"Soph! You look beautiful!" The redhead's hair changes color in the bar lights.
I separate completely from Ian, hugging Luna, who has changed into a little evening dress.
I look behind her and notice Oli. Looking at his girlfriend, he lifts his chin in greeting. Luna hugs Ian, who gives her a small smile.
Other hands hug me from behind, and Asher's lips press against my cheek. I giggle at the tickle of his hair. I turn around to look at him.
"And here I thought you'd ignore me after being famous and appearing on TV. " I tease, and he smiles, narrowing his eyes.
"Don't mention it," he says, kissing my cheek again. "How was the study?" he asks, looking at me but waiting for a response from Ian, who just shrugs and starts talking to Oli.
"It was good, we made more progress than we expected." I smile at him, watching the slight annoyance in Asher's eyes disappear as his chestnut eyes look at me.
"I missed you today," he says in my ear, landing a light kiss right on my neck.
"Next year it will be." I say, unable to help but get a lump in my throat thinking about the clock counting down.
I drop into my seat just in time to see the professor walk through the door.
I drop the cap of my gray hoodie back, taking off my headphones.
I sip my coffee and puff a little before giving it a slurp.
I finally turn to my right, seeing what appears to me to be too early, Ian Hill's sneering eyebrow.
"Do you have ones in every color?" he says, pointing to my fuzzy black shoes.
A little taller than the white ones I brought a couple of weeks ago.
"You can come home and find out." I replied in the same tone.
"Tell me the day and time." I push his face away with my hand, feeling his laughter in my palm.
Ian hands me a sheet of paper and a pen, and I sigh before jotting down as fast as I can what the professor dictates.
I take a picture of my notes before standing up from my seat, and to my surprise, Ian is still tucked inside his arms.
I'm about to wake him up when I receive a call from an unknown number.
The call lasts exactly three rings before dying.
I look at Ian one more time before heading out the door.
I walk to my car, ignoring the next three classes. Hopefully, I won't last long enough to make it back for the last one.
It takes me almost forty minutes to get to the address he sent me. I sigh at the sight of a small cabin so tucked away that it is perfectly hidden from the view of those passing by on the road.
I climb out of the car, cheering to myself.
A familiar smell wafts into my lungs, and a smile forms as I see the figure sitting in a wooden chair.
"I thought you'd quit smoking." I say this by way of greeting, sitting down next to him.
"I thought you'd stop dressing like you're going to a runway."
"What would be the fun if I didn't?" I say, smiling at him.
He's grayer than before, his face shows the years, and his hunched back doesn't let his great height show.
His blue eyes collide with mine, and I almost run out of breath at the thought of my mother's twin eyes.
"Black doesn't suit you," he says with a grimace.
I laugh, touching the tips of the long black braids I've made for myself.
"I've started to get used to it." I admit.
"You're letting her go," he says, and I tense up.
"Everything I've been doing these past two years has been for her. Changing my hair color is part of it all." I say, almost spitting out the words.
"Good," he says with a small smile. I sigh as I realize I fell into his trap. As if he needs to hear those words before he tells me whatever it is he has to tell me.
"Did you find out anything?" I ask, starting to get irritated by the mosquitoes that want to eat my exposed legs. He nods, pulling out some papers and handing me an usb key.
I raise my eyebrow, taking the small device.
"You wanted something that would destroy him, didn't you? I hope meeting your little brother didn't change that." my jaw tenses.
"Oli is everything I hoped he would be, even if it's collateral damage that he knows what kind of father he has, it was always part of the plan."
Another nod from him.
"Good." He stands up, pulls out another cigarette, and lights it.
"When will I hear from you again?" I ask, appearing weak to him just once.
His blue eyes look at me for only a few seconds, as if he can't bear to see me any longer, not with the color of my hair and the color of my eyes.
"Soon," he says, walking towards his car hidden in the trees.
I nod.
"I'll wait for your call, Grandpa."
I arrive home, closing the door behind me, and leave my shoes in the kitchen to try to wash them, even though I'm sure the dirt has completely ruined them.
I run to my room, closing the door behind me. I grabbed the computer and put in the usb key.
I notice there are three folders, one labeled "Forman Treaty", the next labeled "Governor's Agenda," and the last, which makes me hold my breath. "Ava Morgan Davis Young."
My mother's name.
I open the folder, and I count 17 videos.
The first one tells me enough about the other 16. How my grandfather got all those videos of my parents being, well, intimate is beyond me.
I can see enough to know that my mother was in that house more than once, right under everyone's noses.
I downloaded all the videos into a secret folder with such a large level of passwords that anyone who wanted to get in would get tired halfway through. All the other documents are likewise saved.
Just as I'm about to open the first folder, I get a message from Asher.
I rolled my eyes as I read the message.
"Ian says you won't be able to get your grades up if you don't attend class, did something happen?"
I replied somewhat quickly before jumping into Ian's chat and sending him a precious emoji with an obscene sign. He replies to me almost immediately, responding with the same emoji.
I drop my phone, clicking the folder.
The air seems to have frozen completely. All the air in the world seems to be sucked out.
My smile grows as I look at the documents, some audios and many, many entries with numbers and more numbers.
"Any judge would go out on his ass to see a tremendous fraud, father. Apparently you're not just good at being a fraud of a father, you go beyond that."
Sophia's Outfit