"FLASHBACK - 8 years ago, Age: 16 Trigger warning: use of a homophobic slur"
... ...
"Sage," Wade whined, chanting the name of the girl who was not paying attention to him but to the biology notes in her hand.
"Shut up," the green-eyed girl grumbled, her concentration completely on the notes she was writing.
"Ade, let's bunk, please," the boy said, coming closer to her and looking at her with puppy eyes.
"Nope," she said, not even looking at him.
"Please, consider it my birthday gift?" he gave her a small smile, knowing she wouldn't refuse.
"Fine, let me just finish this, hmm?" she fought a smile and said, giving him a very brief side glance.
"I'm bored; you can do this later, please?" he put his head on her shoulder, still whining.
"One second," she pushed his head away and grabbed her bag, taking something out. It was a book.
"Take this," she handed it to him while he looked at her weirdly. "The Fault in Our Stars."
"I don't even read," he grumbled, but nonetheless, he opened the book and read for a few minutes.
By the time she was done with her studies, he was really engrossed in the book, not even noticing her packing up everything.
She snatched the book from his hand, not before putting a bookmark on the page he was on, and put it in Wade's bag.
Wade smiled and mumbled a small "thank you," to which she replied with a smile.
"So, what are we doing?" she asked, leaning her elbow on the table and visibly getting comfortable. He did the same and moved closer until he was in her personal space.
"Let's watch a movie, you choose," he spoke softly, smiling at her.
"Let's watch something other than Conjuring?" she asked.
"Uh, no, something else, please?" he looked away from her face, knowing she had a smirk on her face.
"Aww, is Ade scared of horror movies?" she teased with cute excitement. He wanted to kiss her so badly.
"Kinda, yes," he said with a soft smile, totally ignoring her lips.
"You know, you can hold my hand if you get scared," she said casually, not seeing the blush forming on his face.
"Okay, then we're going," he put her bag on his shoulders and held her hands gently, leading her to the mall, all while having a stupid smile and a light blush on his face.
Sagi stood in the middle of the corridor, a crowd formed around. There stood a boy she didn't even know, asking her for money because apparently, he knew some big secret about her.
"What is it?" she spoke uninterestedly, looking at the unknown boy standing in front of her, smirking.
"What's the hurry, babe? Chill a little," the boy creepily caressed her cheek, making her slap it almost immediately, causing him to visibly wince in pain.
"Uh, right, you're into girls, yeah? Fuck you, fags," he said loudly enough for everyone to hear. Sagi looked at him as if she was processing the words he just said.
Before anyone could come up and slap him, Sagi stepped forward and stood in front. "Well, your offer is pretty tempting, but a) I'm only into pretty people, you know I have standards and all, and b) your girlfriend didn't say that yesterday," she said this and turned around, winking at his girlfriend, who came forward and slapped the boy tightly, saying, "Shame on you, Leo, we're over."
The girl shoved him, causing him to fall to his knees and onto the floor. As soon as Wade arrived, he tackled Leo to the ground, hitting and kicking him in the stomach.
"Who do you think you are? How dare you say shit like that to my girl?" When Leo's face was covered in blood, Wade continued to pound him until his knuckles were cracked.
"Sagi," Sage's voice cracked as she looked at his disheveled state. Her eyes filled up with tears. Right at that moment, the principal arrived and told everyone to get back to their respective classes. He had been told by some students what had exactly happened and had suspended Leo for two months.
The principal came near Sage and gave her a pat on the head and patted Wade's shoulder, telling him that he was proud of him. They both smiled gently at him.
Now that everyone was gone, both of them were left alone. Wade wiped a lone tear that escaped Sage's eyes. She looked at him, and more tears fell from her eyes, breaking his heart. She tackled him into a big hug, and he protectively wrapped his arms around her, breathing in her scent.
Sage was devastated; she was not able to find her science textbook. She had searched everywhere but still couldn't remember where she had left it.
Just then, Wade entered the empty classroom, holding something in his hands.
"Oh great, Wade, have you seen my book? I can't find it," she said, still searching her bag, her back facing him.
"Sage, I like you," he said, waiting for her reaction, which he didn't get.
"Yeah, yeah, but can you just-" she turned to him, who had a packet of something, and she slowly processed his words.
"Wait... You like me? This isn't a prank, right?" she asked hesitatingly, walking towards him.
"Are you stupid? Of course not," he grumbled, looking away from her, angry that she didn't give him a reply.
"Wade," she dragged out his name and called him. He just hummed in response, still looking away.
"Are you an electrician?" she asked, looking at him with a small smile playing on her lips. He just looked at her with confusion clearly written on his face.
"Because you light up my day," she grinned widely while he just gave her a weird look, fighting his smile.
"Okay, one more. On a scale of 1 to America, how free are you tonight?" she said in a hurried tone, blushing a little but still hiding it with the smirk on her face.
"Are you asking me on a date, Ms. Sinclair?" he said, walking closer to her while she just stood there with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Well, for a matter of fact, I am, Mr. Callahan," she smiled at him, to which he responded by picking her up and spinning her in the air, while she clutched onto him for dear life, their chuckles echoing in the empty classroom.
Sage was studying with Wade in his room for an upcoming Chemistry exam, which was in the next two days. Sage was jotting down some notes while Wade was whining about how much she studied.
She got annoyed and grumbled slightly, "Can you shut up?"
When his whining still didn't stop, she took the empty sticky note in her hands and put it on his lips, making him blink a couple of times to understand what was happening.
She went back to her notes, and as a few minutes passed and Wade didn't say anything, she looked up and saw him still looking at her with a weird glint in his eyes, mischievous she must say.
He went closer to her and put his lips on hers, softly yet slowly moving along with hers—the sticky note being the only barrier between their lips. She fisted the bedsheet when she felt his lips move against hers. She wanted to push away, but she couldn't.
He pulled away and took the sticky note off, putting it on her forehead. He chuckled, seeing her entire face red and her eyes shut.
"You liked it, huh?"
Sage had a very tiring day at school. It was one of the days before her final exams started, and she was regretting staying up late and reading her novels.
When she came to the locker, she met Wade. She smiled tiredly at him and gave him a hug. He hugged her back gently and sneakily took her phone out of her pocket.
He held her phone up in the air. "Wade," she glared and stood in front of him, giving her hand for him to hand over her phone.
He smiled and took her hand, intertwining it and kept her phone in her jacket's pocket.
She was frustrated, angry, tired, and most of all, pissed at Wade. He had mistakenly dropped one of her books in the swimming pool, and now all the pages were ruined.
She was walking away while he kept chasing her, calling her name.
But no, she did not want to listen to him at this time. She was afraid she would hit his head with the same book that was in her hands.
"Just leave me alone. Why do you even care?" she said dramatically, slightly panting from running, and stopped, turning to face him.
"You know why," he mumbled loud enough for her to hear.
This time, the rush of powerlessness, the sinking feeling, and waves of warmth left her limp before she could even get her thoughts out of her head. She looked up to see a blurry image of Wade Callahan's face.
Softly at first, he kissed her on the lips, with one arm wrapped around her figure, but as the intensity increased, she clung to him as though he were her sole anchor in the world's swirling chaos. Insistently, his mouth parted her trembling lips, sending vibrations through her nerves that she had never thought she was capable of feeling.