Caged Birds ✔️

Chapter Seven

Sam's P.O.V

"First course is served," the guy on the microphone next to the band announcers.

A dozen waiters walk around the venue, placing a dish in front of each guest. Jenna gets the Salmon and I get the vegetarian schnitzel with a side salad.

"I don't get it" Jenna shrugs while taking a bite of her Salmon. "If you guys were so in love ten years ago, what the hell happened?"

I sigh.

I happened.

I ruined his life as an attempt to save my own.

He was the key to opening my cage.

There was no other way to set myself free.

That thought depresses me.

"I told you, it's a long story" I look down at my meal, pushing the tomatoes back and forth with my fork.

"Tell me" Jenna begs.

"I'll get to it" I assure.

"Get to what?" A voice asks.

I look up to find four people from my past taking a seat around the table.

I recognized these people instantly, they were Brody and Angie (twin brother and sister) and Tori and Johnathan (now husband and wife).

This was the gang from Riverside, all that was missing was Noah, Matt, Chace and Ashley.

Anna knew better than to put Noah and me on the same table. After all, I haven't spoken to my cousin Noah since I left town.

"Sammy is telling me what happened between her and Matt," Jenna informs the table.

"I'd like to hear that story" Tori grins.

"Yeah what exactly happened?" Angie asks.

"We know what happened" Brody rolls his eyes. "Sam ran away"

"Come on there's more to it than that" Johnathan shakes his head.

"How about Sam tells the story" Tori rolls her eyes.

Finally, I'll be able to tell my side of the story.

"Okay, okay" I sigh then examine each person carefully.

They all look so different.

I saw Tori and Angie at Anna's bridal shower a month or so ago. They told me that they have no hard feelings about what happened back then. Brody, on the other hand, is still upset about all the hurt that I caused —, especially to Matt.

"Well, it was the first year that I was dating Matt when I knew that he was special...He was sweet, gentle, considerate—" I start with a smile.

Brody rolls his eyes.

"Can't you just skip to the part where you took off?" He says coldly.

"Shut the fuck up, Brody" Johnathan orders. "Go on, Sam"

I nod. I can see that I hurt a lot of people from what I did. I need to make them understand that there was no other way.

"Matt was extremely perceptive...still is, probably...Every time he looked at me, I felt as if he was trying to read my soul" I admit.

Maybe that's what scared me the most about him. Maybe I was afraid that he would learn my secrets.

"That sound's intense" Jenna comments.

"It was," I tell her honestly, "but then again, what first love isn't, right? We were moving so fast..."

We were moving so fast, it was hard to process every moment. We were together for nearly two years but it felt like a lifetime.

But with every love story there comes a problem, secrecy was ours.

Matt would never talk about his home life but then again neither would I, which made me think that his mirrored mine.

Behind those precious blue eyes, there was also his dark side. He was at times two-faced, driven by ulterior motives that he would never admit or share with me.

Around some people, he would be a ruthless asshole who would only have himself in mind, causing trouble just to satisfy himself. With me, however, he would be a sweetheart that was caring and gentle.

How was I to know which was real?

Noah knew everything there was to know about Matt. If Matt had a birthmark on his butt cheek, Noah would know about it. Noah was often the person reassuring me that I had nothing to worry about.

During our relationship, Matt had always had something on his mind.

His mind was always occupied with something that he couldn't let anyone know. Whatever secrets he had, they were big enough for fear to creep in any time I tried digging into his life —
Which brings us to our first real fight.

We had been dating for ten or eleven months at the time.

Matt and I were in AP Math class. I had been worried about the upcoming test for weeks, whereas Matt was as cool as a cucumber.

I remember sitting in that classroom with Mr Clifford sitting in front of the classroom observing us all. Matt had always hated Mr Clifford.

We were five minutes into the test when Matt stood up and handed up his test. I knew that there was no way he had finished already unless he was a genius or something.

It was the same day when he was held back after class to talk to Mr Clifford, a week later Matt moved to an easier Math class.

I stood outside the classroom waiting for him. Through the window, I could see Mr Clifford screaming at him. When Matt came out of the room, I was desperate to know what had happened.

"What was that about?" I asked as he stormed out of the classroom.

"Nothin', don't worry yourself" Matt cried, walking quickly to his locker in anger.

It was at that moment when I realized just how troubled Matt really was.

"Matt, what the hell is going on with you?" I stood beside him, trying my best to analyze his facial expressions. "What did Clifford say to you?"

"Will you fuck off, Sam" he spat, "I don't want to talk about it"

"What happened in there with Clifford?" I repeated firmly.

"I said, Fuck off, Sam" Matt shoved me, making me stumble backwards.

I recovered fast and stood there in shock. That was the first time Matt had ever touched me.

Without hesitation, I whipped my hand across his cheek. With every action, there's a reaction. My action made him push me against the lockers forcefully, hurting my back as a result.

Immediately he took a step back in horror. He didn't say anything, he just looked at me fearfully, as though he were waiting for me to react.

And I did.

"Don't you ever fucking touch me, again!" I ordered with tears streaming down my cheeks.

I used to look at him as someone who could never hurt me — at that moment, I knew that I was wrong.