Conflicted Eyes, Confusing Feelings | Complete

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"Okay. Goodnight, mom," he replied, lifting the covers so that he could totter inside, embracing the feeling of unfaltering warmth. He snuggled inside, almost letting out an embarrassing squeal at how comfortable he was.

"Don't you sleep with that teddy bear anymore?" Cecilia questioned, looking about his untidied room.

Sage's cheeks warmed at the question, and he found himself pressing his lips together once more. "I-I'm a big boy, mom! And it's Skittles," he muttered the last part, feeling a bit sheepish that he actually still slept with a huge teddy bear at age fifteen. Well, he guessed that that's one thing the kids from Fortuna High never got to tease him about. Just thinking about that was good enough to comfort him, even if only temporarily.

The woman chuckled a bit, walking over to her son. Sage closed his eyes, and the faint feeling of a kiss being pressed to his forehead soon followed. Even though most kids are grossed out by the thought of their mother kissing them on the cheeks and forehead, Sage wasn't. In fact, the feeling was so familiar, so comforting, so much that he didn't think he could ever fall asleep without receiving one.

There truly was no other love like a mother's.

He barely registered the fading sounds of Cecilia's footsteps until he heard the door close, gently. Staring up at the bland ceiling, sucking his lower lips into his mouth, he couldn't help but contemplate what would happen to him at school tomorrow.

Eventually turning up empty-handed, he closed his eyes, rolling over onto his side. He reached under the bed for Skittles, snuggling himself in its warmth.

He guessed that he'd find out in due time.

* * *

As foretold, the blaring sound of the alarm soon went off, resonating all around Sage's room until it was acknowledged.

The morning flew by in a blur, and the next thing he knew was that he was climbing out of his mother's peach-coloured Spark. After bidding a reluctant farewell, he accepted another forehead kiss.

"Love you, donut!"

"Love you too, mom."

He stood a few feet away from the car, rooted in spot as he watched it pull out of the parking lot, driving away. He drew in a long breath, shoving his hands in his pockets, trying to calm his nerves. He couldn't help it; he was just so nervous—when was he never?

His cheeks were cold, no doubt incorporating a faint crimson from the cold November breeze that walked by, caressing them. Removing his hands from his pants, he relocated them to the pockets of his green hoodie, taking another long breath. He almost succeeded in completing the process of calming his jumbled nerves when he heard something that relentlessly knocked him out.

"It's not a big deal? You almost fucking rear-ended my car!" A tall, burly brown-haired boy was screaming at another, but Sage couldn't catch anything else, as the boy seemed to switch into a language he wasn't familiar with. Spanish? The black haired boy he was shouting at only flipped him the bird, insolently plugging in his earphones, trudging away from the cursing boy like it was nothing.

Sage's eyes stayed on the tall boy, following him as he approached a significantly shorter girl, slinging his hand over her shoulder. There were two other guys nearby, who were almost equally tall, one of whom had his eyes down on the cigarette he was twirling between his fingers.

Sage released the breath he didn't even realize that he was holding, tearing his gaze from the boys when one of them looked his way. Sage didn't want them to catch him staring and decided to mark him as their next target. They were all so tall—the brunet being the tallest—and even though he couldn't clearly make out their faces, he just knew they were all intimidating. As much as he wished that he was that kind of person to rudely walk away from mean people like the black-haired boy had done, he couldn't. He knew that he couldn't take a single insult from any one of them without shedding tears.