The Heiress Club (COMPLETED)

Chapter 13: Exchange of Questions

With mild grumbles, the others all begin to get out as well. "Ugh, I'll meet you guys later," I tell them. I want to lay here, weightless for a little while longer. I think it'll be good for my leg. "Es, I'm stealing your headrest."

Es laughs. "Okay. Take your time. Don't slip and hurt your leg again."

I tip my head back onto the board and close my eyes. It's quiet, the only sound the lapping of water. Only when I'm alone can I really relax. I know it's easy to physically relax in a place like this, even if you are surrounded by other people, but there's still the feeling that you're being watched. That feeling never leaves, like a knot between your shoulders. Not until you're alone.

The weight of the past few months hits me. I can't help being bad at school and I'm not getting any better, so I think I'll try not to worry about it when we get back from break. Teddy is someone that I have plans for. I have plans for a lot of people. Teddy is one of the worst. It seems a little strange, even to me, that I'm hunting him down so determinedly because of Nandika, someone I don't even know that well, but it's not just about Nandika. It's about justice.

And anyways, what else am I going to do to fill my time?

Jasper's another problem. He's annoying, and annoying in the way where he actually has the power to do things to hurt me. I really don't get his deal. It seems a little crazy that he actually thinks I don't have family in Italy and I'm just lying about that. Where else would I have come from? Chicago?

Suddenly, there's a soft splash. I open my eyes and lift my head. Instinctively, I jerk back out of sheer surprise.

Jasper's laugh is low and devoid of humour. "Surprised?"

He sits right across from me. I was floating in the middle of the pool, and Jasper has sat down on the edge, half-submerged in the warm water. He's uncomfortably close. It's hard to look at him from this angle without first looking at his hands, resting casually against the edge with his glinting gold ring, his arms, his chest, his collarbones. Unbidden, the image of him as a cruel angel sculpted from marble rises to my mind.

"What is it this time?" I ask flatly, in a tone that implies I am entirely uninterested in anything he has to say, even if my mouth has gone dry just from his presence.

His gaze narrows. "I just wanted to ask some ... questions."

"I'm not interested in answering." I've snapped out of my relaxation. I reach for the edge of the pool, heaving myself up and out of the water. I shiver. It's cold. I search for the bathrobe I left on a bench, but it's not there. I give Jasper a nasty look. "Oh, really. Very mature."

Jasper smiles with an easy, infuriating grin. He holds his own bathrobe, folded over his arm. I briefly consider trying to take it from him, but I doubt I'd be able to. He's faster and taller than me. "You'll answer now, won't you?"

"No." Even if I have to walk there in the icy cold, it's better than getting interrogated by him.

I turn to leave but suddenly, he stands, grabs my hand and yanks me forcefully back. He angles me so that it'd be so easy for him to just let go and I'd fall into the water. His skin presses against mine and my heartbeat picks up pace. "Do you think this is funny? I'll toss you in the water like you did to me with the ice. Answer my que—"

I jab my elbows backwards, willingly crashing into the water. I surface, spitting up hot water that tastes like minerals. "You tried that trick on the cruise too. Won't work twice, dickhead," I snap.

He shrugs, looking unconcerned. He can look as untouchable as he wants, but I do see him press a hand gingerly to his ribs where I elbowed him. "Shame. Then we'll have to do this differently."