The Renegades

Chapter 16

There's a substitute in third period economics on Friday. She is supposed to assign something left in instructions by Mr. Blanton, but the college-aged girl is wooed easily by one of the Renegades. She's so flattered by his attention that she decides not to give out the assignment. Due to the lack of work, the students in the class have either left or are doing whatever they want in the classroom.

Wesley and Sabina are among the latter. She moves from her seat near the front of the room to the desk next to him in the back row. He slides his desk over so the edge is lined up with hers. Morgan Kelley always has a deck of Uno cards in her backpack, but since she left class to find her boyfriend, she let Sabina and Wesley have it.

Everyone left in the room keeps looking back at them, wondering what's going on. They're just playing Uno and talking quietly. It's very un-Wesley-Parker-ish. Usually his relationships consist of making out at school and going further after school. Everyone's starting to wonder if he really does actually like her. It's quite the scandal.

"What're your plans for after the game?" Sabina asks, placing a yellow six down.

"It's Easton and Cece's four month anniversary, so I'm dropping them off for dinner and then going home to babysit the other ones," Wesley says, smiling as he plays a yellow skip. His mom's a nurse and has the night shift. His dad's always working. Easton usually babysits, but he asked Wesley to so he could do something special for Cece. Wesley smirks at Sabina. "Looks like you're stuck spending an entire night without me. What're you going to do?"

She rolls her eyes. "Or I could babysit with you."

"I'm not sure I'm ready to expose you to that chaos."

"I think it'd fun."

"You really want to?" he asks, and she nods her head. "You can't say I didn't warn you about the chaos."

The Renegades win again. They usually don't beat the team they beat tonight, so everyone's extra excited about the win.

Wesley, Hunter, and Landon walk out of the locker room together. The joy Landon felt over the victory diminishes when he sees that Rae isn't waiting for him at his car. She's the only person he wants to celebrate with.

"Hunter, I'll see you at the party," Landon says. He wasn't planning on going. Now he feels like getting drunk and forgetting the world.

Wesley's joy over the win only increases when he sees Sabina leaning against the driver's side door of his truck. Trying to hide it as best as he can from Landon, Wesley presses himself against her and kisses her. The kiss lasts a long time.

"Damn, Wesley. Get some!" someone in a group of Renegades shouts.

"Getting a little freaky with the freak tonight!" someone else in the group says. Wesley just takes his right hand off her waist and uses it to flick them off, still kissing her as he does it. Sabina smiles under his kisses, loving that he's still so publicly being affectionate despite the taunts of his teammates. It takes away nearly all her worries about being with him.

They finally pull away and see Cece standing near the hood of the truck. She looks a little embarrassed having walked in on them in a way.

"Easton's getting all dolled up for you, but he should be done soon," Wesley says.

They get into Wesley's truck and wait just a few more minutes for Easton to come rushing over. He practically jumps into the back seat, sliding into the middle to be next to Cece and kissing her cheek repeatedly. They drive to Hunter's family's restaurant, where Easton and Cece get out of the truck. Wesley calls Easton over to his window to ask if he needs money for anything. Easton says he's been saving up money from mowing lawns. Wesley asks if Easton needs protection. Easton tells him to fuck off. Wesley drives to his house.