Good Intentions

Ch33: Party Part 3: Perspectives

Edited and Reposted. Please leave me some comments with your reread. I did add quiet a bit. See if you can notice what and where :)

Sean POV

The room was completely silent as we all watched Sang sink to the ground right where she stood in front of Erica. Today was going worse then I could have even imagined. A few of the boys had suggested that we cancel the party today, and they had been right. This was too much for her. Way too much too soon. She hadn't had any time to process everything that she had learned over the last few days, and as always, we had been too short sighted to see that this party would only stress her out more. We only wanted to do something nice for her. To show her that even though we had all made so many mistakes, it was all out of love. We wanted to celebrate with her, and spend a few hours laughing with her. We. We. We. We wanted. Would we ever stop being so selfish? As much as I keep harping on everyone about them not understanding, I don't seem to be doing much better.

From the moment Sang had walked in the door with Decan, I could tell that something was off. Her normally bright eyes were shadowed and closed off. Her shoulders had been stiff and her posture guarded. Even her voice had been off, almost robotic in nature. She was doing everything she could to look normal, to act as if there was nothing wrong. She probably even thought that she was fooling us, but she wasn't. Based on the many glances being shot around by my team, we could all feel the difference in her energy. She was wound tight, bursting at the seems with tension, just biding her time.

The only times she had seemed somewhat like herself was when she was talking to Karen's group, or Uncle. Even with Marc, she had seemed at least a little like herself. She had been irritated by their exchange, that was for sure, but she wasn't putting on a show for him. Not like she was for us. Every interaction with one of us had been strained. Almost uncomfortable. The boys had said they had an okay lunch. That they talked a little, and that she seemed to be relaxing. What had changed so much since then? Was it because Kota left? Was it whatever had happened in the hallway at the end of school? Or was it the party itself?

Maybe she didn't like her birthday at all. Maybe she hadn't told us about it because she really didn't want us to know, and didn't want to celebrate it. Or maybe it was the surprise of it all. But, no. It couldn't have been that, because Decan had warned her. Like we should have. He probably even gave her the option to not come. He was doing everything right, while we, we were doing the same things we have been doing from the beginning. Keeping secrets. Making decisions for her, based on what we thought was best. Forcing her into situations without her knowledge or input. I wanted to hate him for it, for making us look worse, as if we needed the damn help. But I couldn't. I couldn't hate him for being there for her when she needed someone other than us.

Most girls would probably be over the moon with a surprise party. But most girls hadn't just found out that their chosen family had been lying to them for months. And the way Owen had taunted her? I couldn't believe that he could be that stupid and cruel. Yes, she was giving him major attitude. There was no doubt about that. And he had kept control for far longer than he would have with anyone else. But the fact that he still didn't realize that all of this was 100% our fault, and that we were lucky she was even speaking to us... well it boggled my mind. But more than that... it made me angry. After the conversation we all had this morning, I really thought the two of them had come to some type of realization. It definitely looked like Sang had finally seen how much Owen cares about her under all his stoic bullshit.

But after the way he riled her today, and then snapped at her when he got the reaction he should have damn well expected, I wasn't so sure either of them had made any head way at all. The way she stared after him as he left, it was a look I never wanted to see on her face again. Her expression had completely shut down, giving nothing away. And Owen? He had ran out of here like hell itself was chasing him. He knew he had been an ass, probably even knew it as it was happening. But god forbid he could actually control himself. He just had to be right. He had to have the last word.