Poor Angel

Ryan Daney had gone as far as cupping her ass cheeks in his hands as they kissed in the hallway, her hands on his chest. That was the extent of their PDA, but it got under James's skin all the same. At this point, he was only coming to school everyday to ensure he would actually graduate. And seeing them together, seeing her touching him in any sort of way, was torture.

*******

"But it makes me sad..." Sherry was saying, closing her locker on a Monday in late April. "Of course, I don't want to get in the way, though. I want you to achieve everything." She caressed Ryan's cheek, staring at his perfect tan skin. Despite the lack of sun they got here in Alaska, Ryan always looked golden. Probably due to his part Haida genes. She tapped his bottom lip with her thumb lovingly.

"It'll just be one week." Ryan's smile was like a movie star's. Flawlessly straight. White as a Sensodyne commercial. Oh how she loved having her mouth connected to his.

"And you won't be like last time. This time, you'll update me as much as possible. Right?"

"Yes, Clingy."

Sherry giggled. "Oh and guess what?"

"What?" They made their way through the hall filled with clusters of people eating their lunches.

Sherry stopped Ryan and tip-toed, whispering into his ear with her hand over her mouth. "I'm going to go to an adult toy store and buy a dildo."

Ryan moved away from her, taking hold of her wrist. "Why? You have the real thing."

"I'll be sad when you're not here. Isn't that what I said?"

"I don't want you using a dildo," Ryan asserted quietly, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "I want you to be pampered."

"What does that even mean?" Sherry snapped. She sighed, lowering her voice again. "I'm hooked. My sex drive is high. It's embarrassing. But I really do think I need a—"

"Dil—I mean, those are for girls who don't have... It's just weird, okay? Because I should be the one there."

Sherry scrutinized his face, not feeling like she was figuring him out. "I knoww, but—"

"Sher."

"Ryan."

He laughed. "Yes?"

Sherry dragged him outside where there were less people in earshot, to a far bench in the courtyard. "I want to talk about that thing you didn't want to talk about. Why did you forgive me so easily? About James?"

Ryan sat down, looking at her curiously. "Let's go back inside," he said finally. His chocolate brown eyes roamed up and down her body. "You're catching the breeze." True to his words, goosebumps were forming on her uncovered forearms.

"Answer."

"Why are you asking me this?"

"He looks at me constantly," Sherry blurted. "And you're not blind to it either."

Ryan shrugged. "It's a given. It's what I get for dating the hottest girl at Firwood. Hottest girl in Alaska."

Sherry rolled her eyes. Ryan was poisonously charismatic. "The thing is, I think, with you gone, it'll be..." she trailed off, hoping Ryan was getting the jist.

"From eye fuck to real fuck," he concluded, smirking. "So then come with me. We can have a blast touring all these college campuses."

"I can't miss school."

"Then babe, what can we do?" Ryan shrugged. He stood and clutched Sherry to him, pulling her towards the school building. Dressed in low rise jeans and a red sweater tee, it was too cold for her out in the windy courtyard.

Sherry hung her head and held onto Ryan's much larger framed body, feeling his warmth. When they got back inside, Haden and Wesley found them and brought them to the cafeteria, squeezing them in at the always rowdy hockey team table. Sherry sat with one of her legs hooked over Ryan's left knee, trying not to think about all the sex they'd been having at his house this past month. She felt so bonded to him, it was a terrifying thought that tonight he would be down south, billions of miles away.

Wesley sat on her other side, petting her thigh every now and then under the table. This was what he did whenever they were seated close enough, and Sherry was used to it. She and Ryan both knew Wesley liked her; that in itself was quite obvious from day 1. And Wesley had always been kind and decent to her, even if he liked to make perverted comments about her to the guys when she wasn't around. Besides that, he was extremely easy on the eyes, with a head of wavy blond hair and that lazy grin of his. One time, she'd gotten sick with the flu and he'd dropped off a care package, complete with chamomile tea and a teddy that said "get well soon" on its chest. He was a good guy, and to be honest, Sherry didn't know why he liked stroking her, when the entire female population of Firwood High wanted to jump his bones.

Through the window, Sherry could see James Rios, in his leather jacket, smoking at the smokers' pit. He was with Seth Costa, who was actually a graduate of Firwood—he'd been a senior last year—Seth was James's closest friend though, and apparently he liked to visit the high school... It made sense, because from what Sherry had been told, Seth was the most popular guy when he was a student here. And maybe now he was having a crisis, needing to relive his school days.

Sherry watched as Laura Burr emerged from her table—which was the unspoken popular girls' table—and tapped on the glass window to get their attention. James winked at Laura, and blew smoke into the air.

Was Laura the girl James had had handcuffed that day? The day of their first...fuck?

Sherry rubbed her eyes, turning her gaze back to the hockey team before her. She swung an arm around Ryan's shoulders, playing with the collar of his shirt.

"Sherry, I want to take you to prom," Wesley said with a straight face on.

Sherry stuck her tongue out at him. "Then give me a promposal."

"You won't beat mine," Ryan countered, smiling.

"Well, he might."

"Even if he does, everyone knows you'll—"

The side door opened. Sherry turned her gaze to see Laura gleefully running outside and giving James a hug. Her beautiful tresses—Sherry was sure some of it was extensions—fell across her shoulders, shiny and salon quality.

Laura and Sherry were in the same circle and Firwood wasn't a very big school to begin with, but for some reason they had never actually hung out together. They were on good terms, great terms even. But Sherry had been the new girl at the start of the year, and Laura already had a set of loyal best friends. There just didn't seem to be room for Sherry at the table, and besides that, she had quickly been snatched up, if you will, by none other than Ryan Daney.

When James pulled back from Laura's hug, he smirked at her, a smirk Sherry remembered all too clearly. Then he kissed her. Nothing too showy, but a decent, open mouthed kiss.

Laura laughed afterwards and planted an extra kiss on the glass window through which the whole cafeteria was looking at them. Then she traipsed back inside, her friends gushing and guffawing. She waved it off with her hand.

Sometimes, the popular girls were a breed Sherry did not fully understand.

And Laura was a fun, wild girl, with looks and a figure that outshone Sherry, according to Sherry. Still, there shouldn't be room in a happy heart for hate or jealousy. So Sherry was perplexed as to why she couldn't tear her eyes away. She just kept looking at James. Looking for something. Looking for him to look at her, maybe. But he continued chatting with Seth, like this was a normal day in his life. And then the two of them walked into the wet grass field, and they kept walking, away and away. Sherry got zilch.

*******

Her pillow was stained and it felt like her stomach was trying to hold back a tornado. She heard her bedroom door open.

"Sherry, what's wrong? Why were you sobbing?"

"Go away, Flan. I don't need you to watch me right now." Sherry hiccuped. "I just wanted a good cry, okay? Go watch Dora." Sherry frowned at her kid sister. "And where did you learn the word sobbing anyway?"

"Mom just said you were sobbing. And I'll have you know I don't like Dora anymore."

"And why's that?"

"Because of Diego. He ruins everything."

Sherry dried her eyes with her blanket and then she playfully pushed Flannery out. The little rascal.

*******

Was it pathetic how much she missed him? Was she even a normal human being? It didn't feel like she was.

Thinking about Ryan made her chest close up, but she thought about him anyway. She thought about him on Tuesday. On Wednesday. And today was Thursday, and she daydreamed about his smile, his dark eyes and hair, his abs, and how he always knew what to say and what to do to make her comfortable. She thought about how they were the best couple measly Anchorage knew. And it was true, their happiness on the surface wasn't a façade. It was deep. They knew everything about each other. They frequented Icy, the newish frozen dessert place, and he would gaze at her as she ate. He seldom complained or showed disappointment in her, it was like being with her automatically gave him a sense of delight to the core. And vice versa. She was seduced by him. She loved him.

As if thinking about him had summoned him, a new text message popped up on Sherry's phone from Ryan. Their last conversation had been a naughty one, and suddenly Sherry had to clench her thighs. She could feel her pulse in all the wrong places.

But this was something else.

DO U WANT TO DO SOMETHING OPEN?

Sherry texted back.

OPEN?

YEAH SO YOU CAN BE WITH HIM IF YOU WANT TO THAT BAD. I PROBABLY WONT HAVE TIME TO DO ANYTHING OUTSIDE OF US, IF URE WORRIED BOUT THAT.

Sherry licked her bottom lip anxiously, thinking.

NOT OPEN LIKE ROMANTICALLY OPEN RIGHT?!?!?

Ryan's replies were lightning fast.

OF COURSE NOT.

And then another one from him.

I THOUGHT U'D NEVER ASK FOR IT. U'RE TOO GOOD AND TRADITIONAL IN SOME WAYS LOL. SO I BROUGHT IT UP IN YOUR PLACE. YOU KNOW?

And another.

I LIKE IT WHEN YOU FEEL OKAY. I LIKE IT WHEN YOU FEEL TAKEN CARE OF. LOVE YOU, GTG NOW.

Just like that. Sherry pulled her cheeks with her hands. She was seated in the school library, confused as hell now.

*******

Sherry's next class was Phys Ed, so she was in the changing room, albeit kind of early. She had put on the Firwood spirit wear t-shirt, but she cropped it by tying a little tail and tucking it in at the back. That was what all the girls did. Okay, not all the girls, but the girls confident enough with their midriff. Luckily, their P.E. teacher Ms. Barnaby wasn't pervy like Sherry's teacher from her old school was. At least, she wasn't pervy towards the girls...

Sherry looked at herself in the mirror. Her frame was petite, but she looked model-esque, with long limbs and a long torso. She liked her body. And she felt lucky for it, in a way, but she knew beauty was temporary. She stared sternly into the reflection of her light brown eyes. "Ryan is just insane, right?" she consulted herself. "What kind of 18 year old would let his girlfriend have sex with..." she trailed off. It was better not to say these things out loud.

Sherry had to admit, that even though she and Ryan had been doing it three times a week, her sexual appetite had exploded after the James fiasco. And Ryan was too busy for that. He was set on pro hockey. And she had known, even before James, that she was... What was it called? Hypersexual? She and Ryan had just gotten off to a rough start, sexually, that's all. It was normal. He was a little intimidating. So much taller than her. And in the fittest shape possible. She couldn't relax herself, and she thought she was too small for him. She was too nervous, because she cared for him. Besides that, they got along so well when they weren't having sex that time had passed quickly, and he adored her even if he was only getting handjobs.

Looking back, she couldn't even believe herself. She couldn't believe the second time she'd had sex had been cheating on Ryan.

She was awful. She didn't deserve—

The door opened, some other girls coming in to change into their gym strip. Sherry stepped away from the mirror and headed into the hallway for the wrestling room, since they were in the wrestling unit. But she shouldn't have even taken P.E. She was bad at exercising, and it wasn't mandatory in senior year. She'd taken it to be with Ryan.

The hallway was empty and dark, but she heard a tell-tale giggle from around the corner, a pre-emptive warning. A second later, Laura and James appeared at the end of the hall. Sherry smiled at them.

"Hey Laura. James."

Laura grinned. Her skin glittered. "Hey! I'm just gonna change. See you later!" Bubbly as always. She slipped behind Sherry into the changing room. This left James.

"Hi. Sherry."

"Mhm." Sherry decided to keep walking. When James didn't say anything to stop her, she stopped herself, giving him a quick glance.

He was just standing there. Doing nothing.

"What?" he said, finally.

"You what."

"No, you what."

Sherry groaned and turned away.

"Are you missing him? Ryan? So you're talking to me now?"

"I always talk to you," Sherry returned, crossing her arms.

James huffed. "Right. Yeah."

"What do you expect me to do? Honestly, James. I'm—" Sherry sighed heavily and put her fingers to the bridge of her nose. She paused. "It was Laura, right? The girl you were sleeping with? Before I came over. That first time."

James shook his head, looking away. "Sherry... Why does it matter?"

Sherry frowned. "Okay, it doesn't," she relented. "I was just curious."

The changing rooms opened then, and students started to trickle out to make their way to the wrestling room. Sherry and James had their feet planted in place, equally stubborn. Maybe they had reputations that preceded them, but no one argued; their peers just weaved through them like they weren't there.

"You should get going, too, James. What class are you supposed to be in right now?"

Sherry's words were lost in the commotion, or James just didn't reply. He stared her up and down. Her bare waist. Her legs. Her face. They both waited until the hallway was dark and deserted again.

"So I don't understand why you had to chase me," Sherry started to say. It felt like her skin was on fire. It seemed like that was how it was every time she confronted James. "Laura's amazing. How could you not fall for her?"

James rolled his forest green eyes to the ceiling. "Wow. Do you realize how much patience it takes for me to fucking deal with you? God. You're unbelievable."

"Are you saying that just to get a rise out of me?" Sherry cried. "Ok. Bye."

"No. You bye."

Sherry flipped around, eyeing him, but he had already started laughing. "Yeah, you're so funny, James," she said, truly irritated now. Here she had been trying to have a vulnerable, honest conversation with him, and he-

"Sorry, sorry."

Sherry looked into his eyes, and this distance between them felt so strange. She felt that shivering feeling that happens right before the tears come, but she suffocated it as best she could. "Just go. Okay? Just go."

James hung his head slightly, and very briefly, Sherry thought she saw a wateriness to his eyes. He walked past her, and then he took a step back and allowed himself to touch her arm. "For the record, Laura is amazing. She's better than you. She's funner than you. She's cooler than you. More confident than you. But she's not you. She doesn't have your face, your eyes, your smile, your voice, your brain, your fucking everything. It's so easy to understand, Sherry. You just don't want to. You want to keep questioning why all these guys like you. There is no grand scheme. They just like you. Well then, fuck you. Fuck you for existing."

Sherry gasped, covering her mouth with her hands, because the tears came back. And James walked away.

*******

Sherry Tandon stayed in that hallway, James's words ringing in her ears. She wanted to cry but she didn't want to cry, so she tried a few breathing techniques. Suddenly, her phone vibrated. She was expecting it to be Ryan but it was a text from Haden Preston.

WHERE R U? AND WHERE'S WES? MS BARNABY IS REPORTING UR ABSENCES AS I TYPE

Sherry furrowed her eyebrows. Wesley Darc may have been a poor student in every other class, but not P.E. P.E. was his favourite, and he was never tardy for it. He was a sports fanatic. Almost every present he'd gotten at his 18th birthday party last February was sports-related.

Sherry walked down to check if he was in the boys' changing room. She opened the door with gusto, expecting there to be no one inside, since it was already fifteen minutes into class time. But she saw Wesley with his back to her, seated on the bench. Naked. His blond hair still wet from his shower.

He saw her too. "Holy fuck," he yelped, and his phone clattered to the ground in front of her. "Oh my god."

"Wes— Sorry—" Sherry couldn't not notice that there was a full screen of her face on that phone. A picture of her. She looked back at Wesley. His cheeks were red. His adam's apple bobbed. And he was trying...to hide his huge erection.

"Sherry," he said slowly, anxiously.

"It's okay," Sherry replied, keeping calm, to ease the situation. She closed the door so no one else could chance upon seeing them. "It's... it's normal."

Wesley squeezed his eyes closed. "Fuck, I'm an idiot though." Then he opened his eyes, blue as ever. "But... um..."

"Yeah." Sherry nodded, her mouth dry. Even though it was Wesley who had been caught, she somehow felt caught too. His physique was gorgeous. "I should leave you to it. Sorry."

"No. I mean, yeah, I need...to get off." Wesley winced. "But dammit, I'll just say it— Can you stand there?"

"Stand...there?" Sherry's heart was practically thumping out of her chest.

"Yeah, just... You look so fucking hot, Sherry."

His anticipating blue eyes pierced through her, and the fear in her melted a little bit. A sensation rushed through her skin. It felt cold. Or hot. The way he said that, his gaze, his desire. He was making her horny. She longed to feel a cock rubbing against her clit, and then entering her, filling her up, filling the emptiness. And this was Wesley. She knew him. She was his friend. She could trust him. Her breath caught in her throat as she quickly deliberated. But no. This was one of Ryan's best friends. But yes. Ryan said—

"I think I can one up that," Sherry blurted.

Wesley widened his eyes. He let his hands fall away from his erection, so Sherry could see its size. It was so thick. She could imagine that thick pink cock stretching her beautifully, pleasuring her masterfully. She slowed her thoughts. She was getting carried away.

"Please don't tell," Sherry prefaced.

Wesley shook his head.

"Wesley, promise."

"I promise. I swear."

"Ok. I'll sit on your lap."

"You're a dream," Wesley muttered.

Sherry went towards him, glancing once more at the phone screen. He had really been masturbating to her face? Just her face?

Sherry tentatively stood in front of him. "Should I face you or turn around?"

Wesley looked up at her. He wanted to touch her so badly. But he had to be a gentleman. He had to impress her. He denied his urges and forced himself to say, quietly, "I don't know about this, Sherry. What about Ryan?"

"He thinks it's fine," Sherry said quickly. "But don't kiss me. Okay? No kissing."

"Why? That's too romantic?"

Sherry sighed. She grabbed his shoulders, lowering herself onto his lap, forcing his erect cock against the crotch of her orange short shorts, in between their bodies. Then she shook her head and hung her arms over his muscled shoulders, pressing her forehead to his jaw. "I'm actually not some sort of sex goddess," she whispered. "I'm just so confused about everything in my life right now."

"Don't worry. I got you," Wesley whispered back. All he could see was Sherry Tandon, the girl whose face and body he had fantasized about for the entire school year, and that was how he liked it.