River & Colt [Completed]

4. Before

Unedited
4. Fourteen

River

I trip.

Trip right into a hard chest and hear snickering as the person maneuvers around me.

"You good?" A deep voice asks from a few feet away. His green eyes bright against his tan skin. I know him from around school. Colton Sawyer, baseball star.

I nod and head in the opposite direction. I hear the boy who I ran into call out, "watch where you're going, freak."

It doesn't bother me anymore. The names and the stares and the ignorance of some people. I'll be someone and they won't.

Baseball star won't mean much in five in years.

Science class might be worse than the hallways. At least the hallway smell doesn't make me vomit, sweat and generic air freshener is a welcomed smell compared to dissection day.

"River, wanna be lab partners?" Kenzie asks. Her smile big, her glasses falling off her nose and sitting crookedly on her face.

Kenzie is nice. She is like me in the way she is quiet and serious. She keeps to herself mostly, but she doesn't get bullied like I do. I don't understand how people can pick and choose who to bother.

Do I seem weaker than Kenzie?

We head over to our lab bench and wait for further instruction. We are rule followers. I like that she is patient and kind. Then something clicks.

We are eye to eye. Her green eyes are so familiar and then it clicks. Colton and Mackenzie Sawyer.

"Colton's your brother?" I ask after we begin the dissection. I will say and do anything to keep my mind off the rancid smell of these frogs. I might throw up.

Kenzie nods and goes right into slicing the frog's stomach in half.

I can feel myself turn white, that mixture of dizziness and heat.

"Are you okay?" Kenzie asks right before I sprint to the garbage can and throw up my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

My face is bright red, I'm sweaty, and I want to die right there with my head in the garbage can. The whole room is silent as they watch and wait for me to turn around. I can already feel their whispers.

"Oh my," Mrs. Johnson says rushing towards me, full of concern.

"Mackenzie, can you take River to the nurse?"

The laughter fades away as we turn the hallway. I still feel shaky and weak and the last thing I want to do is go to the nurse. I don't want to be sent home and I don't want them to call my mom. She doesn't need any added stress.

"I'm just gonna go," I say motioning towards the side door that is never locked or guarded.

"Skip?" Kenzie asks stopping in her tracks. She probably never skips, she's good. She is who I would love to be. But I'm not. I'm the person that leaves school because sometimes it's all too much.

"Yeah, thanks for walking me," I mumble and head out the doors before giving her another chance to talk.

The day is cold. The middle of October where the sun is setting earlier and the leaves are falling rapidly. My feet crunch on the leaves as I walk down the long driveway with my head down. If it looks like you're sneaking out that's when you get caught.

If you look busy or like you're talking on the phone everyone leaves you alone. I've learned that the hard way. When a security guard found me and brought me into the principal's office. Mom was called and I decided I would never do anything to disrupt her day again.

Mom needs order and structure and I can't be the person to ruin that. I'm supposed to be the one who helps her. Role reversal at it's finest, but I'm okay with it.

I like being busy. When I have too much time my thoughts wander to places I don't want to go.

"Hey," I hear from behind me. I keep walking, head down, hands in my pocket. Faster faster faster. Only a few more feet until I'm off of school property.

"Wait up," it's Kenzie I realize when her footsteps start to come quicker. I stop and wait for her to catch up. I don't want anyone to see us rushing towards the exit.

"What're you doing?" I'm trying to keep my voice in check. I'm not annoyed at her, I'm just annoyed in general. Always.

"Skipping with you. What do you wanna do?"

"Sleep," I say laughing. "Or we can check out the bookstore."

"Works for me," she says with a hop to her step. I watch her. The way she carries herself with grace and confidence. Long blonde hair falling in waves down her back, green eyes, dimple in one cheek. Always smiling.

Her phone starts ringing and she groans when she sees who it is, "yes?" she answers it a playful tone.

"I'm just with a friend. She got sick and I helped her go to the nurse," her voice is different now.

She sighs, "why are you and your friends always keeping tabs on me? I'm hanging out with a friend. Bye, Colt. See you at home."

Friend. That word is like a fluttering heartbeat in my chest. I think the last time I used that word or heard that word used about me I was in the 4th grade.

Kenzie rolls her eyes and links her arm through mine. I almost pull away, "my brother is always in my business. He thinks he can control me."

"Why?" I ask. I don't have any siblings and sibling drama has always fascinated me. So many shows and books are based on rivalry or hatred between family.

She shrugs, "he's a minute older."

I laugh, "so I guess that means he's in charge."

She laughs. I want to ask her how it feels to have a brother that is larger than life. How it feels to be known as Colt Sawyer's sister instead of her own person. But I don't ask.

I'm not so good at talking to people. My words get jumbled and I don't know what's right and wrong.

That's why I stick to books.

I feel lighter when we walk into the bookstore. The smell of paper and freshly brewed coffee, the man who sits at a table in the corner with a newspaper all day long, and the shop owner who smiles at us when we walk in. It's warmth and happiness and belonging. No judgement.

We wander aisles, picking up books and placing them back down. We recommend each other books we've loved and laugh while reading the backs of some romance novels.

"People really want to read about dragon love?" Kenzie asks placing the book back down. The cover is a shirtless man and a dragon embracing.

"I think it's a girl that turns into a dragon?" I laugh and shake my head.

"I guess some people are into that," Kenzie says picking up the book again. "I'm going to buy it for my brother."

"Why?" I ask.

"It's funny." She says it so simply like this is something I should have known and understood.

But I don't. I stay quiet.