Letters to a Nobody, Soccerluv4 . [the dot read aloud TXT] 📗

a silent prayer to God for preventing yet another breakdown.

“Can we go home now?” I asked Tyler.

“Already ahead of you,” Tyler replied, buckling his belt. I buckled mine as he backed out and immediately sped out of the parking lot.

“Oh wait! My car’s back in the parking lot!” I suddenly remembered, along with my backpack and all my homework.

Unfortunately, we were just turning onto the street we lived on.

“It’s okay, just get it later. I think you should take a nap for now. Just tell me when you want to get your car and I’ll drive you,” Tyler said quickly.

“Okay,” I agreed. A nap was exactly what I needed, right after a long soak in the tub. My muscles were starting to ache a bit from crying hysterically and running off the field in such haste. A bubble bath and a nap would be the perfect remedy. Hopefully it would be enough to get my mind off a certain grey eyed heartbreaker.

********

The first thing my eyes saw when I woke up from my nap was the 6:23 PM on my alarm clock.

Groaning, I stretched a bit, before I abruptly sat up straight.

I whipped my head back over to my alarm clock, and widened my eyes. It was late and I still had a boatload of homework to do!

Frantically, I threw my comforter off my body and jumped out of bed. Hastily grabbing any clothes I could find, I changed out of my pajamas into a hoodie and skinny jeans.

“Tyler!” I shouted, as I grabbed my phone from my nightstand. I ran down the stairs in lightning speed and pulled on my sneakers at the front door.

“Yeah?” Tyler emerged from the kitchen, a half-eaten sandwich in his hands.

“Let’s go get my car!” I ordered, pacing around the foyer as I checked my phone again. It was starting to get late and I had way too much chemistry homework to finish. I already knew it was going to be an all-nighter kind of night.

Tyler engulfed the sandwich in two bites, much to my disgust, and grabbed his keys.

We piled into his car and sped off, back to the school parking lot. By now, most of the cars would be gone, only some athletes and teachers remaining.

We arrived there in no time, and I immediately jumped out.  I started feeling my pockets for my keys, when all the blood drained from my face. I must’ve forgotten my keys at home!

I felt like such an idiot. I was so worried about the time that I didn’t even think to check where my keys were!

I knocked on Tyler’s window quickly, effectively making him roll it down.

“Tyler, I think I forgot my keys at home,” I murmured, too embarrassed to face him.

“Jeez, Sammy!” He groaned, hitting his steering wheel.

“Okay, I’ll go back and see if they’re there. You check if you dropped them here somewhere.”

He drove out, back to the house, while I scrambled over to the field. The last I remembered of my keys was when I tucked them into the very same jeans I was wearing now, before I went to confront Carter.

My eyes searched every bit of the field, but I couldn’t see them anywhere. I pulled out my phone, hoping Tyler texted me that he got the keys, but there were no texts. Frustrated, I stuffed my phone back in my pocket.

“Damn, where are you stupid keys!?” I shouted to nobody in particular, so I was quite surprised when I heard a reply.

“You should be a bit more careful where you leave these,” a voice said from behind me.

Swiveling around, I came face to face with Carter himself, swirling my keys on his index finger. The blue diamond encrusted “S” swung around his finger. If I weren’t so mad, I’d have laughed at how ironic that was. The clue was right in front of him and yet, to him it probably looked normal. After all, lots of people had their first initial or name as a keychain.

“Give those back,” I bit out, my eyes narrowing at his approaching figure.

“Why should I? You ran away from me. That hurt.” He put a hand on his chest, feigning hurt.

“Oh shut up,” I rolled my eyes at him, “if anyone should be hurt, it’s me. I had to stand there while you assaulted my face.”

“That’s not how I remember it.” He smiled wickedly, catching my keys in his palm, before throwing them up again. He was enjoying every minute of taunting me, especially when he had some leverage.

Something in me just snapped. My resolve broke, and I sighed.

“Can I please just have my keys back?” I asked him, hanging my shoulders in defeat.

He looked taken aback at the hollowness in my voice.  All he could do was stand there, staring at me. I’m sure he expected some sort of witty comment from me, but I was too tired from being tortured by his antics. I just wanted to go home, do my homework, and get on with my life like Carter Woods never happened.

He tossed them over to me and I caught them swiftly. Tucking them into my pocket, I went to pass him, when his hand wrapped around my forearm.

“What? No insult? No attitude? I just handed you the keys!” He snarled.

I gently pried his hand off me, and gave him a blank look.

“Why waste my breath? I’ll look like the bad guy in the end anyway. I’ve learned my lesson. You win,” I said quietly, my head hung low.

Stepping away from him, I shoved my hands in my hoodie’s pocket and walked away. Sending a quick text to Tyler that I found my keys, I headed over to the parking lot to retrieve my car.

I didn’t hear any footsteps behind me, and a sad smile appeared on my face.

I left him speechless, but he left me scarred. Who was the real winner here?

Chapter 13- All Battles Leave Scars

 

 

 

It really didn’t come as much a surprise to me that the entire school was talking about our “kiss” the next day. But that didn’t mean I was immune to the attention.

Everywhere I went, people whispered, gossiped, and pointed in my general direction, causing my skin to crawl. Every girl in my vicinity threw glares at me, while all the guys snickered right to my face in an unabashed manner.

To me, it was probably the most humiliating moment of my life. Strangely, however, I was more numb than bristled with self-loathing.

My body seemed to react exactly how anyone would in a situation like this: completely frazzled and blushing all shades of red.

But a part of my brain just seemed so done with everything Carter-related. It was like the kiss was the final straw. It was like –

I stopped suddenly, in the middle of the hallway I was currently walking in. My head lifted up from its previous somber state and stared at the throng of students walking around. Well, not really. It was more just staring at nothing as two and two connected in my brain.

It was like Carter planned the entire thing to sabotage me the only way he could! Maybe he couldn’t find out if I was S. or not and just went ahead and ruined my life, or maybe he did find out and knew the best way to destroy me was to ensure I was too miserable to deal with my own problems, let alone give advice to others!

I clenched my teeth as the sound of the bell rang ahead and I finally realized that the hallway was empty except for a few stragglers who couldn’t seem to care if they were late or not. Apparently, I was a part of them. Suddenly, as if my brain shifted into auto, my legs scrambled awake and ran down to my Calculus class as I prepared exactly what I was going to tell Fay about this revelation. If that meant telling my best friend my secret, so be it. After this incident, I knew that if I was going to face Carter, I would need an accomplice.

*********

“You’re S!?” Fay squawked, as a look of disbelief covered her face.

We’d just gotten out of Calculus, in which I’d given Fay a paper that had written basically everything, from my start as S. to my theory on Carter’s kiss and every detail in between.

“Shhh!” I whispered harshly, pulling her to a row of lockers that were relatively empty.

“It’s a secret, Fay! Don’t let the whole freaking world know!” I hissed, as I glanced over my shoulder to make sure nobody was listening.

“Okay, but give me a second to digest this. Wait, I wrote letters to her –  you – ugh!” She threw her hands up in frustration, before crossing them.

I gave her a sheepish grin, before lying to her, “Well you used a codename right? I wouldn’t know who it was then?”

She rolled her eyes at me, “Oh cut the crap Sammy. It’s obvious from the note itself! I tell you all that stuff anyway, so you’d know if it was me!”

My shoulders slumped, as I gave her a pout.

“I’m sorry. I know this was a big secret to hide, but I had no choice! If I told you, you’d act like – well – this!” I sighed.

“But you should’ve trusted me with this Sammy! I would’ve kept your secret,” Fay said softly.

“I know, it’s just – it was too much for me to even digest, and I couldn’t imagine bringing someone else into it too! I didn’t want to take advantage of your friendship like that,” I concluded, giving her a small smile.

Fay hugged me tightly, before letting me go. She gave me a huge smile.

“Well, better late than never, right?” She beamed, giggling.

“I guess so,” I mused, smiling back.

The bell rang overhead, and I realized that it was time for lunch. The entire day, I hadn’t seen Carter once, which surprised me, as it did the rest of the student body.

“I can’t believe Carter kissed you like that!?” Fay muttered, bringing me out of my thoughts on the devil himself.

“I know. I can still taste his grimy lips.” I shuddered, making a show of wiping my mouth roughly with the end of my sweatshirt sleeve.

Somehow, we found ourselves walking over to the cafeteria, discussing how much of an ass Carter was and what level of pond scum he was equivalent to on the biological scale.

“I can’t believe he’d do that to you!” Fay exclaimed when I brought up the theory part. I didn’t believe it either, but then again, he was hell bent on punishing me, and so far, it was working.

“I dunno. A part of me says he’s too dumb to do something like that. But another part of me says he’s angry enough to,” I murmured, as we reached the cafeteria doors.

Before we could walk in, I hesitated. Entering that cafeteria meant dealing with all that I had been throughout the day all in one single cluster of a space. Was I ready for that?

“You know what, you go in without me. I really don’t need more stares and glares from everyone. I think I’ve gotten my quota,” I laughed half-heartedly.

Apparently, Fay saw right through the act.

“Sammy, if you’re not going, I’m not either,” she stated firmly, dragging my arm as