Word Count: 4767
Hey baes! So I've decided to update "early". I know it's late and that I changed the goal by 80 reads and I'm sorry, but my exam period just ended and I hope you understand.
I know even exams aren't an excuses to break my promise and I promise that I'll update from now on.
Next goal: 1k reads and 200 votes. Thanks and ILYSM!! ❤❤
See you soon with another chapter ;)
Love,
Jacee 😚
Chapter 9:
The Valentine's
Masquerade
As I sat down in the limousine, I realised that we were the only people being fetched by this driver. Huh, I thought, They must've let Violet and Allen get their own limousine after hearing what happened. I praised the lords and thanked Vincent and Cynthia silently in my head.
Soon, we reached school and the car was driven into the foyer. Chase got out first, holding the door open and a hand out for me like a gentleman. I blushed, taking his hand and stumbled out awkwardly. He chuckled at my clumsiness and I hit his shoulder lightly, still blushing.
˝Come on, let's go in,˝ he said, snaking his arm around the small of my back.
I nodded, pulling up the bottom of my gown by a little so I wouldn't trip. I glanced around and saw plenty other girls in pretty, short dresses and wondered if I was going to be the outcast of the night by wearing a long, 'fat' gown.
As if hearing my negative thoughts, Chase pulled me closer to him, whispering in my ear, ˝Don't worry Gem, you're forever the most beautiful girl at school.˝
I felt my blush ignite and stared down at my heels, focusing on walking. Suddenly, a kerb had to appear and make me trip over it. I cussed softly, scowling as I scraped my ankle on the school grounds. Chase brought me to a nearby bench and sat down, crouching down to take a look at my ankle.
˝Is it bad?˝ I asked, wincing when he took out a water bottle, washing the wound.
He wiped it dry with a tissue, smiling up at me in the process, ˝Nah. Just got scratched lightly by a shrub. It isn't that bad. I'm going to get a plaster for you.˝
He stood up, promising that he would be right back, then jogged off to ask students who were pouring into the school. There was no doubt that most of the girls wearing pinchy-shoes would have spare plasters in their bags just in case they got blisters. And it wouldn't be a problem for Chase to get them —judging by the horny looks all the girls in school shot him, they would scram from their dates just to touch him, regardless if they had a boyfriend present.
˝Hey.˝
I turned around and as much as I hoped it wouldn't be, it was the heartbreaking, blond bastard of a asshole jerk who cheated. Guess what boy? I'm going to crawl out of her mind and give your ass a kick so fine that you'll fly all the way to Singapore and back. That's directly across the earth, hun, Kasey scowled in my head.
˝Hey my foot! You shouldn't be here, Chase is coming back and unless you want to let him slice pieces of your ass off in delight for our pepperoni pizza dinner, shut up and f*ck off,˝ I seethed, trying to keep my excited middle finger calm.
˝C'mon babe, don't be—˝
I snorted, ˝Some babe I am. Look, Mitchells, this isn't hell yet and I always stick to my words. Now f*ck off.˝
˝Katrina, you know I'm sorry! I didn't mean it at all! It was an accident— Kat, I miss you,˝ he sighed, tears welling up in his eyes.
I pouted at him mockingly, wiping imaginary tears away from my face, ˝Boo hoo hoo. I feel so guilty. I'm sorry... Let's get back together. I can't stand being apart from you too...˝
I thought I saw him smile when I made an action to hug him and he stepped forward willingly. I rolled my eyes and smacked the back of his head as hard as I could, making him wince in pain. That's more like it! For a moment, I thought you'd need some help, Kasey cheered in my head. Good girl decided to make an appearance, but at the wrong timing, Kat, we shouldn't be doing this! It's bad! I internally pointed the bird at her, F*ck outta my mind. The cheater deserves it.
Carrying on, I dropped the act, ˝Like bullshit, Mitchells, wake up! This is Beaufort freaking High! I literally rule this place! And my first opinion on cheating guys still stands strong; once a cheater, always a cheater. Hmm... Who would be an excellent example for that? Let's see... Yourself! Leave me the f*ck alone, you cheating fishhead.˝
He opened his mouth to talk again and I shoved the upright finger in his face. He gaped at me in shock and I ignored the expression, whipping out my phone to text Chase. But before I could even type an alphabet, he arrived with the plaster in his hand.
˝What's he doing here?˝ Chase growled.
I shrugged, telling him to ignore the cheater. He pasted the plaster onto my slightly bleeding wound and helped me up and we walked through the doors of the school together, Eddie with a fake, longing gaze trained on me. Pssh, I thought, If you really liked me you wouldn't have cheated.
˝Let's just enjoy this party and forget about that player,˝ I said, hoping to release some of Chase's tension.
My hopes were squashed when I felt him tense up even more and wondered what word I said had made him react that way. But my questions were pushed to the back of my head as Chase pulled me into the Gym and onto the 'dance floor'. Guess we'll have to wait till later to ask, Kasey sighed disappointedly in my mind.
I agreed but put on a smile as Chase went into the 'classical dance position'. And by that I meant my head on his chest as we swayed side to side slowly to the music of Hold Back The River by the cohort's all time favorite singer James Bay, getting lost in the music.
I looked to my right as secretly as I could, my heart sinking in jealousy. The sight of the couple was too much for me to take and I forced myself to look in the other direction. Chase held me closer, stroking my hair as if trying to tell me that he didn't want me to turn in their direction again.
At first, I felt a lump forming in my throat as my nose went sour. The tears were welling up, that I could tell. But then, suddenly, the weight of them stopped adding on. Just when I thought they had somehow been blinked away, a droplet of salt water slid down my cheek. Oh great, stupid Eddie got me to cry at a school dance. The Queen, crying at the school's Valentine's Masquerade, I thought, hitting myself in my mind. I had a valid reason to, though, considering the fact that my good friend of seven years had cheated with my childhood friend, my ex boyfriend, on me. Stop thinking about them cheating! Kasey yelled at me. It was clear that she had enough.
But I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was everywhere with me— wherever I looked, someone or something would just find a way to remind me of it. Subconsciously, I let out an accidental sob and suddenly all eyes in the room were on me. The music stopped and even though the disco lights still moved across the floor freely at their own will, there might as well have been a stage light shining on me. Well, at least waterproof makeup assured a clean face despite contact with water.
˝What are you looking at?! You've got nothing better to do?!˝ Chase shouted frustratedly at the forming crowd.
Eddie stepped forward and gazed at me with fake pleading eyes, ˝I'm sorry, Katrina. I caused this. Let me make it up—˝
By that time, I had collated all of my feelings and locked them up in the darkest corner of my heart. I was prepared to fire a sassy rebutt at him, but my date beat me to it.
˝Sorry my ass!˝ leading me away into the opposite side of the crowd, Chase yelled a last, single sentence over his shoulder, ˝If you're sorry, why did you come with the blonde?˝
The crowd gasped, clearly starting to eat into bits and parts of the story. Many took out phones and started snapping pictures of the scene. Eddie was left there in stammers and Chase locked eyes with him for a second, glaring hard. It was like they were sharing a secret piece of information which they did not have a mutual agreement on it. I only became aware of the hot tears that were still flowing like a stream of lava down my face when Chase wiped them away and led me into a bathroom.
Stroking my cheek with his thumb whilst wiping a falling tear, he told me, ˝You go in there and clean up. I'll be out here waiting for you till you're okay.˝
I smiled up at him and managed a weak croak of thanks before entering the dirty washroom. I stared hard at my reflection in mirror and an inner talk broke out instantly in my head. Don't cry. He's not worth your tears. He ain't got nothing on you. You're free now. Free from the devil. Go find the angel. And you'll be just alright.
When I finally returned back to my normal state, I dried my hands with paper towels and stepped out of the disgusting setting, expecting to see my date waiting patiently outside for me. Disappointment engulfed me in a gigantic bear hug when I realised he wasn't there. He wasn't there waiting for me like he should've been. Like he promised. So where was he?
I turned yet another corner and heard a voice, ˝I told you to leave her alone, you bitch!˝
˝Ha ha ha. I'm the bitch? Yeah right,˝ a cold-hearted, sarcastic voice spoke.
I immediately recognized them as Chase and Eddie's voices. Both were yelling not-so-quietly and I was sure confused as to why no one had heard them. It was most likely because of the loud dance music that the assigned DJ must have turned up.
˝Well, you killed her, not me!˝ Chase yelled.
I didn't dare to risk a peek, knowing that if they saw me their calm-and-cool acts would be back on. I had to know what was going on even if I would get karma from it. I was the cat but I didn't care whether my curiosity would kill me, but rather about what secrets I would discover.
˝How many f*cking times do I have to tell you; the death blow was meant for you! And I have no f*cking idea why or how you survived it, but I sure as hell liked it better. Knowing you lived in guilt for three years,˝ Eddie laughed bitterly, ˝I couldn't have asked for more. But then I started to guilt trip myself for killing them, because she was innocent.˝
˝She loved Drew. At least she would have gone to heaven with him,˝ Chase seethed.
What? Andrew died three years ago? How didn't I know this? I couldn't take it anymore. I stepped out of the shadows and glared at Eddie.
˝I can't believe you killed your own brother!˝ I cried.
His eyes widened, ˝What? No! I would never do that! He's a jackass but he's family! We're talking about a different Andrew, you dumb girl!˝
Chase looked at me, his face void of emotion although his eyes struggled to hide relief, ˝Why were you spying on us, Gem?˝
I played along, pretending that I felt betrayed, but I knew I was going to get it out of him later, ˝What didn't you tell me?˝
˝Why were you spying on us?!˝ he yelled.
I feigned shock and flinched lightly for the effect, ˝Did you kill someone?˝
I knew we were both aware of Eddie trying to slip away, but we continued acting to avoid him getting suspicious. Between our angry hollers and artificial tears, we were both laughing deep down in our hearts, I knew. Suddenly, a figure darted out and twisted Eddie's ear, making him yelp loudly in pain and freeze as Chase and I turned to face him.
A grin larger than that of the Cheshire Cat's spread itself across my face as I ran to the guy. Fresh from Cambridge University, standing right there in all his glory, was Andrew Mitchells.
˝Hotsy! You're back!˝ I jumped and hugged him, ˝Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could've gone to fetch you at the airport!˝
He chuckled, hugging me back, ˝I wouldn't have you risking a week worth of detention babe.˝
˝But first, let me deal with this son of a beauty,˝ he added.
Andrew was not kidding —the Mitchells brothers' mother was beautiful. Let me introduce you to Andrew: as you can tell, he was Eddie's older brother by four years, his college life just completed and his work life just starting. He had always wanted to be a Physics Professor in Cambridge University since High School and sure had enough resources to help him achieve his dream. He was employed at the university back in England, so of course, he had a thicker accent than Eddie and me.
Pulling away, Andrew nodded at Chase, ˝Sky.˝
˝Julian,˝ Chase nodded back.
For some weird reason, both guys called each other by their middle names. Cute, but weird. Chase had said it reminded him of someone... Maybe it was that 'Drew' he and Eddie were talking about earlier! Eh, I'll just ask him later, I decided.
Eddie's wincing brought me back to reality. Andrew was twisting Eddie's ear like their mother would have been if she was here.
˝You're a jerk! I can't believe you would cheat on such a beautiful girl!˝ Andrew scolded him, pinching his arm.
He flashed me a grin and sent a wink my way before continuing, ˝Little brother, you were raised to be a gentleman, not a bang-ya-man. You were trained to be sweet, not unfollow your creed. What drug did you take?˝
I bit down a smile, ˝Hotsy, I'm gonna go grab a drink. You want any?˝
He wrapped up his nagging and smiled, ˝I'd love to. Any new boy toys?˝
Yep, you guessed it, Andrew fought for the other team. Not that it was wrong —it was rather cute at times once you got used to it. Besides, he definitely had the bad boy look to draw innocent guys in.
˝Nope, but Liot's here. He's still with Natasha though,˝ I replied.
Andrew had been interested in Elliot ever since I could remember, but he would have never admitted it to the other boy's face unless he thought they had a chance together. Until now, though, that never stood a chance. That was the only reason why I had agreed to date Elliot back then— all for my good friend Andrew.
I knew deep down that Elliot liked Andrew, but he wouldn't face the facts nor be honest to himself enough to come out of the closet. The Natasha thing was a thing between me and Andrew to see if Elliot would finally ask him out. They were too freaking cute together, even Chase had to give them that.
˝Let's go then,˝ I pulled him along, calling out to Chase, ˝B, come on, I'm going to get stolen by Andrew soon!˝
˝Julian, you can't steal my date! It took awhile man, you know that!˝ he yelled, quickly jogging to catch up with us.
I giggled, starting to run a little. It was then that I realised Andrew was wearing a button-up shirt and a loose tie with a pair of black pants. His hair was all gelled up slightly to the left and he just looked, well, hot.
˝So, why are you actually here?˝ I asked, slowing down my jog.
˝I'm Lanie Bear's date.˝
˝Melanie Evary Logan! Why didn't you tell me about Andrew coming?!˝ I glared playfully at the girl eating mini doughnuts.
She turned around slowly, her mouth stuffed with the snack, wide blue eyes staring right back at me. I glared at her once more, adding several hand gestures to prove my statement. She swallowed her foods one by one, taking a couple of minutes as I tapped my heels impatiently on the ground. Finally, the size of her cheeks toned down and she started speaking.
˝Sorry... Mac and Cheese, chocolates and two nachos?˝ she pleaded with puppy dog eyes.
I dropped my act and hugged her, laughing at her face. I knew I would get food out of it and that was the main purpose. Cheeky, I know.
˝C'mon, let's go find our dates and give them their drinks,˝ I grinned, directing her to the beverage station.
It was really just a row of seven desks with a long table cloth on it. Lined with different containers of drinks like fruit punch, cider, juice and sodas, it was surprisingly deserted. We made our way there, grabbing a total of four plastic cups and filling them up with cider for the guys and some Coca Cola for us girls.
By the time we got back to the two, it was just our luck that we chose the right drinks for the guys. Chase was muttering angrily under his breath and Andrew was staring intensely at Elliot, watching as he and Natasha danced. Ooh, someone's jelly... *wiggles eyebrows* Kasey giggled.
Weird girl, I thought, rolling my eyes. I handed the cups to the guys, shaking my head at them.
˝You guys have to loosen up! One jealous and one mad, everything could go wrong. Just— don't drink too much,˝ I winked at Chase, hoping to remind him of the time he got drunk back at the cabin when he was pissed at somebody.
I never really got a name out of him since he was just yelling a string of very colourful vocabulary at a pinetree the whole time. It was hilarious and terrific blackmail, but only up to when he hacked into my phone to delete the video. Speaking of blackmail...
˝You better tell me who the other 'Drew' is later, or I'll post a very funny video of you jumping midway into the air, after I pinched you because you thought I was gonna kiss you, on my I.G. account,˝ I whispered into his ear on tiptoes.
He turned rigid, nodding obediently. I smirked in satisfaction as I registered that I had intimidated him, but those thoughts faded as soon as I witnessed his pupils dilate. The chocolate brown turned into a shade of brown so dark that it was almost black in colour. Weird...
Regardless, I gulped my soda down in one shot, leaving a prickly trail of burning acid spiralling down my throat. Heck, that's painful, I frowned, gulping down some water from Chase's bottle. It calmed the feeling of spikes in my throat, but unfortunately not the unsettling feeling in my gut. Andrew could only hold his first three drinks with full sobriety and it was a bad habit of his to get drunk when he was jealous.
And by drunk I meant around fifteen tequila shots and about seven bottles of vodka. Yes, insane, we all know. But there was no stopping him —not even on school grounds. Also, he had an extremely strong immune system. Melanie put down hers and Andrew's cup, pulling him to the dance floor in attempt to distract him from Elliot and Natasha.
I think she'd gotten him to agree on trying to make Elliot jealous, because the next thing I saw, they were full on kissing. Chase and I were so shocked of their sudden PDA that we dropped our cups on the floor by accident. Thankfully, we had already finished our drinks, so we didn't spill anything. That simple action drew attention from Elliot and Natasha, causing them to throw glances at Melanie and Andrew.
My guess was that Natasha figured out the connection between Andrew and her boyfriend, because as soon as the other guy pulled away from his kiss, she somehow made Elliot attach his lips to her neck. Elliot was blocked from looking at Andrew who might as well have had 'Jealous' written in bold on his forehead with a black sharpie —we were all extremely clear of Natasha's victory when she acknowledged it with a huge smirk.
I was sure Chase saw the rage burning in Andrew's jet black eyes as well as I did. Just like the awfully hot and cute Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern from The Mortal Instruments, Andrew had somehow been born with pale blond hair and jet black eyes. Except he didn't have demon blood in him. He thought his look was freakish, so he dyed his hair black.
Melanie turned his face to look at her, smiled at him gently, then pulled his hand and led him out of the crowd. Oh God... He was glaring hard at Natasha. There's so much glaring happening at the dance today.
˝I'm gonna go talk to him,˝ I muttered to Chase.
Then I ran off, in huge hopes that I would be able to take Andrew's mind off Elliot.
˝Andrew!˝
The boy didn't hear me —he was too busy cussing at himself to notice. I pulled up the front of my dress and tried to speed up knowing that an angry Andrew always walked fast. Still, he continued to cuss at himself, totally unaware of my presence. Melanie was gone to who knows where and Andrew was all alone.
˝Andrew frickin' Mitchells!˝ I yelled, finally making him stop to look at me.
He went silent and watched while I ran a little more to catch up with him and stared down at the sidewalk behind me which seemed to have stretched a whole lot further. His eyes showed shock whereas his jaw showed frustration.
˝Oh— my lord! You— walked so fast. I have short legs, Drew!˝ I gasped for air like a fish.
Don't judge me, I ran about at least six hundred metres after him. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a little bit...
˝Ah, here comes the bitch with a new guy. Guess the other one dumped her. Quickly too, ain't it, Frank?˝ a voice chuckled, speaking loudly.
Nathan and Frank. Those two guys have been nothing but jerks to me ever since I stepped foot into this school. Turned out, they were Chase's old buddies. And though they were both younger than me by months, they liked to pick on me. I still remembered it like it was yesterday —every day back in Freshman Year, I would keep on glancing at the clock in the respective classrooms, waiting for those tiny hands to strike two-thirty. Just waiting very impatiently for the Seven Cruel Hours Of Our Lives to pass. Well, peharps it was just my life.
Anyway, back to the point— I was afraid of them both. It wasn't physical bullying, no, it was worse than that. It was verbal bullying. I would hold the tears in everyday, putting on a stone-hard face, but I let all the salt water streams rush out as soon as I stepped into my house. They would call me names and I would keep trying to get back at them with my pathetic, weak comebacks. I would try to ignore them all the time, but when all the boys you were sitting right smack in the middle of laughed at you whenever your bullies opened their mouths to speak, you would definitely have felt vulnerable. It went on for what seemed like forever, because like most kids out there, my belief was that The more you tell, the more they do, so I never told anyone and it continued.
Then, one day, I just had enough of it all and screamed the f-word at them in Literature. Sure, I had gotten a three hour detention for that —Ms Tara hated me even back then— but the smug smirk on my face didn't disappear even at the sight of the detention slip. If I could, I'd have sliced my bullies' shocked faces off and presented them to the world like a trophy I had won back then.
But as usual, the next day, the bullying started again. I finally decided to confront Mr Reynolds and he understood my feelings immediately. Not only did he keep quiet about it, he also teached me how to sift out words, in which Nathan and Frank used to insult me, to create my very own comebacks out of them. And the two left me alone, until now.
˝Look it's it! Genital is back!˝ Frank squealed in a mock girly voice, pointing at me.
Seriously? Genital? What the heck is wrong with these people?
˝Hey Frank, awesome imitation of me pointing and squealing at you! Thanks for the heads up!˝ I grinned, giving him a thumbs up.
As I waited for my bullies' reactions, I whispered to Andrew, ˝Hotsy, go back and get my phone, will ya?˝
˝A-hem... I'm just gonna go first...˝ he cleared his throat, nodded his head at me, then started a quick jog back to the school.
The boys then looked at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter. The heck? Did they take their medicine just now? I thought, frowning at their weirdness. Okay, no more weirdness, more like craziness.
˝Even your new boy 'toy' left you because he's too embarrassed to be seen in public with you!˝ Frank exclaimed, his chortles still bubbling from his throat.
I rolled my eyes, ˝He's like my brother, get your facts right, dumbass.˝
Nathan stopped laughing, ˝Look, it the genital is talking! Wow, that's a brand new discovery for scientists all over the world! We could be rich if we share this with the world!˝
˝Ya right, more like you are the genitals. Did you not see those dicks taped to your foreheads, clearly representing dickhead, when you look in your bathroom mirror every day? You've got our roles mixed up again, Nathan,˝ I replied sarcastically.
Nathan put his hands to his chest and gasped dramatically, ˝You're a pervert! How could you peek at me when I'm in the bathroom?! Oh God, do you peek at Frank too?˝
If I was a cartoon character, I would have had grown bigger in size due to my angry state. Sadly, I wasn't one and because of that, I couldn't have just punched their faces. Assholes, I thought.
The anger in me triggered my vulgar side and all the words spilled as if they were flushed out. I spewed all the insults I had like venom from my mouth, hoping that they would tear the bullies apart.
˝Asshole-like jerk-faces, dumbass little f*ckers, stop insulting me you filthy pigs! Perverted, good-for-nothing popular wannabes. You are lame jackasses who are also worthless, foul-smelling dickheads. Oh, I wanna say sons of bitches, but your mums aren't bitches. In fact, I pity them to have to deal with you,˝ I finished, adding a sickly sweet smile at the end.
Frank cackled loudly as if my insults were nothing but rubber, toy arrows shot at him which tickled. A shiver went down my spine when I heard it. They were enough to creep me out, the both of them. Where are you, Andrew? I thought worriedly. No, I wasn't worried for him. I was worried for myself. Afraid that I would break down in front of my bullies and give in to their satisfaction of watching me cry. They were worse than Cora who I could manage on my own, worse than any other person that had ever tried to bring me down.
Nathan laughed an evil laugh, ˝I'm going to give you a new haircut. It's probably going to fail in my hairdressing exam, but who cares? It's just a practice.˝
He then strode over to my spot coolly as if everything was normal. He fished out a pair of scissors from his coat pocket and took a lock of my hair between his filthy fingers, positioning the tool to cut off half of that lock. He knew how much I feared scissors, that was why he did it. The fear in me increased as he slowly placed pressure on the handles, taking his time to snip off my hair. He was about to cut it off when I heard a voice.
˝Step away, bitch.˝