Knowing You (The Jade Series #2)

by Everhart, Allie

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  Knowing You

  By Allie Everhart

  Knowing You

  By Allie Everhart

  Copyright © 2013 Allie Everhart

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Waltham Publishing, LLC

  Cover Design by Sarah Hansen of Okay Creations

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, things, and events are fictitious, and any similarities to real persons (live or dead), things, or events are coincidental and not intended by the author.

  The author holds exclusive rights to this work and unauthorized duplication is prohibited. No part of this book is to be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

  1

  “Jade? Are you in there?” I jump up from my bed when I hear her voice.

  “Yes. Just a second.” I quickly check my face in the mirror to make sure I’ve wiped away any remaining tears.

  I open the door to find Harper standing there. She usually looks like a model with her long blond hair, bright blue eyes, perfect skin, and the latest clothes. But today, she’s hunched over wearing sweats with swiggly lines of mascara running down her face. Her hair’s in a messy ponytail and her eyes are red and puffy.

  “Harper, what’s wrong?” I lead her into my room.

  “Cole dumped me last night.” She collapses on my bed, then curls up into a ball, shoving my pillow under her head.

  “What happened?” I sit on the bed next to her.

  “Last night at the Halloween party he said he needed a change. So I asked him what that meant and he wouldn’t say anything. Then later, I found him in one of the rooms doing it with some girl in a French maid costume. I guess that was the change he was looking for.” She sniffles, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her bright pink sweatshirt. I grab a box of tissues from my desk and offer them to her.

  “I thought we had something, Jade. Cole and I were the perfect couple. We liked the same things. We could talk about stuff. We had great sex.” She grabs a wad of tissues.

  “You had sex with him?”

  “Of course I had sex with him. Have you seen him? Who wouldn’t have sex with him?” She pauses a moment to blow her nose. “I guess that’s why he left. He just used me, then moved on to the next girl.”

  “When did you two start having sex?”

  “Since I’ve been staying over there. Like a week ago, I guess.”

  Harper and I are friends, but not super close friends. I’m not someone who likes super close. I’m more of a stay-on-the-sidelines type of friend; just someone to do stuff with when you’re bored.

  In the few months we’ve known each other, the sideline friend arrangement has worked well, at least for me. Harper and I eat in the dining hall together almost every day. We hang out in her room and watch TV. And sometimes we’ll go into town and shop. But we’re not the type of friends who share all the intimate details of our lives with each other. Although today she seems to want to do just that.

  “I didn’t know you two were that serious. I guess we haven’t talked much since you guys starting dating.” They’d only dated for a few weeks but she’d spent almost every minute with him.

  She wipes her face with her hand, smudging the squiggly lines of mascara. “I should’ve known he would cheat. Guys that good looking always cheat. Do you ever worry about Garret cheating?”

  “Um, well, we’re not dating so it doesn’t matter. He can do what he wants.” Given that Harper and I aren’t super close, I haven’t told her everything that’s been going on with Garret and me and why we’re still only friends.

  She sits up and takes another tissue. “Why do you always say you’re not dating him? You two are together all the time. You’re always up in his room. What do you two do up there? And how can you just be friends after all this time? You seriously haven’t had sex with him?”

  “No. Now can we just talk about something else?”

  “I don’t get you, Jade. I know you really like him, so why aren’t you two going out?”

  Part of me wants to tell her why. I’m curious if she knows how to handle the situation given her own wealthy background.

  “Harper, does your family have certain rules they make you follow? Like dating rules?”

  She gives me a strange look. “Dating rules? What do you mean?”

  “I was just thinking that since your dad is a well-known director your parents might put pressure on you and your sisters to date the right guy. Like maybe they’re worried that the person you date is a reflection on the family.”

  “What are you talking about? That’s crazy. My parents don’t care who I date. Why would you ask that?”

  “It’s just that I’ve heard that some of the people here at school are forced to date people their parents pick out. It’s all about image, making the family look good.”

  “That’s an East Coast thing. People with old money do that stuff. West Coast people tend to be new money. They’re more laid back.” She wads her tissues up and stuffs them in the front pocket of her sweatshirt. “The people out here are formal and stuffy. They’re always trying to hide anything that might embarrass them, like a kid in rehab or their recent nose job. But in LA, practically everyone’s in rehab. And everyone gets plastic surgery, so we don’t worry so much about hiding stuff. My sister, Kylie, embarrasses my parents all the time. They just ignore it.”

  “So your parents never told you that you couldn’t date someone?”

  Harper gives me this look like she’s finally making sense of my odd line of questioning. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that Garret can’t date you because of his family? Is that what this is about?”

  I don’t answer her.

  “Is his family the reason you guys can’t be together?” She scoots up next to me and waits for me to respond.

  “Yes.” As soon as I say it I feel a sense of relief. I’ve been dying to talk to someone about this but wasn’t sure if I should. And like I said, I don’t usually share that much with Harper.

  “Why are you guys listening to them? You’re both 19. You’re adults. Do whatever the hell you want.”

  “I know, but Garret’s dad threatens to take stuff away from him.”

  “Like what? Money? Who cares? What does he need money for? He’s in college. Everything’s paid for.”

  “They could take his car away.”

  “Seriously? Who are these people?” She laughs. “If that happens then Garret can take the bus. I’m sure he’s never even been on a bus. It’ll be good for him.” She nudges my arm to get me to look at her. “I know you guys have only been dating, or whatever it is you two are doing, for a few months, but Garret is like totally and completely in love with you. It’s written all over his face. And I think that at least part of you loves him, too. You can’t let his family get in the way of that.”

  Hearing her say Garret loves me makes me smile for a brief second. Then I come to my senses, knowing it isn’t true. He doesn’t feel that way about me. It’s too soon. Plus he knows my darkest secrets and nobody would l
ove someone with those secrets.

  “Garret doesn’t love me. We’re just friends.”

  “Oh my God, Jade. Have you seen the way he looks at you? I wish a guy would look at me that way.”

  “He’s dating Ava. Haven’t you heard? They’re a couple now.”

  “Ava? She’s dating that guy, Kenton. They were at the party together last night hanging all over each other.”

  “Yeah, well, she’s supposed to be dating Garret.”

  “So that’s who his parents picked for him? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Yes. She’s the girl of the month. Or maybe they’ll date for the rest of the year.”

  “Garret doesn’t even like her, does he? He always looks annoyed when I see Ava talking to him at parties.”

  “He can’t stand her. She went to his high school and he didn’t like her then either.”

  “Then forget about it. Don’t worry about her.”

  “The two of them have to go to social functions together. They have to be seen together. Photographed together.”

  “So they go to a few charity events. That doesn’t mean you and Garret can’t still date.”

  “You don’t understand. His dad banned Garret from seeing me. As in we can’t even be friends.”

  “That’s crazy! He can’t do that.”

  “He can. And he just did.”

  I get up and go over to my desk. Just thinking about it is causing a build-up of nervous energy. I take out a pen and begin doodling in my English notebook.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Garret’s dad was just upstairs. He told me to get out and basically never come back. I’m not supposed to see Garret ever again.”

  Saying it to her, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my chest. I didn’t realize how much I needed to tell someone this. And I could never tell Frank or Ryan. They already don’t like Garret. And even though this wasn’t his fault, they would blame him for hurting me again.

  My face must show how upset I am because Harper comes over and attempts to hug me in the chair.

  “Jade, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know all this was going on. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “There’s nothing you can do about it, so why bother talking about it?”

  “Because I’m your friend. And friends talk about stuff. Even if I can’t do anything about it, I can listen. You can’t keep something like this to yourself. If it were me, I’d be telling everyone. But I’m kind of a talker.”

  “Don’t tell anyone about this. This is just between you and me. His dad would kill me if he knew I told you.”

  “His dad can go to hell.” She goes and sits on the bed again. “Stop worrying about him. And stop letting him control everything. If you want to see Garret, you’ll see him. End of story.”

  “The Kensingtons are paying for my college. If I lose my scholarship I’ll have to drop out of school and go back to Iowa. I can’t piss them off.”

  “Sounds like you already did. And you’re still here.”

  “Even if they let me keep my scholarship, I won’t be able to see Garret anymore. We never should’ve started something together.”

  “Jade, do you really want to let his dad win? Because I’ve always seen you as someone who doesn’t back down. You seem to go after what you want. But maybe I was wrong.”

  Her reverse psychology technique is so obvious I almost laugh. But I know she’s just trying to help. She tries again with a different approach.

  “Do you really want to give up on Garret? Never talk to him again? Never have one of those movie marathons you guys do? Never go to that pancake world or wherever you guys go every Sunday?”

  That approach works. It brings up images of Garret and me doing all the things we love to do together. I don’t want those things to end. I don’t want Garret to go away.

  “I don’t know what to do, Harper. I’ve never dealt with anything like this before. I don’t understand how these people work.”

  “Give it some time. Let his dad cool off. Maybe he was just in a bad mood today.”

  “He won’t cool off. You should’ve seen him this morning when he caught me in Garret’s room. He was so pissed. He’ll probably make Garret move back home so we’re a safe distance from each other.”

  She comes over and hugs me again. “We’ll work this out, okay? Garret makes you way too happy. I’m not letting his dad ruin that.”

  Makes me happy? Is it that obvious? As much as I try to hide how much I like Garret, apparently I’m not very good at it.

  “Harper, you came in here for us to talk about you and all we did was talk about me. Now tell me what happened last night.”

  “I don’t want to. Actually I don’t feel so bad anymore. The more I think about it, Cole was kind of an ass. Okay, he was a total ass. I lied earlier. There was nothing between us other than pure physical attraction. I just didn’t want to admit it because it makes me sound like a slut, which I’m not. He’s only the third guy I’ve slept with.”

  Third guy? She acts like three isn’t very many, but to me it is. I’ve only slept with one guy and we only did it one time. I haven’t told Harper this because I never talk to people about that type of stuff. I’m sure she assumes I have more experience.

  “God, I’m a total mess,” she says as she fixes her ponytail in the mirror. “I’ll go clean up and then let’s go out for breakfast. We can go to that pancake place you like.”

  “I don’t want to go there. But we can go somewhere else.” I’m not ready to go to Al’s Pancake House without Garret. It would just make me miss him more.

  “Then figure out where you want to go. I need to shower. Just come down to my room when you’re ready.”

  While she’s gone I think about what she said about Garret. How we could still be together despite his father’s orders. I wish it were true but I know it’s not. Garret lives in a different world than me. Our relationship was never meant to be. We both knew that from the start and yet something kept pulling us together.

  “You can’t count on people, Jade. They’ll only let you down.” I hear my dead mother’s words in my head. The words she repeated over and over when I was growing up are true. I never wanted to believe those words because believing them meant I’d always be alone.

  For just a brief moment, I felt what it’s like to not be alone. To be able to share your darkest secrets with someone. To be able to trust that someone with your heart. But the feeling didn’t last. I was stupid to think it would.

  Now Garret is gone, at a time when I need him more than ever. The fact that I admit I need anyone proves the huge effect Garret has had on me. And the fact that he’s changed me these past few months really pisses me off. I used to be fine with being alone. I was proud of myself for being fiercely independent. Now here I am, wishing he was with me, telling me everything would be okay. Not just with his dad but with that horrible phone call.

  A strange man called me about an hour before Harper came knocking on my door. The man had a deep voice I didn’t recognize. He threatened me because of some stupid letter. A single piece of paper. On it my mother told me how she’d been raped and almost killed by a man who was so powerful he was able to silence anyone who knew the truth. Except for Frank. He knew the truth but never told anyone. Not even me until I asked him about it.

  That letter left me wondering who my mom really was and if her whole life was destroyed because of that one night. The night that resulted in me.

  Now I don’t know what to do. Do I just ignore the phone call? Pretend it never happened? I can’t tell Harper about it. Only Frank and Garret know about the letter and I don’t want to tell Frank about the call. If I did, it would stress him out and stress makes his MS worse. I’ve already caused him enough stress by making him tell me the truth about my mom.

  I wish I could talk to Garret about it, but Frank said I never should’ve even told Garret about the letter. And after that mysterious call, I’m starting to think Frank w
as right. Whoever called me about that letter wants the truth buried. And everyone who knows the truth to be buried along with it.

  2

  Harper and I go out for breakfast and then she insists I go shopping with her which takes forever because she has to try on a million things. In the afternoon we go to a movie and then eat dinner in the dining hall. We normally don’t spend that much time together but she’s trying to keep me busy so I don’t sit in my room thinking about Garret.

  I feel like the talk Harper and I had this morning has brought us closer. It’s funny how just a short conversation can change things between people. I’m finally realizing that Harper is a good friend, and she would be an even better friend if I let her. But it’s hard for me to do that. Opening up to her about Garret was a huge step for me.

  When we get back to campus, I notice that Garret’s car isn’t in the parking lot. It wasn’t there when we left either. He must be back home, which is probably where he’ll be living from now on.

  “Do you want to watch TV?” Harper is being so sweet. She has been all day, even though I know that she, too, is feeling depressed after being dumped last night. But instead of talking about that, she’s been trying to make me feel better. Doing all she can to get my mind off Garret.

  “I think I’ll pass on TV tonight. It’s getting late. I should catch up on some reading.” We’re in the hall now in front of her door.

  “Are you sure? We could go rent a movie.”

  “I know you’re trying to help, Harper, and I appreciate it. This day has been great. Really. It was good to get out. But I have a ton of stuff to catch up on.”

  “Okay. Well, goodnight.” She gives me a hug. “Call me if you want to talk. Or just come down to my room.”

  “I will.” I start to leave, then stop. “Hey, Harper?”

  “Yeah?”

  “That guy, Cole, didn’t deserve you. You deserve someone way better.”

  She smiles. “Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  I go back to my room and get out the book I’m supposed to read for English. Sitting next to it is my English notebook, which I haven’t written in for weeks. And Garret and I haven’t been exchanging them like we’re supposed to. I wonder if he’ll still be my partner in English or if his dad will make him find someone new.