Page 29 of Saints & Sailors

People were funny. The people I knew, they had their own special way of telling me I wasn’t good enough. That I was wrong.

I was like a dandelion. You don’t go to people’s houses and see bouquets of weeds, but something more colorful like a rose or tulip. Nobody wanted a dandelion.

Everyone wanted to change me. Put me into their neat little box to fit their own mold. And when I couldn’t satisfy their idea of me, they left me.

If there was one consistent pattern in my life, it was that people always left.

It was finally the weekend, and I was bored out of my mind.

On Thursday, Scott had come home with a bag of board games he’d went out and bought, which I conveniently misplaced long after he went to bed for the night.

What I truly needed was some action, nothing this one-horse town was good enough to offer. If I were in LA, I would’ve ditched school and hung out with the boys until it was time to hit the streets for the night. Here, there was none of that, not even a phone call from back home.

Not that my mother hadn’t called all week, trying to get a hold of me. Wednesday, she’d smartened up and called Scott, and he tried to force me to talk to her. Wasn’t happening.

At school, I tried playing Where’s Waldo whenever it was time for lunch. Yet no matter where I sat, Cameron would find me. Some days she’d bring Vanity; others it was just us.

Today, Cameron found me toward the very crowded back of the cafeteria. Not even the hefty football players were enough to shield me.

Lovely.

“Hey, Saylor,” Cameron greeted me with a peppy smile.

Was she always happy?

“Afternoon,” I replied as I poked at a leaf of lettuce. Scott had actually listened when I complained about how awful the school food was and brought me a salad from Marty’s home the previous evening.

He wasn’t so bad.

A girl walked by our table, offering me a smile and a little wave as she did. I recognized her from one of my morning classes, I just wasn’t sure which⁠—

An elbow lodged into my side and I realized Cameron had nudged me.

She was shooting me a look of disapproval.

“What?” I asked.

“That’s Tabitha,” she informed me before lowering her voice to add, “she’s Dreux’s ex.”

I looked around for where Tabitha had gone off to, finding her taking a seat at one of the tables occupied by the athletes. She had a sweet face. Her long wavy hair was up in a ponytail, and her light brown complexion seemed to radiate. She was smiling with some guy, a closer look found him to be bigger than Dreux, but not as good-looking—I guessed Dreux was good-looking.

“What? She break his heart or something?” I asked.

Cameron frowned, her distaste for Tabitha displayed across her face. “Yeah. In a way, she did break his heart.” She peered down at her pepperoni stuffed breadstick. “That guy she is with is totally the guy she two-timed Dreux with. Some girls can’t appreciate the good guys. I guess it makes me love and value Aidan even more.”

I was nice enough not to scowl at that last remark. “Wow, small town, juicy secrets.”

“I’ll say,” Cameron agreed. “I still can’t believe Uncle Scott has a daughter. I feel like I should’ve known I had a cousin. We could’ve spent so much time together in the summers.”

Cameron’s comment had been innocent, sweet even, but it ate at me that Scott had never informed his “friends” of his daughter.

It made me wonder if he would’ve ever reached out had I not gotten in trouble.

This uncertainty didn’t sit well with me.

Not too long later Aidan and Dreux were joining us.

This was new.