Color Of Love

Author’s Note💫

Hey! Welcome to Color of Love.

Get ready for a story packed with messy choices, fierce loyalty, and unexpected sparks. Sonny and Kelly’s worlds collide in ways you won’t see coming.

Your support means everything. Drop a comment and tell me who you’re rooting for!

Let’s get into it. ✨

Jackie ❤

Chapter 1

Sonny

(MALE PROTAGONIST)

I'm hungry. Okay, that's a mild statement, I'm famished.

Unlike Robert, who keeps picking up random junk without a care in the universe, I’m a little reluctant, given the dust on the shelves of this junk grocery store.

I run a finger along the shelf, collecting dust seamlessly, and rub it between my index and thumb.

Not to sound like a prick, which everyone ends up assuming I am, it’s not just the state of this junk store that’s got me on edge. It’s the flipping red dust.

The "Welcome to Coverton" signpost, smudged and rusted halfway.

That one dead robot next to Percy’s Diner.

The empty pool at school.

And can someone answer the phone when I call the council about the enormous lorry left on the side of the road?

I’ve had the displeasure of seeing it on my way home since I arrived in this town.

I am officially in junk land. Complete with an idiot for a cousin.

I keep praying he doesn’t do that thing he does before we get to the counter, that is, opening a packet.

I can just tell he’s going to do it.

At least he has the decency to give me a nod as a heads-up while holding up the Doritos.

And we're off to the second get-on-my-nerves habit: Robert loves to selectively and completely ignore my existence before tucking the open packet under his arm.

At least the dust mites will find comfort under his armpits.

To think Robert’s armpits and dust mites are my last thoughts... before I turn and see three armed robbers in scathing masks ambush the entrance.

My life practically flashes before my eyes as my heart races.

“You know the drill! Everybody down on the ground, now!!”

It must be the nerves. I only heard the “down!” part, the rest of the words registered a second later.

Robert and I simultaneously hit the ground.

“Shit!”

All the trans fats he was carrying now lay spluttered across the floor.

There’s screaming and yelling from other customers, I was oblivious to all this until now.

It’s a surreal, WTF is going on! moment.

Robert’s eyes could not have said it any louder.

“Everybody down! Nobody moves! You move—you die!”

I’m stuck, frozen on the floor, hands on my head, trading stares with Robert.

His stare: We are going to die.

My reply: Probably not. There are about six people before they get to us. That would be considered a bloodbath, and even thieves don’t like that—it’s gross... or do they?

His eyes: Obviously.

My eyes: I think I’ve got an app for this sort of thing.

“Do not even think about it!!”

It’s like both Robert’s stare and the girl—girl? Girl-slash-robber’s—voice go in sync.

Turns out the shopkeeper wanted to play hero by pressing a panic button. To no avail.

Robert and I both sigh… for a moment there…

I’m full-on breathing the dust now, flat on the ground, without a care in the world.

“There’s a girl?” I whisper—stare-talk officially over. I’m excited, startled, and way too curious all of a sudden.

"Yeah…” Robert shrugs like it’s no big deal.

He’s already mentally clocked out, just waiting for this whole thing to blow over.

As for me, I’m hooked to that tiny bit of fact like a drug.

Plus, there are just three of them. What could they possibly do to me?

...The idea is creeping in the foyers of my mind…

“Shoot you,” I reply to myself.

“I know her.”

This changes everything.

“What?”

“We learn together. At the same school.”

Robert says it like it’s some bonus point. Like we’re the coolest people alive for knowing this information.

I’m shaking my head in disbelief, like my brain just short-circuited, all while treading on broken glass, hoping we don’t get caught mid-discussion. It’s been a long time since I've been this intrigued or shocked.

“How do you even know… you mean the same school I just got enrolled into a few days ago?”

“Welcome to Coverton High. And you enrolled two weeks ago.”

Buying some time, the robbers continue with their threats, waving their guns at everyone in the store as they head for the exit.

“Kiss the ground! Stay on the damn ground!”

And just like that—they’re gone.

I can even hear the screeching of the car wheels as they take off at full speed.

One by one, customers start rising from the ground, shaken but relieved to still be alive.

Robert and I are busy dusting off our joggers when this dude in a security guard uniform barges out of a room opposite where we’re standing in the disoriented mini grocery store.

He’s got a gun held up but he’s waving it like a toy. Zero control.

“Freeze! Freeze!”

I should be impressed by the gesture, but his entire demeanor screams opportunist. And coward.

At some point, he gives up waving at the invisible robbers.

“Is everyone okay?”

We ignore him and continue dusting off our clothes.

Just when I’m about to take my first relaxed breath, the entrance is ambushed again, this time with more gun-waving people.

“It’s the police! Hands where we can see them!!”

I’m in mock awe.

“Really?” Robert mutters, sharing my annoyance, hands over our heads.

Then he pushes the envelope.

“Too late, pigs.”

Robert’s sarcastic retort and plain rudeness—too late, pigs—had one of the officers asking him for his student I.D.

He was let go with a firm warning.

After questioning, he returns the I.D. to his wallet as we join the living in broad daylight, heading for the parking lot.

“Honestly, I don’t understand why you’re mad at me?”

“Well...” I put on my shades.

“First of all, I’m not mad at you, I’m pissed.”

And still so f**king hungry.

I lead the way, chest held up, full of supporting points about this disaster.

“That was your voice on the other end of the line.

You misled me into thinking I was moving into a better town, a better school than Liebenberg High, and now, here I am, being robbed by my classmate.

Isn’t that just a great transition?”

He dares to laugh.

“Dude, you’re being waaaaay too sensitive. This is a healthy, well-functioning town, which means people get robbed. Sometimes.”

“Wow. Hey...”

I make a turn toward my car, grateful we came in separate cars, otherwise that would’ve been one horrible ride, sponsored by my perfectly-curated-for-years silent treatment.

“Don’t let me stop you from proving my point.”

I open the door and remember the obvious...

“And—and the girl?” I turn back, confrontational.

“You didn’t say a whiff about her to the police. What was that about? Were you protecting her?”

I raise my finger to warn him.

“I swear the heavens forgive me if you say you didn’t report this inhumanity because of the ‘H’ word.”

I give him a minute, better yet, two.

He sighs, donning some desperate look.

“Of course Kelly Martins is hot.”

“I knew it.”

“In her own rebellious-I-don’t-give-a-rat’s-ass type of way. But I promise you, Sonny, Coverton High is different like that.

It’s just that you’re new, and you have no idea how these things go. It is what it is.”

If that even makes sense.

“In as far as I’m concerned, this discussion is done. Drive safely.”

I nod to his car next to mine.

“And in case of an emergency, call someone else. You know how these things go. It is what it is.”

I drive off like I’m in the robber’s getaway car.

Author’s Note:

Thanks for diving into Chapter 1! I hope you’re already feeling the tension between Sonny and... Everything. The story is just getting started. Stick around, because things are about to get a lot more complicated. Drop a comment or share your thoughts; I love hearing from you!

See you in Chapter 2!