His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The following morning, Sophia tossed and turned in her bed as she had done all through the night. With only a couple of hours sleep, her eyes were red from exhaustion and she wished she could have just a couple of hours in that dream state. But not only that, she'd cried heavily as reality hit her when she woke up. It was as though all of her emotions had bubbled to the surface and hit in one go. An hour passed as she laid in bed trying to sleep but it was impossible. She watched out of the window as she dressed. The garden was littered with red solo cups, some still attached to the hand that had been holding it.

People slept on the grass that was damp from the morning dew, their faces pressed into the dirt where they'd passed out drunk. As Sophia stepped over them trying to reach the mansion, she felt as though she was walking through a zombie graveyard; the noises coming from the hungover adults sounded undead. Inside was no better - if anything, there were even more passed out students, some half-dressed after jumping into the pool without a swimsuit, stripping instead to do so.

Amongst the crowded floor, she searched for Kelly and Jackson, but they were nowhere in sight so Sophia made her way upstairs. She first stopped off at Jack's room, knocked lightly and peered inside. He was laying in bed fast asleep, and Sophia made sure she didn't judge him too quickly about the girl who slept beside him. Across the hall, she went into Kelly's room. Just like her brother, she was asleep and Sophia was a little shocked to not find a specific member of the opposite sex laying next to her. She half expected her brother's best friend to be laid beside her with his arm sprawled across her stomach when she walked in. The party had brought the two closer together, they'd been getting along notably well and Sophia would have bet her life that if Mason didn't make a move, Kelly would have.

"Rise and shine sleepy head!" She flicked the light on, off and then on again.

"Urgh." She grabbed the pillow from beneath her head and shoved it over her face to block out the light.

"We've got a lot of cleaning up to do before your parents get home in..." she checked the red digital clock at Kelly's bedside "... in literally two hours." That simple statement jolted her awake. The pillow covering her face was thrown across the room and before Sophia could release a laugh, Kelly was in the bathroom and had the shower switched on. After yelling through the bathroom door that she'd be downstairs, Sophia got started on the cleaning, and she was careful not to trip over the sleeping bodies on the floor. She was about to give each one she passed a nudge to wake them and tell them to leave, but decided if they woke on their own they might stay and help tidy up. She doubted it very much, but nevertheless stayed hopeful.

Twenty minutes later, Kelly still didn't show her face, but someone else did. Noah, dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, a tight-fitting black shirt and sneakers was pacing around the house locking all of the doors, but not only that, he also locked all of the large windows. His back pocket bulged from his body and Sophia noticed he was carrying an air horn.

He glanced over at Sophia, noticing she'd stopped scrubbing the counters and was watching him curiously. Noah gestured for her to copy him as he put his fingers into his ears. Once she had copied his actions, he pulled out the air horn and held it in the air pressing the small black button for five seconds. She pressed her fingers tightly into her ears to block out the sound. Unfortunately, the sleeping students didn't have that luxury and were awoken by the deafening noise. The disorientation was clear on their hungover faces as Noah stood close to a small open window and spoke in a firm voice. "No one will leave the house, or the estate until this mess is cleaned. Do I make myself clear?"

The mass of students flocked to the doors and tugged on the handles. When the doors didn't budge, they tried the windows downstairs and a few daring souls tried the upstairs ones too. Only a minute later, everything fell into place as the students accepted their fate for the next two hours and began to clean. Sophia mucked in as well and carried on scrubbing the counters until she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. Another took the sponge from her, placing it into the bowl with warm soapy liquid.