Saving Sloane Winters

Sloane Erin M. Winters
Keywords What, the, fuck

“Tell me something that nobody knows.”

We’re at the café, my pecan pie lay untouched in front of me.

He’s got his hands in my hair. I didn’t want them there, they were like a person breaking into a house that didn’t belong to them, his hands didn’t belong in my hair.

I shrug, it’s an awkward one because my shoulder is under his lanky arm. “Nobody knows if heaven really exists.”

Tristan laughs, it’s an outright laugh. Teak never laughed like that, it was always a scoff, or a snicker, or a quiet wavering breath. His chest rumbles with the sound.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No, not that. I meant about you.” He grins, it’s a lazy stretch of his lips, and draws me in closer to him.

“What about me?”

“Tell me something about Sloane Winters that no one knows.”

My voice is muffled against his chest, he’s wearing an old flannel from Rusty. “Not even my friends?”

“Nobody.” He says the word again.

“But then you’ll know it.” I say. I don’t want to tell him. Why does he want to know? Does he think that we can be closer by this ‘secret’ sharing?

“I want to know.”

I look at him, his hands turn into fists in my hair and his lips pursed. “Absolutely nobody?”

He nods, and his light eyes darken a fraction. “Not even Teak Richardson.”

My shoulders turn ice at the name, but I ignore it. “I don’t like being alone.” And it’s the truth, but a lie, because Kay knew it. Bess knew it. Sarah knew it. Teak most definitely knew it.

Tristan smiles, “Good thing you have me here.”

Is it?

_____________________

“Jesus, Bess.” Kay said, her eyes falling out of her sockets when she saw the large amount of books the tiny blonde was carrying. “How many bloody books do you need?”

“I,” Bess sniffed, bending down to pick up her Ancient History book, which somehow fell onto the ground. “Unlike you; am doing six VCE studies.”

Kay scoffed, catching her eyeballs before they fell onto the ground. “Who the hell wants to do six, anyway? It’s just a bloody waste of time, you aren’t even required to do six.”

“So? I’ll get a higher enter score if I do. Right, Sloane?”

They both looked at me, eyes wide (Kay had carefully put her eyes back in) and pouting.

I put my hands up, the international sign of surrendering, and sighed. “I don’t care, I’m doing five studies, courses, subjects whatever—that’s what it says you need. Kay, you don’t even want to go to Uni, and Bess is an overachiever.”

So, instead of getting them to both stop arguing—I was the next object of their exclamations of whatever pathetic shit they were spewing.

After the last insult (“S’not my fault I don’t wanna go to Uni, you get all stressed and pop out pimples.”) our legs collapsed underneath a clump of oak trees, near the courts.

“Riley says he’s doing Physical Education, Health and Human Development and some other stuff. Apparently he’s failing English though, so I offered to tutor him.” Bess said, absently picking at her baloney sandwich as her eyes scoured the campus for her blonde (more or less) lover.

“Of course you would.” Kay grinned, then frowned in confusion. “He’s a year ahead of you though.”

“I, unlike you,” Bess huffed, “Took year twelve English last semester.”

Here we go again.

“Lover boy is waving at ya.” Says Kay, she says this nonchalantly—but her excitement at this is shaking in the hands that hold her veggie burger.

Bess snorts under her breath, “Which one?”

I pretend not to hear her, and follow Kay’s eyes to the oval, where a bunch of year twelve boys are in their sports uniform and sneakers. Mandy’s with her friends, her laugh obnoxiously loud. She’s eyeing somebody, opens her mouth and says—

“Hey, Teak!”

I almost drop my yoghurt, and I look for him. He’s standing next to Riley, shoulders slumped, and hands in his pockets. His grey eyes travel to the raven haired girl, I can see his mouth form the word, '"Hey" and he turns back. But this is enough for Mandy, who starts whispering excitedly to her friends.

Tristan’s three feet away, his hand raised and waving towards me. My smile is small when I wave back at him, he grins even wider then turns back to his friend.

Then my sight goes back to Teak, his face is a smooth mask of nothingness, but his eyebrow is furrowed which tells me he’s listening to something. I can see Tristan’s talking loudly, at least—loud enough for people three feet away from him to hear, he’s smirking whilst his talking. His eyes darting back every second or so.

“Wonder what Tristan’s so bloody smug about.” Kay observes, picking out the pickles from her burger.

There’s no time to wonder though.

‘Cause Teak’s fist is flying at Tristan’s face.