Sugar And Spice

Chapter thirty-four: Tainted

Chapter thirty-four: Tainted (Faith's POV)

We just arrived at the beach, stopping at a stand to buy some colored powder for the festival. We scanned the packed beach. People were coated in different shades of bright colors, some green, some red, some pink, blue and god knows how many others. We all opened our packets and threw colors at each other first, eventually splitting up, me and Alex together.

I covered his face in blue while he covered mine in pink. I dumped my entire packet out on his head before running along the shore, away from him. I lost him in the crowd before I heard him call my name while he ran right to me.

He caught me, emptying his color on me. I shook some powder out of my head while he did too. "I'll go get some more," he laughed.

I waited where I was until I heard someone call my name.

"You seem to be tainted in shades of pink."

I instantly knew the voice. I let out an exhausted sigh and turned to face him.

"It's unfortunate no one's here to apply any colors to you, isn't it?" I arched an eyebrow at him. "Did you come here to find another girl?" I rolled my eyes.

"I came here to find you," he replied.

Confusion graced my face and before I could comprehend anything, he pulled me to him and kissed me.

I pulled away as soon as my instincts kicked in.

He took two fingers and wiped them across my cheek, pulling the color off and rubbing two streaks on his face, one on each cheek. "I'll see you around, Faith," he walked away.

I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat but I couldn't avoid the feeling of bile rising in my throat. I took deep breaths before turning to go look for Alex but found him standing there, staring. "Alex," I sighed, beginning to run over to him but he stepped back.

"Did you kiss him?" he looked at me in disbelief.

"No!" I said defensively. "No, I didn't kiss him! He kissed me, Alex-" I stopped talking when he threw the colors onto the ground in rage. I jumped back when he stormed up to me.

"How did you let him do it, Faith?" he clenched his jaw while grabbing my arm roughly.

"I pushed him off when it hit me, I swear," I blinked rapidly preventing tears.

He let go of me and stepped back, kicking the sand. He began walking off.

"Where are you going?" I asked, keeping up with him.

"I'm going home." I began breathing heavier.

"Alex, I didn't do anything!" I yelled.

"You never do anything! He just keeps on coming back to you, doesn't he? You never tell anyone, never ask for help! Have you even told your parents?" he screamed. My throat ran dry and lips remained sealed shut. "Faith, you have to tell people, no one can help you if you don't." He walked off with that.

I ran my hands through my hair, panicking on the inside, wondering what the fuck I should do. I looked around to see if I could find Hayley or Daniel and when I couldn't, I began looking for Cody with anger flooding my veins. I clenched my jaw and fists while marching over to where I last saw him.

He was standing at the drinks counter, watching everyone, smirking at me when his eyes met mine.

"What the fuck do you want?" I tried keeping my shit together.

"Why don't we step aside?" He led us further away from the crowd.

I stopped halfway. "I think we're far enough. Spit it out, what the fuck do you want?" I spat.