Disarming Dakota | ✓

»3. Crystallized«

"Don't worry about him. Honestly," Evelyn assured me with a forced smile. A fake smile. Its insincerity could be spotted from a mile away. She grabbed my hand, wrapping my fingers with hers. "He's not serious."

"I'll go talk to him," my dad offered to calm down the spawn of Satan and not comfort his daughter. He made his way up the stairs. "I can handle this."

"That's really not necessary, love." Evelyn shook her head. "He'll be fine. Are you?"

She was asking this question to me, squeezing my fingers a little too hard.

"I'm fine." I lied for the second time today.

Dad went down beside me, holding my shoulder. It felt like lead. This was a bad choice in coming here. It hadn't even been two hours since I arrived and I already regretted it. "Are you sure you're fine, Silvia?"

"Yeah," I replied unconvincingly. "I really am."

Evelyn's face brightened up. There was a completely different look in her eyes than before. I was worried instantly at the sight of that. "Hunter," she called out. He had moved over to the living room, lounging on the couch the spawn of Satan (a.k.a. Maven) had sat on only moments ago.

His head bobbed up. "Yeah, what is it?"

"What are your plans for tonight?"

Oh God.

"Why do you ask?" he inquired, puzzled.

No. Please.

I already knew what she was going to say and I feared that my predictions were right.

"How about you take Silvia over to the Giller's place for the party? I think she needs a pick-me-up."

"I thought you just said the boys shouldn't go," my dad said, matching the muddled look Hunter and I were giving to her wild suggestion. This woman confused me so much. She was going against her last order. Why would she want me to go to a party she wouldn't let her kids go to?

"I know, I know. But that was before." She huffed. "I think it would be a good idea actually. She can meet new people. And like I said, it would be a nice pick-me-up for her. Meet some of their friends, have a little fun."

I'd rather drink bleach than hang out with the people they call "friends."

I had observed the two boys a million times ever since they walked into the house. The spawn of Satan had on a heavy platinum watch with shimmering gems that could probably feed all the hungry kids in the world.

His brother, Hunter, wasn't any better. If I was ignorant to designer names I might've confused his assemble of clothing as nothing but casual wear. But everything he had on was well over five hundred dollars. A jacket from Gucci and faded designer jeans, falling loose on his hips was only two of the few things I could pin-point from my spot on the stairs. Whereas I was wearing everything from Old Navy and Ross.

"Dress for less 'cause you have no one to impress," was what my mother would say after we walked out of one of those stores. She was too kind. She really was.

Evelyn and my dad bickering pulled me out of my thoughts and back in the living room.

"I don't want to go." I spoke up. I quickly supplied, "I'm not even done packing."

"You do want to go," my dad said, assuring.

"Maven said it won't be that big of a party." Evelyn stated. "It's a small gathering of friends."

If the spawn of Satan said there wasn't a lot of people showing up and that it wasn't a "big party" to his mother, then that meant it was a freakin' HUGE party with nearly the entire county coming. And how dumb could Evelyn be? Every parent I knew (including my own mother) knew that "a small gathering of friends" was a lie.