The Opposition

Chapter 36: Carter

It's the middle of the night and I'm lying awake, repeating Anastasia's words in my head. Not the ones from the ceremony. The ones she murmured to me before she joined Angie, Dimitri, Landon, and the trophy Sadie and I won in Ms. Davenport's car.

"I don't want to see you at school until Monday," she whispered under her breath, her eyes darting around the parking lot to ensure Sadie was still immersed in her conversation with Angie.

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" I raised my eyebrow, confused.

She groaned, as if I was so stupid to not understand her. "I don't want to see you or Sadie."

"That cleared up absolutely nothing," I said, unimpressed.

"Wipe that asshole-ish look off your face," she snapped.

I didn't. My bored expression remained. I didn't have time to entertain Anastasia–Ana.

"You're supposed to be smart," she huffed. "But now I'm going to have to spell it out for you."

I gestured forward with my hand. "Please do."

She mumbled something under her breath before locking her eyes with mine. "I've already spoken to Ms. Davenport, and, as a reward for winning, you are excused from school–classes–until Monday. So, you're going to do something with Sadie. You're going to take her somewhere nice and spend those days with her. No school. No competing. You and her. Alone."

"And why am I doing this?" I asked, just to be more of an asshole. I didn't need her to convince me to spend more time with Sadie. I would do so willingly. Eagerly.

"Because she likes you. And you obviously like her. But if you go back to school, she's going to fall back into her usual pattern–competing–and she'll push you away. And she'll regret it."

"Since when did you become my number one fan, Anastasia?" I asked, a cocky smirk playing on lips.

"Ana," she corrected, crossing her arms in hostility. It just made my smirk rise. "And I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for my friend. I care about her. I want her to be happy. And I think you can make her happy."

That made my smirk form into a genuine smile. "I want her to be happy," I whispered.

"Good," she said, straightening her back to stand at her full height. "Then we're in agreement."

I nodded. "Where do I take her?"

She rolled her eyes. "I can't do all the work, Carter. If you care, you'll figure it out."

In that moment, I couldn't figure out if I liked Anastasia. She was a good friend, but that all she was. She didn't care about me. Just Sadie. And, for some reason, that just made me respect her more. "Fine, I'll figure it out."

Out of the corner of her eye, Anastasia spotted Sadie hugging Angie goodbye and beginning to walk towards us. Quickly, she turned to face me, again. "And remember: you hurt her, I kill you." Her deadpanned eyes and pressed lips told me one thing: she wasn't joking.

"Duly noted," I told her, matching her expression.

"Sarcastic asshole," she mumbled before turning towards Sadie, who was looking between us with raised eyebrows. Anastasia smiled at Sadie and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "See you soon, Winner," she winked. But behind Sadie's back, she locked eyes with me and slid her nail across her throat, mimicking my impending death if I did anything wrong. Sadie saw me looking at Anastasia, so she turned around, giving me time to flip Anastasia off without her noticing.