I grin wickedly. This plan is flawless.
Mom has always talked about going to the ballet but it’s one of those things that we’ve never been able to afford. Hendrix however, just happens to own box seats in the theatre and her father just so happens to be going.
It’s a match made in heaven. Or at least, a match made during high school biology.
Mom has been questioning it all week. I came to her on Tuesday after school, racing in like a fire had been lit under my ass telling her how I’d entered a competition on her behalf and that I'd just got the email to confirm that we’d won. Hendrix and I even spent our lunch period creating a fake email address to send the announcement from because we’re smart like that.
I've then slowly started coughing through the week, hinting that I'm coming down with something and just spent the last hour standing on the couch and getting my head as close to the air vents as possible. I cranked the heat right up and twenty minutes ago, mom walked in to find me snuggled in bed with a high ‘fever.’
Thinking that I was sick, she insisted that we stay at home and it took me ten minutes to convince her that she should still go and have fun without me. Besides, what am I going to do at the ballet? Sounds fancy and all but I’d fall asleep during the opening dance and end up embarrassing her. She’d never forgive me and she knows it.
Which brings us to now.
“You look amazing,” I tell her, scanning my gaze up and down her champagne gown. “You’re going to have the best time. Why don’t you treat yourself to a nice dinner afterward?”
“By myself?” she scoffs. “I hardly think so.”
“Okay,” I say with a shrug, not wanting to push the topic because I know damn well that dinner is exactly where she’s going to end up and hopefully, I'll catch her sneaking in through the pool house doors during the early hours of the morning. “It was just a suggestion.”
She harumphs but lets it go as she takes a step back to take a proper look at herself. Her make up is done perfectly, keeping it light and natural while her hair falls in soft dark curls around her shoulders. Any man would be lucky to have her.
She watches herself for a short moment and I wonder what could possibly be going through her head. Stuff like this isn’t normal for us, it’s something like a fairytale, and knowing that she’s going to run into her prince charming tonight just makes it so much better.
I might have to sleep in Colton’s room tonight because she’s bound to have a few things to say to me once she realizes that she’s been set up, but hopefully, she won’t allow that to ruin her night. She’s going to have an amazing time complete with butterflies, champagne, and a handsome man who thinks the world of her.
“Okay,” she finally says. “Get your butt back in bed. I’ll make sure Colton knows to come and check on you. Maybe he could order you some chicken soup to help your throat.”
“Sounds good,” I tell her, slinking back to my bed and making a show of climbing back in and dropping down onto my pillow. Mom turns back to the mirror. “Are you sure I look alright?”
“You look killer in that dress. Everyone who sees you is going to either want to be you or be with you. Own it, Mom. You deserve a night off.”
She bounces her shoulders nervously before letting out a strained breath. “Okay,” she says, turning back to me and walking over. She pulls the blankets up high like she used to do when I was a kid before pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Don’t you dare move from this bed, okay? Text me if you need anything and I’ll come right home.”
I roll my eyes and agree anyway, knowing she’s bound to stay home if I was to give even the slightest hint that I’d not text if I was in trouble. “I will,” I tell her. “Now go before your Uber cracks the shits and leaves.”
Mom presses another kiss to my forehead before giving me an excited smile. I watch as she practically skips out of sight. When I hear the sound of the pool house door closing behind her, I finally throw the blankets off. It was like a sauna under there after my time spent in front of the heat vents. I need a freezing cold shower just to stop sweating.
I hurry around our little home and check out the front window to make sure she’s well and truly gone before rushing back into my bedroom and grabbing my phone off my bedside table.
“IT WORKED,” I cheer as Drix answers the call. “She’s on her way.”
“Bullshit. Really?” she laughs far too excited for her own good. “HELL YES! We should be criminal masterminds. What’s our next plan? Should we hit up Tiffanys or start slow with a bank?”
“Are you insane?” I laugh. “First off, you probably have more diamonds in your bedroom than Tiffanys has on site and a bank? Are you trying to get us arrested? You’re too pretty for jail but I’m sure we could gang up and I could make you my bitch so no one else steals you away.”
Drix lets out a sarcastic sigh. “I’m so glad I have such a great friend.”
“Yeah,” I laugh. “You’re so lucky.”
“Speaking of being lucky,” she says in a strange tone. “I, uhh … actually wanted to talk to you about something.”
My brows pinch as I drop down on the couch. “Yeah, what’s up?”
There’s a slight pause, almost as though she’s trying to work out how to string her sentence together. “I, um … well, you can totally tell me if you’re weird about this and I’ll back off, but you know on Monday you said that I should go and chill with Charlie?”
“Yeah?” I say slowly, wondering where this is going.
“I kinda did and we’ve been hanging out quite a bit now and well, I know you two used to have a thing and if you’re weird about it, I’ll totally stop hanging out with him.” There’s another short pause before I hear her suck in a breath through her teeth and just before I can tell her to spit it out, the words come out in a rushed, panicked whisper. “But you should know that I kinda slept with him last night.”
My eyes bug out of my head as I throw myself to my feet. “FUCK, YEAH! Are you guys together now? Tell me you’re a thing?”
“What?” she breathes, her tone a million times lighter as though telling me that news caused the weight of the world to fall from her shoulders. “You’re not upset or anything?”
“No. God, no. Why would I be upset? Charlie is an amazing guy and yeah, he kinda hates me right now but I still consider him one of my best friends and if he really likes you and you feel the same, then I have nothing but love for you two together. I have Colton now and he’s … well, he’s everything I could ever want—”
“Are you in love with him?”
“I, uhh … umm …”
Shit.
“Oh, god,” she laughs. “You totally are. You’re in love with Mr. Money Bags.”
“Shut up,” I tell her. “I am not, I’m just … fuck. Okay, maybe I am. I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and define it yet.”
A loud, booming belly laugh tears out of her and I have to pull the phone away from my ear to avoid her laughter bursting my eardrum. “Girl, there’s no defining it. You either feel it or you don’t and I can tell by the way you look at him that you totally feel it, and the same goes for him. Colton Carrington is head over heels for you, Ocean.”
“How did this go from finding out how the hell you ended up with Charlie between your legs to my love life?”
“I … I really don’t know actually,” she says with a soft, breathy laugh. “We were just hanging out and then one thing led to another and before I knew it, I had my ass up in the air and he was giving it to me harder than anyone’s ever done before. It was …”
“Yeah,” I laugh. “Trust me, I know how good it was. Charlie has a certain set of skills that can make even the toughest criminal blush.”
“Right?” she breathes, the smile in her tone infectious.
“So, what’s the deal then? Are you two getting together or are you still figuring it out?”
“I don’t actually know,” she tells me. “I think we’re something but we c
ould also be nothing. It’s complicated. It’s that weird in-between stage … I think. The last I heard he was still crushing on you pretty hard.”
“Nah, that was ages ago. He’s over that. I’ve not been getting those creepy ‘I want to see you naked again’ vibes from him anymore. He knows that me and Colton are solid and he wouldn’t stand in the way of that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, of course. Look, Charlie is a lot of things but he’s no liar. Go and talk to him and he’ll be straight up with you and I can guarantee that he’ll tell you exactly what you’re wanting to know. What’s not to love about you, Drix? You’re freaking awesome.”
“So, what? Just go over there and ask him and be like ‘Hey, I know we fucked and all, but do you want to do it again exclusively?’”
“Umm … yeah? What have you got to lose?”
“Yeah, but what if—hold on,” she says, cutting off what she was about to say. “Someone’s at the door.”
I wait patiently as she goes to check who’s knocking on her door when her voice comes grumbling through the phone. “Well, well, speak of the devil and he shall appear.”
“Wait,” I say, listening intently. “Is that Charlie? Did he come to claim your ass?”
“Who are you talking to?” I hear softly, but the low, rumbly flirty tone of Charlie’s is unmistakable.
Drix’s guilty laugh comes through the phone. “I, uhh … got to go.”
“He’s so into you,” I boom. “Nail that bastard down and remember, once you’ve licked him, that means he’s yours.”
“You’re fucking gross, and for the record, I more than licked him.”
“Look who’s gross now,” I laugh. “Enjoy your fuck fest.”
I end the call and instead of climbing back into bed like a good little girl, I slip my phone into my back pocket and break out of the pool house.
I get halfway to the back door of the mansion when I find Colton walking out with what looks like an envelope in his hand. “Oh, hey,” he says, not having expected to find me out here. “Is your mom gone?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And?” he says with a grin, knowing damn well what Drix and I had planned.
“It worked like a charm.”
He meets me in the middle and wraps his arms around my waist, the envelope rubbing against the bare skin of my back. “Of course it did,” he says proudly. “Because you and Drix are forces to be reckoned with.”
“And don’t you forget it,” I laugh.
He rolls his eyes and gently presses a kiss to my lips. “I’d hate to see what evil plot you two come up with if a guy was to break either of your hearts.”
“Do it,” I dare him. “We’ve already worked out every last detail and trust me, I don’t think you’ll come out the other end alive.”
“I don’t doubt that, but you have nothing to worry about. I'm not about to go breaking your heart.”
“You better not be,” I tell him, raising my head to meet his hazel eyes. “Were you coming to find me?”
“Sure was,” he says, pulling out of my arms and holding out the envelope. I take it from him with drawn brows. “This came for you.”
“What is it?” I ask, scanning over it to see my name printed on the front. I don’t think I've ever received a letter in my life. The only things that we ever used to find in our mailbox were bills, overdue notices, and an eviction notice. Though, the letter I got from Tommy Peters in first grade telling me he thought I was cute doesn’t really count … or does it?
“How am I supposed to know?” Colton says, his voice thick with sarcasm. “Why don’t you open it up and find out?”
I roll my eyes and flip the envelope over and stamped across the back is the return sender details together with the logo of The University of Bellevue Springs.
I suck in a breath and find myself holding the letter out as far as it can go, almost as though it’s diseased. “What are you doing?” Colton grumbles, looking at me as though I just boarded the train to crazy town.
“It’s from the college,” I say, knowing damn well that he would have already seen that and was just waiting to see my reaction. My nerves bubble up in my stomach as I ignore Colton’s presence beside me, unable to stop looking at the letter. This tiny slip of paper determines what I'll be doing for the next few years. Assuming Russo and the Wolves don’t get their filthy paws on me again. “What do I do?”
Colton chokes back a laugh and holds a straight face. “Um … read it?”
I roll my eyes. He’s such a boy, but despite that, he’s right. There’s no use standing out here, staring at it. I need to figure out what it says and start planning my future.
Taking a shaky breath, I slip my finger under the lip of the envelope and tear through it, hoping that I'm not accidentally destroying what’s hidden inside.
I get it open and my hands instantly begin shaking. I can hardly see the paper, it's so bad. Flipping it over, I unfold it and the dread begins flooding me. If this was an acceptance letter, wouldn’t it be a thicker envelope? More papers with course details and all that kind of shit? Just one lone piece of paper seems a bit … bad.
Shit.
I’m just about to start looking over it when a thought occurs. This is a huge moment for me and maybe I should be waiting for Mom, but then, do I have the strength to hold back? The curiosity of leaving it lay open on the table would kill me.
No. Sorry, Mom. I love her and all but I can’t wait. This is too big.
Colton steps right into my side and starts reading over my shoulder as I begin scanning the letter, my breath coming in short, sharp pants.
Dear Miss Oceania Munroe,
It is our pleasure to congratulate you on your acceptance to The University of Bellevue Springs…
A high-pitched squeal wails out of me and I jump up and down, clutching the paper so freaking hard that it crumples between my hands. “HOLY SHIT,” I squeak. “I GOT INTO A FUCKING COLLEGE WITHOUT SUCKING SOMEONE’S DICK.”
Colton grabs me and pulls me up off the ground, sharing in the joy as he spins me around. “I fucking knew you would do it, babe,” he says, crushing his lips to mine. “Now, let me take you somewhere to celebrate.”
Chapter 24
I sit across the table from Colton in one of the fanciest restaurants that Bellevue Springs has to offer and I’ve never felt so out of place. It’s not my kind of restaurant. The meal costs more than I could make in a week but damn it, it’s so good. It’s certainly no Chuck E Cheese or Chili’s though.
My acceptance letter sits on the table between us and I find myself reading over it for the millionth time, only my mood isn’t soaring anymore. My whole world fell apart as soon as I finished reading the opening sentence and got further into the details of what it means to be a college student.
Finance.
“Jade, come on,” Colton says, reaching across the table and taking my hand. “I don’t know what you're freaking out about. I've got you. If you want to go to college, then I’ll sort it out. Why are you worrying about this so much?”
“I’m not taking your money, Colton,” I say, looking up to meet his eyes while wondering how the hell Mom and I are going to make this work. The fee structure is insane and I already know without even trying that I’m not exactly the greatest candidate for a student loan. “You’re my boyfriend, not my sugar daddy. I've already let you get away with paying for my school fees. It’s not about to happen again. I can take care of myself. I’ll find a way.”
“Babe, come on,” he groans. “Do you have any idea how frustrating it is knowing that you’re going to sit here and panic over paying it when I could have the tuition transferred and paid by the time we’ve finished dinner?”
“Gee, thanks for rubbing my nose in it.”
“That’s not what I’m doing and you know it. I don’t want to see you going through that kind of torture when I could take it away for you.”
I shake my head. “No, I’m sorry, but no. I�
��m not tying myself to you financially. Mom and I will talk about it tomorrow and see what we can come up with.”
Colton falls back into his chair and stares blankly at me. “You’re serious about this? You’re really going to let a little stubbornness and your need to feel independent potentially stop you from attending college?”
“Dead serious,” I tell him, “I’m going whether I can pay for it or not so don’t worry about that. My independence is important to me and I’ll come out the other end with it still intact, but if I find out that you’ve gone behind my back and paid my fees, hell will rain down on you, Mr. Carrington.”
He sighs and from the guilty expression that cuts across his face, it’s clear that was exactly what he had intended to do. “Fine,” he groans while rolling his eyes at my stubborn nature. “If this is how you really want to do it then you have options, a few actually.”
I raise my brow and lean in, paying close attention while equally shocked that he’s actually entertaining the idea of me doing this on my own. “Like?” I question, ready to hang off his every word.
“There are all sorts of things,” he says. “Student loans, financial aid, grants. You could apply for a scholarship and if you really want to be independent about it, I could loan you the money.”
I shake my head at his last suggestion but feel my mind whirling with possibilities. “I doubt I’ll be accepted for student loans or any of the financial aid.”
“Don’t write it off too soon,” he tells me. “You work and your mom works, you shouldn’t have any problems getting financial aid. Not to mention, my dad was good friends with the dean of UBS. So, if all else fails, I could put in a good word and see if he’ll consider you for a payment plan.”
“Really?” I question, my eyes going wide as my hope slowly begins to resurface.
“Yeah, Jade. I can see how much you want this. You’ve set your boundaries and as much as I hate that I can’t help you with this, I respect that. So, I’m going to do everything else in my power to make this happen for you.”
Barbie B*tch: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Rejects Paradise Book 3) Page 23