SENIOR YEAR
By: Sarah Wartman
PART SIXTEEN
I heard a car engine and I gasped, thinking Ryan had come back to find me.
“Sarah?”
“Joey?” I whispered, trying to stand up. He saw me and ran to me. I was shaking so badly, I would have fallen if he hadn’t of been there to catch me. He carried me over to the car. I looked up at him to see he was crying. I brought my hand up to his face and dried his tears with my finger.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered after he put me in the car. Chris was driving Joey’s Acura and I sat on Joey’s lap up front.
“Don’t be,” Joey said, kissing my forehead. “It was my fault,” he told me. I just shook my head and closed my eyes.
*****
I woke up in a strange bed, wearing a strange shirt. I panicked, unsure of where I was. I looked around and saw Joey asleep on the floor. Feeling some pain, I rubbed my face as I got up to look in the mirror. The left side of my face was swollen and red and my eyes were puffy.
Tears started running down my face as I remembered what happened last night. I turned around to see Joey sitting on the edge of my bed, crying. I walked over to him and kneeled down on the floor in front of him. He looked up at me and smiled, wiping the tears from his face.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
“It’s not your fault,” I whispered.
He shook his head in disagreement. “Yes it is. If I hadn’t of yelled at you and been jealous, you wouldn’t have left with that guy. I was just so upset, I knew that guy and I knew what he was after,” he said.
The tears rolled down my face. “You were jealous?” I asked him.
He looked away. “Yeah,” he said.
“But you came and saved me,” I whispered, when he started crying again.
He looked at me and nodded “I just wish….” He started. I put my finger to his mouth to stop him and he closed his eyes. I stood up and sat down next him.
“You’re my knight in shining armor,” I told him, forcing a weak smile.
He smiled in return. “And you’re my little sunshine,” he said as he leaned in and kissed me.
PART SEVENTEEN
Our kiss deepened and I couldn’t help but wince in pain. Joey pulled away and looked at me.
“I’m sorry,” he said, softly touching my swollen face.
I forced a smile. “It’s okay,” I told him. I watched him get up and lay down on the bed. He patted the place next to him and I got up and layed down next to him, resting my head on his chest. He held me and played with my hair and I closed my eyes.
*****
“Sarah?” I woke up to see Nicki standing in the doorway. I slowly got up, being careful not to wake up Joey. I walked out of the room and closed the door.
Nicki just hugged me. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she told me.
“Thanks,” I told her.
“I’m sorry to wake you up, but I just had to talk to you. The guys are making breakfast,” she told me.
“That could be scary,” I told her, smiling and she laughed. “I’ll just go find some boxers to put on or something,” I said. I opened the door and started going through drawers. I must have been louder than I thought, because Joey came up behind me and put his arms around my waist. I turned around and kissed him on his nose.
“What are you doing?” he asked me.
“Trying to find some boxers or something,” I told him, turning around and going through more drawers.
“Here,” he said, finding a pair in the middle drawer.
“Thanks,” I said, putting them on. “Go back to bed,” I told him, smiling, leaving the room as he got back under the covers.
I went out to the living room and sat down on the sofa next to Chris and hugged him tightly. “Thank you,” I whispered in his ear.
“Anything for you,” he said. Just then, Justin came up from behind me and put his arms around my neck.
“Hey, feel like some breakfast? You like eggs?”
“I hate eggs,” I told him. I turned around and looked at him. “Got any cereal?” I asked him, smiling.
He laughed. “I’m sure I can find some somewhere.”
*****
I spent all day there, lounging around in Joey’s boxers and shirt. I just felt so safe there. Nicki left sometime in the afternoon, due to homework and a nagging mother.
Joey and I were watching ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ while the other four guys played basketball on court in the backyard. I was sitting on the sofa with Joey laying down, his head in my lap. I played with his hair as we watched the movie. Suddenly he looked at me and started singing. He got up and pulled me up and we started dancing in the living room.
‘Never thought love could feel like this,
But you changed my world with just one kiss.
And how can it be that right here with me,
There’s an angel, it’s a miracle.’
As he sang, I put my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, praying he would never stop. For some reason, I just knew things would be okay now, with him by my side. Little did I know how wrong I was.
PART EIGHTEEN
Months passed and things slowly went back to normal. Better than normal. Nicki and I became really close, considering we were dating best friends, practically. The guys had several “business” trips that took them out of town for weeks at a time, so Nicki and I hung out together when they were gone.
It was two months before graduation, and Nicki and I were in her room, hanging out and watching TV. She had bought the *N the Mix video and we always watched it while our guys were gone.
Nicki’s phone rang, and we looked at each other with excitement in our eyes. We had been waiting for JC to call, to tell us they were back in town. They had been gone for almost two weeks and we missed them terribly!
“Hello?”
“Hey Nicksters,” JC said.
Nicki screamed. “Oh, JC, it’s about time you called! Are you guys back?”
“Yeah, we just stepped off the plane. Is Sarah there too?”
“Yeah, she’s here.”
“Well, I’m supposed to tell her that she’s supposed to go home right now, cause Joey’s on his way there.”
Nicki looked over at me, winked and told me to go home. I grabbed my car keys and raced home. I got inside and went up to my room and picked it up. Just as I finished throwing some dirty clothes in the closet, my bedroom door opened.
I turned around and smiled. “How did you get in here?”
“Your mom let me in,” Joey said, coming towards me, holding something behind his back.
“What have you got?” I asked him, as he backed me against a wall.
He held out what he was holding behind his back, a small box.
“What is this?” I asked, taking it. I opened it to see a beautiful silver locket. I looked up at him. “You shouldn’t have done this.”
“Open it,” he told me. I did and smiled at what I saw. There were two pictures of us, one side a picture that was taken the night they “adopted” me and the other was from a day we spent jet skiing.
“Do you like it?”
I looked up into his eyes and smiled. I put my hands around his neck and pulled him towards me until his face was just inches away from mine.
“I love it,” I whispered.
“And I love you,” he whispered back, right before kissing me.
*****
We hung out the rest of the afternoon, watching movies and listening to music. I was sitting on my bed, watching TV, while Joey looked at my cd collection.
“Oh my God,” he said and I felt this huge knot in my stomach develop. I looked over to see what he was looking at and my eyes watered. ‘Why did I leave that laying around,’ I thought.
“How long have you known?” he asked me, looking up from my *N SYNC cd.
“Since the night you guys adopted me,” I whispered.
“Shit,” he said and threw the cd on the floor. I jumped and the tears just started rolling. “I can’t believe this,” he said, before storming out of the room. Maybe I should have ran after him, but I didn’t. I just sat down on my bed and cried as I played with the locket that was around my neck.
PART NINETEEN
I just sat on my bed and cried. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Joey left and probably told all the guys by now and they’re probably pissed at me too. But this wasn’t my fault! They were the ones that didn’t tell me! Maybe I should have told them I knew, but I was afraid they would have treated me differently, like just another teeny-bopper.
I reached for my phone and called Nicki. I didn’t know if JC was still over there, and I didn’t care.
“Hello?” Nicki answered.
“Nicki?”
“Sarah, what’s wrong?” she asked me, hearing me sniff.
“Joey found my *N SYNC cd,” I told her.
She was silent for a long time. “What happened?”
“Well, he came over and we were just hanging out and stuff, watching TV. Then he started looking at my cd’s and saw it. He just got mad and stormed out!”
“Did you go after him?”
“No….”
“I’ll tell you what. I’ll call JC and see what he knows, if he knows okay? I’ll call you in twenty minutes, okay?”
“Okay,” I told her before hanging up. I decided to call Justin’s cell phone. He and I grew pretty close these last couple of months, and if anyone was going to tell me something, it was him.
“Hello?”
“Justin?” I asked.
“Oh, hey,” he said. I could tell by the tone of his voice he was trying to hide that fact he was talking to me. All the guys were probably in the room with him, listening.
“They’re there, listening, huh? They know, huh? Are they all pretty mad?”
“Yeah,” he said. “But I’m not…”
“I knew you wouldn’t be Justin. Where are you?”
“I’m at Joey’s, he called us after leaving your house. He was pretty upset and we all came over here to try to calm him down.”
“God, what’s the big deal? If anyone should be mad, it’s me!”
“I know,” he said. “I always did want to tell you, but JC and them just kept telling me to shut up, so….”
“Hey, it’s okay.” I told him.
“No, not really Sarah.”
“Wait,” I said. My mind was whirling, but I just had the most brilliant idea. “What are the guys doing tonight?”
“Nothing, that I know of, but we’re watching a movie at Joey’s tomorrow night. I think Nicki’s going to be there,” he told me. “Why?”
“Okay, don’t say anything to them, but I just got a good idea….” I said, as I told Justin my plan.
PART TWENTY
“So don’t be offended by what I’m going to say….” I told Justin.
“Okay, Sarah….” He told me, before we said goodbye and hung up. I called Nicki to warn her about what I was doing.
“You sure this is a good idea?” she asked me.
“I don’t know, I just know I have do it….” I told her.
*****
I stood in front of Joey’s house and sighed. ‘Okay, whatever you do Sarah, you can’t cry. You have to be strong,’ I told myself. I took a deep breath and walked inside and went into the living room. Everyone looked up as I entered, then looked away, immediately.
“Okay, I have just one thing to say,” I started and everyone looked up at me again, annoyed. “I know I should have told you I knew about you guys and *N SYNC. And I’m sorry for that, but this is NO reason to be mad at me! If anyone deserves to be mad, it’s me! Do you have any idea how stupid I felt when I found out? Why couldn’t you guys have just told me? What, were you afraid I’d bring all my friends over to take pictures of your front lawn or something?” I said sarcastically, which produced a small laugh out of Justin. Nicki quickly stood up and grabbed my arm, trying to stop me. I simply shook her off and continued. “It hurts me that you think I’d actually be that shallow and that you felt you couldn’t trust me. Honestly, did you think I was that dumb, that I wouldn’t eventually find out? You all made me feel like such a fool, and you don’t do that to friends,” I told them.
“And as for you,” I said, walking over to Joey. “I should have known this was too good to be true,” I told him, reaching behind my neck and removing my locket. I played with it in my fingers for a second before dropping it into Joey’s lap. “This is for the best though.” I made eye contact him with and held his gaze. “I can’t be with someone who doesn’t trust me.”
I felt the tears starting to rise, and I knew I had to leave before they saw them. I turned around and walked out of the house. The second I was outside, I raced to my car. I got in and started the car and threw it into reverse. As I was backing out, I saw Justin run out of the house. He raced along the passenger side and beat on the window. I stopped and let him in. Neither of us said a word, I just drove.
“Was I too harsh?” I asked him. We decided to stop and talk about what happened, I was clearly too upset to drive. We had found a park and Justin was pushing me in a swing.
“No. It might have seemed that way, but they, well we, deserved to hear that. You were right,” he told me.
“I just feel so bad…” I told him. We stayed there for quite a while. It got late, and I was tired, and decided to take Justin back.
Justin walked inside the house to find the other’s still talking about my outburst. This infuriated him.
“What the hell is your problem, anyway?” he asked them. “We deserved every word of that. In my opinion, she was too damn nice to us! So cut her some slack and try seeing it from her point of view!” Justin yelled, before grabbing his car keys and storming out, leaving everyone in awe.
TO BE CONTINUED