If this kid genius couldn’t find out who was trying to hurt me, then I didn’t know who could. He might have been eleven, but he was smarter than any adult I had ever met. He was definitely going to go places in life; there was no use in denying that.
He sat down right between Zach and me, purposely being obnoxious, but I didn’t even care right then. He was helping me, and that was all that mattered. I didn’t care what he had to do to get answers just as long as he helped me out.
“What're the names of the guys that kidnapped you?” was the first thing he asked the two of us.
I swallowed at the memory. “Tommy and Sid.”
“And where did they take you?”
“To a warehouse,” Zach answered for me, seeing that answering these questions was already getting a little too difficult for me. I never thought I’d be the kind of person to react like this when remembering traumatic events. I guess I was wrong. “There was a big S painted on the front of the warehouse, and on the back of the van that they used to kidnap her.”
Ethan stayed silent, and I could tell he was trying to process this information with everything and everyone he knew. I was surprised he wasn’t using a computer or something, but I guess I shouldn’t have been. All Ethan really needed was his mind.
“That big S,” the little Deveraux began now. “Do you have any idea who it might be? Do you know anyone that might want you dead?”
“We think it's either my mother's family or Aveline,” I gulped now.
Ethan looked at the two of us as if we were crazy, and it kind of felt like we were. “Aveline?” he asked us. “That girl in the backyard that's always crawling all over Zach whenever she’s around him?”
I couldn’t help but make a flat face as I said, “Yep.”
“What the hell is she in the house for?”
Zach almost looked embarrassed. “She kind of invites herself over.”
“Gross,” Ethan concluded, a scowl on his face as he glanced off in the direction of the back door. I couldn’t help but agree with what he had said. “Anyway, have you ever met your mother's family?”
I wish I could have said that I did. It would have made everything so much easier for all of us.
“I don't know,” I shrugged, since that was the truth and there was nothing I could do to change it. “Maybe I met some of them when I was little I did and I just don't remember.”
“Maybe you have net them and you just choose not to remember,” Ethan now thought out loud, and now I couldn’t help but look at him as if he was crazy. How could I not remember meeting my mother’s family? Why would I repress the memory when they hadn’t even done anything that horrible to me?
“What?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Maybe you've met them and you repressed the memory or something,” Ethan tried to explain now, as if I was the stupidest person he had ever met in his entire life. I kind of felt like I was right then. “It happens.”
How was he eleven years old? He knew so much more than I did. He knew too much for his own good.
“I think I would remember... not remembering something,” I informed him, and I didn’t really know if what I had just said made sense or not.
Ethan rolled his eyes at me. “Just as clever as always, I see.”
I said nothing to this insult, since it wasn’t like it used to be. He wasn’t trying to be mean to me anymore, but he was so used to it that sometimes it just slipped out. And it didn’t bother me any longer, because I knew he didn’t mean to say it.
“So, who do you think is harassing her?” Zach asked his younger brother now, and I knew he didn’t say anything about them trying to kill me because it hurt him a lot more than it hurt me. “Come on, little genius. You’ve got to have some kind of idea, right?”
Ethan just sat there, not saying a word once again. I was growing anxious, because I didn’t know if he knew anything or not. Ethan hadn’t ever let me down with his knowledge before, so I wasn’t expecting him to now! He might have put me down with it, but that was something completely different…
“I don’t know,” he finally said, and I nearly fell off the couch. How could he not know? He was Ethan! He knew everything about everything! “I might know a lot of things, but I’m no cop. I thought I’d be able to help you, but I can’t. But I do think it’s either Aveline or your mom’s family. Both don’t seem like nice people.”
I couldn’t help but agree.
What were we supposed to do now? Ethan didn’t know who was coming after me, and I definitely didn’t either. If it was Aveline, who was in the backyard at that very moment, then what was I supposed to do? She had threatened to kill me before, so could it have really been her?
When the front door opened, none of us reacted to it. All three of us were completely bummed that we were no farther than we were ten minutes before, and I had absolutely no idea what we were supposed to do now.
We turned to see that it was Brianna who had entered, and she was acting even perkier and bouncier than usual, which sure did get out attention. She was smiling brightly, and her smile only got bigger when she saw us. The look on Zach’s face told me that he was scared, and it almost made me laugh.
“Hi, guys,” she greeted us kindly, like she always did, and all three of us mumbled our greetings back to her, waiting for her to continue on. “How was your day?”
I’d rather not answer that question.
“Good,” Ethan answered for us, saving me from having to lie and say the same exact thing. “How about you, Mom?”
“I had a good day,” she nodded, still extra cheery.
Zach blinked at his mother. “Mom, are you okay?”
“I was just wondering…” Brianna started, a wide smile on her face that almost made me scared of what she was going to say, “When you guys want to get married?”
Zach and I both blinked at her as we said in unison, “As soon as possible.”
She giggled, and both Zach and I glanced at each other before looking back over at her and waiting for her to stop acting all excited so she’d tell us why she was acting this way. After she had finally calmed down, she let out a sigh and brushed out her pencil skirt.
“The church is free this Saturday,” she informed us now, and this caused my face to immediately light up. “If you both want to, you two can get married then. I’m assuming you only want family and friends, so you won’t need to worry about invitations and such. Steve and I will deal with the invitations. So, do you guys want to get married then?”
Zach and I now turned toward each other, shock evident on both of our faces. This was it. We actually had a date that we could get married. We could either accept it or decline it. It was all up to us. We were adults.
Zach and I didn’t even have to speak. We knew the answer just by looking at each other. We both turned back toward Brianna and said at the exact same time, “Yes.”
Brianna squealed again, and Ethan rolled his eyes at his mother but laughed anyway. I smiled at the little boy, who only rolled his eyes at me as well. It was going to take some time for us to become friends, but I was willing to take that time if he was.
“We need to go dress shopping, Maxynn!” Brianna informed me now, and the idea of shopping for a dress sounded torturous. It would be fine shopping with Brianna, but from what I had seen in TV shows and such, picking out a wedding dress wasn’t exactly easy. It wasn’t like it was in movies where the girl put on one dress and it was completely perfect.
“Dress shopping?” a new voice now said before I could answer, and we turned to see Kate grinning at us from the back doorway. She reminded me of the Cheshire Cat, and it actually kind of freaked me out. “You’re going wedding dress shopping? Can I come with you? I want to be there when you pick out a dress!”
And I actually really did want her to be there with me as well. I turned toward Brianna, asking her permission, and she happily said yes. Brianna was the kindest woman I had ever met; I was sure I wouldn’t have even had to ask her if Kate could come along or not. I just wanted to be polite and ask.
“I guess I have to get a tux soon, too,” Zach sighed, standing up from his spot on the couch with Ethan doing the same. He placed his hand on his little brother’s head as he said, “This little man and I will go out tomorrow and pick out tuxes for ourselves.”
Ethan smiled up at his older brother, and he was practically beaming. I felt so happy for him, since this was what he had wanted back for over a year. I was so glad that he finally had it back again.
Brianna, Kate, and I left for the mall after Kate got ready. They both pulled me all the way to the wedding dress store, and both of them were a lot more excited than I was. They piled dresses and dresses into my arms and made me change into all of them, which I really hated because I felt like an oversized Barbie doll. Couldn’t I have just held the dresses up against me to see what they would look like? That would have been so much easier.
“That dress looks beautiful on you, Maxynn!” Brianna cooed, but I didn’t think much of it since she said that about every dress I had tried on and showed her. “We should buy that one!”
I looked down at the price tag and made a face. It was way too much money, and I didn’t want to waste too much on a dress that I was going to wear only once, even if it was my wedding dress. Right then was just not the time to be wasting money, considering how young we were.
Not to mention I hadn’t found a dress that I really liked yet. All the dresses were really pretty, but they just weren’t what I imagined myself wearing. Since Zach didn’t care about my scars, I wasn’t going to cover them, so finding something with long sleeves wasn’t my problem anymore. Now, my problem it was trying to find something that I thought looked good on the rest of my body.
They made me try on at least twenty more dresses before they finally allowed me to leave, no dress picked out for my wedding day, which was only a week away.
Going to the mall was probably one of my least favorite things to do, but Kate thought it was the exact opposite. Since she loved to go shopping, I would go with her to keep her happy. Even though I hated the mall, spending time with my best friend made up for it.
“So, what were you and the boys talking about when I got home, Maxynn?” Brianna asked as she pulled at another wedding dress before making a face and putting it back. “You all seemed like you were upset.”
I blinked, sucking in a breath before I explained weakly, “We… we weren’t talking about anything important. I barely even remember what it was.”
No one else knew about my situation other than Zach, Logan, Johnny, and Ethan, and I was planning on it staying that way. I knew my family and other friends would be angry if they found out that I had been hiding something like this from them, which is why I was happy that I had gotten away with it for as long as I was.
But if I kept this secret for too long, I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it anymore. Sooner or later I was sure I’d get kidnapped again, and I might not have Zach there to save me the next time.
I tried not to think about it as we continued to walk and talk through the mall. I was there to have fun, so I could have at least tried to do so.
“Maxynn, you should spend the night at my house before the wedding!” Kate suggested, grinning at me brightly and almost waving her arms around like crazy. “How does that sound? Is that okay?”
I looked at Brianna, who nodded her head encouragingly at me. I didn’t know if it would have been okay with her or not, since I thought that she might have wanted me to stay the night at her house so she could see me. But obviously, she was fine with me going to Kate’s.
“Sure,” I agreed.
Before any of us could say anything more, I saw someone I definitely didn’t want to see. We stopped walking the second she saw us, and I felt myself let out a groan as she started her way over to us.
“Maxynn!” Andie greeted, and I forced a smile at her. “What a surprise it is to see you here! I haven’t seen you since you canceled your lessons!”
After I got engaged to Zach, I canceled my lessons with Andie because I thought that it would just be too awkward to see Andie anymore, since it was obvious that she still liked Zach even though she knew he loved me.
“Hey,” I greeted back to her, and I had to bite my lip to stop myself from groaning.
She gave me a tight hug, squeezing the life out of me. She didn’t look like it, but she was a lot stronger than she looked. And that was actually really scary.
She smiled so wide that her lips would have cracked if she wasn’t wearing lip balm. “How’s it going?”
“Good,” I nodded, glancing down at my finger, where my mother’s ring should have been. I hadn’t told Andie that Zach and I had gotten engaged because I was afraid of how she would react. It was obvious that she liked him a lot and was disappointed when he really cared about me.
“Do you know what I heard the other day?” Andie asked me now, and I shook her head to tell her to continue. “I heard that you’re marrying Zach! Is that true?”
I didn’t know if I was supposed to tell her the truth or not. I looked at Kate, who knew the whole story about why I was no longer talking to Andie, and then I looked at Brianna, who didn’t seem to understand it at all because she spoke for me.
“Yes, it’s true,” my future mother-in-law nodded, and I wanted to slap my palm against my forehead. “The wedding is actually next Saturday, if you’d like to come.”
Andie now turned toward me and forced a smile, even though I could tell that she was upset and angry with me underneath her fake happiness. I almost felt bad, but I had to remind myself that there was no point in feeling that way.
“Really? You’re really marrying him?” she asked through her fake smile. “Wow! I thought it was just a rumor. I never would have thought you and Zach would have gotten married.”
That was supposed to be an insult. It didn’t sound like it, but it was. I knew Andie long enough to know when she was insulting someone and when she wasn’t.
“Uh-huh,” I nodded now, wanting nothing more than to just get out of there. “It’s true. Zach and I are getting married.”
The look on her face seriously gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just wanted her to go away. I didn’t want to feel bad for her! We weren’t friends anymore…
“Well, I guess I’ll see you on Saturday then,” Andie told us now, and I thought I was going to scream. “I’m sure you’ll look very beautiful, Maxynn.”
This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t have been happening. Andie was really going to come to my wedding even though she had dated Zach? Well, I guess that shouldn’t have been that bug of a deal, since I was sure most of the girls that were going to be there had done something with Zach in the past, but Andie was different. I don’t know why, but she just was.
We continued walking toward the exit of the mall now, and I couldn’t help but worry that we somehow weren’t going to find a dress for me. If we didn’t, I didn’t know what I would do. I mean, we had to find one sooner or later, right?
“Wait!” Brianna suddenly gasped, causing me to jump in surprise before we could exit the mall. “Maxynn, why don’t you just wear my wedding dress?”
I blinked at the brunette woman who stood before me. Was she seriously offering me her wedding dress to use? I hadn’t seen it yet, but I was sure that it was beautiful. And using something of hers and having my mother’s ring, if I ever found it, would be perfect.
“That sounds amazing,” I smiled at her, and it was the truth.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hate this chapter. I was writing it fast, so it all seems wrong. I'm going to Disneyland tomorrow, so I'm trying to update everything before I go. I don't think I'll be able to update Our Song, which isn't good. :/
This is for the 2012 Watty Awards! Please COMMENT, VOTE, and SHARE! And please NOMINATE for Ethan as Funniest Character! Thanks so much, guys! <3