by Eden Beck
“Hey!” I tell her with a sunny smile, “You’re looking better.”
She shrugs a little. “I guess I’m getting better, but just not fast enough. I want to get out of here so bad, but I’m not healed enough to leave yet.”
“Keep your chin up,” I tell her, handing the flowers over and watching her bury her nose in them to drink in the scent, “You’ll be home before the New Year and then before you know it, you’ll be back to school, and I can’t wait for that. I miss you. It’s terrible without you there.”
Dana laughs a little. “I bet it is.” She eyes me curiously then. “You did something new with your hair … and your nails … and that’s a new outfit. I’m your roommate. I know what clothes you have, and that’s new. What’s going on?”
I look at her in surprise. “I thought you had some amnesia! Is that fading?”
“Yeah, a little at a time, but it isn’t total amnesia. It’s mostly the night of the party that I’m having trouble remembering. So, what’s with the polished look?” Dana isn’t going to let go of her line of questioning.
“I guess I have some news to catch you up on. Remember Eli Hamilton?” I ask, settling into the chair beside her bed. I tell her everything.
There’s no point in keeping things from Dana. I always end up telling her anyway.
The stark difference between Dana and everyone else who heard the news is written plainly on her shocked expression.
My best friend’s eyes well up with tears. “Oh god, Teddy, I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry. If I hadn’t made that Rainbow Fire, none of this would have happened.”
I shake my head and grasp her hand tightly. “That had nothing to do with it. We made sure that it was safe, and nothing would have happened if Victoria hadn’t gone back to the boiler room and used it to cause the explosion. She did it on purpose to frame me, and it backfired on her. Literally. And it backfired on the rest of us, and I lost my father that night, and I almost lost you.”
We sit in silence for a minute.
Finally, I punch Dana on the arm and give her permission to ask what everyone always wants to know anyway.
“So,” she blurts, “how much is it?”
I raise my eyebrows. “Loads of zeros. Like … nine of them.”
Dana nearly chokes on her own spit. One of the machines she’s hooked up to beeps wildly for a moment as she finds her breath.
“If I had water in my mouth, I would have done a spit take,” she says. “Pardon my French, but holy shit Teddy. Are you for real?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I’m still waiting for it to settle in myself.”
Shaking her head, Dana just gapes at me. “Oh my god. I can’t even comprehend it. You must be feeling so out of place right now.”
“You have no idea. The hair, nails, and clothes … that’s all aunt Ellen.” I stop for a second and consider whether or not I should bring up what happened at lunch today. I can’t blame my aunt for struggling to take everything in right away, but it left me feeling weird.
“I’m sensing something happened?” Dana asks, and I cave.
I tell her about the shopping, the lunch, the booze, even the pills. When I get to the car, she just grins and shakes her head.
“I was wondering how you got up here so late,” she says.
I grimace back. “That’s probably the weirdest part. I guess they got the car for Sadie’s sixteenth birthday, and she died the day before it was delivered to the house, so no one ever drove it. It’s just been sitting there. I feel like I’ve lost my whole life, but that’s not so bad. I guess my old life was probably worth losing. It’s so bizarre. Everything is just so … weird.”
“I bet.” She’s still reeling with disbelief, much the same that I was when I found out. Heck, I still am. “Does anyone else know?”
I nod and look down a moment in thought. “Everyone knows. The whole school knew before I came back from the funeral, and everyone has been treating me so strangely. It’s like the school is split; half of the students want to be friends with me and hang on, and the other half are clinging to Astor and Victoria. If I was going to guess, I’d say their side is the lesser half.”
Dana chuckles softly. “I bet this pissed Victoria off to no end.”
“She’s mad about everything right now.” I think about her boyfriend and decide to tell my best friend the truth. The one thing I omitted. “Something else happened.”
Dana’s brows lower worriedly. “You can’t be serious. There’s more? I’m missing everything.”
“When I came back to the school, Astor came to the room and … he made it seem like we could finally be together, so we were.”
Her eyes open wide and she gasps as realization hits her. “You slept with Astor?” She stares down into her lap with a vacant expression a moment. “I’m gone two weeks and look what happens.”
With the faintest nod, I too look down, but in bitterness and shame. “Yeah, I did … but it was a mistake. Ever since our falling out the whole school is divided. It’s like the parting of the Red Sea.”
“And I’m missing all of it.” Dana sighs, leaning back into her pillows. I can see that she’s getting tired, even though she’s trying not to let on. I get up quickly, shaking the bed a little and having to stop and steady it a moment.
I’ve already stayed too long, but Dana looks sad to see me go.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “You’ll be back soon enough. Then you can help me kick Victoria and Astor’s asses all the way out of school.” I smile at her as I stand up. “Just think of it. The last of the Hawthorne legacy, tossed out of his own school.”
Dana snorts. “Now you really are dreaming.”
She hugs me back, and we say goodbye before I head out. January can’t come soon enough. Dana needs to be back, and then there will at least be some kind of normalcy to my increasingly bizarre life.
I’m going to need true friends by my side more than ever.
Chapter 7
I spend a fitful night sleeping in one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever had the pleasure to lay on. The Whites are one of those families who still eat breakfast together, so I roll out of bed and join them downstairs. I’m still in my pajamas with bedhead sticking halfway up to the ceiling, but both of them are dressed to the nines.
Ellen White strikes me as the type that never looks anything less.
But when the butler comes to my spot at the table, he doesn’t serve me waffles. Rather than breakfast, I’m served a smartphone.
I look up, but neither my aunt nor uncle are looking at me. Or each other for that matter.
“Thank you,” I say, carefully.
My aunt reaches for the orange juice, and again without speaking to me, says, “We couldn’t reach you last night.”
I glance over at Dane, and he’s staring staunchly into his poached egg.
“Sorry about that, I was just visiting my friend Dana. You know, the one in the hospital.”
Neither of them says anything, but I could cut the tension with a knife. I stop the butler from pouring me my own juice, pick up the phone, and thank them again for it before excusing myself from the table.
This whole thing started when I showed up at Hawthorne Academy in a rag of a dress with less than twenty dollars to my name. Now the world is my oyster. It’s so strange. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get used to it.
I know I won’t get used to being in the middle of this thing between my new aunt and uncle. I also don’t want to come across as unforgivably rude. So, I call the one person who will know what to do.
Dana answers pretty fast, and I can tell by her tone that she’s bored out of her mind.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dana, it’s Teddy. I got a phone!” It’s a luxury I haven’t had before now, and Dana is ecstatic for me.
“Oh my god! That’s great! Finally. It’s awful here. I’m about ready to sneak down to the cafeteria just for a change of scenery and some new people to talk with.” She sounds
as if she’s only half joking, and I suspect that she’s not, really.
“You’ll be done soon. You do need to get better, but I’m sorry you’re bored,” I tell her sympathetically. “Oh, by the way, I was talking with Laura … um, Laura Brighton the other day. I mentioned I’d gone to see you. She sends her best, and she wondered if it would be okay if she came to visit you while you’re there. What do you think? Would you mind?”
Dana’s surprised, but she’s open to it. “Yes, I guess so. I mean … we’ve never even talked before, but if she wants to come visit, I feel like there’s probably something we could find to chat about.”
“Oh, right … you don’t know.”
I tell her how Laura ultimately chose us, not Victoria, when it came down to it.
“No way. Leave it to you to be the welcoming one when society fractures. I’m not surprised.” Dana pauses a moment and her tone turns serious. “Look, you know I’ve got tons of time in here to think. So, I was thinking about what you told me about getting back at Victoria for all that she’s done. She cost people their lives and she cost you your father. I know you want revenge, and I might have come up with something.”
I look around to make sure I’m alone, which is a rarity for me.
At school, if it isn’t the boys it’s one of the suddenly many hangers-on trying to get close to us. Here, if it isn’t Ellen or Dane, it’s the butler. I’m pretty sure they have a couple maids too, but so far I haven’t managed to spot them. I step into a quiet room and close the door. “Okay. I can talk privately now. What’s your plan?”
It’s quite simple, really.
The seniors always do a big charity fundraiser every year for Valentine’s Day. There’s an auction of donated prizes and a big dinner with guests. Usually the parents or family of the students attend, but sometimes other guests will come and buy tickets for the dinner to support the school.
The auction is always on the Friday before Valentine’s, then there’s a big dance the next night. The students have to obtain all the prizes for the auction, so there’s been some crazy stuff sold off in years past.
Rather than voting like in other school’s dances, the students who earn the most money for the school are named king and queen of the Valentine’s Day dance that Saturday night. It’s been Victoria’s mission to be the queen of the dance since she started school at Hawthorne. This is her one chance.
It’s only for seniors, so she only has one shot at it. Now, more than ever, I know her ego is counting on it.
I’d love to do something bigger, grander, worse … but for Victoria, this really is the best possible revenge.
“So, don’t you see?” Dana says. “All you have to do is make sure she doesn’t win. She’s shallow enough to be devastated more than a normal human being.” I can practically hear her grinning though the line. “Wouldn’t it be the sweetest Valentine’s Day ever if you became the queen and left her in the dust?”
“It would be very sweet,” I agree.
“No need to thank me. I want that murderer caught just as much as you do.” Dana sounds unusually vicious. “Kick her ass, Teddy, and I’ll be there to help you as soon as I can.”
“No, there is a need to thank you. So, thank you, Dana. That’s a big help.” I know there’s a Cheshire Cat grin on my face. I can feel it all the way through me.
As soon as I hang up the phone, I hear a shuffle of movement behind the door.
I dart over and throw the door wide before she can escape, and catch Ellen straightening up awkwardly.
“Hi,” I say, dryly. “Is there something I can help you with?”
She purses her lips, and then suddenly barks out, “That was very irresponsible of you, last night, driving out like that. There could have been ice on the road.”
I don’t know why it’s happening now, but somehow, for some reason, that just does it. It’s all too much. This giant mausoleum of a house. The fake family. The misplaced parenting. I. Just. Can’t.
“I think I should head back to campus for a day or two,” I say, spotting Dane heading up the stairs towards us. “Dane, would you mind?”
I widen my eyes at him so Ellen can’t see, and he immediately catches on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look so relieved in my life. If I dislike this charade, he hates it.
“I think that’s a good idea,” he says, quickly, then glances at his wife. “If that’s what you want.”
“I think it’s for the best,” I say. I grab the keys from one of the tables, then hesitate at the sight of all the bags. There’s no way I can fit them all in the tiny matchbox of a car parked out front.
Dane sees the glance and adds, “We’ll have them delivered.”
Ellen, meanwhile, is looking more sour by the minute. I keep having to tell myself she means well, but I have to get out of here before she goes full out psycho.
I almost make it too, when she catches me at the door.
“Hold on, Teddy!” she calls. She hurries down the stairs, her eyes nearly wild at the sight of me leaving. “Promise you’ll be back for Christmas.”
“I really should—”
She cuts me off. “Promise.”
Her stare is so intense I have no choice but to accept.
It doesn’t matter that I have to come back in two days now, I still take my escape. Those two days of freedom are more than worth the hassle.
I make it back just in time for dinner. Dane slipped me an obscene amount of cash on my way out the door so I could have stopped to get dinner somewhere else, but something seems inviting and familiar about going back to what I’m used to, if only for a while.
I’m heading into the dining room for dinner, ready to hole up alone when Wills stops me at the door with a huge smile on his face and a lingering embrace.
“There you are,” he says quietly.
“Hi!” I beam at him and give him another kiss. “What are you doing here? I thought you went back home?”
“I changed my mind,” he says, kissing my cheek and then that place just under my ear on my neck where he knows it drives me wild. “When you called to tell me you were heading back tonight … I thought it was a good excuse to come back myself.”
I sigh, but it’s a happy sound this time. “I’m just so glad to see you. You have no idea.”
“I think I do.” He takes my hand in his. “I’m hungry for a little bit of everything, now, how about you?” He tells me with a wink. “Come with me.”
“Come with you?” I ask almost plaintively, giving the dining room a longing look over my shoulder. “But the food is that way!”
I let him take me down the hall, his fingers entwined in mine, and I’m surprised when I realize that he’s leading me to my room.
With Dana gone, both of my boys have been spending a lot of time overnight with me in my dorm when we know we can get away with it. The school monitors haven’t been keeping an eye on anyone since the explosion and fire. It’s as if everyone and everything is shell shocked, and nothing has resumed the normalcy that everyone really needs.
I’m not complaining about it. It’s comforting to have either Blair or Wills there with me at night when my dreams inevitably turn to nightmares of that horrible night.
Wills opens the door and I am expecting him to try to take my hungry ass to the bed. Instead, I find a table set up with a lavish and elegant dinner, fully set with tapered candles and red roses. I gasp and grin as I clasp my hands under my chin in excitement.
Sex is great and all, but food … that’s where my true passions lie.
“What is all this?” I ask, looking from the beautiful table to him.
“Something special for my girl,” he tells me with a seductive smile. With one more long kiss, he pulls out a chair for me and we sit down to eat. He’s pulled out all of the stops. There’s salad, lobster, steak, baked potatoes, lemon custard, and the most decadent looking chocolate cake I’ve ever seen.
We’re partway through it when he looks at me intently and I
know that I’m about to find out the real reason behind this whole fancy dinner he’s set up for me.
“I wanted to ask you about something.” He’s studying me and I wonder what’s going on in his mind.
“Okay.” I wait, my mind going in every direction. As well as I know both of my boys, I can’t figure out what he’s up to.
“I want to ask you to come and spend Christmas and New Year’s with me and my family. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I wanted you to know how much it would mean to me. You’ve become family to me, and holidays are meant to be spent with family. Christmas just wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t there this year.”
His eyes, his beautiful eyes the color of a storm-tossed sea, hold me fast, and it feels like my heart is going to beat right out of my chest.
“You and Blair mean everything to me. I wish …” I hate that I have to say this to him, but there’s no way around it. He’s just a little too late. “I wish so much that I could spend the holiday with you, but my aunt and uncle have already asked me. I promised them I would.”
As much as I would prefer to spend the day with Wills, it will be my first holiday with actual, blood relatives, and I can’t pass that up.
I feel awful. He went to all the trouble to make this amazing dinner for me to ask me to spend Christmas with him and I can’t do it.
He sighs and I see his thick, wide shoulders fall. Like a sad giant.
He nods. “It’s okay. I understand. I knew that there would be other people asking you too. I know how important it is to you to that you have some family around you for the holiday for the first time.”
I reach for his hand. “Wills, you and Blair are my family too,” I tell him earnestly, and he smiles a little, knowing I mean it.
“Well, the invitation is open. My parents are happy to have you with us anytime.” He lifts my hand and kisses my fingers. I wonder if his parents are as open-minded as Blair’s. I better hope Ellen doesn’t get wind of our unusual arrangement, or her matronly instincts are going to go haywire.