I could have stayed wrapped in Colton’s arms for forever, but of course the moment had to come to an end. That end happened to be the frantic buzzing of my phone. I pulled away and reached into my back pocket. My mother’s name shown on the screen, but instead of answering it I ignored the call. The warmth from Colton’s body was slowly fading away.

“I should go.”

I forced the words out of my mouth before I did anything I would regret.

Like kissing him.

All I wanted to do was plant one on him, but what if he didn’t want me to? The friendship we had was too valuable to lose, and I wouldn’t lose him over a kiss.

“Look Sutton, about Vee and Mark…I just think—“

“We don’t need to talk about them,” I said in a shaky voice.

If we talked about them I’d probably start crying. “I don’t want you to lose them. They might be confused right now, but in the end I know they’ll come around,” he assured me.

I shook my head. “You don’t know them. They’re stubborn, and when they don’t understand something they don’t give it the time of day.”

He brought his hands up to the sides of my shoulders and gave me a little squeeze. “I’ll see you in a few days, okay?”

Days? Colton wasn’t coming back to school for days? I looked up into his beautiful blue eyes only wanting to stay with him for the rest of the day.

“Remember, you don’t need me to cross off everything on that list of yours.”

A smile crept to my face and as I brushed a finger over my tattoo. “You’re right. Maybe I’ll do the skinny dipping and buy some lingerie.”

“No I definitely want to be there for those two,” he told me, his usual flirty self restored.

We stood on his front porch and watched each other in silence. Colton looked like he wanted to say something, and boy I sure did but nothing came out of either of our mouths.

“Goodbye Colton.”

I managed to turn away and head down the street towards my car. It took a lot of strength not to turn back and look at him because I knew his eyes still lingered on me. Once I got into the car, I buckled up and sped away as fast as possible.

What was happening to me?

I told myself I wouldn’t fall for Colton. Now I was tripping head first.

**

When I arrived home, my mother was patiently waiting for me in the kitchen. By the way she stood so stiffly I could tell something was up. Great! I thought about creeping through the back door unnoticed, but I knew sooner or later she would realize I was home.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t answer the phone, I was driving,” I said as soon as I stepped into the kitchen.

My mother’s eyes looked over me in disapproval. “Where were you?”

“Out.”

Her gaze was harsh under the faded kitchen lights. “With that trouble maker?”

I almost laughed. “What are you talking ab—“

“Mark told me you were hanging out with some delinquent. I thought he was joking but as of lately you have been acting out of character.”

Mark told my mom about Colton? How old was he? “Colton’s not a delinque—“

“Colton’s been arrested before, I had your father do some research,” my mother said sharply. “I will not have you being friends with someone who’s going nowhere in life. Kids like Colton are messed up. Who knows his father probably abuses him!”

I stared at my mother, completely shocked by every word that left her mouth. Who was she to judge Colton and his family life without even knowing him? I never knew about Colton’s arrest, but it didn’t lead me to think the worse of him. Sure, maybe a few weeks ago I would have but I knew you couldn’t judge someone by their past.

“I can’t believe you actually said that,” was all I managed to say.

My mother shrugged. “What do you expect from me? I just want the best for you.”

I laughed. “Then you’d know that Colton makes me happy.”

“I was with a guy like Colton once,” she paused at his name, “I thought I was happy. He made me feel so special Sutton, like I was the only girl for him. But guys like Colton break your heart.”

I glared bitterly over at my mother as foul words filled my mouth. It took every ounce of my restraint not to start shouting curses at her. You’re too mature for that. I could practically hear her voice in my head.

“Have you ever thought to think that maybe I’m just friends with Colton?”

She laughed. “You know in your heart you feel for him Sutton, I can tell by how mad you are right now.”

“So you like seeing me in pain?”

“I hate seeing you in pain,” she snapped. “That’s why I’m ending this now, because I know in the end you’ll end up hurt. I’m inviting Mark and his family over for dinner tomorrow night, so make sure that you two are on good terms before then.”

Without another word my mother left me alone in the kitchen. My heart was still slamming against my chest as I stormed upstairs and slammed my door shut. All those years I heard Melody fighting with mom and dad I thought she just needed to grow up. Now I understood. My mother was judgmental and didn’t understand. She thought she was protecting me but she was far from it.

**

The next morning I made it my mission to avoid and ignore my mom at all coasts. Dad was away on a business meeting for the week, so it was just us trapped in a silent house. For once I was actually relieved to go to school. She acted like nothing was wrong the next morning, which only made me even angrier. After trying to make small talk with me, I grabbed my things and rushed outside.

By the time I got to school I was only a little calmer. That is until Mark decided it would be a good time to talk to me.

“Sutton will you slow down and just hear me out!”

He was rushing after me in the deserted hallways. Class had already started, and I was three minutes late. “No.”

He grabbed my wrist and spun me around so that I was facing him. “Sutton you can’t keep ignoring me.”

The pleading look in his eyes made me laugh bitterly. “I’m pretty sure it was the other way around just the other day.”

“I have a right to be mad you know.”

“You had a right to be mad,” I corrected him.

Mark let go of my arm and brushed his hand through his messy hair. I could tell there was something he wanted to say, but I wasn’t listening. “I apologized for lying to you Mark, but I’m not apologizing for being friends with Colton. What I don’t get is you tattling to my mother and telling her I’m hanging out with some delinquent.”

He looked utterly guilty as he stood with his hands together. Mark was never good at lying, and he knew I could always tell when he was. There was no way he was getting out of this one.

“You have to understand that I didn’t really mean to tell your mother.”

I laughed. “Then why did you?”

“It all just came out okay. She saw I was really upset when I was leaving the house the other night, and she knew you had used me to lie about handing out with another guy,” he explained.

I could tell that Mark was sorry, but it didn’t make me feel any better. He knew that I wasn’t a stupid girl, yet every second he acted as though I could break at any moment. “I bet it wasn’t that hard telling her all about Colton.”

He shrugged. “Can you blame me? He’s no good Sutton, you even said it yourself—“

“Before I really knew him. Then I understood that I couldn’t judge anyone by the way other people saw them. You have to get to know a person before you can say stuff like that,” I said.

There was a long silence that followed my words, and as it grew more uncomfortable every second, I turned around and head down the hallway.

“Sutton I’m sorry,” Mark shouted in a rush.

He ran up to catch up to me. “You’re right, you’re always right. After Colton and I fought, I hated him so much. But I can see he makes you happy. I just need to make sure that he won’t hurt you. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if he did.”

I stopped and turned to look at Mark. “It doesn’t matter anymore, it’s not like I’ll be allowed to see him.”

“Maybe that’s for the better.”

I shook my head. “You just said you saw how happy he makes me.”

“I was the one there for you when Melody died, not Colton. Melody would kill me if she knew I let you hang out with him. Don’t you understand?”

I felt tears prick the back of my eyes, but I blinked them away. “Vee was there for me too, but where is she know? I didn’t know Colton before it all happened. I had only just met him, but he didn’t treat me like some breakable like you do every day. He believes in me Mark.”

“Vee just needs to come around,” Mark said with a sigh.

“She needs to not judge Colton, and you do too!”

Pushing past Mark, I stormed down the hallway and past my first hour class. I didn’t care if hanging out with Colton was changing me. Before I was uptight and unable to see the good things in life, the stuff that mattered.

Man I needed to do something fun to take my mind off of all of this.

I needed to do something rebellious. 

Hey everyone! As you can tell, all my recent, actually most of my uploads have mistakes. At the time I do not have an editor, and while I would like one I don't really have the time to worry about that stuff so bear with me. 

I hope you all had a lovely holiday break. Back to school :( 

But warning: I have a realy busy week. Today I stayed home from school, that was the only reason I had time to upload. I work today, tomorrow, have a choir thing after school on Wednesday, work Thursday, take a practice ACT in the morning on Saturday and then work the rest of the day...then repeat that for next week. 

I HATE LIFE.