All the professional medical care needed was given to me last night. I was treated cautiously, without vigorous handling by all the nurses and my parents, as this time, mom was my doctor. She had boldly refused any help and turned down all her friends that suggested stepping up to assist.
This morning around nine, when I woke up, I found her on my head and Christian by the window, staring at the busy road. Not that I care, but Leigh wasn't here this time, and so was Lilith. Maybe they have no idea I've been admitted, or they both want nothing to do with me.
Mom said I would be discharged after twenty-four hours, but that is what I learnt I couldn't have after the hanging message on my screen from Arlen and a picture of his not-so-smooth face-making sure to remind me of what Leigh had done to him.
He asked me to meet him at a theme park by noon. He reassured me of fairness if I complied with what he had asked. I don't know what stage Leigh and I stand in, but I wouldn't be the one to call us apart. I love him even after what he had done last night. My whole body tingles to be in his arms. I just need to know why he had to do it after promising me he was done with the drugs.
Yesterday I wanted to give him everything. I was considering writing an essay for his school about why I fit in there. I wanted a life with him alone. But if his drug habit has nothing to do with me, then he indeed has something going on that he isn't sharing, and that could be a wound in our relationship. I've known Leigh for a while now, I know he doesn't open up very much but that person I saw yesterday's evening was a stranger.
Agitation was an understatement when the big wall clock signalled eleven thirty in the morning. Mom was collecting a beverage from Christian when I jolted up from the bed and began stepping into my shoes.
Their expressions were panic when they rushed over to me. Mom thought it was some reaction. They grabbed each side of me and sat me back down.
"I do not need any check-up, mom. You said it yourself; you didn't see anything unusual. I am fine." It's just the wound on my head and the itching in my chest.
"You've been rattled. Your fingers are still trembling. It has to do with some nerves, and it could be dangerous. We need more hours to make sure nothing comes up."
"Believe me. It has nothing to do with my health. I have somewhere to be." I pleaded, and she rubbed a hand over her face, exhaling loudly.
"Ava, listen to your mom. Whatever you have to do can wait. Your wellness is important to this family." Christian softly said.
None of them had any idea what was waiting for me was more crucial than this little reunion they insisted on. Should Arlen's video go viral, then all of them could experience how taunting nerves could be. I don't want that for any of my family, though. Primarily for Leigh, he has enough scandal on his shoulders. I can't bear the agony of being the reason for his career to fall. He can't lose now. Not because of our love.
Maybe the right thing to do is end us despite how much the pain could murder me.
Seeing that I couldn't speak anymore, the distress had broke in my throat and was threatening to spill out; mom eventually loosened up and agreed to sign my discharge papers after twenty minutes of total gloom. She offered to drive me to my location, and Christian called an Uber for himself. He has a golf game scheduled in the next two hours at TPC.
He said he would make a stop at TPC Summerlin to get his equipment and ring our personal mechanic to move my car to their garage for repair before he leaves for the game.
Not until Lucas's text came in with an address and invitation, as I just turned down my girls' proposal to summer fest in the group chat, I have no idea the location mom and I were heading for was the same as the event everyone wanted me at.
Lucas and I hadn't been close since my family terminated our stay in the mountain. I think that was the day after my birthday. He had called and texted me, though, countless times. But with Leigh here and the exhausting issues that keep arising in-between, I choose to add his contact to the list I generally ignore these days. I have time to deal with him after this holiday is over, but Leigh and Lilith are all leaving in a couple of weeks. They're my priority at this point. I do not intend to go through another year of regret as I did in the absence of Leigh last year. I have to make things right before it is too late.
The drive is hell. The waiting is hell. I was given until noon, and I am fifteen minutes late. I couldn't take a chance to ask mom to speed up because most of the time, I suggested that during a ride together, she would park the car by the shoulder of the road and worriedly ask if anything is bothering me. Then we will end up being unduly late for the occasion.
The whole drive, I had chewed my nails, bit my tongue, stroked my knees or tapped my shoes against the floor underneath it. Every time my phone buzzes on my thighs, a racking feeling of being a feast for the internet distracts the mental speech I am preparing in my head, but when I login into social media, nothing is threatening so far.
I waited with anticipation, and waiting is a lonely misery that no one would understand except for the person going through it. And the worst thing is that I have to suppress my panic attack, the moments when I am completely out of breath because no one can know what I feel. It is the burden I have to carry alone.
"Should I wait for you here?" Mom asked me when she parked in a driveway of some magnificent resort and water world amusement park, and I ran out of the car, not caring who I may bump into.
I stopped at the sound of her voice, spun between the occupied entrance, and then shook my head no at her offer.
"I have friends here. I will have them drive me back. Thank you, mom." My smile was awkward as eagerness was eating me inside. Before she can utter a word, I race through the revolving door, ignoring the frown on her face at my dismissal.
I am about to make a deal with the devil. I do not need her here to bear witness to my crime.
As I step into the building, my eyes pop out of their socket at the beautiful view. The place of the summer fest is enormous. During my whole stay in this country, I have never heard of it. It's a bit long drive from my house, but it is worth it.
I drag my legs through happy families pulling their luggage, where brothers and sisters are platonic and elegantly dressed people have simple lives. As soon as I am outside of the lodging area and apartment building, I can spot beautiful mountains from a distance and a big world of half-naked busy people. There are at least twenty large swimming pools, food stands everywhere and unpredictable thrilling rides working as they were wired to operate.
The sun's rays had begun to heat the place according to the time of the day, so many familiar faces from school were wearing something lighter than my baggy shirt-either shorts or panties and crop tops that matched those samples back in my living room.
Shit!
Of course, Lilith said something about our clothing line being a ticket for Francois's sisters' car wash party at the summer fest.
My eyes widened, but not even insanely until I was swept off the ground by the ankles and arms by some four hooded-faced girls in unicorn bikinis. They were giggling and stumbling, but they wouldn't let go.
"I am going to scream." I threatened, wriggling my body as I noticed they were heading towards a massive canopy.
I've been rudely abducted at events; this isn't something unusual or first to me, but the idea that Arlen might be behind this-the Arlen who is absolutely steaming with anger over some childish high school grudge, now scares the hell out of me. I don't have to see myself in the mirror to know I look pale. My windpipe became thin.
Maybe I should scream or kick one of their bladders.
"Stop resisting. You must present your partnership ass at the opening."
The impatient and authority in the tone bathes me with certainty that I'm in the hands of Suri and probably the other girls.
Not Arlen. Great!
But I have to find him because any minute many lives could be ruined.
Inside the canopy, my buttocks hit something soft. A couch, mattress, bundle of clothes, maybe?
The space was quiet, cooler compared to the heat outside and had an aura of an expensive boutique, given there were hanging clothes at every angle.
Am I kidnapped and brought to the clothing line launching event?
And hell, I am right; Quinn first showed her face, then French Claire and her sister Addison, and then Suri.
"What am I doing here?" I firmly asked when I was on my feet in front of them.
"Why do you have a bandage?" Quinn hissed, completely overlooking my question.
"Did you shower? Your underarm kind of stinks, and your hair? Oh my gosh." Addison deceptively worried in her fraudulent accent.
I do not trust any of them; they're conniving liars with evil intents. They were all there on the fourth of July when Clark caged me in the school hallway. None of them stopped it. They watched with pleasure and laughed at my humiliation.
Fury awoke in me at the memory of their faces. They could have stayed there and let me get hurt. It was in their eyes. They wanted me to suffer.
Seething, I shoved in between Claire and Suri, who was chewing gum annoyingly, and advanced for the exit, but I was blocked by smug face Lilith.
She made a fence with her slender body between me and the tiny opening, that is, the entrance or the exit; however, you may see it from your aspect.
"Obsessed much? You had to have me kidnapped?"
She had a good layer of make-up that covered every bit of pain I saw on her last night.
She responded with a smirk and a scrunch-up nose.
"Get dress, Ava. We have clothes to sell." She announced and brushed passed me.
"And adorable dogs to shower." Addison implied. "CARS. I told you I can't shower anything that breathes." French Claire forthwith opposes her sister's opinion, storming on her feet loudly against the floor.
Nuisance.
Addison torridly grinned at me after wincing at her brattish sister's tantrum. "We haven't decided yet."
Well, they don't have forever. The day is already here. Just as me over here, fretting over the decision I must choose in haste.
"Do that without me. I have better things to do."
Lilith stops and turns around. She's also matching bikini with the girls.
"You promised to be here." Sounding concerned this time. But I can't tell the sincerity of it.
I mean, look at her; she looks stunning and nothing like the girl begging for my love on the quiet street last night.
"That is before you..."
"I trip and fell down the stairs?" She quickly interjected with something odd and urgent. When my eyes hooded as confusion flowed through my head, she turned her back to me to avoid eye contact and began rearranging an already organised section of t-shirts.
I see. She lied to them.
Maybe, I was wrong earlier. Maybe there are stains from last night under her expensive cosmetic. Perhaps she just has to wash her face for me to see it clearly.
Quinn tossed a similar bikini over to me. I didn't attempt to catch them. They hit my body and fell over the floor.
"She's moody as always." Suri rolled her eyes and despairingly walked out of the girl's circle.
"Nah, it's her face. She always looks like that." Quinn remarked, her eyes scrutinising me, and the rest of the girls giggled except Lilith.
Her head is downcasted, and she was dissembling her focus on some clothes on the shelf, but I have periodically caught her peeking with a blank expression on her face.
"You worry about me? For real? Whatever allergy reaction you all have, it will be best to keep your faces under the mask before you scare the customers away." I sneered and watched how their smiles dropped to terror.
"You better be joking."French Claire whimpered, and all the girls raced for the mirror at the far end of the canopy.
Tiny brains.
My eyes went back to my stepsister.
"You got a tattoo?" I asked, for there is a crescent drawn with black ink around her wrist.
She briefly looks over and averts her eyes again.
"It's fake. I will wash it later."
"You lied earlier? Why do you keep doing that?" I questioned when I was close enough, and no one could hear.
"Will you say yes?" Her question was irrelevant. She kept her stare steady on me, and I began to fidget at their intensity. She doesn't affect me, but the resemblance those green pupils hold to those I've known is too remarkable not to fall for.
"Wrong... answer." My words fumbled. Thank goodness my phone in my pocket rescued me out of the lure with a ring.
While I dug it out, a couple of phones buzzed in the room too.
I froze at the fear of the sound of my life ending. I couldn't look down at my phone screen. I felt every activity of my internal organs-even the sweat squeezing out of every pore on my skin.
"What did you receive?" I blurted at the shock on Lilith's face-on everyone's faces, in fact.
With knitted brows, Lilith glances up at me.
"I can..." I start before she scoffs elegantly and turns the screen of her mobile phone in my direction.
"Shit, Clarke nude is out there."
What?
Okay, that's not what I expected. It was a relief.
As I sighed and locked eyes with my stepsister, I found her quizzically examining me with narrow eyes.
"Are you okay?" She inquired softly. Her eyes inspect the room and stay on the spirited girls gossiping over the naked photo of Clarke on their phone screens. I felt fingers grabbing mine; I snatched my hand away immediately and laced my fingers together.
I will not give her false hope and wrong signals, maybe...
"Ava, I just want to know." She sadly uttered when her stare fell to her fidgety, manicured nails.
"I have to tell you something... But not here. Later." The words just came out not because I wanted them, but at this point, I just wanted her to know everything. I know Leigh and I have talked about it, but I am not relaxed. I am not okay.
Her eyes enlarged, and she smiled. I hate that my words would not flare the touch of fire glowing behind her eyes at the feeling of hope she has right now.
"What is it?"
As my lips trembled, I felt a hand around my wrist and footsteps behind me.
It wasn't her, of course.
"Yeah, you came, good. Come with us." Tori forwardly urged regardlessly.
Behind her is Evie, breathing heavily, hair dishevelled. It is clear they had been running. For what or from what, though?
"She is..."
"Shhh, queen Elsa." Evie cuts Lilith off with a finger over the lips. I choke with laughter at how Lilith disgustingly withdraws, practically on the verge of tears. "This right here is ours." Evie wiggles her brows while Lilith exaggerates by cleansing her lips with a wiper sheet she dug out from a bag.
Ugh!
"Get out of here. It's not yet open." Quinn groans at my friends like she has the right to.
"If you can stay, so can they. They're friends with a fifty per cent share owner too." I retorted, and she rolled her eyes at me.
"Is it me, or does she have a boner?" Tori whispered in my ear. I ignore her mockery and swallow the laughter down my throat.
Mind you, Quinn's body is flawless. It is why she's a narcissist.
"How are you guys even here without costumes? They should be sold outside the building." Lilith's face contorted at my friends' casual shirts.
Tori thoughtfully clicked her tongue against the wall of her mouth and shrugged, "Maybe because no one wants your diaper panties and bread like brassiere?"
I couldn't help this time but chuckle at the comeback. Lilith's face formed a frown as I was pulled out of the canopy by the two girls.
"Oh yes, take her away. She's a jackanapes anyways." One of the girls shouts over their voice while my friends and I exit the shade.
"We've checked into a room. We can get ready there. You wouldn't believe it, but the new music teacher is our neighbor, she's here with her boyfriend. So warning, there might be 18PG bed creaking." Tori laughs in between heavy panting as we run in our worn shoes, making our way through a crowd of dancing tan teenage bodies.
Giggling, Evie and I, in unison, decides it was gross.
"Look at the great part. We could blackmail her with it when school resumes."
"That's absurd, Tori. Blackmail her for drilling her boyfriend? We will look stupid in front of the school. And that is something to avoid for senior year. Remember?" Evie cracked up.
"Duh, whatever." Tori waves off. "Evie and I had grabbed something extraordinary for us that doesn't look like the impoverished art of Queen Elsa and her demons'. But hey, I have to ask, are you okay?" Tori stopped promptly before worriedly asking the last question. I halted opposite the two troubled girls, my breathing intense. We are far away from Lilith's canopy now, standing behind an ice cream van.
"Are you sure he was doing drugs?" Evie interrogated with a scowl. I had summarised yesterday in the group chat earlier on my way to the summer fest, so they both know about Leigh and Lilith. "You know that need to be addressed, huh? He man-handled you."
"And as much as I want to sit back and enjoy Lilith's wreck ass, he shouldn't be the one to slap her, Ava. Does your stepdad knows?" Tori sighed.
I shook my head disappointingly and looked away from them. Everything about Leigh was only putting together my poorest emotions in a cramped space. I can feel the moisture in my eyes as I blink.
"God, he is supposed to be perfect. He looks and smells all that. Why can't he have great virtue? You need to talk to him, though, or maybe we can call him over; he might be around here somewhere; we need to get him to..."
Tori's solution trailed off in my head as my eyes travelled around the joyful half-naked bodies wandering around and fell on Arlen; he was standing across a vast pool by some crowd of cheerful shirtless boys and two girls twerking at the edge of the pool.
He is completely dressed, wearing a sickening smile like a butcher with his knives in a horror film. He signalled with his head for me to come over.
Instinctively, my body stopped every action. I was deprived of air at that second as my heart lunged in my chest.
This is it-the moment I dread. I've never felt this distraught with fear as I do standing here.
At the sight of him, I forget the entire note I had mentally prepared while driving in my mom's quiet vehicle. Now I am left with nothing but weak knees and trembling limps, and pounds of regret for knowing him.