(Wattpad is acting wonky, let me know if me posting it again works and you all can finally see it!)
Sage Williams
Life was the paper and I was the finger that would always get the cut.
I hated mechanic pencils. I'm serious. I hated them. There is nothing worse than getting to a good point in your writing and then having to click for more led only to find out that you are out of the led.
However, the regular number two pencils were right up my alley. Sure, I had to carry a pencil sharpener everywhere I went but it was a lot better than just not having any led at all. I especially loved them for the way that whenever I wrote using them I would grip them so hard that my fingers would become blistered to the wood.
Letting my painful thoughts escape me one at a time.
The sun was bright, so annoyingly bright that I was pissed off that I couldn't close the damn curtains because my parents had taken them off of the fucking window. Great, right?
And it wasn't because they were some freaks who take their kid's doors or curtains away as punishment. Trust me, I never had friends who had parents like that– but I have heard of people who did have strict parents like that.
My parents weren't strict.
They were borderline annoying. Well, actually, I walked in on them having sex on the kitchen counter yesterday– so forget the borderline, they are absolutely fucking atrociously annoying.
"Sage! The car is packed!"
I brought the edge of the pencil to my mouth, biting into it. See, even the wood pencils smell and taste better than the mechanic pencils. I swear, in my past life, I was a pencil. I was tall, I was long, I was orange, I smelled good, and I was a bit pointy– I was sharp.
My door slammed open.
"Shut the fucking door! Did I say you could come in!" I slammed my journal closed as I screeched. Turning to face the door, Slater was leaned up against it, his arms crossed. That annoying ass piece of shit who looked like me.
"Wanna wrestle for shotgun?" He walked over to me, ripping my earphones out of my ear. I gasped, reaching out punching him in the gut– which he annoyingly didn't even make a face for.
"I'm not going." My tone was smug.
He grinned down at me, letting out a chuckle. "Your roommate isn't even that bad, you are being dramatic." I wanted to take the eraser of my pencil and erase his face.
"Slater. I caught her looking at your Instagram yesterday and when I asked her, she told me that she wanted to make sure it was a six-pack and not a four. Do you know how gross that is?" He threw his head back laughing at my discomfort.
And not to mention the fact that she was going to be the worst match ever for me. She was a perfectionist. I mean– I walked into the dorm for the first time yesterday and she had not one, not two, not three, but four calendars plastered around her side of the room. She had her entire semester planned out already for freshman year.
I don't even have my books yet.
"Come on," He reached for my hands, trying to yank me from my window seat. I shook my head, laying all of my body weight on the bench but it was zero matches for someone of the strength of Slater Williams.
"No, I'm literally not going. I'm dropping out." He curled over, laying as I glared at him.
"Dad!" He yelled our father's name through laughter.
I started to panic. Slater might not be able to make me go but I know for a fact that my father was able to make me do anything with one simple bribe. "What?" He called from downstairs.
I hated this house.
"Sissy won't leave!" Slater called out. Sissy.
You're the fucking sissy you fucking piece of shit.
"Slater, let me ask you a question?" I asked as he raised an eyebrow slowly backing away from me. "Go ahead, whatever comes out of your mouth is going to be so stupid–"
"Hey toolbag, get downstairs." Dad cut in, talking to Slater and not me. I sucked in a deep breath knowing exactly how this was going to go. As soon as Slater flipped me off, in discreet of course, and walked out my dad nodded towards me.
"Sage," God, I hated when his tone made me feel like I was a bad daughter.
"No."
"Sage,"
"No."
"Sage."
"Stop."
"Sage."
He was standing in front of me now, eye to eye. I might look anything like him but mentally– I was going to roundhouse him in the fucking face if he didn't get away from me. I had always heard things about my father, I mean, he was Matti Williams. They tried to shelter us growing up, but there was way too much about him online for us to not know about what his college years were like.
He narrowed his eyes, I narrowed mine.
He didn't blink, I wasn't blinking either.
His nostrils flared, and so did mine.
"You didn't even stay for twenty-four hours." He argued as I shook my head. "Sage, I'm serious. She isn't actually bugging you, you just are looking for a reason to escape a situation." Here we go, he watches one of Uncle Blake's psychology videos and now he thinks he has mastered the brain.
Noticing that I wasn't answering, he reached for my journal. He was the only person who I allowed to read it. Because he was the only one who understood me.
Sometimes Stella understood me.
Sometimes mom did too.
But I was closer to my father than I had ever been. I really was not close with him until I graduated high school. I was out of that toxic high school environment, and I could breathe. I could wake up every day knowing that I didn't have to worry about being called on in class to answer a question. I didn't have to wake up in the morning and stare at myself in the mirror until I hated myself.
I sat back as he opened up the page that the mark was in. I watched as he looked over the numbers before giving me a small smile. Yeah, I know. I was wasting my time writing in this journal.
Seven Hundred And Sixty Days.
He closed the journal, handing it back to me before grabbing my hand. I groaned as I finally gave in and allowed myself to stand up and succumb to the fact that I would have to actually go back to this college.
His eyes caught onto the pile of magazines that were on my desk, they were the only thing that now sat on there since everything else had been packed away. He chuckled as he walked over to the pile.
"Blaise Beck-Day, the professional soccer player who has temper tantrums on and off the field."
"Blaise Beck-Day, heartthrob during the day, a heartless man at night."
"Blaise Beck-Day, his steamy night off of the field–"
I rub my eyes as dad takes it as my cue to drop the subject. I didn't want to talk about him. I didn't want to think about him. I didn't want to see pictures of him. I didn't even want to be on the same planet as him.
"Still nothing?" He asked as I shrugged.
It was nothing. It's been filled with nothing for the last seven hundred and sixty days.
"Yeah, he has not talked to Blake much either." Of course, he hasn't. He had gone completely off of the rails. At least that is what the papers are saying. I tried my best to not google him, I really did try my best.
But– it was the only way that I could talk to him since he was ignoring me.
"I told Blake that he should have never even put the idea of that French boarding school in Blaise's head." He collected the magazines in his arms. "However we both know that Blaise had to leave your high school because he could not handle the fact that you were going to be valedictorian and not him." He hip bumped me as I laughed.
I hated the way he made me laugh even when I wanted to be sad.
"Come on, let's go drop you off at college– again." His last word was teasing as I finally gave in. No, I did not want to go back to college and deal with that roommate. If anything, I could file a complaint, but I didn't want to be that annoying freshman during my first semester.
I hated being a bitch to anyone other than my family, but this bitch named Aurora was crazy.
As we pulled out of the big white house, Slater sat in the front seat while I sat in the backseat. "I'm so glad that you guys are living in that house this year," Dad spoke as he drove down the road.
Slater snorted, "Don't worry, dad. The new and improved football house won't disappoint. This house has a fucking hot tub." I scoffed as I reached for my headphones. It was a short drive from our house to campus, I mean, we lived in the old football captains house.
They were going to demolish it, but my parents stopped them.
"God– I love this place!" Dad was yelling as I ducked into the back seat. All of Slater's stuff was in the backseat. It was his turn to move in today. To his house. While I had to stay in a dorm.
Annoying.
But I guess that is the difference between the sibling who would rather roll in turf and throw pigskin than study.
"Mom should be up in your dorm right now," Of course she is. I leaned forward as dad put the vehicle in park. I hugged him as he planted a kiss on my cheek. Slater flicked me in the forehead so I returned the favor by reaching down and twisting his nipple.
I climbed out of the car, journal tucked in my armpit as I walked to my dorm. I avoided everyone's gaze as I walked around campus. I hated being stared at. I mean, I would stare at myself too because I'm smoking hot.
But I did not want to be stared at because of Slater. Or my dad. Or my uncles.
I hated even being associated with them. I loved them, I just was my own person.
Reaching my room number, I froze as I heard my mom and Aurora laughing on the inside of the room. I sucked in a deep breath muttering the words 'it's only for a semester' before opening the door.
Oh my god.
"Ah! You're back! This is so exciting!" Mom squealed. I was frozen at the door.
Pink.
The room was so– pink.
"Sorry! I knew that you weren't here and I just had all of this pink wallpaper left over so I thought, hey why not! You seem like you love the color just as much as me!" I stared down at my outfit after she finished speaking.
Black shoes.
Black jeans.
Black shirt.
Black bag.
Is this bitch serious?
"Sage! Isn't it beautiful!" Mom gave me a look and her voice held way too much enthusiasm for it to be believable. She was thinking the same thing I was– I was in for a boatload of fun this semester.
I cleared my throat, "Wow, Aurora– this is... wow you have outdone yourself." Good enough.
She smiled, "It's Rory! I go by Rory! I also took the liberty of color-coding your journal bookshelf! You must do a lot of journaling! You have like fifteen journals! Also, you have quite the magazine collection." Shoot me. Shoot me now. Or use me as the test dummy for the linebackers to practice on.
"She always writes in those books!" Mom stepped toward me.
Aurora laughed, "Is it fanfiction?"
Furrowing my eyebrows she smiled, "You have a ton of magazines with Blaise Beck-Day on the cover. Do you write fanfictions in those journals?"
I gave my mom a look screaming for her to get me out of here. However, mom just sent me a look back, agreeing with me that my roommate was borderline crazy but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment.
"Or do you journal a lot about your family? I stalked your family's Wikipedia page last night and I must say, the men in your family are beautiful. I also saw that Blaise's dad is your 'uncle', so maybe that is a bit weird if you write fanfics about him. Do you think you could get an autograph for me–"
Mom cut Aurora's rambling off. "How about you two go explore, I'll finish unpacking, yeah?" I glared lasers into moms head as she shrugged. Aurora walked over to me, squeezing me in a tight hug.
I hated to be touched.
"This is going to be the best year ever! Oh my gosh I can not wait!" She grabbed my hand, yanking me behind her as she pulled me down the hallway and out of the dorm. "I can't wait for the late-night facials, the study dates, the coffee runs, the dining hall food, the football games, and the parties!" She squealed.
She walked– no, she skipped right next to me as I walked toward the student center.
"I'm sorry if I'm annoying, I was homeschooled most of my life so you are like the best friend that I never got to have." It's okay, I never truly had friends either.
How the hell was she so happy though?
Having no friends for me turned me into a dark fucking cloud and I wanted to rain on everyone's parade.
You are acting like a bitch Sage. Maybe she is going to be a great roommate this year. You don't know. Don't judge a book by its cover. I turned to face her, smiling. "You aren't annoying. Thank you for being so welcoming."
As we continued to walk closer, there was a commotion coming from a large group of people. What the hell?
A girl walked past me in tears, "He is on campus. He is literally here– I heard his french accent. I think I'm going to pass out on the HUB lawn." What? Who was here?
"I think that girl should've been medicated. You know, I do have some eucalyptus oil in our dorm, I should go grab her and tell her that." I ignored what Rory was saying as we turned the corner of a building.
More people walked by, freaking out.
Is the dean on campus today?
Or how about the coach?
What the fuck?
"Who do you think is here?" She whispered in my ear as I shrugged. I tried to peer around the corner but I couldn't get a good view. "Why are you hiding?" She whispered again.
Because I know people would stare at me.
I crouched down, spreading the bush in half. Finally, getting a good view of the students who were crowding around. But still– I didn't see anyone to scream over. "Let me try! I'm taller!" I continued to stare, actually making eye contact with students. This was new.
"Is it a cute boy?" Or a cute girl.
"I don't know– I'm trying to stare at him," I muttered back to her. She gasped, pushing me to the side. Of course, Aurora. Make room for yourself.
"Psssst. Sage, do not stare at him! What the hell is wrong with you!" I was asking myself the same question, Rory. I wanted a good look at the guy that everyone was talking about.
"Wait— he's standing with your brother." What?
He's standing with my brother.
"He is literally standing with your brother— I heard he's French. I don't mind that kind of Eiffel Tower." I made her stop speaking with the harsh glare I was sending toward her.
"Rory— why are you looking at him? You shouldn't be looking at him since you just told me not to look at him!" I whispered as we peeked around the bush.
We looked like absolute freaks to the upperclassmen on campus.
"— wait? Don't you have a magazine with that guy on the cover?" I coughed at her words, immediately shaking my head in denial. She let out a loud laugh, slapping her knee. I turned my body and started to walk away from the guy who, embarrassingly enough, was on a couple of magazine covers in my room.
"Oh— oh my god! Wait, that's him! That's your Uncle Blake's son!" Quit yelling, Aurora.
Dear Blaise, thanks for telling me you were coming back to town.
RIGHT BEFORE THE END.
COMING SOON.
hope you all enjoy the fourth and final book in the Penn State Series. It has been the greatest time of my life. I love you all and I appreciate every single one of you— SO much. Thank you.