Chapter 17
THIRD PERSON'S P.O.V.
A week and a half ago
"Hello, Lucas Scott."
"Who are you?" Lucas growls, trying to piece together who he is.
The tall man laughs. "Who I am is of no importance, Lucas. Not yet, at least."
He takes a step forward, and the little strands of sunlight peaking out from behind the bars of the window help Lucas find his face.
But it's covered with a black mask.
"My darling Jaelyn must have left quite an impression, hasn't she?" The mysterious man grins, and Lucas furrows his eyebrows.
Jasmine clears her throat. "I'm known to them as Jasmine, remember boss?" She reminds him, and he nods.
"Yes, you're right. Sorry my mind has moved on to more important things. Such as Emma," he smirks, and Lucas's fist clenches at the same moment his jaw does.
A deep laugh escapes from the stranger. "Oh this is amazing, isn't it Jaelyn? Lucas is interested in Emma."
Lucas scoffs, and moves his head to another direction. "I don't have to explain shit to you."
A moment of silence wraps around them, and suddenly a strong hand grasps Lucas's jaw, and faces it to the man. "When I speak, you listen and look at me when you're being spoken to. Got it, boy?" He growls.
"The day I obey a fucking dick will be the day I shoot myself in the head for being so stupid," Lucas narrows his eyes on him, and he smiles darkly.
He releases his jaw, and stands up so he towers over him. "Jaelyn, leave us," he says, not breaking eye contact with Lucas.
Jaelyn nods her head once, before heading towards the door.
Once he's heard the door shut, that's when he begins speaking. "I've heard you've been causing a lot of trouble, Lucas," the man smirks, and Lucas raises his eyebrows in disinterest.
"Don't I always?" Lucas drawls, and the stranger laughs under his breath before turning around to pick up a chair from the corner of the room.
Once he's moved the chair in front of Lucas, he sits down, crosses his arms over his chest, and leans back. "You've been fighting a lot recently. You really are no good, are you?"
"Was I ever?" Lucas clenches out.
The man ignored him and continued. "You know, I was like you at your age. Reckless, rude, selfish," he smirks. "A lady's man."
Lucas scrunches his face in disgust, but the man continues. "Which is why I think it would be perfect if you would join Jaelyn and Adam on their target focus."
Lucas's eyes widen. "Adam?" He whispers more to himself.
"Oh, Jaelyn didn't clear everything up," the man pretends to cringe, but Lucas can see the smirk pulling up on his lips.
"What is their target focus?" Lucas sits up straighter, and the man smirks.
"Sorry Lucas, that's private information until you swear into loyalty," the man stands up from his chair, and moves it back to where it was before.
"I'll see you soon, Lucas," he says just before opening the door.
He pauses right before leaving. The stranger looks over his shoulder and smirks. "And it would be preferred if you stay away from Emma Sullivan. Like you did when you were in fifth grade, remember? For your safety, and hers."
Lucas's eyes widen, and the man grins. "Goodbye."
Then he's gone.
EMMA'S P.O.V.
present
"I... I don't understand. Why are you telling us this now?" I ask.
Lucas rolls his head back and sighs. "Because for some reason, they're both not here. Usually Adam's here when Jasmine isn't, but since he wasn't, it was the best time to tell you both without getting shot in the head."
I suddenly feel dehydrated, but continue asking questions. "So, what are we gonna do? Do we have a plan?"
Lucas looks back to me and smirks. "Actually, yeah. I do. You," he points his finger to me. "Are gonna ask Adam out on a date, and try getting inside his house. See if you can find something that seems sketchy, and that might help us."
I begin thinking about Adam again when Lucas clears his throat to remind me to say something. "Yeah, sounds like a plan," I spill out.
They both stay silent, but my loud mouth can't help but continue to talk. "I just can't believe I was so stupid. Jasmine has been my friend for about a month, and I've been talking to Adam for weeks," I shake my head in disapproval and Lucas shrugs.
"At least you didn't do anything stupid with him before he had a chance," he says, and a slight blush forms on my cheeks.
"Well... it's not anything crazy, but... we kissed over the weekend. "
And that's when Lucas erupted. "What the fuck, Emma. Now that's stupid," he shakes his head in disappointment, and I never thought I would care what Lucas thought of me again until this moment.
I'm about to say something to defend myself, but Lucas stops me before my mouth even opens. "I'm gonna see you guys at lunch," he says dryly before opening the door and slamming it shut.
Well that went great.
â¡
To fill the awkward tension after Lucas's dramatic exit, Jason and I spoke the rest of the remaining period about our plan.
After the warning bell rang to remind us to go to our next class, Jason and I walked to our English class together.
Lauren, Kristy â a girl who sits behind us â and I were in the middle of our discussion of Othello and the different types of themes shown from the first act when the bell cuts us off.
We said our goodbyes to our other group member, and grabbed all of our stuff from on top of our desks.
Right before we left the class to walk into the busy hallway, I looked back and found Jason's sympathetic gaze.
Don't stress, he mouths.
I send a wary smile to him and turn back around to follow Lauren's lead.
We head out of the pod, and turn some corners until we see an impatient Anna standing right in front of the cafeteria doors.
"Finally!" Anna cheers when she sees us both making our way to her.
I couldn't help but smile as I shake my head at her eagerness to eat.
Once we've purchased a burrito for Anna, pizza for Lauren, and chicken nuggets for myself â no they're not for children â we headed to our regular table.
But I don't make it there.
I find Adam near the center table talking to some of the football players I haven't met yet, but I know they're part of the team because they effortlessly flaunt their football jackets with pride.
Lauren and Anna turn back with furrowed brows. "What's going on?" Lauren asks.
My mouth itches open, but before I can let a word out, a familiar voice is heard next to my right.
"She's okay. Just go to your table, and she'll meet you there soon," Lucas says, and I release a deep breath, because for some reason, he calmed me.
Anna hesitantly nods, and turns back around to walk to our table.
Lauren stays behind a little longer, but unlike Anna, Lauren has a small smirk growing on her lips instead of hesitation in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Lucas asks quietly as he steps in front of me once Lauren goes to our regular table.
It sounds as though he... cares.
I sigh, and look over his shoulder to see Adam smiling brightly. "I'm doubting my acting skills," I admit.
He rests his hand on my upper arm. "You'll do fine, princess," a smile peaks out from his lips, and I can't help but laugh.
"That's easy for you to say. You're a manipulative liar," I state, and just as I think he's gonna argue his point, and deep laugh escapes him.
Crinkles are shown in the corner of his eyes, and I'm just now noticing how much I like it when he laughs.
I couldn't help but smile along with him.
Our moment ends fast when someone begins speaking on Lucas's left. "Am I missing something?" Adam asks, glancing between the both of us.
I breathe in before looking at him. "We were just making fun of each other. As usual," I smile calmly, but inside of me, there's a war zone going on.
That's probably my period doing its thing, but still.
Adam grins, and stands next to me. He wraps his arm around my waist and kisses my forehead. "Hey Sunshine."
I turn to my right and send him the best smile I can muster. "Hey."
Adam seems to be really good at acting, because even when he looks at me, he seems happy.
But clearly that's not the case because he was basically sent here to spy on me, and probably everyone else.
Adam turns to face Lucas, and a glare suddenly appears on his face. "Nice seeing you, Lucas."
Before I even have a chance to say anything to Lucas, Adam using his arm from behind me to his advantage, and pushes me to where Anna and Lauren are sitting.
"Oh hey Adam!" Anna grins once she sees Adam, and I immediately cringe internally.
I really have to tell them what I've learned so they can be careful around the both of them.
We both take a seat on the opposite side of them. "Hey Anna-belle," Adam winks and she playfully glares at him.
"I heard you weren't here in the morning, where were you?" I try to ask casually as I'm taking a bite of my nugget.
He shrugs. "Overslept. Nothing new," he looks to me and grins so brightly, my eyes hurt. "Why? Did you miss me Sunshine?"
I chuckle as best I can, but when I think it wasn't believable enough, he smirks. "Ah, I knew you couldn't get over all this," he says, motioning his chest with his hand.
I roll my eyes, and for a split second, I forget he's the enemy.
"Laur, Anne. Can you guys come with me? I need help with the lesson we learned in Calculus during first period," Jason says once he's in front of our table.
I look at him and furrow my eyebrows. We weren't even there to begin with.
He nods his head once to Adam, who thankfully has his back to Jason.
"Oh screw you Jason Valentine. Let me eat my lunch in peace," Lauren grumbles as she takes a huge bite of her pizza.
Once she's finished swallowing, he narrows his eyes at them. "Let's go."
As if they can sense the seriousness of the situation, their smiles fade away, and they get up with no words being shared.
"I think one of them likes Jason. Can't be the blonde one. She has a boyfriend, right?" Adam asks, and when I think about it, I don't even know if they're still together after what happened at the party.
"I'm not sure honestly," I speak truthfully.
He nods his head, and looks down to my food. "Can I?" He asks, and I nod my head.
Once he's picked one up and began chewing it, I make my stand. "So Adam..."
"So Sunshine," he grins with food still in his mouth.
I clear my throat, and lick my now chapped lips. "I was wondering if you'd wanna go on a date."
He swallows what he has chewed up, and grins. "I thought you'd never ask," he wipes his mouth with his hand. "Where do you wanna go?"
"Well, I was thinking about cooking dinner for you," I wiggle my eyebrows and he laughs.
"Okay sure. What time should I be at your place?" He asks, and I bite my lip.
"Can I cook at your house? My relationship with my dad is still on the rocks, and I wanna enjoy our date, not rant about how horrible my father is at the moment," I explain. When he smiles sadly, I know I've got our plan on the roll.
"Of course we can Emma, I don't want you being uncomfortable," he admits and I sigh, which he probably believes it's because of happiness, not frustration.
â¡
For the rest of lunch, we discussed when we should do the dinner and settled on it being on Friday at 8.00pm.
By the time we finished speaking, the warning bell rang, and I met with Anna outside of the gym for our next class together.
Of course, while we were doing laps outside on the field, Lauren must have ditched her class and was outside cheering us on.
Once we finished our laps, Lauren, Anna and I went under the bleachers and they both admitted that Jason told them everything during lunch.
Jason told them almost everything, so I told them about our plan, and how I'm thinking how to take him down my own way.
School ended shortly after with no words being passed between me and Lucas during Chemistry.
I decided to walk home by foot to calm myself from my heart that has been racing since school began.
I'm home, and in the kitchen in less than 20 minutes when I hear a bang from upstairs.
What the hell?
I drop my chocolate chip cookie on the counter, and slowly walk up the stairs.
Another bang erupts, but this time I hear it's coming from my room.
I lift my hand up in preparation to blast someone to Neverland, but stop when I hear a familiar groan coming from inside my bedroom.
I open my door, and just like I thought, I find Lucas bending down to pick up my Chemistry textbook â which I assume fell on his toe.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, dropping my arm down to my side dramatically.
"I need help with Chemistry. You're smart, right?" He asks, clenching the textbook to his chest.
My eyes are widened by the thought of Lucas admitting he actually needs help in something.
I bite my lip to avoid smiling, because I know once I've smiled, he'll feel uncomfortable and take it back. "Yeah, no problem. Let's work on the kitchen table."
He grabs his bag from my bed, and takes my textbook with him as he's walking downstairs.
I'm about to ask him how he got in, but then I remember â one of the t's are teleportation.
We're both setting up to study on the table when the front door is swung open, which then reveals my wobbling dad.
"Dad?" I ask, taking slow steps towards him.
My father sends me a toothy grin before tripping on his own feet, causing the bottle of whiskey to drop out of his hands. It thankfully doesn't shatter into a million pieces, but it does break.
"Why are you home... drunk?" I ask.
He walks up to me with no word. When he rises his hand up in the air, I immediately assume he's going to hit me again, so I shut my eyes. I freeze when I feel him caressing my cheek.
I flutter my eyes open and find him staring at me sadly. "You look just like both of them. Your mother and Jessica. It's a blessing, and a curse," he laughs darkly, and I furrow my eyebrows.
"Okay dad, let's get you upstairs and into bed," I hold his arm, and just as take the first step up on the stairs, I look over my shoulder to see a worried Lucas.
One second, I mouth.
He nods slowly, and looks at the mess on the ground before continuing to prepare where we're going to work.
It takes my dad pretty long to walk up the flight of stairs, but once he does I take him into his bedroom.
Once I've thrown the blanket on top of him, I turn to leave but freeze when I see a picture of me, Jessica and my dad standing next to each other two months before my parents declared their divorce.
The frame next to it also includes my mom and I bite my lip to help me avoid crying.
They're in Vancouver. And one day, you'll reunite with them again, I remind myself.
â¡
Once I knew my face wasn't red anymore from the tears trying to break free, I went back downstairs to find the floor that had broken glass, spotless.
I looked back to Lucas, who's sitting by the kitchen table, working on Chemistry.
A smiled threatened to come out, but I shoved it back and walked up to the table.
We spent the rest of the evening working until he had to leave later on.
After that, the next couple days flew by pretty fast.
I was the best actress ever.
Tuesday and Wednesday consisted of me ignoring Jason and Lucas and playing all cute with Adam.
Now that I think about it... it probably wasn't realistic.
It was finally Thursday, a day before our date.
I was with Adam all of the morning before class began, but I had to tell him I need extra help in the science room during lunch.
Which isn't wrong, really.
I need extra help with telepathy, and we're in the science lab.
Lauren and Anna are sitting by the doors while Lucas is by the teacher's desk, texting whoever on his phone.
And Jason's right in front of me.
"You're... frustrated with me," my frown lifts up to a grin and Jason narrows his eyes.
"You don't need telepathy to get that from me," he tilts his head to the side. "Try again."
I groan. "You guys said it yourself! Telepathy is the hardest, and most witches don't know how to use it. Why do I have to?" I drop my hands dramatically and Lucas rolls his eyes from where he's sitting.
Lucas kicks his feet off of the teachers desk, and stands up. He takes 3 long strides until he's towering over me. "Emma. Tomorrow, you're going to go on a date with one of sketchiest people we know at the moment. And you need to know what he's feeling. What he's thinking," he places his hands on my shoulders and shakes them gently.
I push his hands off of me. "Why don't you read his mind?" I ask.
Jason and Lucas both sigh, but Jason answers. "We can't. For some random reason," he grumbles.
My eyebrows raise. "And you think I can?" I ask, and they both nod.
I roll my eyes, and roll my sleeves up. "Okay, fine. Let's do this."
â¡
I'm lying down on my bed, physically drained from how much Lucas and Jason made me work today.
I'm ready to fall asleep when my phone rings next to me.
Adam: 21 Mistysugar Boulevard ;)
I shut my eyes tightly before responding.
Emma: See you then!
I turn off my phone, and look up to the ceiling in anger.
I want to believe he's good. That Lucas is lying, like he always is.
But I know he isn't.
Which is why, Adam Lockheart and Jasmine Rider are going down.
â¡
Sorry for posting a little less than a day late!
Thank you lovelies for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
I'm going to my family cottage over the weekend, so maybe working on my stories is an option ;)
I'll see you lovelies in the next chapter, love you xx