All American Boys

42. Chateau of Glass

All American Boys

Chapter 42: Chateau of Glass

I told myself I would return Isaac's texts and calls. But every time I typed a message out I ended up deleting all of it. Honestly I didn't know where to start.

I felt bad. The guilt started creeping into my heart. I acted impulsively and Isaac didn't deserve any of it. But at the same time, I really enjoyed it. It was something different. Whatever it was, I was torn on whether to tell Isaac or to just keep quiet about it.

Emily was good at hiding the hickies with makeup. She added some blush over my neck to hide the purplish-red bruises. Luckily for me, Cyril was too busy preparing for the party that he didn't spend as much time with me as he usually would to notice anything was off.

Right, the party. I still had that to worry about. It was an invitation-only event, of course. Cyril had sent me an invitation card in the mail. He couldn't be my official 'date' obviously, since he wouldn't want to draw suspicion to himself. Well, that didn't matter, because I knew someone who most certainly wanted to go to the party, just for the fun of it.

Emily told me the Beauchamps weren't invited, but Aaron was just going to try his luck anyway. Ever since the two families fell out Cyril wasn't very keen on maintaining a relationship, even on the surface. He wasn't the type to put on a façade. But Aaron wouldn't let the recent disgrace deter him. His family had always been invited to the fundraiser, he had told Emily.

"But yeah, that's when his family wasn't under scrutiny for corruption," I said to Emily one day when we were hanging out. "The Crawfords threw them under a bus, but still."

"My boyfriend's an idiot with a huge ego," she replied. "That's for sure."

I wondered if Isaac was going to be there. A small part of me hoped he would. But at the same time I didn't know if I could face him. But if I bumped into him and tried to avoid him, all the more he would suspect something. This wasn't anything like the Cyril situation. In that case, Isaac knew I was with him. But then again, how different was it? It's just a girl instead of a boy this time. No difference. I was still sleeping with someone other than Isaac. And if he was okay with Cyril, he might forgive me for this one too.

It was finally the day of the fundraiser, and I spent quite a while getting ready. The invitation stated a semi-formal dress code, so I went with a white button up shirt and black slacks. To put it all together, I completed the outfit with a black blazer. Yeah, I looked like I was attending a semi-casual funeral but I wasn't really bothered.

I decided to wear Alicia's heart-shaped necklace. For luck, I guess. Schmoozing and socialising wasn't my main goal, of course, but it wouldn't hurt to have some fun. The crucifix was what I was after.

It was evidence.

I had emailed the journalist in the article which showed Naoko Crawford wearing the crucifix, and asked if it was possible for me to be sent the photographs in higher resolution. All done in Cyril's name of course. It would be weird for some random person to be asking for photographs of the Crawfords. It's not like it was for any nefarious purposes or anything. Slowly I was starting to compile my case file.

Say what you want about me, but I still believed in justice through due process. Well, as the first optin at least. The Crawfords were going to fall. If that fails, then all's fair game I suppose. After all, that's what happened to us.

Cyril sent me a message right before the fundraiser, telling me how much he looked forward to see me. I only gave him a cursory reply. I didn't really want to think too much about it.