When Harley Kingsley is accepted into Redville, one of the most well known and competitive schools in the world, with unbelievably high scores, she ends up attracting the attention of the most notorious and manipulative students of the academy, dead...
"Sam called me a while ago. Said he's gotten a text from your dad. I have no idea how he got his number. I've confirmed that the number is registered by his name and the timeline matches—he was released last week. It's likely that he is going to contact his children."
"Why didn't he contact you?"
"Because he fucking hates me, Nate. That's why."
I don't understand this. "Tristan...texted Sam," I say. "And what exactly did he say?"
"That..." she hesitates for a moment. "He wants to meet Sam."
My blood runs cold again. I have nothing to say to that and I think Vera senses that because she's rambling again.
"I mean, there's a chance that he's changed and that he's become a better person now but I don't know, alright? All I know is that Sam can't meet Tristan. He doesn't remember anything. He doesn't. That's why all of this is not making him all...panicked. If he did, he'd have thrown his phone across the room or blocked the number or something—"
"Vera," I cut her off. She falls silent. "Listen. Sam can't meet him. You know that, right?"
"I know. But just what the hell are we supposed to say to him? He fucking hates you. He isn't that fond of me either. All because we lied."
"We didn't lie."
She lets out a dry laugh. "Well, we didn't tell him the truth either. We let him assume and make up all the stories in his head that have led to this. If we had actually talked to him for once, told him what he needed to know—"
"He was a kid, Vera!"
"So were you!" she almost shouts back. "So were you. You were both too young to experience that. You were too young to go through what you did so don't give me that crap. We've made a mistake. Now we've got to fix it."
I lean back against the wall. I close my eyes for a second, listening to everything that's going on downstairs. Soft music someone is playing on the ground. People laughing and cussing each other out. Someone trying to play a trumpet and failing. Someone fighting in the cafeteria and yelling so loud that I can hear it despite being on the roof.
"I'll figure something out," Vera finally says. "A restraining order or something. I've got connections that might work but things like this? They require time."
I scoff. "And what am I supposed to do till then?"
"Keep Sam away from him," comes her immediate response. "I don't know how you're gonna do that since the two of you haven't been on good terms for quite a while now but you've got to do that. Because chances are, that shit of a man is after the money. And he'll do literally anything to do that."
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Harley
[ Present ]
On Thursday, things are more hectic than they've ever been. There's only one class in the morning after which all dance students head to the studio for a rehearsal. The costumes are here and I help Andy sort through them since there's nothing else for me to do. Distributing them is easy—Andy's just calling out the names and I'm just handing them out without seeing which person is up here.
