Hey Guys! This chapter is dedicated to @bluesorbet . She has guided me since my first chapter and I am so thankful to her. (Another bunch of dedications will be mentioned in the upcoming chapters!) The song sets up the mood for this chapter. The photograph is the outfit that Emma wears to school the next day. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please ignore the mistakes and typos! X!
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"Pull over Adrian, you're freaking me out." Emma shouted over the blowing wind, a wave of anxiety taking over her face.
"Emma Steele. Since when have you started getting so anxious. All the stories that I've heard about you, all the times that I've seen you, you've been so confident about everything. What has happened to you Emma?" Adrian asked.
"Has Thalia put you up to this? It wouldn't be a shocker to know that Thalia asked you to do this. Where are we going. TELL ME!" Emma shouted. She started hitting Adrian on his arm in an attempt to get him to pull over. Fear was taking the better of Emma. She never liked being left in the unknown, at least not since Rachel's party.
"For the record, I don't like Thalia. And no, she has not put me up to anything. It is just a surprise Emma. Jeez. Calm down."
"I. Hate. Surprises." Emma emphasised.
"You'll like this one."
"What is wrong with you Adrian! Pull over. I am not getting a good feeling here." Saying this Emma started hitting him on his arm with most of her strength. The crowd was thinning, they were moving towards a quieter part of the city that never slept.
"Emma." Adrian grabbed Emma's hand and continued driving. "We're reaching in 5 minutes. You really should calm down Emma."
Then Adrian pulled up near the back entrance of Regal furniture, Brooklyn.
"Come on." He said while getting out of the car, clicking on the switch to close the soft top of his convertible.
"No." Emma said defiantly.
"Emma. Don't behave like a kid. Come on." Adrian said opening the door to the passenger's side.
"No Adrian. I am not walking with you to a secluded store house of a furniture shop. I've seen every episode of criminal mind and law and order. I know what is gonna happen. I can't believe you are doing this to me. Why? I trusted you. I thought you were my friend."
"Emma. Don't make me do something that I don't want to. Today is the first day we've met, and I really don't wish to make it awkward between us." Adrian closed his eyes, trying to regain his composure.
"Oh really! As if things aren't awkward enough already. You are kidnapping me, but why? Are you related to some cult? Is that what all of this is about? Am I gonna be a sacrifice? You're seriously going to do thi-" suddenly, Adrian bent down and lifted Emma on his back, locked his car and started walking towards the dilapidated building that was supposed to be the store house.
"Put me down!" Emma shouted and tried to put up a fight by kicking her legs in the air. The hem of her pullover was now near her neck. Her bralette was visible.
Adrian opened the door to the dilapidated building, and then turned around to close the door. He then kept walking and then flicked on a switch. Emma's heart beats were racing, and there was a rush of blood to her head. Emma saw the lights turned on and realised that they were walking towards a stage.
'This is it. That monster is not going to kill me. Adrian is going to, for his cult.' Emma though to herself.
Tears started stinging the back of her eyes; fear had made home in Emma's chest. Just when she thought things were going her way, everything went downwards.
Adrian then put her down at the centre of the stage. She looked around. It was an old theatre, it had furniture put around, and it had a rustic vibe. At the centre of the seats of the theatre, there were candles put up, and two cans of soda were kept with a box of pizza.
Realisation dawned upon her. He wasn't going to kill her. It indeed was a surprise.
"Oh my god! You aren't going to kill me." Emma was so filled with joy that tears started falling from her eyes. Her knees gave up on her and she fell down crying.
"Emma." Adrian bent down and hugged her. She hugged him back and continued crying. She wasn't crying just because she realised that she wasn't going to die, but her tears were for all the pain and trouble she had faced since the past few days. She grabbed onto Adrian's jacket and cried.
Adrian was rubbing her back, and trying to console her. He understood that she was crying out of pain, the pain of carrying secrets that she did.
"Shush. It's okay Emma. I am here. I am here. It will be alright. It'll be okay. Shush." Adrian tried to console her. He put arms around Emma's petite figure.
"Thank you." Emma whispered looking up at Adrian.
He saw that Emma's cheeks were glistened with her tears, her beautiful eyes were red because of all the crying, her cheeks were flushed with colour, her lower lip was swollen.
The urge to kiss her rised in Adrian. "Shall we?" He asked Emma pointing towards the two cans of soda and a box of pizza.
She nodded and started to get up but her knees gave up and she wobbled. Without saying anything, Adrian put his hand on Emma's waist and lifted her up and started walking off the stage. Emma kept looking at Adrian. All of this reminded Emma of her mother; Emma and her mother used to go around the city, having escapades.
Adrian put her down on a seat. "I didn't realise that you hated surprises so much." Adrian said trying to change the atmosphere.
"You have no clue. " Emma said with a laugh of her own. She indeed had assumed the worst; but ever since the monster had set out on her trail Emma had the tendency to assume the worst. "I am sorry" Emma said in a small voice.
"A sorry isn't going to suffice Emma! You actually thought I was in a cult?" Adrian laughed.
"Well, you weren't pulling over, and you brought me to Brooklyn instead of Waldorf Astoria, and you weren't saying anything. So I just freaked out a little." Emma tried to explain, laughing herself.
"A little! Oh come on! You literally started hitting me while I was driving. I can totally see why that mugger wouldn't attempt to mug anyone any time soon." he joked.
"You know, my mum and I had several secret rendezvous like this." Emma told him looking around while eating a slice of pizza.
"This will be one of our rendezvous then." Adrian said while opening the cans of soda.
"What place is this anyway?"
"The 46th street Loew's street theatre."
"Wow. How did you find this place?"
"Tyler, Christan and I had found this."
"Christan?"
"Yeah. Christan."
"You guys used to be friends?"
"Best. Best friends. Tyler, me and Christan. We were the trio; imagine three toddlers running around in diapers, that was us."
Emma kept looking at him, hoping he would continue, but Adrian sat silently, reminiscing.
//**//
"Christan. What are you doing here?" Willow asked furiously. "No one invited you."
Before Christan could say anything Eden announced, "I did. Willow, back off."
Willow looked like an injured puppy and sat down at her seat. Christan pulled up a seat opposite to Noah.
"Would you like to order something?" Katie asked Christan passing him a menu card.
"No. Thank you Katie." Christan said courteously. "I actually wanted to talk to you guys."
"Woah. What is going on? You want to talk to us. Eden wants to talk to us. What is it you guys?" Justin asked innocently.
"Eden what is going on?" Willow asked ignoring Christan.
"Well, Emma wants us to take part in the Culturalathon with Adrian Anastas in our team."
There were different reactions to this simultaneously.
Justin, Leo, Noah shouted "WHAT" with a wave of shock washing over them.
Juan, Toby and Jeff shouted "Hell no!"
Willow, Steph and the rest gave different tones of 'Woahs' and 'Okays'; while Christan shouted, "With Adrian?"
Christan had anger written all over his face.
"Yes. That is what she said. And you guys are the team." Eden continued. "Not you though Christan." He added awkwardly.
"Well, obviously, I can't be a part of this with Emma. I am already registering with Thalia's team." Christan lied.
"Okay. What did you want to tell us?" Toby asked.
"Emma is in some kind of trouble." Christan blurted out.
"Why do you think so?" Jeff asked inquiring.
Christan then told them about all the events of that evening, about the black note and how her lip was bleeding and her scarf was missing; Eden, Willow and Steph added bits about the evening .
"We need to find out whatever is going on and protect her." Christan added frantically
"Okay. I get all of this. But Christan, tell me something; Why are you so worried about Emma? What is in for you?" Katie inquired.
Christan had no answer to her question. He asked himself the same question. Why was he so worried about her. Why was he doing all of this for Emma, the girl whim Thalia hated, who was trying to steal Ryan from Thalia. He just looked at Katie without any reply.
"So, can we just decide the team for the Culturalathon?" Eden said breaking the deafening silence.
"Well, Leo and I already gave our names for the on stage committee. We both might be host the event." She said with a little excitement in her voice.
"Toby and I are in." Sia told Eden while hugging Toby, while he just gave a helpless expression.
"I am in. And so is Steph." Willow declared. Steph opened his mouth to say something but shut it immediately when he saw Willow glaring at him.
"Sorry guys, but Julia made me register for the decoration committee." Brad said.
"Oh really! I made you? You didn't want to be a part of it, did you? huh?" Julia questioned Brad threateningly. Brad gulped visibly.
"Well, Julia also made me and Noah register for the lightening committee." Alex looked at Brad and laughed.
"Stop blaming me you guys! You both need that extra credit or else say goodbye to college." Julia said with a motherly instinct.
"Okay. Well, Maia and Rachel are obviously in." Willow said, taking the charge and smiling at Maia and Rachel who returned the gesture. "That leaves place for just one person, so Justin, Juan and Jeff can decide amongst themselves." she continued.
"I'll be more than happy to be a part of it." Justin said. "Plus, neither Juan nor Jeff can do any cultural activity. They have two left feet and the voice of a crow." Justin joked.
"Done then! Let me write down the names on a piece of paper."
Willow passed around the piece of paper and everyone checked it out, "I'll fill up the participation form tomorrow."
"Perfecto." said Sia looking at the paper approvingly.
"Okay then, I'll take your leave guys. I'll see you all tomorrow, keep an eye out for Emma." Christan started to leave.
"I've created a group chat, text any updates on it." Jeff said.
"Okay."
//**//
*Emma's POV*
After the pizza at the theatre, Adrian took me to his father's Imperial Hotel. We danced around at the hotel, and played soccer in the library, stopped the elevator at a random floor and clicked dumb pictures. He also took me to the conference hall, there we raced on Bell carts. I had a lot of fun. I had not had this much fun, not since mum died. We had caused so much trouble at the hotel, that the senior manager had to request us to leave.
We were going towards my house. Eden was supposed to be there with everyone. My lip was swollen. I knew that if they saw me they would start freaking out. Another thing that I was worried about was how they would treat Adrian. I, personally had seen a friend in Adrian but I couldn't be too sure about everyone else.
When we reached my house, I saw my car parked right there. It looked new, not a single scratch was seen. I fumbled with my keys in front of the door to my house, while Adrian parked his car next to the several other cars that belonged to everyone else inside my house.
Before I could open the door using my keys, the door opened. Noah had opened it for me.
"Come on in! Mr.Steele is making smoothies for all of us." Noah said cheerfully. Adrian had now joined us.
"No. Do not drink the smoothies made by him." I shouted while entering. I threw my bag on the floor and barged into the kitchen. Daddy was standing there, with the fridge open, a few strawberries and a whole lot of spinach cut on the chopping board.
"Daddy. You do not have to extend your smoothie hospitality to my friends. No." I declared.
"Emma-Wemma-Dwemma! Why didn't you tell me that you invited some friends over. I would have brought more ingredients for the smoothie on my way back." He said cheerfully.
"No. I'll make the smoothies. Please. Why don't you go to your study and prepare your proposal to Stacy. Please. I don't want my friends to get diarrhoea tomorrow."
He gasped dramatically while holding a hand over his chest.
"Daddy. Quit the drama. I need to prepare the team for the Culturalathon." I said pushing him by his shoulders out of the kitchen.
"Okay. Fine." Daddy said. He took off the apron and started for the stairs.
I called out to my friends to come to the kitchen.
"You have a beautiful house Emma." Willow said, entering the kitchen.
"Thanks. Well, it is beautiful because Stacy and I don't let daddy cook, or else this house would've burnt to the ground." I said with a laugh. Everyone laughed at this.
"Here." Willow handed me a piece of paper. This piece of paper had everyone's names written and Willow had also given us an amazing team name. 'The tribe.' It had a great ring to it.
I looked around myself, and everyone was talking and laughing. Adrian, Juan, Jeff and Noah were playing catch with an apple; Eden was laughing at Rachel who attempted to hit Justin with an Orange and failed miserably; they all were my family.
I had finally found a home. I was not going to run away anymore. It was time that I faced the demons plaguing me. And then a face crossed my mind; the black haired boy I had argued on the first day with, the boy who promised an 'Always' to me, the boy named Christan.
//**//
*Christan's POV *
After leaving Olive Garden, I texted Thalia.
Within the next hour, Thalia, Serene and Ryan were at my place. We all were sitting up in my room. My laundry room had been white washed and was back to normal. The blood from the previous night was gone now.
"So..What is it Christan?" Serene asked.
"We have to take part in the Culturalathon." I told them.
"What? Why?" Ryan asked, his expression was obnoxious.
"Because Emma is taking part, and who ever takes part also increases their chances of being a part of the Student body. Also, if she wins that, she will gain control. Thalia, you already lost the online poll to her, you can't lose this competition to her." Christan said.
"He is right. I need to take part in this event. We need ten people in our team I suppose. I'll register tomorrow itself. What else did you get to know Christan?" Thalia questioned, leaning in, showing her interest.
"Well, she already has her team, and her team name is the tribe. I am pretending to be friends with Eden so that he keeps giving me all the important information, so I'll keep you posted." I told them.
"Okay. So we'll meet you tomorrow in school then?" Thalia said and started walking out. Serene walked up to and kissed me.
"Good night babe." She said and walked out.
"I hope you remember how much you owe me Chris, never forget what happened after Tyler." Ryan said with a pat on my shoulder and left.
I threw myself on my bed. Tired. And started dreaming of the her; her eyes filled with fear, her leaving with Adrian, her clutching my t shirt, and me kissing her. I dreamt of her and fell in love with my dreams. The walls she had built around her made me want to break through all of them and know her deepest secrets, who was she hiding from, what was she running, I wanted to protect her and I that night, in my sleep I decided that I would.
//**//
At school the next morning, Willow went and registered everyone for Culturalathon. There she met Thalia.
"Oh look who it is! Emma's puppy, wiping her ass for her, aren't you?" Thalia commented.
"No. Not really. But what about you? Lost your puppies to Emma, did you?" Willow retorted.
Thalia snorted and filled out her registration form.
Later that day, a list had been put up which showed the teams that had registered until that that.
"How does it look? I designed it. I had purposefully mis-spelt Thalia's name, but Mr. Harrington corrected it before I could take a printout." Leo said with his disappointment visible.
"Don't worry Leo. We'll defeat them. And we'll defeat them good." Adrian said, while putting his hand on Emma's shoulders.
"To confident, aren't you?" Christan walked up from behind them.
"Let's leave guys, we don't need to get into petty fights with hypocrites." Emma announced to her friends and turned around on her heels and started to leave.
"Started running away from battles, have you Emma?" Serene asked in a calm yet provocative tone.
"Serene. Oh. I literally didn't see you there. Always hidden in Thalia's shadows, it is very difficult to spot that pretty face of yours by itself." Emma retorted.
"Ah! There she is, the Mhysa for everyone in our school." Gretchen said clapping.
"Someone has been watching Game of Thrones, I suppose." Rachel replied with disgust written all over her face.
"Serene, Gretchen back off. Let's not start the battle in the corridors." Thalia walked into the scene. She looked at Emma and continued, " Skorī dēmalȳti tymptir tymis, ērinis iā morghūlis." (meaning: When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.)
Emma walked up to Thalia. She was now standing so closed to Thalia that she could feel her breath fanning on her face. "Valar Morghulis." (meaning: All men must die.) Emma said loudly and walked away while everyone just looked at her.
//**//
When Emma walked in 5 minutes late to her Chemistry class. She was sure that Mr.Mendes would hand her detention and drown her with taunts as acerbic as the Hydrochloric acid.
"Oh. Stand up class. Miss. Steele is entering. Come on, show your respects." Mr.Mendes said sarcastically. Olive and Gretchen sniggered.
"I am sorry sir. I actually-" Emma tried to explain.
"Excuses and Excuses! He interrupted Emma. Emma stood there quietly, looking at her shoes. "Now, Emma Steele, this is a warning to you. Next time that you are late, you'll be getting detention."
"But, this is the first time I am late!" Emma opposed.
"Detention today." He deadpanned looking at Emma.
"What?" Emma asked with shock.
"Detention tomorrow as well." He announced with a smug look.
Emma looked at him, filled with anger.
'If only I could drown him in Sulphuric acid.' Emma thought.
"Now, Emma today on wards, the class will be working in pairs; so kindly get yourself a partner." saying this her turned around and started writing on the board about the assignments that they were supposed to do.
Emma looked around. She saw Willow and Maia sitting together, giving her sorry looks; she saw Katie and Leo together and Jeff and Noah together, they all were looking at her. Then she glanced at the last bench were she could see the place for one, and sitting on that table was Christan.
Emma stood standing there weighing her options, she could either go and sit next to Christan but that would mean that Christan and she would remain partners for the rest of the year, or she could keep standing there and try convincing Mr.Mendes to allot her a different partner and also give her another detention.
'I'll take another detention anytime over being Christan's partner for the whole year.' She thought to herself. Christan's and Emma's eyes met for a moment. Christan immediately knew what Emma was thinking and a tilted smirk appeared on his face.
Emma's chain of thoughts was broken when Mr.Mendes cleared his throat and asked Emma," Miss. Steele, is there a problem or are you not comfortable with Mr.Walker as your partner?" He asked as if he had read Emma's mind.
"Uhh..no..I mean-"
"Then please stop wasting more time than you already have and take your seat." He scolded.
"Yes sir." Emma ran to her seat next to Christan.
She settled down, kept her bag aside took out her notebook and a sharpened pencil.
"Alright, so the assignment is on the board, and the chemicals are in front of you. You are to identify the characteristics and the properties of" Mr.Mendes started explaining. Emma could sense that Christan was staring at her and in an attempt to avoid him, she kept staring straight towards the board.
"He really hates you, doesn't he?" Christan asked turning his head to face the blackboard. Emma chose to ignore him, and kept staring at the board.
"You know, you have to talk to me, we are partners now. We have assignments to do, projects to submit. How long will you keep ignoring me?" Christan asked staring at Emma.
"Mr. Walker, can repeat my last sentence?" Mr. Mendes sudden asked Christan.
"umm..I don't know." Christan replied standing up at his place.
"What was so important to ask Miss.Emma while I was teaching?" He asked Christan.
"I was asking her out on a date." Christan replied bluntly. The whole class started laughing. A few boys hooted.
"Silence." Mr. Mendes now had a nerve pulsating in his forehead. "Mr. Walker, perhaps you can ask Miss. Steele out while you are in detention with her today." He continued.
Christan whistled loudly in his response; and students gave another laugh to this.
"Congratulations Miss.Steele, seems like you have found a companion to serve detention with you tomorrow as well." Mr. Mendes said with irritation.
Emma looked at Christan wide eyed. Christan was known was his obedient behaviour among the teachers. Emma understood that Christan had done this on purpose.
//**//
*Emma's POV*
After school, I went into detention. Christan was already sitting at in the classroom. Miss.Smith was sitting by the desk. As soon as I walked in, she asked me to hand over my phone; she put it in a basket kept on her desk. I sat on the bench right in front of Christan. I took out my notebook and started writing a poem.
Christan was continuously passing me chits. I kept putting them aside without reading.
"Emma." He whispered.
"I do not want to talk to you." I looked at the clock on the wall behind the desk.
'Anytime now, and I'll be free from here.' I thought.
"Alright everyone. Take your phones and leave." Miss.Smith announced.
I got up immediately, grabbed everything kept on the desk, stuffed it in my bag and walked hastily towards the door while grabbing my phone from the basket.
The corridors were empty. The only sound was that of my footsteps. Just then my phone pinged, indicating a message. It was from an unknown number. I stood grounded at the corridor, and opened the text.
The text read, "Bantis zōbrie issa se ossȳngnoti lēdys, Jorrāelagon, X." I was hit by horror. This was a High Valerian phrase from Game of Thrones.
I googled its meaning. Soon after reading the meaning everything started blacking out in front of me.
***
Woah. That was another long chapter. Hope you guys liked it!
Who do you think sent that text? What was written in it? Why did Emma black out? What do you think will happen now?
Let me know in the comments.
When I had originally written this chapter, Game of Thrones was trending in the media; I guess there is no harm in posting it now.
Chapter 12 releasing on 23rd July 2019, Tuesday.
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Cheerio!
Much Love,
Anushka❤️