The smell of freshly cut grass wafted through the air. It lingered around Eva as she lay on a mat, trying to study. Her eyes narrowed to pincers and she scowled at the help attending to the lawn. They were disturbing her studies and it was enough to make her explode.
She stood up abruptly, her eyes narrowed on the latest landscaper her mother had hired. He was tall and brooding, with sharp green eyes and the kind of jawline that you saw on a-list actors. He was exactly her mother's type and she hated him on sight.
The waning sunlight was already casting shadows over their vast, already well maintained lawn which meant evening was slowly turning to night. It was hardly the time to be snipping at bushes and discussing fountain fixtures.
Her mother waved her over to meet her latest tryst but Eva wasn't having any of it. She cast him a wicked sneer and walked away, ignoring her mother's annoyed expression.
This happened every time her parents fought. Her father would leave the house to go God only knows where while her mother would bring back all sorts of men, pretending they were there for some important business.
The timing would be opportune, just right for her father to walk back in, see the so called 'hot' guy and chase him out. Then they would have another huge fight and proceed to their bed room.
Eva didn't want to think about what happened after.
She tucked her books under chin and sighed to herself as she marched up the winding staircase to her room. The kitchen staff were bustling busily downstairs, getting dinner ready for the guests her parents were expecting. She could hear the soft clanking of fine china being laid on down on the table.
Soon the circus would presume as it usually did. Eva's parents skirting around their important guests, underlying tension sweeping the room between her fighting parents, Eva stuck in the middle, pretending to smile through it all.
The thought of another night like this made her groan out loud but then she remembered all she had been given. Eva was so lucky, luckier than every other girl in school. She was given everything she wanted and she showed her gratitude by giving it her all the only way she could, by excelling as a daughter and student.
It was the only way she could prove herself worthy of their approval.
She marched into her room, gazing at the photos and all the medals and awards she had pasted all over the wall. She had made sure to fill it up, to show her father her worth every time he walked in.
She remembered the proud look on his face the first few times he did grace her room with his presence but those moments were becoming scarce. It made Eva's chest feel heavy with dread, every time she caught him looking at her with empty eyes.
Eva tried her best, she knew she did. Every time she achieved, she would win back just a little bit of his heart but even she could not lie to herself when it came to her father.
Ever since the secret about his biological son came to light, Maximus Simmons had changed. Eva had pretended not to notice the vacant stares she received, felt bits of his attention slip away from her, the heart that belonged to her now replaced by another.
And how could she ever compare?
She ran to her bathroom and retched into the toilet bowl. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest, she hated this feeling, these sudden attacks of fear.
She didn't know where he was. The problem is no one knew if he was alive or dead. Eva dreamed of the news of a body found in the woods on a daily basis. At least then the secrets would die with him and she would be free to live her life and pretend none of it ever happened.
But the past was real and every day was an uncertainty.
What if he was alive?
What if her parents found out what she had done?
Forget losing a parents love. Eva would lose everything, her future, her family, her very way of life.
She heaved and forced herself to the sink. After scrubbing her teeth and tongue clean, she stared at her pale face in the mirror. Eva wasn't fair, she had caramel coloured skin, sometimes darker when she spent too many days under the sun for cheer practice.
But tonight she looked like a ghost. Her cheeks were devoid of colour, dark brown eyes glazed and watery. She gulped down some water and walked away from her reflection, her feet sinking into the plush carpets.
Like a person obsessed she ambled across the large room, her gaze fixed on the only person who could calm her nerves. Eva stared at the pictures from middle school and then to high school. Every year she had either come second to Nalini or beaten her and taken first place.
The tall, lanky girl smiled back at her. Her face proud as she held up her trophy, with a younger Eva scowling at the camera.
Eva smiled slightly. That had been three years ago and Nalini had beaten her overall score only because of one subject. This rivalry had fuelled Eva's determination almost as much as her parents did.
She leaned her forehead against Nalini's picture, inhaling softly, wondering if her hair still smelled like mint. Like how it used to in sophomore year. Eva had gotten a whiff of her frizzy, black hair before gym one day, whilst they were having their usual banter.
The annoying girl had complained about Eva cheating on one of the quizzes which was absurd because she had never had to cheat before. She had always been prepared until this year, until the incident before midterms that she tried her best not to think about.
Eva could not shut out the memories no matter how hard she tried. It made her lungs freeze with fear, crawling up her throat and bursting out as screams in the middle of the night.
"Eva! Get ready! Guests will be here any minute," Her mother called from outside.
"Five minutes!" Eva shouted, knowing she would get an earful if she was late.
Silence ensued and Eva stared at Nalini for the longest moment, wondering if everything would have been different if she hadn't made an enemy out of her years ago. Maybe they could have been friends, maybe more.
Eva wasn't sure, Nalini seemed more interested in her air headed ex, Damien. He was hardly her equal intellectually, Eva remembered how boring he had been as her boyfriend. All talk about football and sloppy kisses that made her want to gag even now.
She had done it because of peer pressure because it was what her circle had wanted. Just like her undying passion to excel in everything because it was what she thought her parents wanted.
But what did she want?
She bit her lip, staring at Nalini's soft pink ones, pulled back into a proud smile. A blank stare led to a daze, a daze to a daydream only to be interrupted by the buzzing of her phone.
"I'm busy," She snapped, answering it immediately. "I thought we agreed not to keep contact anymore. That it was best for us."
"I had a date today," Tyler spoke, undeterred by her snappy tone. "With Lola."
"So?" Eva pretended not to care, really she didn't until Tyler had planted that worm in her head a week ago before the party.
"I think she's hiding something."
"You told me the same thing last week," She sighed, running her hand through her long hair.
"She asked me about you."
This made her straighten up immediately. "She did?"
"Yes, she asked about our friendship," Tyler said, his voice teasing. Eva hated every syllable out of his mouth, it was as if he was enjoying this. If the girl knew things, he should be as worried as she was.
"What did you say?" Eva struggled to get out. She heard him chuckle over the phone and wanted to strangle him. "This isn't a joke, Ty. You should know that better than I do."
"Come outside," He said, his voice sharp and commanding. He knew secrets that she desired, the puppeteer pulling all her strings. She hated him so much, hated his strange obsession with her from the beginning. She wondered if psychotic blood ran through his family.
"I have a family dinner," She answered weakly.
"I'm sure you can get out of it. As you've done so many times before."
There it was, the threat that had made her decision for her. "See you in five."
Eva pulled her hair into a sloppy ponytail and wore a loose fitting sweatshirt with tights. She trudged down the stairs and headed for the door.
"Eva, where are you going? We have dinner!" Her mother's eyes were wide with disbelief. Eva rarely disobeyed.
"I have something urgent to do and I'm not hungry. Maybe the landscaper can take my place," She added unnecessarily and then she left the house.
Tyler was waiting just outside in his stuffy little ford. She got inside, ignoring the way his eyes raked over her face like he usually did.
"So does she know anything or not?" She turned to him, her face serious as he pulled out of her driveway and drove down the scenic road out of her gated community.
"She definitely does. That girl is hiding something. I can just feel it," He said, his eyes focused on the roads, deep in concentration.
"You mean to say you dragged me out here based on some stupid assumption?" Her voice raised a notch but she really just wanted to scream.
The car was quiet as Tyler ignored her, his eyes searching. They took turn after turn, going through the town and then a suburb near their school. He parked the car under a large tree, hiding under its shadows and then he gazed at her with those piercing eyes that made her skin crawl.
The intensity in them made her think of him. Of her nightmares.
"You don't find it suspicious that those three nobodies started hanging out with Damien just a week after Julian went missing? All of a sudden. Out of no where."
Eva frowned when he insulted Nalini like that but she brushed it off and shrugged. "So? People make new friends all the time."
"Come on, Eva. You have to admit it's weird. She met him secretly during gym one time and boom suddenly all of them are best friends who hang out in each other's houses?"
"How do you know that?" She asked, staring up at Lola's house. Her thoughts somehow drifted to Nalini, Lola's best friend. She wondered if she was inside too.
"I followed them home from school once. They went to Damiens and don't tell me it was for a school project," Tyler said crossly.
Eva's eyes widened before she hit him on the arm. "You followed them? Why don't you just paste an "I'm Guilty" sticker on your forehead while you're at it."
"Ow, don't worry they didn't see me." Tyler berated, rubbing his arm.
"Not yet."
"The key is Lola. This friendship started with her," Tyler reinforced, staring at her house with laser focus.
"So what do we do about it?" Eva huffed, crossing her arms over each other. "You plan to sit here all night?"
He turned to her and she already knew that look in his eyes. It was the same look that made them do all those crazy things a few months ago.
"I think we should drive around for a few nights. Just to make sure. I'll continue flirting with her in the time being. Get her to open up to me," His smug confidence annoyed Eva and she couldn't wait to get out of the car.
"Well good luck with that," She replied, implying that she wasn't going to have any part of it but then he grabbed her wrist possessively like he had many times before, making her pull away instinctively.
"You're in this as much as I am. I suggest you cooperate if you want to keep that perfect image of yours intact," His voice was as sharp as a blade, ready to cut her into pieces.
Eva wanted to break, shatter that stupid image she had created for herself over the years. Locking herself in a cage she couldn't escape. She wanted to scream at him, tell him she didn't care, that cutting open her carefully manicured image would be a gift.
Instead she leaned back, shoulders hunched in defeat. "Fine."
Guysss, thoughts on Eva?? I'm curious. Anyway now you know Tyler's intentions :)