Page 41 of Wanting More

Sapphire could feel her face pull into a glowering frown. She had no right to speak of thisgodforsaken little townwhen Sapphire could hear the sound of the ocean and people chattering happily in the background. She was probably at some resort living it up on her fiancé's dime.

"I'm fine," Sapphire answered a little too crisply. Damn her. Only her mother could get her this annoyed.

There was a short pause on the other end of the line, but Sapphire knew they were still connected, judging by the resort sounds she could still hear. Finally, her mother spoke again. "Do you need any money?"

Of course, she needed money. While the thousand dollars she gave her was a surprise, it wasn't nearly enough to go out into the world on, and she knew it. But Sapphire wouldn't admit that to her. Inside her chest, her pride swelled to the point of pain, spreading fire to her veins. Sapphire would never give her mother the satisfaction of needing her help. Besides, she thought with a cooling sense of calm falling over her as she thought of Hayden and Joel's faces, she really didn'tneedthe money right now.

"No, I'm fine," she answered, making sure to let go of the tight anger in her voice before she spoke.

There was another pause on the other end, and she could just imagine her mother's eyes narrowing in suspicion. Knowing that it was inevitable, Sapphire let out a small sigh and admitted the truth—well, some of it at least.

"Actually, Joel, that guy you called, saw me walking to school and told me I could stay with him. He wasn't happy about it," she rushed to add. "And he called you some pretty colorful names forabandoningme."

Ignoring the parts she didn’t want to hear, Jennifer's voice brightened. "I knew Joel was still a little puppy at heart despite all that gang stuff I heard about."

Sapphire's breath caught.Gang stuff?

"You should've seen him back then. His little friend had been put in detention for fighting or something, and Joel had sat around the house looking like a kicked puppy thrown out into the rain. Of course, I took him under my wing,"

No doubt, more like tried to seduce him, Sapphire thought.

"Well, you're safe with Joel. From what I heard, he's out of that old life and doing pretty well in that wasteland of a town." Sapphire heard a male voice calling out to her mother in the background. "I've got to go. Be safe, go to school, and stay with Joel. Bye,"

What an absolute joke of a mother.Be safe and stay with Joel.The woman hardly even knew Joel. It was just luck that Joel and Hayden actually were decent guys, or at least they were now. What did she mean by gang stuff? Did it have something to do with the gang that used to run this town? Sapphire made a mental note to ask Julie for more details later.

Putting her phone back into her pocket, Sapphire turned and looked out the vented window. She could only see down at this angle, but she could tell it was pretty out despite the nip in the air.

A chorus of feminine laughter echoed around the large tile bathroom, and Sapphire turned just in time to see three girls walk around the privacy corner that was the entrance of the girl's bathroom.

Sapphire didn't even bother hiding her sigh as she watched their faces register her presence. There was a complete mixture of shock, curiosity, and of course, disdain amongst the young girls' faces.

Time to leave.

Walking toward the entrance, Sapphire was passing by the girls when one of them asked. "Is it true you live in the motel at the other end of town?"

Her pride made her stop. She could keep walking and leave the no doubt situation this would inevitably become, but absolutely nothing in Sapphire's cellular makeup would allow that to happen. Turning slowly on her heel, Sapphire faced the skinny brunette. The girl was actually taller than her, and judging from her t-shirt that read Holter Varsity Volleyball, she was on the volleyball team. Those details were inconsequential as she fixed the girl with a cool, waiting look, silently daring her to continue.

The tall brunette squirmed under the heavy silence.

Seeing her friend evidently in danger of losing face, another girl immediately piped up, her voice a little more scornful than her friend's. "You know it used to be a whore motel, right?" She informed her with an arrogant tilt of her head. "Old man Herman used to work for the LeBlanc gang and let them run prostitutes and all sorts of stuff out of his hotel. Some even say that's where he met his wife."

It took everything in Sapphire not to slap the taste out the girl's mouth at that remark. Sapphire could picture Blanche's gentle face falling if she heard such terrible rumors. Or worse, if the rumors were true and Blanche knew people were running around talking about her like this little idiot. It took God to hold Sapphire's hand in check. She held her whole body perfectly still, refusing to give in to the shaking rage. She wouldn't give these girls the show they craved. They just wanted more fuel to add to their endless pyre of gossip.

They waited for her to react, but Sapphire kept her face impassive for a moment longer as her bored gaze drifted over all three girls as they watched her back, hoping for a reaction.

Mustering every ounce of will, Sapphire widened her eyes almost theatrically and plastered on a grateful smile. "I did not know that," she cooed in a sickly-sweet voice. "Thank you for sharing that with me. I’ll be sure to remember that…" she paused, and fixed the second girl with a piercing stare. "What was your name again?" She waited until the flash of indignation passed over the girl's face and her mouth opened to respond before cutting her off. "Well, it doesn't matter," Sapphire said in an airy voice, dismissing the girl's existence before turning her back on the girls entirely. "Thank you so much," she called out in a fake voice and walked out the curving privacy corner of the bathroom.

"Fucking bitch." One of the girl's voices echoed from the tile bathroom, and Sapphire paused at the entrance.

"I heard she's now living with those two biker-gang guys that live above the café."

Another girl chimed in, and this time Sapphire was sure it was the volleyball player. "I heard my dad talking to my uncle about her. She's probably letting them run a train on her every night or something."

"I knew she was whore when she first got here."

"No wonder she was at the motel." At that, they all laughed, and Sapphire walked away.

With each hour that passed, Sapphire could feel the stares around the school increase. At first, she tried to tell herself it was all in her head. But as she changed for her next classes, Sapphire could hear the laughter escalate from the cluster of students lining the halls as she carefully made her way through. It was most definitely not in her head; their laughter was real and directed solely at her. Taking her seat in her final class, she made eye contact with the teacher and watched as the woman quickly averted her eyes from her. Sapphire ignored the knotting feeling in her stomach at that. Just how many people did those three little trolls run off and tell? It was barely lunchtime! From what she could tell, it felt as if the whole school was talking about the event—or some mutated version of the story at least.