Adventurous

CHAPTER-20

I should probably be at home by now but, I can't go home without getting any answers. And I don't trust Royce enough that he'll open up to me again. I will take whatever I can get now. Even if I have to face mom's wrath after this.

"The whole dating situation is a set up." Royce speaks in the silence of the car.

"Like, you guys are pretending to date?" I ask dumbly, even though he made it more than clear just now.

"Yes, Hope, we are pretending to date. " He replies with a hint of smile.

"It's. Not. Funny." I speak each word forcefully.

"Why are you guys pretending to date, only if you don't mind telling me? " I ask, sarcastically, letting him know, I'm not too happy with him.

Maybe, I'm getting a bit too hard on him but, he deserves it for everything he has done until now.

"It's complicated, Hope." He tries to reach for my hand again but, I pull away before he could even touch it.

"Are you, or are you not gonna tell me?" I ask, very strictly.

His shoulders dropped in defeat.

"It's because of her step mother." He speaks, his voice barely above a whisper.

I sit silently, not wanting for him to have any second thoughts on telling me. I wait for him to elaborate.

He doesn't speaks for the next 10 seconds. Seemingly to gather his thoughts.

"Her step mother is a bitch. She has vanshika's dad wrapped around her little finger." He speaks, looking down.

I know vanshika's parents spilt up around middle school and her dad got remarried 2 years back to a former model. This much, I knew like everybody else in this town. But her step-mother being a bitch is a news to me, obviously.

"Do you remember Harry? Vanshika's step-brother?" He asks, looking at me.

He must have seen the confusion on my face.

"He left school last year? mid semester?" He raised his eyebrows.

And then it clicks.

Harry.

The silent boy.

He was a year junior than us. We never talked but I saw him sometimes in passing. Thinking about him, I'm pretty sure I only ever saw him talk to vanshika and even that was very rarely. He always kept to himself.

Rumour says, he had to leave the town due his anger issues, which led him to attacking vanshika's dad.

From what I've heard, Harry's mom sent him to an anger management rehab, then transferred him to a boarding school abroad freshly out of rehab.

I mean, that does say a lot about his mom, since she didn't even try to be there for her son.

She found an esay way out.

Even I have issues with my parents. Our thought process is completely on different wavelengths. And I'm pretty sure, I annoy them as much as they annoye me but I know in my heart that they would never abandon me.

Such a shame, I can't say the same about Harry's mom.

I don't say any of this to Royce, instead I just nod my head.

"And the rumour as to why he left?" He asks again.

"Yeah." I breath.

"Those weren't the reasons why he left. He was sent away against his choice because, he and vanessa fell in love." He speaks, dropping the bomb.