20 ~ Pickle

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Monday morning, I've never been happier to go to school.

Running downstairs, I hum to myself as I throw an extra bagel in the toaster and pour some orange juice in a cup. Throwing my lunch in my bag, I'm halfway through my breakfast when I notice my family sitting at the kitchen table.

The twins blink, along with Scarlett who holds a coffee mug to her lips as she watches me.

"Morning." I offer through a mouth food of food and they stay silent, Scarlett covering her mouth in disbelief.

"What?" Did something happen in the last 12 hours I don't know about?

"Your shirt." The twins state in disbelief.

Glancing down, I flatten the buttons of my pickle embroidered button up. "What's wrong with my shirt?"

"It's funny." Saffron offers and Scarlett shakes her head.

"It's been months since you've worn one of those shirts." Oh. I guess it has. These last few months, the only thing I've been wearing are hoodies.

"Well, they're back."

Slowly, she smiles. "Thank God."

Grabbing my juice, I have breakfast with my family as they silently marvel over my choice of clothing.

*****

Arriving at school, the twins stay in as Saffron runs to class. Locking the doors, they turn to me.

"So you kiss a girl one time and now you're okay?" Sterling demands. Thanks for the video, Christian.

"I guess, I just needed to realize I was ready to be okay again." I shrug. "I'm not gonna date or anything, but I've never kissed someone just because."

The kiss wasn't my saving grace. It was great, but it wasn't about Alex. I just had to kiss someone to understand it was okay to do that. In my mind, Ella still had this hold on me because she was the person I did everything with. Unless you count one kiss I had with Jovie when we were kids and I only did that to piss Ella off.

"Sterling has." Silver snorts as his twin punches him in the gut.

"I know." I smirk, unlocking the car doors and stepping out. Leaving them behind, a shocked gasp and a hyena laugh follow me into the building.

The twins try to be secretive but between me and Scarlett, they don't stand a chance. We knew Sterling kissed that girl before he even got home from their little group date.

Stopping by my locker, continue down the hall until I'm leaned up against Chloe's locker. She opens her locker and I wait for her to look my way. When she doesn't, I clear my throat.

"Good morning, Chlo-bear."

She closes her locker and walks off. Scrambling to catch up, I offer her the bagel. "Breakfast to-go."

She speeds up and I'm left watching her walk away. Well, this is an issue. Catching sight of Graham, I grab his arm. "What's wrong with Chloe?"

"Oh– um... I–" He blushes. "Nothing."

"Dude, I'm not going to hurt you, we've been through this." I remind him.

"Tell that to my arm."

Letting go, I take a small step back. "Sorry, now explain."

"She hasn't told me anything but all she did this weekend at the cabin was drink and throw darts." He pulls at his collar and I nod.

"So she's talking to you?"

"She's tolerating my presence." He corrects me.

"Good, then give her this." I shove the bagel into his hands and head to first period.

The real Sage is back and he's not gonna let this stop him.

*****

Sitting in Lit, I take my earlier statement back. I'm not letting Chloe's silence stopping me but it sure as hell is bothering me.

Melissa isn't in class and she won't be until February thanks to her maternity leave. Which sucks for a few reasons. One, I miss seeing her already. Two, I'm jealous she gets to spend all day with their kids and I don't. Three, she's like the Chloe whisperer.

I could use that right about now.

All of class, I try getting Chloe's attention. I whisper her name. Chuck my pencil at her. Toss paper chunks in hair. Nothing works. She just scribbles down words in her journal and pretends nothing hit her.

Walking into lunch, I sit down next to Zayne and Maggie.

"How was the cabin?" I ask, opening up my sandwich.

"So fun." Maggie grins, halfway through doing small braids in Zayne's hair. "I over packed but that's okay. It was cold but we almost caught the woods on fire. The guys almost got hypothermia when we had a water balloon fight and then we got locked out of the cabin, but Chloe picked the lock. Then Graham lost Wes' car keys but we found them two days later when we had to leave in some leaves. We found a nice homeless man that we gave a ride to. He smelled like cat pee, but he didn't try to kill us or anything so it's okay."

"My car still smells like pee." Zayne mutters and she pulls on his hair.

"That man was able to be warm. We ate our weight in Mac'n'cheese and drank double that in beer, but we missed you." She finishes her ramble.

Letting all the information digest, I drink my juice box. "That sounds... fun."

Scarlett would've had a heart attack if I went with them and I think I would've too. She giggles and returns to her boyfriend's hair. This is why Maggie is my favorite.

"How was Alabama?" Zayne asks, offering me a Twizzler as Maggie puts a pink hair tie in his hair.

"Great. I got to see James and Christian. The game was life changing. Seeing what Ashton gets to experience made me respect his game even more. I went to a bar. Had a sorta date with a girl and kissed her. Slept in the dorms and must admit the beds suck. I had some really good barbecue. Overall, it was nowhere near eventful as your weekend, but it was good."

The only homeless person I saw was Christian and technically he has a home. He's just a bum.

"Hold up." Wes of all people says, forgetting all about his cookie. "Rewind."

"I slept in a dorm bed?"

"Not that part, you dumbass." Zayne shoves me. "You went on a sorta date."

"And kissed her." Maggie adds. Yeah, thanks, Mags.

Everyone looks at me and I grin. "Yup. It's been a while, but this guy's still got moves." I wink at Mags. "Watch out, Z, I'll steal your girl."

He flips me off. "Funny, so it was fun?"

"I never thought I would encourage kissing a stranger, but it was a blast." God, I feel like a normal teenager.

The guys all slow clap and next thing I know, the twins have joined our table.

"We have video if you'd like to see." Sterling pushes up his glasses as Silver pulls his phone out.

"Go away." I try to shove them.

"Then tell me how you know I kissed that girl." Sterling counters.

"I'm basically your parent, I know everything." I snap. "Now leave before I ground you both."

They share a look before laughing and handing Maggie of all people the phone.

"Fine. I'll call Scarlett and have her ground you." I cross my arms and watch as they flee, but not before everyone has seen the video.

"You sure showed them." Graham mock nods.

I grunt. Assholes.

"She's a babe." Wes whistles.

"Very pretty." Maggie says and Zayne nods in agreement.

"She looks like a girl whose homework I'd do for free." Graham sighs and I try not to laugh. That's funny as fuck.

"She was cool." I think we might actually be friends now.

A bag slams on the table before Chloe sits down.

"Chlo, look at how pretty the girl Sage kissed is." Maggie says and Chloe takes the phone. She watches before opening her journal and writing for the rest of lunch.

Good times.

*****

All of Bio, I try to talk to her to no successes. I even let her have the outside seat and crunch myself in the corner to see if she'll say thank you. Which is stupid because Chloe doesn't say thank you.

Walking out to my car, I'm starting to get annoyed when I spot her in the parking lot.

"Chloe, wait up!" I call and like a spooked cat, she runs for the safety of the car. Chasing after her, I'm caught off guard when Wes steps in front of me.

"Stop." He stands tall and while he comes below my shoulder, I stop.

"Why the hell won't she talk to me?" I demand.

"Better question, why do you continue to mess with her?" He demands, pushing me back. "I told you to leave her alone before you did something to hurt her. You don't listen and now she's upset and you're a clueless idiot."

Anger flashes through me. "Bro, what the hell? We were getting along just fine at lunch."

"We were, but you need to leave her alone."

"I don't even know what I said." I complain. "If she talked to me, I would know and I could apologize. Look, I got weird when I dropped her off and if she should acknowledge me, I could say sorry."

I was an ass, I can admit that. She just has to stop being one now.

"That's exactly it. She opened up and you embarrassed her." He points out and I want to scream. How is that her opening up? Chloe Hale doesn't open up. She's physically incapable of it.

Glaring at him, I turn and head for my car.

Pulling onto the road, Silver clears his throat. "Rough day?"

Slamming on the breaks, I feel a little better when he hits the seat in front of him. "Wear your damn seatbelt."

"Idiot." Saffron and Ronnie scold him.

Needing to cool off, an idea comes to mind. "Let's visit Uncle John and Aunt Mel."

"We should call first." Saffron says.

"Why?" Silver and I demand.

"Because it's rude to show up, unannounced." She states in a duh like voice.

"Don't take that tone with me, young lady." I say.

"She has a point, we should call." Sterling relents so I dial their number on bluetooth.

"Hey, Aunt Mel." I offer as it connects.

"Sage, honey, it's so good to hear a voice besides John's." She sighs. There's a muffled protest in the background but I ignore it.

"How would you like some handsome faces to see?" I ask.

"Oh, that'd be–" She stops. "John, Sofia is screaming! No, don't hit your brother! Great, now he's crying. Oh my god, that hurts!"

We listen in horror as screams and cries filter through my speakers.

"Parenting must be going great." Silver says and Sterling laughs.

"I thought high schoolers were mean. Toddlers are horrible." Mel cries and I glance in my rearview mirror. There's a group of girls behind us but besides that, I'm good to change lanes.

"How about we bring you two some food?" I offer and the phone cuts off.

"Holy shit." The twins say and I conclude that's the best way to view that conversation.

Thirty minutes later, we're knocking on their front door with a bag full of fruits, salads and baby food and snacks. I've never run through a store so quickly; Scarlett would be proud.

Melissa opens the door in pajamas and Sofia stuck to her hip.

"Hey, baby Sof." I reach for her and Mel moves back.

"Sage, Honey, I love you very much but it's flu season and I have a newborn with a weak immune system." Her eye twitches. "So you can come back another day with a clean body doused in hand sanitizer that hasn't seen the school and a grocery store."

"Yes, Ma'am." Message received loud and clear.

"Food!" John cries, almost tackling his fiancée as he takes the bag from my hand. "This is all healthy shi–" Melissa sends him a look, "Stuff."

"Burgers." Sterling extends a bag from McDonalds.

"Tacos." Silver shares the Taco Bell bag.

"God bless you both." He snatches them. "Your parents lied, parenthood is miserable."

I could've told them that but my favorite 4-year-old runs and jumps into my arms. "Sage!" With her little lisp, it sounds like Safe and I love it.

"Hey, Pumpkin." I kiss her cheek. "You being good for momma and daddy?"

She smiles sweetly and nods.

"Lies!" John says. "She lives up to her name sake."

"That's my girl." I let her smack one right on my cheek before I send her running back inside.

"Love you guys." Melissa smiles. "Come over for dinner later this week with clean bodies and you can have all the baby snuggles you want."

The door closes and we stand there for a second.

"I feel bad for parents." Ronnie says and we all nod.

*****

After dropping the girls off at karate and finishing my homework, I'm going insane. To ease my boredom, I help the twins rummage through Scarlett's closet.

"Why do you two want to dress like girls again?" I wonder, holding a tube top to my body.

"Because it's funny." Silver says.

"And we want to raise awareness for how badass girls are." Sterling says.

"Impressive." I look at a pair of heels and my feet hurt.

Sterling grabs a shiny dress and I slap his hand. "That's Avery's."

He drops it like it's on fire. "Then Conner can wear it."

We hear screams and giggles coming from outside. "Looks like the girls are home with dinner."

Silver runs downstairs and I'm trying to put all the clothes back when he calls up. "Sage, we have an issue."

Running downstairs, I find a group of girls standing in our front yard.

"Do they have the wrong address?" Sterling wonders.

Recognizing the car from our drive home from school, I get freaked out. "We have a bigger issue, they followed us home."

Which means they could've followed us to Uncle John's house and the girls karate place. That's illegal.

"Call Scarlett." I order, keeping an eye on them.

Snapping a picture, I type a message.

Sage
There are stalkers in our yard. You're the perfect person to scare them off, Chlo-bear.

*****

Scarlett comes home and I'm expecting her to call the cops but instead she goes outside and a few minutes later, the stalker girls leave.

Like nothing ever happened, she starts serving plates and we sit down to eat.

"I can't believe we have stalkers." Silver says for the thousandth time.

Scarlett glares at him. "They were Sage's fan club so lose the ego."

"Our videos inspired that fan club." Sterling corrects.

"Why were those girls so creepy?" Saffron asks. "They looked desperate."

"They were." I inform her. desperate and crazy. "Let's talk about something else."

"I got a speeding ticket." Scarlett says and we go silent. She smiles. "There, new topic. Squirt, how was karate."

My family never disappoints me, that's for sure.

*****

Hi, thank y'all for 10k followers! I love Sage, even when he's a sweet idiot!

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net