Saving Sloane Winters

Tristan B. Forjac
Keywords Teak Richardson, extent, violent, Sloane Winters, whipped

So apparently I’m a masochist.

I was basically torturing myself to get the girl I wanted. It reminded me of that paedophile vamp in that crapfic series that my little sister reads. Apparently he was making himself suffer from some chick’s blood just so he could love her or something.

I didn’t want Sloane’s blood, I don’t want anybody’s blood, I just want her.

So this suffering I speak of?

Getting bashed up by a tattooed six foot dude who’s infamous for not being a very pleasant person.

Not bashed up exactly, he just got a couple of good hits to my eye, and my nose before some blond kid pulled him off me.

Imagine the satisfaction at me seeing him getting a week’s suspension.

No, I didn’t do it because I happen to enjoy getting a broken nose and black eye. I did it so there was a better chance that Sloane would hate him, I mean, I was (unfortunately) only a friend to her, but she had to care if her ex just punched her friend, right?

Hey, maybe she could nurse me back to health or something. You know, wear those sexy nurse costumes. Nah, Aryan might be into that kind of thing, I’m fine with orange parka wearing Sloane, but I wasn’t fine with her still over Richardson.

He wasn’t even that scary, all the stupid rumours were made up by crazy year sevens who don’t know shit.

Teak Richardson was an alright kid at first, I knew him from prep. He had a bunch of friends, some kids looked up to him—and who could blame them? The kid was dead clever, and kept getting in trouble with his friend Riley. People thought they were cool for that.

Even I did.

Fifth grade, he never showed up to the parties he was invited to (and that was a lot of parties), never joined in on the intense games of four square. In August, he got into a fight with a gang of year eights, and somehow managed to get a couple of good punches on most of them.

People congratulated him on it, people in his year praised him for it, but he’d only threaten to punch them too if they didn’t fuck off.

He didn’t get into any physical fights after that, but there was lots of verbal fights. The kid’s good with words, you know. So that got him in detention nearly everyday, he still is in detention nearly everyday. Got his tattoos in tenth grade, and appearance is a major thing in life. Younger kids made up stuff about it.

Teak Richardson didn’t bother with anybody, didn’t bother with people’s shit, didn’t bother with any shit really. He only bothered with Riley, his Math grades and his drums.

But then Sloane Winters came along, and my God did he bother with her.

Everybody thought she was stupid to sit on that table, sure she was pretty looking, but Richardson never seemed interested in girls. What was he going to do to her then? He wouldn’t hit a girl, nobody in Xavier would dare to, but we figured he’d give her some kind of cruel verbal lashing that would scar her for the rest of her life.

But no, fucking no. He just smirked at her all the time and they talked quietly. Despite him with that stupid smile on his face, he didn’t seem to tell her to go away, to fuck off.

And that went on for months, a weird relationship. I’d see her say something, casual and politely, and he’d respond with aloofness. He never seemed to actually like her, if you saw them. It seemed that he’d only put up with her for a reason only God knows.

Turns out the reason was because he wanted her.

And when they show up after the first term holidays on campus with hands on the other's hips, then everybody could tell. Teak Richardson hardly ever showed any emotions except for hatred, coldness, indifference or just pure nothing. But that look he got whenever he watched her?

He was completely and totally whipped, and Sloane Winters never noticed, I guess. Even when he kissed her (and he did that often) she probably thought he liked her, wanted her, lusted after her, but probably never actually begin to imagine the full extent of his feelings.

Then everybody watched them just... fall apart. They came back one weekend, Sloane cold as ice, Teak indifferent as whatever and some cowbag Mandy Sommers boasting about her ‘somewhat sexual’ escapades with a certain eighteen year old guy with tattoos.

Nobody knew if it was true or not, but Teak Richardson and Sloane Winters were not seen strolling down the corridors, or sitting underneath the big oak tree anymore.

Then I met her at Woolworths.

And she was cool, a rather sadistic kind of humour, but she was absolutely awesome. And I could see why Teak Richardson wanted her, because I wanted her too now.

What did she see in him? What did he see in her?

He probably saw more in her than I ever did, than I ever will, but at least I could appreciate what I could see. I could appreciate her dry smile, her lazy drawl, her sultry giggle, her eyes and lots of things about her.

So then I decided that I was doing this not only because I would love to have her to myself, but because Richardson would see just what he gave up when he had some sort of ‘rendezvous’ with Mandy Sommers all those months ago.

They say you never know what you have until they’re gone.

And Sloane Winters would be gone from his life, and she’d be in mine.

Then he’ll know.

Then he’ll know what he lost.