Jessica watches as Troy Lex and his right hand Price try to fit in with the posh ambiance inside the Grande salle from her safe spot right outside the place, sitting on the outer frame of the giant window. When she and Lex were discussing the plan, he protested on having only his and Price's lives on the line but at the same time he knew that making Jessica enter would risk having too much attention on them as she's a Samuels daughter, so the three of them decided it was best to have her narrate the operation from somewhere where she wouldn't be seen.
So they snuck up a ladder the night they heard about the event from one of the servants named Emily, and that's how Jessica was able to mount to her advantageous spot. It's indeed a pretty good place to surveil the entire room, or at least the part she most needs to keep her eyes on and that's the stage at the front. The only part that she can't do anything about is not hearing the conversations that are being led on the inside. The windows are tightly shut as her mother probably ordered to have all of the air conditioners on for the day. It's a smart move to hide the noise from unwanted ears, but Jessica expects nothing than the best from a monster like Elisa Samuels.
She should thank her mother for being this harsh, actually. If it wasn't for her lacking love towards her two daughters, Jessica and Keelian wouldn't have been so close and it wouldn't have been so easy for Jess to stab her older sister in the back when the right time came.
She curses under her breath. She should've just killed Keelian when she had the chance back in that house in Traum, but her confidence wavered, as well as her hatred and she just couldn't bring herself to finish her off so easily. She wanted to keep her sister alive for just long enough to replay the events of this night and torture her own mind, the way Jessica knows she always does when something happens.
This time, though, as much as her hands itch to be the one who kills Keelian, she must let the boys do the dirty work for her, just like she was doing her older sister's in hopes to regain her full trust after she got caught while bribing Leonardo.
The constant static sound in her earphones is suddenly exchanged by speech. It's Lex.
"Be ready."
Jessica takes in a deep breath and concentrates her vision on her mother and father who stand on the right end of the scene with the usual stone faces. When her eyes fall on James, the harshness of her own expression softens. Her dad is the only person she wishes wouldn't be a witness to what's about to go down, but as much as she wants to protect him, she knows he should suffer, too. If not for being a bad man, than for being a Samuels.
The line once again crackles to life."It's starting."
Jessica rolls her eyes at the information. She can see well enough on her own to realize that her mother is mounting the steps towards the stage. Lex and Price sometimes threat her like an idiot and she doesn't particularly like it.
When Elisa is standing in front of everyone, the other rich men and women start clapping in pretend respect. Jess huffs at the familiar two-facedness, but still keeps her eyes firmly glued to her mom, only taking quick glances at the crowd in hope to locate where her two accomplices are, but has no luck in doing so.
Instead of them, though, she finds the disheveled black locks that she'll never not recognize. Leonardo Sanchez. Jess takes in a deep breath as the warmth that she tries to avoid spreads all over her body.
Here's another reason Jessica hates her sister: she's undeniably in love with Leonardo and Keelian stole him away from her.
Jessica takes another glance at the boy sitting on the far right, on the last desk and another blush creeps onto her sun kissed cheeks. She's been watching the boy for almost two months and up until now he hadn't felt her gaze even once.
She first saw him in the hallways; it was one of those moments where her sister was too busy being with her girlfriends to pay her any attention, so she was walking alone, unrecognized and blatantly ignored. If Jessica wasn't alongside Keelian, she was just an outsider. And then, on one ordinary day, she made eye contact with this tall pale guy and his silver stare made her heart skip a beat. Ever since that day, she's been trying her best to follow him around. She tried talking to him a few times, but whenever he would glare at her, she would lose confidence and decide against it.
She even got into detention so she could share a room with him after classes end. She doesn't know why he's always getting in trouble, when he seems to be a really quiet and composed guy, but she is thankful anyways because this way she can look at him more often and not rely blindly on her luck.
She takes another sneaky look but freezes in her place when she realizes that he's staring right back at her. The pinkness of her cheeks only turns darker. Oh god.
Why is he looking at her? He's never looked at her before. What if, what if...he finally sees her for the first time and is interested in her, the way she is in him?
She allows herself to glance again and when she does, his eyes are still pinned onto her.
A tiny smile graces her lips and her fingers gently squeeze the page of her textbook in both excitement and fear.
After detention ends, she grabs her stuff and tries to make a run for it. When she's nearing the school entrance, she hears someone running after her. "Hey!"
It's him.
Her breathing gets a thousand times faster than usual but she still turns around only to find his face uncomfortably close to hers. The sun is hitting him perfectly for her to enjoy the view. The straight long nose, the high cheekbones, the flecks of blue in his eyes and a...scowl.
"Why are you always staring at me?" He asks annoyed and Jessica's heart sinks.
"I-I'm not." She replies but looks away which makes her lie even more obvious.
He sighs and ruffles his hair," Listen here, I don't care what's your reasoning, but stop doing it. It's annoying."
And with that he leaves Jessica behind. She wishes she could scream at him, or talk back like her sister would, but then again if it were Keelian that was interested, she would've went up to talk to him and by now he'd be under her spell, no doubt.
Hot tears start pouring out of her eyes, but she brushes them away, straightening her neck and gulping away the embarrassment just like Keelian would. She exits school in the matter of seconds and allows herself to cry when she's finally protected by the tinted windows of her driver's car.
The bitterness of this event is soon forgotten though and Jessica starts walking around in hopes to see the guy's face again. When she told Keely about what happened, her sister frowned and dismissed her crush like it was nothing. Like she couldn't care less. And reality is, Keelian really couldn't care less for her sister or her troubles.
If it wasn't for her popularity, Jess would've probably kept away from her sister completely.
Fast forward a few months and a few more sad attempts on Jessica's side to talk to that mysterious guy when she first sees them two. Her sister and her guy hand in hand laughing at something she can't hear.
The instant irrational worry appears in her head. They're probably talking about you and your stupid crush on him. Or maybe they're talking about you sneaking inside the headmaster's cabinet to search for his documents and not finding anything. Or maybe about-
Her line of thought is cut when her guy pulls Keelian close to him and hugs her, slowly stroking her hair and whispering something in her ear that makes her sister blush madly.
Jessica feels like an intruder to this romantic moment but she can't look away, she doesn't want to look away, because it should've been her who's in his arms and is getting that gentle treatment and not a cold shoulder.
Tears threaten to escape her eyes, but she breathes out deeply and refuses to let them leave her eyes. Her vision blurs but she doesn't look away, trying to memorize this picture and keep it in her head for when she needs it in the future to be her motivation to bring her sister down from her throne.
This day Jessica promises herself that no matter what it takes, she'll take Keelian's place as the queen of the school and make sure to isolate her sister and give her a taste of her own medicine.
Leonardo starts moving towards the stage where Elisa welcomes him dearly right before she returns to her original place next to James.
She can't hear his words but she takes in every gesture, every curve and edge of him and even now, she's overtaken by the feeling of disadvantage and inferiority that she has to her sister, which makes the anger churn inside of her like a fire that will not stop burning her insides before she gets what she wants. Before she kills Keelian and gets Leonardo one way or another.
And then the very object of her hatred appears in her line of vision, her and Sanchez staring at each other with smiles on their faces. Jessica feels herself go crazy so she pounds uselessly on the hard glass the window is made of.
"Yes, smile while you still can." She whispers to nobody in particular and lets her hand slide down the window with a screeching sound that her long nails make when they touch the surface. "Smile before I get rid of her."
There are visible scratches on the glass where she let her nails dig. Just like there are visible scars on her heart where Keelian had the nerve to steal from.
When she finally gets on the stage with Leonardo, she dares to kiss him on the lips and that pisses off Jessica further, way more than she wishes to admit.
And then the line comes alive again. "We're ready."
Her skin crawls from the adrenaline and her hands shake, even though they're propped onto the cooling glass, as well as her forehead.
"Three."
Her eyes stare at the couple on the scene and her lips curve into a smile.
"Two."
"It's so close." She whispers maniacally and something between a laugh and a cry escapes her lips.
"One."
"Die!" She screams, not caring that she might be heard, not caring about anything but seeing Keelian's body go limp.
And then with horror in her blue eyes, Leonardo steps in front of her sister and the bullet pierces his skin instead of Keelian's.
"No!" Jessica starts shouting continuously and punching the glass, once again with no success. Her hands hurt from all of the pressure and her head is filled with the static. Her eyes are wide and terrified from what just happened.
This was not her plan.
This was not what was supposed to happen.
"No." She repeats, this time breathlessly and with her forehead still against the window, she starts crying soundly. The hiccups and whimpers so loud, she worries that even the people on the inside can hear them.
Once again Leonardo Sanchez escapes her grip, but this time it's her that's at fault.
Why is she always like this? Why does she always make her own heart bleed even more?
Why is her damn sister so well loved by everyone, that they'd even throw their lives on the line for her?
"Get up." Jessica whispers, still watching Leonardo on the floor. "I said get up!"
"Miss? What are you doing there?" Someone shouts from the ground beneath her but she refuses to look away from the boy she loves.
"Get up, Leo!"
Her sister crouches next to the boy's body. There are a few seconds of them speaking, looking at each other but they're so close together that Jessica is unable to even try to read their lips.
Once again she finds herself being the intruder. Just like that day after school, she knows she shouldn't be watching and it pain her to do so, but she still does.
She even keeps her eyes glued to them when Keelian presses her lips to his and closes his eyes.
"No." Jessica croaks out, so tired and lost. When it's only her sister that gets up, she finally loses hope.
So it was his last life.
"Damn it!" Jess pounds the glass one more desperate time and tries to calm her breathing without any success.
This plan wasn't only a big flop but it only scarred her heart deeper than ever before. So deep that she looks down towards the ground from up high where she's sitting.
The guy is still shouting her name, confusion in his eyes and when he realizes what she's trying to do, his gaze gets horrified. "Miss! Please don't do this! Use the ladder to get down!"
However, Jessica can't hear anything but the blood rushing to her ears. It's a fast river which makes her lose control and drown without a chance to breathe at all.
If she only throws herself from here nine times, she will be able to meet Leonardo soon. In a place where there will be no Keelian.
From her earphones, she can hear someone breathing hard and she can hear gunshots but she doesn't care. Whoever dies there isn't her business anymore now that the most important one of them is lost.
She doesn't even care if Keelian dies anymore.
She doesn't care if either Lex of Price die. She knows that in the worst case scenario they'll be taken hostage by the Samuels and in the best someone will shoot their brains out and let them follow Leonardo.
Before they came, she lied to them about the plan of the Grande salle because she wanted to get rid of them once they finish Keelian off. She didn't want to be their debtor. So she played them to believe her and she put them inside of the trap like it was no big deal. Just like she did to her sister.
Earn their trust, make them believe in you and use them.
It's so simple yet why doesn't it ever go according to Jessica's vision?
She jumps of the windowsill and closes her eyes just in time to hear another gunshot in her ears, accompanied by the scream of the servant who watches as Jessica Samuels kills herself.
She wakes up to someone shaking her and she realizes it's the same boy that was calling her name right before she threw herself. Annoyed, she slaps his hands off of her and tries to stand up only to feel the cold touch of steel on the back of her neck. Right about then she finally takes notice of the people who surround her and the servant boy.
What scares her more is that she doesn't feel fear, her body doesn't shiver when she thinks of death being close by.
Jessica finally understands Keelian's multiple suicides. In a way you get addicted to the high right after waking up with one less life. In those few seconds of confusion and mindlessness, you almost feel safe. There's a certain numbness that doesn't leave you, though. You aren't scared of death anymore, once you've seen what it feels like.
"Jessica." She hears a voice that finally makes her look up. It's none other than her sister. Still in her blood soaked dress and her hair coming out in strands in random spots, she looks scary. She looks as if she also died with Leonardo.
When Jess finally takes notice of Keelian, she cocks her head to the side. Her face is completely emotionless and her usually warm brown eyes look as sharp and deadly as the grey ones that Sanchez has...had.
"Keelian." She finally replies and the name somehow triggers her laughing reflexes and she starts giggling uncontrollably. "It's Keelian." She says, her eyes watering but she doesn't know if it is sadness or laughter that causes it.
"You're a mess." Her older sister states matter-of-factly and a smile appears on her own face. Not any smile, but a bright genuine one. "Now we match."
Jessica suddenly grits her teeth and the hatred returns in full power, overtaking her entire body. "You believe we're even now?" She snorts, "I've always been as messed up as you."
"No, Jessica." Keelian's face suddenly is right in front of Jessica's and for a moment her narrowed eyes and straight nose remind her of that day she first talked to Leonardo. "You live in your delusional reality where you're the victim, but actually you've always been the villain."
That takes Jess's breath away. Cry, she demands herself but her face doesn't get wet again. The only thing she feels is the stiffness of her skin from all of the dried up tears.
"That's right. Think about this every time you open your eyes." Her older sister hisses and grabs Jessica's head by the hair, pulling both of them up from the ground.
Jessica's always been way taller than Keelian and way more athletic. That's why the younger was never able to understand why everybody loved her older sister and not her. In every aspect possible, Jess is better than Keely, so why is it always the latter who got the better treatment?
"It's because I'm not a piece of trash like you are." Keelian concludes and Jessica scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. Can she read thoughts now, too?
Oh, right. Jessica is probably just talking to herself. She laughs and her older sister's face grimaces in disgust.
Keely's brown eyes finally move onto one of the guards that surround her. "Take her to Miss Lacy's."
No! Jessica pleads her older sister with her eyes. She prefers to die than to go to this place. Keelian spares her only a quick glance before strong arms take her away.
The younger sister can't believe Keely's cruelty but she lets her body go limp, finally admitting her defeat.
Even after all this time it's Keelian who will get everything.
What does Jessica get? A residence in the most remote place on Earth. Miss Lacy's Home for Troubled Youth. Or in other words an asylum.
You're going to send me to the crazy guys, huh? Then I'll show you what crazy really looks like.
Suddenly Jessica starts trashing in the guards' strong grip and a strained laughter starts bubbling from inside of her. She lets herself spiral out of control and soon after her laughter turns into a scream. A high-pitched one at that.
"Yes!" She shouts so loud that probably everyone in the neighborhood can hear. "The Samuels are crazy! We are fucking mad!"
Look at me, Keelian.
"Keelian Samuels is sending her sister to the asylum!"
Look.At.Me.Keelian!
"I killed Keelian's boyfriend!"
Her sister finally stops in her steps and turns around. Everyone who serves the house is standing in front of the entrance and there are two guards on each side of Keelian. One of them dares to reach out and grab the girl's elbow, aware of the scars on her wrists, but she breaks free. The ones who are grabbing Jessica's arms continue to walk but that doesn't matter for Keelian.
In the desolate hours of the early morning, even from this distance Jessica hears what Keelian says.
"I'll make you shut up if you speak one more word."
Jess plasters another huge smile on her lips and breathes in to speak.
Before she can even let out a sound, Keelian Samuels aims with her gun towards her and strikes her in the stomach.
The pain is sudden and strong, but it's not enough to kill her and rid her of it. "Bitch!" She squeezes between gritted teeth but it's not loud enough to reach her.
Jessica knows Keelian has the best aim in the family and without a problem could've put a bullet in her head but she didn't. Why?
Either because she knew that killing her younger sister would only shut her up for a few seconds, or because she has something human left inside of her after all she has lost and doesn't want her only remaining close relative to be gone, too.
Even through the pain, the smile makes its way to the younger's mouth for the few final meters to the gates of the Samuels' mansion. Those few steps are enough for Keelian to see the expression on Jessica's face and remember it. Keep it in her mind until the end of her days.
The young Samuels daughter is thrown on the backseat of Mr. Lawrence's car who greets her with a smug smirk, one that only looked good on Leonardo Sanchez.
"Welcome to hell, Miss Jessica."