Beautiful Storms

chapter four | sadie

"a single thread of hope is still a very important thing."

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beautiful storms | chapter four

Sadie lazily makes her way into the girls' locker room. She sighs in relief when she notices she's the only one in the locker room.

She sits her book bag on the bench and she sits down. Sadie nervously runs her hands over jeans and her palms break out in sweats. I hope no one notices the bruise. She tried to use concealer over the dark tented bruise but hints of the dark color could still be seen through the concealer. She runs two-finger over her bruised forearm and she hisses in pain before pulling away.

"You're beautiful just like your mother was."

"Like your mother was." She repeats.

The door of the locker room opens and Sadie sucks in a breath. She stares down at her lap when she hears them coming towards her. Don't come over here. Don't come over here.

The girls walk past her, going to their lockers and Sadie's shoulder falls down in a relaxing way. Sadie huffs and she decides to start to undress. "Jess, there's a lot of reasons for him not to like her."

"You don't need to like someone to fuck them, Sara."

Sadie opens her locker and takes out her gym uniform. She grips it in her hands before slipping it over her hands. She pulls at the end of the shirt and she tucks it after pulling up her gym shorts. She stuffs her book bag in her locker before grabbing her phone and she shuts her locker. She twists the lock in her hand and connects it to her locker and she locks it.

"Hey, are you Sadie?"

Her body tenses and she turns to meet her gaze. She clenches her phone in her hand. Don't say anything stupid. Sadie shyly smiles before it falls.

"Y-Yeah?" She stutters.

The girl's soft demeanor intrigues Sadie. Her dark brown hair is pinned up in a neat bun. Her dark brown eyes pull Sadie and she clears her throat before pulling her eyes away. Why am I like this?

"I'm Cara's sister. I'm Jess." Jess reaches out her hand for Sadie to take. Sadie hesitates for a few seconds before grasping her hand in hers. She pulls away nervously and she clears her throat. She brushes her stray hair before her ear.

"Cara says she really likes hanging out with Jude." Jess points and Sadie nods.

"Yeah...Cara seems nice."

Sadie was really trying not to be awkward but her mind had different plans. Jess coughs and Sadie breaks away from Jess, turning towards Jess's friend. "Sara." Her friend's lips turn into a thin line. Sadie pulls her arms behind her back and crosses them.

The awkwardness in the air made Sadie's skin crawl. "I'm gonna go now. It's nice meeting you, Jess and...Sara." She gives them one last glance before she rushes to the gym.

"Why am I always so awkward?"

Knocking on her room door pulls Sadie from her book. Her blue eyes burn into the unopened door with an annoyed look.

"What do you want?"

The door slowly opens and Hayes makes his way into Sadie's room. Sadie freezes and she quickly shuts her book. "What?" She tries to stay strong and not let her voice waver but she fails and voice cracks.

"What are you doing?" He peers down at the book in her hands and he sits down on her bed, taking the book from her hands. Sadie stares down at his hands with an unknown expression. Her mind fills with memories of that night and she tries to suppress them but they keep coming. Did he do the same to her? Was that why she left because of him? Those same hands covering her mouth and that same mouth telling her to shut up and stop making so much noise and not wake Jude.

"The Scarlet letter?--I didn't know they still make you guys read this. I think Rachel liked this book, is this her copy?"

He flips to the front pages and he runs his fingers of the old handwriting on Sadie's mother. Sadie nods. He stares down at the book before placing it in front of Sadie.

"I ordered Chinese Take out if you're hungry." He leans forward and cups her face in his hands then he kisses her forehead. He gives her another glance before he exits out of the room. Sadie lets her tears fall and she wipes them away just as quickly as they came.

She picks up the book and clenches it in her hands, pulling it to her chest. "A pure hand needs no glove to cover it." She quotes The Scarlet Letter and throws the book across her bed, it tumbles to the ground before she could grab it.

"Will it ever get better?" She whispers as she wraps her arms around herself and she falls back on to her bed. She pulls the blanket over her body and it hugs her like a pillow like she wasn't alone. She rolls on her side and stares out of the window. Why'd you have to take her away from me? She didn't deserve to die the way she did. She didn't deserve the pain.

"She didn't deserve what she got."

Her voice broke and pulled her legs up to her chest. Please come back, I need you. We need you. She breaks out in sobs and she covers her mouth to block them from coming out. Her body shakes.

There was a knock on her door and she wiped the tears away.

"Sadie?"

Jude walks into her room and he leans against the wall. He crosses his arms over his chest. "Sadie, are you okay?"

He moves away from the wall and he goes to the side of her bed. He bends down to her eyes, pulling the cover from her eyes. "Move over." Sadie scoots over and Jude moves under the blanket and he turns on his side to look at her.

"You know you can talk to me, right?"

Sadie nods. "You are loved more than you realize, Sad." He pushes her hair from her face.

"Can you stay for the night?" Sadie whispers as she looks him in the eyes. Jude nods.

"Hayes ordered Chinese if you want me to go get you some, I can?"

"It's okay."

"You should really eat something. You only ate lunch today."

Sadie sighs. Jude gets out of the bed and makes his way out of the room. "Don't forget the duck sauce."

Sadie turns on her back and she stares up at the ceiling. "I hope you're doing okay. Both of you."