wanna be | ej caswell

¹³can't see

sage sighed as she sat on the bleachers outside of the school, looking out over the field for a second before she shifted her eyes down to her notebook in front of her as she attempted to make sense of the jibberish on the page in front of her. east high was buzzing with excitement about the upcoming homecoming dance and usually sage would be too. but her mind was in turmoil and so was her heart, she was unsure of it all and just needed to get away from everything and anything homecoming related, hence why she was outside competing with the wind for who got the job as page turner. 

her phone buzzed from beside her and she reached for it, looking at the text that had just come through from ashlyn asking where she was. she began to type a reply before one came through from carlos asking the same question, she sighed and typed quick replies to the both of them before putting her phone down and continuing with her work. it was her free period and she was just waiting for the bell to sound so she could leave and go wallow in self pity before the dance, the dance that ej had promised to take her to. 

"sage! come on." she heard from below her. said girl looked down at the grass at the bottom of the bleachers to see her red haired friend looking at her, "what ash?" she questioned. "you have a free period? on the day of homecoming and you are studying?" 

sage nodded, "yeah, i mean I'm not going to homecoming so..." sage trailed off as ashlyn rolled her eyes and made her way up to the girl, "nope you're going, as my date." she grabbed sages hands and pulled her up. "ash i don't even have a dress," 

"that's why we are going shopping." ashlyn mused as she grabbed sages backpack and sage grabbed her books laughing. the two girl walked down the stairs and were met with carlos who grinned at them. "let's go we got a night to get ready for." he cheered. sage smiled at him. "one stop first carlos, my date needs a dress." ashlyn mused while holding a finger up in the air, "to the shops!" she cheered as she marched ahead of the two of them. sage laughed quietly as carlos cheered and looped his arm through hers. 

the afternoon passed by quick, filled with encouragement and mood boosting for the three teenagers and before they knew it they pulled up at east high and were making their way to the gym. sage walked up to the table with ashlyn, "hey Mr m." she greeted the teacher, he smiled softly at her. "two tickets for ashlyn caswell." he nodded and gave them their tickets, "you're at table ten with the rest of the theatre kids." sage and ashlyn nodded, "thanks." the two of them walked in and waited for carlos before taking a picture together and making their way to the table. 

the three of them sat down and ashlyn pulled sage over as she snapped a quick selfie before the three of them tuned in to what ricky and big red were talking about, sage wishing she hadn't when she realised who they were talking about. sage looked down as her cup in front of her and tuned them out before a new voice interrupted her thoughts. 

"excuse us, these seats taken?" gina asked, her arm wrapped around ej's as the two of them smiled at the table. ej's smile faltering slightly when he made eye contact with sage. said girl looked down at her hands, fiddling with the dark blue lace resting over her legs, her dress becoming all the more interesting to her. she saw a hands come into her vision as ashlyn and carlos both held onto her, ashlyn squeezing her hand gently. 

"I'm just gonna go get a drink, you want anything?" she asked ashlyn and carlos, the two of them shook their heads "we're okay sage." she smiled at them and got up, grabbing her glass in the process and making her way to the punch bowl. she filled her glass up and then closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, she sensed a presence next to her and the persons shoes came into her vision and she back tracked immediately. 

"sage," ej called behind her as she walked away. she ignored him and made her way over to ashlyn and carlos. she knew she should have let him talk to her. she knew. but part of her was hurt, again. he had said what he said the other week and then proceeded to act like he was trying to get her back whilst also trying to get nini back while bringing gina as his date to homecoming? it just didn't make sense to her, it was throwing her brain into a loop and she didn't like the spiral it was sending her down. 

sage sat down as ricky shifted away from gina and you could cut the tension with a knife, her body immediately shifting to defensive tension. ready to get away at any moment. she turned slightly to ashlyn and carlos and their eyes said it all, she stayed quiet and started swirling her drink around in its cup. after a few moments of awkward silence she turned to carlos. "has seb gotten back to you yet?" she asked quietly. carlos shook his head before checking his phone again. "no, i just need to accept it." 

sage shook her head, "nope, don't go down the negative path carlos. maybe he just got delayed." ashlyn nodded, "like i said, farming accident maybe." sage looked at her with her brows furrowed, "or his parents needed him to do something before they left."

"guys wait," carlos interrupted ashlyn and sage before they could go on. both girls looked where his eyes were directed and saw gina tip punch over ej, "oh my god." sage gasped. gina slammed the cup down and walked away from ej. "what just happened?" ashlyn asked. "i don't know." sage put her cup down and went to get up, but not before putting her hand on carlos shoulder. "carlos i-"

"it's okay, go." sage smiled at him before she got up fully and made her way over to ej.

"you okay?" sage asked ej. he looked at her, "what do you think?" he snapped slightly. she raised an eyebrow before turning around. "I'm sorry," sage turned around again. "I'm sorry for snapping, i just feel-"

"like the worlds against you?" she offered. he nodded his head. "yeah i know the feeling." she grabbed his wrist and pulled him behind her to where ashlyn and big red were chatting, the two of them sat down as a song started blasting again in the gym. ashlyn and sage talked quietly while looking around for carlos, sage not even noticing as ej's hand slipped into hers in her lap. she gave it a squeeze out of reflex and he smiled a little. 

"oh i love this song," sage said quietly as ashlyn agreed, the starting lyrics of born to be brave blasting. "hey is that carlos?" ashlyn pointed out. ej and sage looked to where she was pointing and saw the boy as he began to dance on the dance floor on his own. sage and ashlyns smiles growing in size at his confidence in himself. 

"you know i actually feel kind of sorry for the guy," ej mentioned quietly for the two of them, the two girls looking at him. sage shook her head before ashlyn stood up and held her hand out for her, "my date, would you do me the honour?" sage smiled and dropped ej's hand. "why of course, let's go dance with our prince." the two girls laughed as they ran to carlos and began dancing with him. 

ej looked on sadly before he got up and walked out of the gym, his eyes falling on sage before he walked out the door. as the song came to an end sage, ashlyn and carlos all smiled and hugged each other the girls squealing "that was so much fun!" sage exclaimed as she turned around, her smile faltering as she noticed ej's empty seat and no sign of him in the crowd. carlos and ashlyn both nudged her. "go,"

sage looked at them, the two of them nodding again before she took off out of the gym. 

"is it a good idea that we let her go to him?" carlos asked ashlyn. ashlyn shrugged her shoulders, "i don't know, but I'm hoping they are able to sort everything out tonight."

"their parents always thought they were meant to be, but ej's so dumb he can't see the good that's right in front of him." ashlyn noticed seb walking over and pushed carlos towards him. 

"ej wait." sage called out as she ran after the boy as best she could in her heels, the dark blue skirt of her dress flowing against the wind. said boy stopped but didn't turn around. sage stopped just behind him. her hand reaching out for his shoulder, "eej-"

sage was cut off as ej turned around and pulled her flush against his chest. his lips capturing hers as she squeaked in shock, eventually melting into him as her hands fell onto his chest.  

"A night where i briefly close my eyes, I can't see anything anyway. What was I expecting? It's the same even when I open my eyes."