“I’m Piper,” she said. For some reason, she seemed nervous. “I just wanted to say I really admire you for what you did. With Gabe, I mean. Because he’s the only child of the city’s D.A., he thinks he can get whatever he wants from whomever he wants. I don’t think he’s ever been shot down, especially by a girl he attempted to ask out. Or I guess not asked, huh?”
Reese smiled and continued to finish dressing. “Yeah, well, I highly doubt it’ll actually make him think twice about demanding someone’s time,” she said. “I’m Reese, by the way.”
“It’s really nice to meet you,” Piper said. “I wanted to talk to you on Friday but knowing you were new and looking the way you do, I knew Gabe would be on you in a second. It’s just, as misogynic as it sounds, there are two groups of girls on the team: those who have and want to hook up with him, and those who won’t. I’m one of the latter girls, but we don’t look like you and we aren’t popular, so he pretends he doesn’t want to sleep with us.” She rolled her eyes. “The girls who have or want to be with him are all pretty, with varying degrees of intelligence and athleticism, but all they seem to talk about is Gabe this and Gabe that.”
“Trust me, I think Gabe talks about himself enough for everyone else,” Reese murmured, pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder. “Look, Gabe’s good-looking, but he’s also an asshole.”
Piper giggled, a surprisingly feminine giggle that tugged at Reese’s own lips. “Yeah, but sometimes girls can be blind to assholes when they look like Vikings,” she said. “To be honest, I’m surprised he waited until today to try something with you. I thought for sure he’d do it Friday.”
“Technically, he almost did,” Reese said as the two started walking out together. “We officially met at Jack Phillip’s party. My daddy works for Phillip and he introduced me to Gabe there. I had a feeling he might try something, and to be honest, I think he might have if it wasn’t for …” She let her voice trail off as the theory in her mind began to grow. She stopped walking, which caused Piper to stop as well.
“What?” Piper asked, tilting her head to the side. “What stopped him?” She sounded genuinely curious, but not because she wanted something to gossip about. She sounded like she cared.
Reese opened her mouth, about to respond, when the man who populated her theory made his unexpected appearance from the main office. He was dressed in a black blazer and a maroon collared shirt with fitted black jeans and the sameworn Converses, flipping a gold coin and catching it in midair before repeating the action. Without thinking, Reese grabbed Piper’s forearm and yanked her behind a row of lockers. Even though Henry was walking away from them—heading to either the library or the cafeteria—and hadn’t noticed their presence, she got the feeling that he was aware of much more than he let on.
“What?” Piper repeated, but at least she had the sense to whisper. “What is it?”
Reese only answered when she heard his distinct footsteps fade away. “Who is that?” she asked, turning around so they were facing each other. “The guy with the suit?”
“Henry?” Piper asked.
“Yes, him,” Reese said with a firm nod. “What’s his deal?”
Piper still looked confused. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“Well, I mean, look at him,” Reese said, raising her brow. “I’ve never seen anyone like him before in my entire life and I’m from LA. He knows Jack Phillip and is always wearing the top half of suits, and sometimes he looks like a teenager and other times he looks fifty. And for whatever reason, I get the feeling that …”
“That what?”
“I don’t know,” Reese said, throwing her arms up. “I just get the feeling that he has this power over everyone. I met him in the main office on my first day, and he didn’t outright order Ms. Dillard to do anything but she still seemed, like, scared of him. That’s crazy, right? How can a secretary be afraid of a student? But then, Gabe and I were in Jack’s library, right? Just talking, and he was about to say something but then Gabe pulled me behind the bookcase. We saw Jack in his study talking to someone, and there he was. Henry, I mean. Talking to Jack like they were, I don’t know, business partners. How does Henry, who’s–what, seventeen, eighteen?–have that kind of power over Jack Phillip, who’s twenty?”
Piper laughed nervously and started heading for the office. Reese had no choice but to follow.
“I think you’re overthinking, Reese,” she said. As she glanced around, almost as though ensuring no one was watching them, she spoke, her voice sounding shaky, “A three year age difference isn't that big of a deal. Just ask Erin Barrymore, popular girl known for dating college guys. He’s just Henry, after all. No one really knows a lot about him except, like you said, he wears blazers and dress shirts. I know he’s a senior and seems to know everything about everything. He’s in my AP Art History class and he seems to know his stuff, especially any depictions of Greek mythology. For as long as I’ve known him, I’ve never heard of him dating anyone.” The more she spoke about him, the more she seemed to get tense, like she was reciting a speech and it was coming out the wrong way. “One thing everyone knows about him, and this may be where the whole power vibe comes from, is that he’s very open to helping anyone out, but for a price. So, like, if I wanted a candy-apple red 1968 Mustang, I could go to him, make a deal with him; literally the next day, the car would be at my house with the keys in the ignition and a full tank of gas.”
“What does he ask for in return?” Reese asked as they exited the school. From the corner of her eye, she could spot her mom waiting in the car.
“Sometimes, it’s money with added interest,” Piper answered, shrugging her shoulders. “Other times, it’s something obscure, like a random article of clothing he saw you wear one time or a dance at one of the school dances. And then there’s the favor.”
“A favor?” Reese asked. “Like, he just asks for a favor?” Piper nodded. “Who would agree to that?”
“You’d be surprised how desperate people can be,” Piper pointed out. “Then again, you’d be surprised that Henry can get you whatever you want if you just ask.”
“What happens when someone breaks a deal?” Reese wondered out loud.
“That never happens,” Piper said, so seriously Reese felt a shiver slid down her back. “Henry will make sure you honor a deal somehow. I think that’s why everyone in school, even the teachers and administrators, both fear and respect him. It’s probably the reason why Gabe didn’t try anything with you Friday night. Henry might be able to use it against Gabe in some way in the future. It’s weird, actually. Everyone knows who he is, but I get the feeling that no one likes him.”
“Sounds lonely,” Reese murmured more to herself than Piper.
“Dangerous is more like it,” the goalie returned, glancing at Reese from the corner of her eye. “The only reason I haven’t asked him for my dream car is because I know there’s no way I’d be able to repay him. If you want my advice, I’d tell you to stay away from him.”
It was sage advice, Reese knew, but she wasn’t going to follow it. There was something pulling her to Henry, something she didn’t understand, but wanted, more than anything, to find out.
10
Andie
Andie was surprised to find her mother up for breakfast the next morning. Normally, the woman would sleep in until 9:30AM and then read a book or watch her Spanish soap operas in her room—the only bedroom with a television—coming out just to get food since there was a bathroom attached to her room. In Andie’s mind, her mother had gone the way of Howard Hughes, so when she took Andie shopping the other weekend, Andie had nearly choked on her tongue. It was nice, she had to admit, but it was hard to enjoy herself when her mom had barely spoken to Keirah, let alone taken her shopping after learning she had gotten her own internship with Dr. Hawkins.
“See?” her mother said, using her fork to point at Andie as she entered the room. “Look at your sister. She eats. She has curves. Men like curves. What boy wants
to be with someone who has the same figure he does?”
“Mom.”
Both Andie and Keirah spoke at the same time. Andie wasn’t sure how she was able to do it, but her mother had a talent to both insult and compliment not just one person, but multiple people at the same time.
“What?” Judith Shepherd asked, her dark eyes looking between her daughters. “It’s the truth.”
Keirah let out a disgusted snort and stood up, all but stomping out of the room, her jaw clenched the entire way.
“Oh, let her go,” Judith said as soon as Andie stood to go after her. “She always did have her father’s flair for the dramatic.”
“That’s Andie, actually,” Keirah shouted from her room.
Andie stepped into the tiny bedroom, her pale green eyes searching Keirah’s face for any hint of anger that might be directed towards Andie. She remained in the doorway as a precaution. “Key—” she began, but Keirah cut her off.
“Look Andie, I’m not in the mood to hear you defend her,” she snapped, her voice still sharp but her shoulders slumped forward. “To be honest, I have no idea why she’s up at 6:30AM, and quite frankly, I don’t care. I don’t need her constantly reminding me what a disappointment I am in the looks department, especially when we look exactly the same, even in the chest.”
“I know—”
“Do you?” Keirah asked. Her dark eyes narrowed at her sister. “Because I don’t think you do. Do you have any idea what it feels like to be told you’re not a real woman because you don’t have curves? It’s not like I asked for this body, you know. I don’t diet or exercise; I was born this way. I wish I had your breasts and your butt, Andie, but I don’t. Most of the time, I’m happy I have a face most girls would kill for, a nice set of abs, and long legs. But every once in a while, I get so incredibly infuriated when I hear the world tell me what a real woman is. I am a real woman.”
Andie blinked at her sister’s outburst. Keirah was normally controlled and calm, internalizing her emotions rather than letting them out. There were times when Keirah’s stoic nature pissed Andie off to no end, when all she wanted to see was some kind of proof that Keirah cared about something. And maybe Andie was wrong in feeling that way.
She cleared her throat. "Mom shouldn't have said that to you," she said in a small voice. For some reason, Andie couldn't look Keirah in the eye. She felt... shame, like what her mother said somehow reflected Andie's personal feelings, and that wasn't the case at all.
“I’m sorry, Andie,” Keirah said finally, touching her fingers to her forehead, her eyes closed. “I’m not… I’m not upset with you. It just gets a little hard knowing I’ll never be what she wants, even though I look just like her. I envy you, you know. You look just like Dad.”
“Yeah, but looking like Dad means she has these ridiculous expectations of me,” Andie said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. “Dad was good at practically everything, which means I have to be good at everything. I’ll never forget what she said about my weight after I didn’t make cheer squad freshman year. Two years later and I still think I'm too big to be pretty.”
“You’re not even fat,” Keirah said softly. “And I’m not saying that because I’m your sister.”
“I know.” She smiled. “You are a real woman.”
“I know.”
They shared a look and Andie felt her smile deepen. It was nice to see that in spite of how different the two were, Keirah still had Andie’s back, and Andie had Keirah’s as well.
“Guys,” Reese said as she slid into her seat. It was early, with no one in the room save for Andie, Carey, and now Reese. Her voice was low, a conspiratorial whisper, and Andie had to press her lips together to keep from laughing at Reese’s caution. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Why are we whispering?” Carey asked, looking at Andie for some kind of explanation. “We’re in an empty classroom.”
Andie just shrugged. “What’s up?” she asked.
“Do you know anything about Henry Nathan?” Reese’s grey eyes danced between the two friends.
Andie furrowed her brow, expecting something more climatic. “Henry who?” she asked.
“The senior. You know, the guy with the feathered hair who always wears black except for his skinny ties and shirts. Apparently everyone hates him, but if they need something, they can go to him and he’ll get it for them, but only for something in return.”
“Oh, that Henry Nathan,” Andie said.
“He has a really long name,” Carey said. “We have Mythology together and every time Mrs. Barnes calls roll, she says his full name: Charles Henry Aaron Ronald Oral Nathan.”
“He has five names?” Andie asked in disbelief. “Well, six, including his last name?”
Carey nodded her head. “And Barnes recites it every day.” She pursed her lips together. “She calls him Charles too, even though everyone knows he goes by Henry. He seems annoyed by it. Not just being addressed as Charles, but the fact that she reads his full name.”
“I get that,” Andie said. “I hate that Mrs. Fitzpatrick calls me Andrea.”
“So that’s why you dumped your water on Jack Phillip? He called you Andrea?” Carey quipped, a dry look on her soft features.
“You dumped water on Jack Phillip?” Reese asked in disbelief.
“Let’s not go off topic here,” Andie said, feeling her face turn red. A couple of students walked in and headed to their classroom. Now, Andie did drop her voice. “Why do you want to know about Henry, Reese?”
“I-I don’t know,” Reese replied, and to Andie, the blonde sounded genuine. “It’s crazy, but I swear I know him from somewhere. I just can’t put my finger on it …” She let her voice trail off before shaking her head, causing her pigtails to move side to side.
“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Carey said.
“Why?” Andie asked.
“Henry knows everything,” she explained. “Not only that, but he remembers everything. In all likelihood, you don’t know him because if you did, he’d mention it and try and manipulate you into making one of those deals of his that’re impossible to repay.”
“Wait, what do you mean?” Reese asked, looking between the two.
“It’s how Henry is,” Andie said, her eyes rolling dismissively. “He makes deals with people who can’t refuse, and when they can’t pay him, he doubles the interest or something. He’s definitely a bastard, but people shouldn’t make deals with him in the first place. They should know better.”
“Has Henry ever gone back on a deal?” Reese asked.
“I heard that Gabriel Burr made a deal with him, but nobody knows what it is,” Carey said, leaning forward to ensure they wouldn’t be overheard. “But Henry didn’t follow through in some way. Rumor has it that Gabe is pissed off but won’t do anything about it because he’s afraid of Henry.”
“That’s another thing I don’t get,” Reese said, a furrow in her brow. “Why are people afraid of Henry? I get that he’s powerful, but I’m pretty sure Gabe could take him.”
More students walked in, louder and syphoning off into groups. Mr. Frampton headed straight for his desk and frowned at the fact that no one was in their seats, but no one noticed.
“You’d be surprised,” Carey said. “Henry has connections with everyone. I’m sure he could get someone killed if he wanted.”
“Yeah, he was at Jack Phillip’s party the other night.”
“What?” Andie yelped. She ignored the dirty look Mr. Frampton shot her, her pale green eyes focused solely on Reese. “Henry was at Jack’s party?”
Carey smirked, her dimples just adding to her smugness. “Oh, so he’s Jack now?” she asked.
Andie rolled her eyes. “Oh please,” she muttered. “He’s still an arrogant jerk, but he’s not as bad as I thought he’d be. Plus, he’s definitely not my type.”
“Oh, so tall, muscled, broad shouldered billionaires aren’t your cup of tea?” Carey asked.
“Have you s
een the type of girls he dates?” Andie asked, pushing her brows up.
“Hey, they could be smart,” Reese pointed out. “All anyone expects me to be is a Victoria’s Secret model even though I have a 4.0 GPA.”
“Yeah, but they’re not smart like you are, Reese, and I’ll tell you why,” Andie said. “If you’ve been in Onyx for one week, you know who Jack Phillip is and you know what he’s about. The way I know these women are complete boneheads is the fact that once he and whatever girl he’s seeing at the time break up, she gets all pissy about it, like she didn’t see this coming. Of course she did. It’s what happens to every girl he’s ever been with.”
“Maybe they think they’re special,” Reese suggested. “Jack Phillip falling in love isn’t impossible, you know.”
“No, but it’s highly unlikely.”
They stopped talking as a girl walked past, clutching her books tight to her chest.
“So if Jack Phillip came up to you and asked you out—”
Andie snorted derisively at Carey’s question. “It will never happen,” she said. “The girls he dates and I have nothing in common, and you know what? That’s totally fine because, like I said, he’s not my type.”
“Who’s your type?” Reese asked.
“She’s holding out for John Cusack,” Carey said.
“Ooh, good choice.”
“Why thank you,” Andie said. “Not only is he so attractive it should be illegal, but he’s smart and cares about current events. I’ve been rewatching episodes of The Daily Show just in case I happen to run into him and we get into a heated political discussion.”
“And by heated, do you mean sexy?” Carey raised one eyebrow.
“I certainly hope not,” Mr. Frampton said, his tone dry as he stared at the conversing girls. “I thought I might have to hold a boombox over my head and play a Peter Gabriel song to get your attention.”
Awaken: Book 1 in The Dark Paradise Chronicles Page 7