by Kai Juniper
"Just let it go. Why are you pushing this? It was my idea and I changed my mind."
Finn and Parker look at each other, grinning slightly. They're going to do something to Charlotte. Fuck. Why did I start this? I should've left her alone. Ella can take care of herself. No matter what I do, she'll try to fight back. But Charlotte is timid and shy and wouldn't have a clue how to fight back.
I could tell her not to show up. Or maybe I should wait and see if Ella will go with her. There's no way she'll let Charlotte go there by herself.
"Later, fuckers." Finn revs the engine and takes off.
Parker turns to me. "You okay? You seem off."
"I don't feel good. I think I'm just tired." I get in the car.
Parker laughs. "Looks like the sociopath got the Ferrari started."
I look over and see Calvin Seamore standing next to his car. Behind it is a tow truck and it looks like the tow truck driver is sitting in Calvin's car. The guy leaves the engine running and gets out, then walks back to his truck.
"The thing's brand new and it wouldn't start?" I say.
Parker smiles. "Finn and I might've had something to do with that."
"Why would you mess with his car?"
"Because the asshole made some comment about Finn being stupid in class the other day. You know we don't put up with that shit."
I start my car and pull out of the space, not wanting to hear the story. I just want to get out of here and end this fucking day. Another day closer to freedom.
Thursday I decide to leave Ella alone. I told her I'd give her a week to think about it and maybe if I follow through on that, she'll agree to what I want. I doubt it, but it's worth a try. We don't have lab so I'm not forced to talk to her, and when I see her in the hall, I ignore her.
On Friday I decide to tell Charlotte not to come to the party, but then change my mind when Ella tells me they're both going. I want to see Ella at a party. I want to see how she'll act, and if she'll drink, and what'll happen if she does. Even though I hate her, she fascinates me. I don't know any other girl like her, which makes me curious to know more.
"You sure you can handle tonight?" I ask her during Chem lab. "You've never been to a party. If you're expecting balloons and ice cream, you're gonna be disappointed."
She rolls her eyes. "I've been to parties, just ones where I've actually liked the people who are there. And as for what I'm expecting, I'm thinking lots of alcohol, a variety of drugs, and you and your friends trying to scare me into agreeing to your deal." She looks me in the eye. "Bring it on. I'm more than ready."
I smile. "But is your friend?"
Her eyes dart around like she's searching for a comeback. She doesn't have one. She can't come up with one because she's too worried about Charlotte and what we might do to her. She knows Charlotte can't handle us. I'm guessing Ella will be glued to her side the entire night. I'm surprised she didn't talk her out of going, or maybe she tried but Charlotte insisted on being there. It's obvious she has a crush on me. She probably thinks my invite meant I was interested in her.
"Five more minutes," Ms. Higgins says.
"I'll just finish it," Ella snaps, stirring in the last chemical. She's angry because she's feeling out of control, unsure how to protect her friend.
I'd planned to leave Charlotte alone tonight but maybe I won't. I'm curious to see what Ella would do to protect her. Maybe I've been approaching this the wrong way this entire time. Maybe this is my answer for getting Ella to give up being valedictorian. Go after Charlotte. It might be the only way to get Ella to do what I want.
Chapter Ten
Briggs
The party's been going on for two hours and Charlotte's not here. Ella must've talked her out of coming. Whatever. I'd already decided not to do anything to Charlotte, at least not tonight. I need to stick with the plan and give Ella until Monday. I haven't decided what I'll do to her yet but I want to do it myself. I'm not going to involve Finn and Parker. This is between Ella and me.
"Hey, babe," Aubrey says, stumbling over to me. Her breath reeks of rum and pineapple juice. She's completely wasted. She was downing vodka shots when I got here and then switched to the rum punch that Scarlett made.
"You need to get home," I tell her, taking out my phone to get her a ride.
"I can't leave," she whines, holding onto me. "I just got here."
"You've been here for two hours and you're about to either throw up or pass out." I click on the app to schedule a car. "The guy will be here in five minutes. Let's wait outside."
"Come home with me." She looks up at me, puckering her lips. Her makeup's smeared, her fake eyelashes are coming off, and her hair's sticking up from swinging her head around when she was dancing. She's a fucking mess and I'm starting to wonder why I'm still dating her. She's hot, but that's all she cares about—her looks—which I guess makes sense since she's a model but it'd be nice if she had some other interests. We never have anything to talk about so we just end up having sex. That's all our relationship is, which I used to be okay with, but it's getting old.
"I told the guys I'd stay here." I peel her off me and lead her to the door.
"You're leaving?" Scarlett yells above the music as she runs over to us, tripping on her heels.
Aubrey bends over. "I think I'm gonna puke."
"Fuck," I mutter, not wanting to deal with this. It's another reason I'm tired of her. She always drinks too much and ends up getting sick. She puked in my Porsche and I had to get it professionally cleaned, which cost a damn fortune.
"Can you get her to a bathroom?" I ask Scarlett.
"She'll be fine." Scarlett looks around the room and smiles at someone, probably a guy. I think she's cheating on Parker but if I told him that he wouldn't believe me.
Aubrey slowly stands up, grabbing my shirt as she steadies herself. She turns and smiles at me. "Let's go find a room."
"Not tonight. You need to sleep this off." I take her arm. "Let's go outside. The car's probably here."
I'd rather make Scarlett take her but she ran off. She doesn't want to deal with Aubrey either, even though they claim to be best friends.
As we're waiting out front for the car to show up, Aubrey shoves my chest. "You better not fuck some other girl after I leave!"
She's entering her angry drunk phase. When she's had too much to drink, she alternates between clingy and angry, which are both annoying.
"It's here." I motion the car to pull around the circular driveway. It stops next to us and I open the door for Aubrey. "Get some rest."
She gets in the car and reaches up to kiss me but I quickly back away and shut the door. The car drives off and I breath a sigh of relief that I don't have to deal with her for the rest of the night.
I remain outside while I check my phone. A text pops up.
Sorry to disappoint you, asshole, but Charlotte couldn't make it to your little house of horrors. You'll have to torture someone else tonight.
The text is from Charlotte's phone but Ella is obviously the one who sent it. Charlotte would be too scared to send that. I wonder what Ella told Charlotte to get her to change her mind about the party. I wonder if she told her about the threats I made. If so, it won't matter. I could easily get Charlotte back on my side. All I'd have to do is give her a smile and look in her eyes and she'd be putty in my hands. Hell, just having me notice her would be enough to win her over.
"What are you doing out here?" Parker asks, coming up beside me, a bottle of beer in his hand.
"I sent Aubrey home. She was about to puke."
"You didn't want to take her yourself?"
"And have her puke in my car? Yeah, I'll pass." I swipe through my phone. "I might be done with her. I didn't even want to be around her tonight."
"Suck it up because you're not breaking up with her. You piss off Aubrey, you'll piss off Scarlett, and I'm not dealing with that shit."
"I'm not staying with Aubrey just because you're afraid to stand up to your girlfriend."
"I'm not afraid to stand up to her. I just don't want to deal with her yelling at me because of you."
"Then find someone else. You don't like Scarlett that much anyway."
"I like her. I just don't like dealing with her when she's angry." He takes a drink of his beer. "So what happened with Charlotte? I thought she'd be here by now."
"Ella talked her out of it."
He chuckles. "Charlotte's got her own bodyguard? Is she really that afraid of us?"
"Hell, yeah. Every time we get near her, she runs away."
"Then how'd you get her to agree to come to the party?"
I point to myself, a smug grin on my face. "She sees this coming at her, how could she say no?"
"But Trailer Girl ruined it."
"Like she always does," I mutter.
"So what's the plan? What are we doing to Ella?"
"We're not. I told you I'm taking over. I don't need help on this. I can handle her."
"And why again are you doing this?"
"Because she pissed me off. I asked her to do one simple thing and she wouldn't do it."
"What'd you ask her to do?"
"Doesn't matter. I'll deal with it. By the end of next week, she'll do whatever I ask."
And if she doesn't, she's going to regret it.
"I'm going back inside," Parker says. "You coming?"
"In a minute."
He goes in the house while I get out my phone and text Ella. Made your decision yet?
She doesn't text back.
I return to the party. Girls come up to me now that Aubrey is gone but I'm not looking for sex tonight. I'm too preoccupied with thoughts about what it'll take to make Ella do what I asked. Why is she being so damn stubborn? It's really pissing me off.
In the morning I'm still half asleep when my dad barges in my room.
"You know what time it is?" he yells, yanking the blinds open.
"What do you want?" I mutter.
"For you to get up and do something with your life!"
I open my eyes and see him standing next to my bed, wearing his golf pants and polo shirt.
"I was out late," I say, rubbing my eyes.
"I hope you enjoyed it because that's the last party you're going to."
"Yeah, I don't think so." I roll over, turning my back to him.
"What was that?" he asks in a threatening tone. It used to scare me but now I'm used to it.
I sigh as I sit up in bed. "I said I'm not going to stop going to parties."
"Did you hear what I just said?"
"Yes," I calmly reply. "And I also recall you telling me to be social because you never know when a social encounter will lead to a new client."
He wasn't expecting me to throw his words back at him. He clears his throat and straightens his shoulders. "Yes, well, I doubt any of your drunk high school friends will be clients of ours any time soon."
"I don't know about that. Most everyone in my class will be getting a large sum of cash for graduation and some of them might be looking for a place to invest it."
"That’s highly unlikely," he scoffs. "If anything the money will already be in a trust that's managed by another investment company."
"Maybe, but if not, they'll be looking for a place to put their money. Do you really want to lose the chance to get their business?"
He ponders that a moment, rubbing his hand back and forth over his jaw. "My decision stands. You won't be going to parties until your grades are up. I'd rather pass up a few clients than be humiliated and ashamed that my son wasn't awarded the valedictorian title."
"That's what this is about?" I get out of bed, going to my closet to get a shirt. "You think going to parties means I won't be valedictorian?" I yank on the shirt. "It has nothing to do with that."
He walks over to me. "Then prove it."
"Meaning what?"
"I'll give you two weeks. You can continue to socialize but if your grades aren't up in two weeks, all socializing will end."
"I have a 4.2 GPA." I walk away from him before my anger takes over and I punch his smug face. I'm so sick of him telling me I'm not good enough. "What the fuck more could you want?"
"For you to be number one." He storms over to me. "I will NOT allow you to embarrass me and embarrass our family by fucking this up! You WILL be valedictorian. Do you understand?"
I don't answer. I just stare back at him, knowing if I open my mouth I'll tell him to go to hell.
"Get dressed." He walks to the door. "We're going to the office."
"I have to study. I can't go."
"Then you will not be going out with your friends tonight." He storms back to me, grabbing my chin and yanking my face up to his. "Let me make this very clear. I'm the one in charge here. I have the power. You don't. You do as I say or there will be hell to pay. I've gone easy on you, son, but it ends now. You're not a child anymore, but if you choose to act like one, you'll pay the price."
I lock eyes with him. "Meaning you'll beat the shit out of me?"
"If that's what it takes to get your attention." He smiles slightly and puts his hand on my shoulder. "But I'd hate for it to come to that. I don't want to hurt you, son, but I have a responsibility to our family and to the company that holds our family name. It's my job to protect it an any cost." He pats my shoulder. "We all must make sacrifices." He walks to the door. "We'll leave in a half hour."
The rest of my day is spent at the office. I'm forced to sit beside my dad and listen to him drone on about stocks and bonds and investor returns and other shit I couldn't care less about. I could've refused to do this, and almost did, but his little speech in my room this morning changed my mind. I have no doubt he'd beat the shit out of me if I pushed him too far, and although I could take it, and might even fight back, it would put my plan at risk. At any time, my father could take away his offer to give me the car, and I need that car to pay for my future.
I only have a few months left. I can do this. I can handle my father. I can put up with his shit, and even take a few punches, if that's what it takes to get to my goal.
The only wild card that could ruin my plan is Ella. She needs to stop fighting me and give me the fucking valedictorian title. It's one simple thing, something that won't even matter years from now, or the day after graduation. Nobody cares about that shit. It's meaningless. But it's everything to me. It's my future.
The gloves are off, Ella. No more holding back. No more waiting. You're going to do what I say. Whether you like it or not, here I come.
Chapter Eleven
Ella
"I don't know what I was thinking," Charlotte says, before taking a sip of her latte. "Why would I even think Briggs Chadwick was asking me out?"
"Don't be so hard on yourself," I say. "When Briggs turns on the charm, it's hard not to fall for it."
Actually it's not, at least not for me, but Charlotte is easily swayed by a guy's attention. If he smiles at her, or even looks her way, she gets all dreamy-eyed and thinks she's in love. Well, maybe not in love, but she starts falling for the guy before she's even gone out with him. I'm the total opposite. No amount of smiling or flirting will win me over unless I trust the guy. And in order to trust the guy I have to know him really well, which never happens because guys aren't big on opening up. It explains why I don't date much and why I've never had a boyfriend.
The few dates I've been on haven't been with guys at my school. They were guys my dad hired to help with landscaping projects. I never told my dad I dated them. He's too protective of me and probably would've fired them for asking me out.
One of the guys was Brandon, this really hot college guy. We worked together last summer and went out a few times. By the third date he wanted sex. Maybe college girls are okay with that, but for me, it was way too soon. I'm still a virgin, which I didn't tell him, but I'm guessing he figured it out.
Before Brandon, I went out with two other guys, Leo and Jax. Leo was a nature lover. He loved being around trees, and loved planting them ev
en more, which is what he did for my dad. He planted a hundred trees around a new office building. After the job was over, we went out and dated for a month. I liked him but he was too timid. He wouldn't even kiss me. I had to kiss him, and even after our first kiss, he still wouldn't make a move. He was more comfortable with trees than with girls.
As for Jax, he was a gym rat who did landscaping jobs because it was a way to workout and get paid. His body was amazing, which is the only reason I dated him. I didn't care that we didn't have anything in common other than our attraction for each other. I didn't need him to be my boyfriend. I just wanted to make out with him, which I did. I'd even decided to lose my virginity to him, but then changed my mind. It just didn't feel right. I told him that and never saw him again.
I also went out with this guy, Ian, but we only went out once so it doesn't really count. I met him at the gas station. He works there and one day he asked me out. I hadn't been on a date for awhile so I told him yes. We went to a park to take a walk and he kept putting his hands all over me. When I told him to stop, he wouldn't listen so I got in my truck and left.
That's the history of my love life. It isn't great but it's not bad considering I haven't put much effort into dating.
"I should've known he wasn't actually interested in me," Charlotte says, pulling her hair up in a messy bun.
Why she thought Briggs, a guy who up until last week either ignored her or made fun of her, would suddenly want to date her, is a mystery to me. It took some convincing but I finally made Charlotte realize Briggs' invite was just a ploy to lure her to the party to do whatever it is he planned to do.
"I guess I just got caught up in the idea that a guy like him would ask me out." She shrugs and shoves up her glasses.
"Why would you want an asshole to ask you out?" I pick up my tea and take a sip. I don't drink coffee but Charlotte's addicted to vanilla lattes so I agreed to meet her at a coffee shop. It's rare we meet like this but her cello lesson was cancelled so I suggested we get together, knowing it would give me another chance to convince her Briggs can't be trusted. I can't believe she seriously thought he was asking her out. She's far too trusting.
