrugs and keeps on walking. "Maybe."

"What do you mean 'maybe'? You can't just say 'maybe'." He takes a few fast steps to catch up to her.

"Well, I just did, so..."

He wraps his arms around her from behind. "So you're just not going to tell me?"

"It's none of your business. Sabina will tell you when she's ready."

"Don't do this to me, babe," he whines. "You know I'm nosy."

"That's your problem, not mine."

"Don't make me tickle it out of you," he says. Rae's incredibly ticklish. It's a form of torture for her. If she's ever taken by the government, no torture will be needed to get information from her. Just tickle her, and all the gossip will spill. She's a horrible gossip in the first place, anyway.

Landon starts tickling her. She bites her bottom lip to try to hold it all in. Sabina will kill her if she spills.

"Stop!" He keeps tickling her. "Landon, stop!"

Wesley approaches them. "Get a room, you two."

She bites her lip so hard she almost starts bleeding. Landon releases her. She practically runs away.

"What just happened?" Wesley asks. Rae running away like that was weird. She doesn't do stuff like that. She and Landon are always right next to each other.

Landon shrugs. "She's probably pissed at me."

"Why?"

"My sister was acting all weird and happy this morning, so Rae found out what. She wouldn't tell me. I tried getting it out of her. She ran off," Landon explains.

"Oh" is all Wesley says. He stopped paying attention after Landon said Sabina was happy. He can't help but wonder if she was happy because of him. He hopes that's why. He's been happy since Friday because of her. He didn't even drink or smoke. He showered this morning before school. He smiles at the thought of her smiling about him.

Landon notices the smile on Wesley's face. "Really? You too?"

Sabina looks forward to third period economics all day. Wesley does too. She sits near the front of the classroom. She can feel someone watching her. She turns around. He's smiling at her from his seat in the back.