CHAPTER THREE:
UNDER THE WEATHER

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IT WAS SILENT IN Sadie's house. The curtains were drawn, the lights dimmed low. For a second, she foolishly believed that nobody was home. Then, like a match to a wire, the house burst to life. There were frenzied footsteps racing down the stairs before her mum appeared, face pale, orange hair strewn in a messy bun on the top of her head because she had no energy to pin it back.

"Where have you been?" was the first thing she said to Sadie, voice sharp but brittle. Behind her was Diana. She was more put together than her wife, but her eyes shone with concern and she chewed on her lower lip as she looked between them, not quite sure if she had to intervene. "You've made us worry sick, Sadie!"

"I was just at La Push," Sadie said, brows pinching. Her defensive tone was instinctive but it made the anger in her mother rear back on the offensive.

"La Push?" she repeated viciously. "When you're meant to be at school? So now you're jigging your classes. This isn't on, Sadie—"

"Alright. I'm sorry." It wasn't worth arguing with Erin and Diana. They'd always have a retort ready and Sadie had been on the receiving end more than enough times to know it. "It won't happen again."

Erin snorted. Diana winced and Sadie paused. "We've heard that one before. Don't you dare give us that excuse."

"Well, what do you want me to say?"

"The truth!" Each word lashed against Sadie's skin, ripping apart the soft flesh like the serrated blade of a knife. She bowed her head against them. "We have enough to think about right now without worrying about you!"

"Oh, because I'm such a burden," she exploded, the words coming before she could take them back. The room around them narrowed until the only thing Sadie could see was Finley standing in her mum's place. Glaring at her. Blaming her. "You want the truth but then you don't like it when it's an inconvenience for you!"

"Okay, enough," Diana snapped as she stepped between them. Sadie blinked and Finley disappeared. Erin's face was pale again. Her daughter's burned as red as her hair, threatening to sweep her up in the flames. Diana looked back and forth between them with furrowed brows. "This isn't helping anyone. Erin, come to the kitchen. Let's have tea and sit down, alright? Sadie, just... please go to your room."

"And stay there," Erin added despite the warning shake of Diana's head.

Sadie ignored her, shoving past in a blur. She made sure to slam her door, as she knew Erin hated it. Then she waited to see if she'd follow her just to pick her apart again. She didn't.

Sadie sat on the edge of her bed, breathing slowly and deliberately. Her heart kept on doing jumping jacks in her chest. The bed springs creaked beneath her weight. There was a dog barking in her neighbour's yard. Everything was so loud, so in focus. Not for the first time, she longed for Finley. The real Finley, not the one her mind kept conjuring to hurt her.

She remembered everything about him in such detail. He'd loved Diana from the moment he met her, maybe even before Erin decided to share the woman with her children. He saw the constant smile on his mum's face and decided anyone who could bring that look out of the dark and make it stay was worth taking a chance on. Sadie hadn't been so sure. She loved Diana now but she used to fear she'd disappear. That Sadie would only be left with the memory of her, something intangible lingering in the shadows that she just couldn't reach.

(How ironic, really. It was never Diana she had to worry about.)

She couldn't take it anymore. With Erin's warning ringing in her ears, she crossed the room and shoved open the window. She hesitated, staring at the drop into the muddy garden bed below. She turned back around, ripping open her desk drawer and searching around in the cluttered mess inside.

Mum(s),

I didn't stay in my room. Sorry.

I'll be back tonight, I promise.

Love you.

Sadie.

Leaving it perched on her desk against the edge of her wonky orange lamp shade, she contemplated skateboarding to La Push before deciding against it. After changing into a hoodie and sweatpants, she took one last look around her room before fleeing it. The setting sun followed her to the bus stop, her skateboard tucked under her arm for later on.

The air outside was easier to breathe. In this never-ending world that had swallowed Finley whole, she had room to move again, to let her thoughts run free, to feel the pit in her chest without joining Finley in its grasp. She wasn't sure where she was going — she knew it wasn't worth Erin's wrath or Diana's disappointment — just that she was desperate, lost, and searching for the impossible.

Maybe she'd even prank someone.

When Sadie spied the familiar tin roof of a grocery store she thought she recognised, she pressed the buzzer and clambered her way down the bus steps. The wheels stirred up a cloud of dust as it pulled away from the stop, leaving her coughing in its wake.

For a moment, she stood and observed the building on the other side of the road. It was no bigger than a house with weatherboard walls peeling with pale white paint. Thick stacks of bricks lifted it off the ground, revealing overgrown weeds and cobwebbed storage crates. Next door, an open gate led to a parking lot big enough for a dozen cars, yet only one or two spots were taken.

Hm, maybe not a prank then. Could she get away with theft when her mind was running in several different directions? She'd find out.

Inside, there were four registers, two on either side of the door. Only one of them was operational and the teenage girl behind the counter in her bright green polo shirt looked bored to tears. She barely acknowledged Sadie as she stared into the open drawer in front of her. At just the right angle, Sadie could see her phone screen hidden amongst stationary.

She smirked. Perfect.

She quickly tracked down the aisle labelled as 'confectionery.' Towering shelves overflowed with various sweets and snacks. She picked up a KitKat, eyeing the yellow price tag — $1.99 — and then the space on either side of her. No one. She quickly shoved the sweet into her hoodie pocket.

Now the Hershey's. Same price and they were her favourite. She chanced another look around. No one on her right, no one on her—

"Hi, Sadie!"

Ugh.

"You," she said with no enthusiasm as Seth stepped in front of her and grinned.

He wore a pair of fraying knee-length jean shorts and a loose black tank top, revealing tanned arms and legs. He seemed unaffected by the miserable weather. Warmer than life itself. Sadie instinctively shied away from him, squeezing the Hershey's bar until her fingertips were indented into the chocolate beneath the wrapper.

"What are you doing here?" she asked when he kept on smiling. "Are you stalking me?"

"No," he blushed, kicking the toe of his sneaker against the squeaky linoleum. "Mum's got my sister and I shopping for last minute dinner supplies. Leah's around here somewhere, but I thought I saw you through the window... I wanted to say hi..."

"Hi," said Sadie, but Seth — who had taken the opportunity to scan her dishevelled appearance, from her oversized hoodie to that skateboard she was never without — was no longer paying attention.

He was looking at her pocket. Where the red KitKat foil packet could be seen poking out.

Shit.

"Hi, Seth," Sadie repeated, louder this time, with an almost sheepish smile.

Seth blinked out of his daze. "Would you like me to buy you that chocolate?"

Sadie wanted to curl up and die. Not in the usual way, but in the way that would help her escape the overwhelming wave of embarrassment that consumed her. This was new. Even her mums couldn't make her feel this ashamed. It wasn't like she was stealing anything valuable or hurting anyone. She was just messing around.

But Seth was so genuine. So unlike any other teenage boy. He thought he was doing a good thing offering to buy her a sweet he believed she couldn't afford.

Ugh. How Sadie wanted to throw her chocolate at his stupid face!

"Sure," she said instead, not really meaning it. "I don't mind if you sugar-daddy me."

"Don't say that," he groaned, clapping his hands over his face to hide his reaction. Sadie laughed at him. "I was just being nice."

"I know," her laughter faded into a dramatic sigh. "But you should see how red your face gets."

From somewhere behind Sadie, someone audibly cleared their throat. Both teens jumped sky-high, whirling around to find an older girl who looked remarkably like Seth. Sadie presumed this was his sister, Leah, finally tracking him down and overhearing their conversation at the worst possible moment.

"Leah," Seth squeaked, shuffling past Sadie to take the overloaded shopping basket from her. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

Leah arched an eyebrow. "I can see you tried really hard. Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Sadie watched them, a little bemused, toying with the crumpled Hershey's bar that was well past the point of being damaged. Seth waved a hand in her direction, barely able to get her name out, and Leah's expression abruptly twisted. Her pretty eyes darkened, her mouth flattening into an unimpressed sneer.

Oh. That's new, Sadie thought. She contemplated if her reaction to the surname Swan came from Finley's ongoing investigation, but then Leah asked, "Are you related to Bella?"

"I guess," Sadie shrugged.

Really, this was starting to drag. If she didn't hurry up, she'd have to get on the next bus home, and she hadn't even done any skating yet. Leah didn't say anything else so she started muttering her excuses, and then Seth just had to stop her.

"Do you want to join us for dinner?" he asked, struggling to follow her while also balancing their basket. "Mum won't mind. She loves having people over. And we're having pasta!"

"No thanks," Sadie declined.

She wasn't about to rock up and meet anyone's mum, let alone his, looking like a hot mess. That, and she knew for sure that Erin and Diana wouldn't hesitate to send Charlie to the Clearwaters doorstep. If Erin was feeling particularly pissy, she'd do something insane like threatening charges for kidnapping. Then Seth would never talk to her again.

Not that she wanted him to anyway.

"Maybe another time," she said vaguely as she discarded her chocolates on a nearby shelf — including the KitKat, regretfully — and left the store, deciding that she'd just use her remaining time to skate home.

She didn't make it very far before Seth followed her, again.

"Okay, now I'm really starting to think you're stalking me."

"You forgot something," he said, then held out the KitKat.

Sadie's breath hitched, momentarily leaving her chest feeling tight. Slowly, she reached out, still balanced on her skateboard, until her fingers ghosted over his. His skin was warm like he was running a fever but he didn't seem to notice.

"You stole this for me?"

"Bought," he corrected her.

Sadie curled her hand around his, accepting the chocolate. Suddenly, she didn't know where to look. Definitely not at him. It didn't feel right.

"Thank you," she said.

"It's okay."

"I owe you."

He shrugged. "If you want to. Maybe we can hang out and play football again. That was fun."

Sadie never agreed, she didn't say anything except for goodbye, but she found herself counting down the days until she'd get to see him again as she skated home and munched on her KitKat. Of course, just so she could beat his ass in football.