Diamonds are Forever

by Michelle Madow

  “Great!” Courtney beamed and clapped her hands. “Once you get the recommendation, forward it to me and I’ll upload it to your account.”

  “Will do,” Peyton said, unable to muster up much enthusiasm.

  “Great,” Courtney said. “But anyway, Rebecca’s coming over in five minutes to talk about bridesmaid dresses. You ready?”

  “Tell me again why I agreed to do this?”

  “Because Rebecca begged us to be bridesmaids on New Year’s Eve during that ridiculously long six-course meal before the fireworks, and she wouldn’t give up until we said yes? And because maybe you’re realizing that she’s not as awful as you originally thought?”

  “I never thought she was awful,” Peyton said. “Just annoying. She tells us how to dress, how to act, and wants to pick out our outfits for events...” She scrunched her nose. “I know she’ll technically be our stepmother, but that doesn’t mean she needs to act all motherly towards us. She knows our mom never did that, so why would we want her to?”

  “How would you prefer her to act?” Courtney asked.

  “I don’t know.” Peyton shrugged. “Normal?”

  “Well, that was descriptive.” Sarcasm leaked through Courtney’s tone. “She’s trying to reach out to us. And she’s excited for the wedding.”

  “Excited?” Peyton raised an eyebrow. “More like obsessed. If I had to hear, ‘That’s so cute, we need to have something like it at the wedding!’ one more time when we were in Italy, I might have lost it.”

  “She’s about to have a princess fairy-tale wedding come true,” Courtney said. “It’s every woman’s dream. You can’t blame her for talking about it.”

  “It’s her dream,” Peyton corrected. “After being forced to hear about all this wedding stuff, I decided that if I get married, I’m going to elope.”

  The doorbell rang, and Peyton groaned, not wanting to get up. Then Rebecca’s voice echoed through the hall—she must have used her key to let herself in. “Girls? Are you in here?” she asked. “You remembered the appointment about the dresses, right?”

  “Come on,” Courtney said, pulling Peyton off the bed. “Weddings are romantic. It won’t kill you to pretend to be interested.”

  Peyton wasn’t sure about that, especially since her romantic life had dwindled to staring at a computer screen, wishing Jackson would accept her Facebook friend request.

  It was probably a good thing that Courtney had walked in before she’d sent him that message.

  In the living room, Rebecca was already showing Savannah a binder of color swatches, and her wedding planner was holding gold fabric up to Savannah’s face.

  “You’re not making us wear gold, are you?” Peyton asked. “I hate gold.”

  “It’s one of the colors I’m considering,” Rebecca said. “If there’s another you’d prefer, just let me know.”

  “How about black?” Peyton doubted Rebecca would go for it, but it was worth trying. “It goes with everything.”

  Savannah laughed and shared a smile with Rebecca, as if there was some inside joke Peyton didn’t know about.

  This was going to be a long, torturous afternoon. Scratch that. It would probably get worse every day until the wedding was finally over.

  It was going to be a long, torturous next few months.

  chapter 4:

  Madison Lockhart had been a walking disaster ever since Oliver’s accident.

  She’d let Oliver leave Savannah’s party early, knowing he was drunk and about to drive, because she’d been too upset over learning about a bet he’d made to stop him. A better person would have stopped him. But she’d been crying in the bathroom while Oliver was speeding through a red light, getting his Maserati convertible totaled by an SUV.

  She’d spent most of her time over break in the hospital waiting to see him. But once he’d woken up from his coma, Oliver had refused to have visitors who weren’t family. Meaning he wouldn’t see Madison. Now, after going through the first day of school without him, she’d had enough. She had to see him. And she refused to take no for an answer.

  At least that’s what she told herself as she marched through the hospital doors, her long dark hair snapping behind her, her huge Versace sunglasses covering her eyes. She moved her sunglasses onto her head, knowing that with her makeup done up for the first day back at school, she looked like a girl on a mission.

  She spotted Oliver’s fifteen-year-old sister, Brianna, sitting in the corner of the waiting room. Well, Brianna was actually Oliver’s half sister—she was the result of an indiscretion on Oliver’s dad’s part. Normally Brianna would be at boarding school, summer camp, or at her mom’s place in Santa Fe. But she’d been in Vegas a lot more since Oliver had landed in the hospital.

  Brianna spotted Madison and lowered her iPad to her lap. “He’s still not seeing anyone who’s not family,” she said.

  “Maybe he’ll change his mind once he realizes that I’m not leaving until he sees me,” Madison said, lowering herself into the chair next to Brianna.

  “I’ve been trying to convince him to see you,” Brianna said. “But he’s struggling through physical therapy—he still can’t walk after the knee surgery—and he doesn’t want anyone to see him this way. Especially you.”

  “Well, that’s just stupid.” Madison flicked her hair over her shoulder. “I’ve known him since kindergarten. I witnessed his chubby phase in seventh grade, and his shaved-head phase in ninth grade. I can handle seeing him with a knee brace.”

  “His face is also bruised and cut up from the glass,” Brianna said. “I think he’s more embarrassed about that than the knee.”

  “It’ll heal,” Madison said. “And I don’t care about any of that. I just want to see him.”

  Her eyes filled with tears as she stared at the doors that led to the private patient rooms, hoping that by some miracle, a doctor would walk through and tell her that Oliver was ready to see her. She hated that their last words to each other had been said in anger. The days after his accident, when he was in the coma and she wasn’t sure if he was going to make it, had been the most terrifying of her life. And while she was still upset about his bet with Peyton, she kept thinking about what he’d told her before leaving the party—that while the bet had put everything into motion, his feelings for her were real.

  Had he been telling the truth? She wasn’t sure. But she did know that she couldn’t lose him. She wanted to be there for him, but how could she be when he kept refusing to see her?

  Plus, Oliver was the only one besides her parents who knew that Adrian Diamond was her father, and that Peyton, Courtney and Savannah were her half sisters. Madison hadn’t seen the Diamonds much since Savannah’s Sweet Sixteen, due to winter break, but the secret had continued eating away at her. Oliver was the only one she could talk to about this. And his not wanting to see her hurt more than when she’d found out about the bet.

  Brianna fiddled around on her iPad, not meeting Madison’s eyes. “There’s actually something I wanted to talk with you about,” she said. “I haven’t been able to yet because my dad or Ellen has always been around.”

  “What’s up?” Madison asked.

  “After Oliver was brought out of his coma, his mind was hazy from the medicine, and when it was only me and him in the room, he said something strange...” She looked around cautiously at the other two people in the waiting room—one asleep and one reading a magazine—and lowered her voice. “He said something about you being a Diamond, and having to keep it secret, and how he was the only one who knew and that he wanted me to make sure you were doing okay. I asked what he meant, but then he snapped back into focus and told me not to say anything because you’d be mad that he’d blown your secret. I promised him I wouldn’t. But he sounded so worried, and now that I know you better, I have to ask—what did he mean?”

>   Madison felt like all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. She could make something up, like Oliver calling her a “diamond” as a nickname. Or she could say that the pain medicine was messing with his mind, and that she had no idea what he meant.

  But Madison had been drowning in the secret, and she needed to talk about it with someone who wasn’t her parents. Months ago she might have told Damien, but now he was close with Savannah, so that wasn’t an option. Larissa was a huge gossip, and she didn’t feel right telling her other friends from school, because all it would take was one person to say something and then the secret would be out. Maybe she should tell Brianna.

  “I wasn’t sure if I should say anything, which is why I didn’t for so long.” Brianna pulled a leg up on her chair and faced Madison. “But when he told me, he sounded like he really wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  Madison swallowed, hating how her heart raced at the possibility of Oliver still caring about her—even if he was sending his sister to make sure she was okay instead of talking to her himself. “Don’t be sorry,” she said. “Oliver wouldn’t have said anything to you if he didn’t think I could trust you.”

  “You can trust me,” Brianna said. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

  “All right.” It was now or never. Madison took a deep breath, figuring she might as well get it over with. “In the beginning of the school year, I discovered that Adrian Diamond is my biological father.”

  “Omigod.” Brianna’s mouth dropped open. “No way. How did you find out? Do your parents know? Does Adrian know? Do the Diamond sisters know?”

  “Keep your voice down,” Madison hissed, scooting closer to Brianna. “I found out during a lab in my advanced genetics class, when I realized that my blood type didn’t match my dad’s. I asked my parents about it that night, and they told me the truth. My parents and Adrian have always known, but they weren’t planning on telling me until I was old enough to access my trust fund...if they were ever really planning on telling me at all. No one else knows.” She shook her head, unable to believe that this was her life. “My parents asked me not to tell anyone, but I broke down and told Oliver. We agreed that the Diamond girls needed to know. So I told my parents that if Adrian didn’t tell them, I would.

  “My mom talked to Adrian, but he said there were some major issues going on in their family, and he wanted to wait to tell them. I thought he was waiting until after Savannah’s party, and was going to insist on telling them afterward. But then Oliver had his accident, and now we’re here.” She shrugged. “I still want to tell them the truth. But Oliver was there for me through this whole mess, and I’m not sure I can get through it without him.”

  Brianna’s eyes were wide as saucers. “Wow.” Her mouth opened and closed a few times, as if she wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure where to start. “That’s just...wow. I can’t believe you’ve been keeping this to yourself for so long.”

  “I know,” Madison said. “I wish Oliver would talk to me.”

  “He asks about you a lot,” Brianna admitted.

  “So why won’t he see me?” Madison asked. “He won’t even respond to my calls or texts. I don’t get it.”

  “Give him time. He will when he’s ready.” Brianna focused on the floor, clearly not wanting to say more. “Anyway, have you talked to Adrian since finding all this stuff out?”

  “No.” Madison sighed and sat back in her chair. “I have no idea what to say to him. Besides, if he wants to talk to me, shouldn’t he be the one to initiate it? He’s supposed to be the parent here, not me.”

  “You’re right,” Brianna said. “And I guess marching up to Adrian Diamond and confronting him is scary, even to someone as brave as you. But you should tell Peyton, Courtney and Savannah the truth. They deserve to know. They are your sisters.”

  “Half sisters,” Madison corrected her.

  “Oliver’s my half brother,” she said. “But it doesn’t make him half as important.”

  “I know.” Madison looked down at her hands. “I’m sorry. It’s just all so strange. I’ve been an only child all my life, and now I have sisters. And I wasn’t very nice to them when they moved here. I would probably be a terrible sister.”

  “I doubt that’s true,” Brianna said. “Just act the same way around them that you do around me. They’ll love you.”

  “Maybe.” Madison pulled her legs onto the chair and wrapped her arms around them. “But you didn’t see what a bitch I was to them at first. They should hate me.”

  “You’ll never know what they think if you don’t tell them the truth.”

  “I know.” Madison didn’t like it, but Brianna was right.

  “Let me know how it goes, okay?” Brianna said. “I have to go back to school soon, and I hate being so far away from everything that happens here.”

  “Is boarding school really that bad?” Madison asked, glad to change the subject.

  “It’s in the middle of nowhere, and the only guys I see are my teachers,” she complained. “I want to live here and go to Goodman. Whenever I come to visit, it seems so fun and glamorous. But Ellen would hate it if I lived here, my dad doesn’t want to make her upset and my mom thinks Vegas is a ‘world of sin.’” She leaned back and frowned. “I’m stuck at boarding school, and it sucks.”

  “There’s always college,” Madison said. “Have you thought about applying to UNLV?”

  Brianna perked up at the possibility, but the doctor came into the waiting room before she could answer.

  “Oliver’s out of physical therapy and is ready for visitors now,” he said, glancing at Madison. “I’m afraid he’s still seeing family members only.”

  “I’ve been here every day since his accident.” Madison crossed her arms, keeping her gaze level with his. “Can I please see him?”

  “He was specific with his request, and I can’t go against it,” the doctor said. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll try getting him to change his mind again, but I doubt it’ll work.” Brianna stood up, stretched and grabbed her iPad. “You know Oliver—he’s stubborn. Thanks for the talk, though. And good luck with what you were telling me.”

  “Thanks,” Madison said, watching as the doctor escorted Brianna into the recovery wing. She stared blankly at the doors as they shut closed.

  Why didn’t Oliver want her to visit? Madison swallowed back tears, frustrated that she couldn’t just talk to him. He was her best friend. Shouldn’t he want to see her? Shouldn’t he miss her? She definitely missed him—especially since school had started again today, and she’d been forced to see Peyton, Courtney and Savannah. How was she supposed to tell them the truth without knowing that Oliver would be there for her if it went terribly wrong?

  A tear ran down her face, and she quickly wiped it away. She didn’t want to cry—especially not in the waiting room. So she put her sunglasses back on, left the hospital and blasted the radio her entire drive home.

  www.campusbuzz.com

  High Schools > Nevada > Las Vegas > The Goodman School

  Savannah Diamond is getting WAY more credit than she deserves!!!

  Posted on Friday 1/16 at 4:20 PM

  Like everyone else, I’ve watched Savannah Diamond’s videos on her YouTube channel. And I know I’m not the first to say that I just DON’T GET IT. Someone please tell me WHY this girl is getting so much attention?! I can name so many YouTube artists who are WAY more talented and who aren’t nearly as well known as Savannah.

  1: Posted on Friday 1/16 at 4:42 PM

  its because her daddys rich and everyones fascinated by the girl who came from nothing and is now a hotel heiress. clearly its not because of her “talent!!!!” shes a good singer and all, but the girl has no stage presence! shes BORING!!

  2: Posted on Friday 1/16 at 4:58 PM

  What are you all talkin
g about?! Savannah’s videos are amazing! Her voice is PERFECT. And yeah, she was shy around the camera at first. But she’s getting better! Give her a chance.

  3: Posted on Friday 1/16 at 5:13 PM

  shes a good singer, sure. But she SUCKS on guitar!!! Go back to her fist few vids and watch. Pure entertainment (in a comedic way).

  4: Posted on Friday 1/16 at 5:29 PM

  whenever I watch one of her early videos I want to yell at her to PUT DOWN THE GUITAR!!! She might be decent if she wasn’t attacking the poor instrument through every song!! At least in her recent ones she has someone else playing for her.

  5: Posted on Friday 1/16 at 5:34 PM

  You all are such bitches. Have you listened to her sing? She has perfect pitch. I’m telling you, that girl has natural talent and is going somewhere. You’re all just jealous.

  6: Posted on Friday 1/16 at 5:41 PM

  Perfect pitch doesn’t give her a personality. And whats up with her eyeshadow? She puts so much on it looks like she got punched in the face.

  7: Posted on Friday 1/16 at 5:55 PM

  hahahahahahaha you would think that considering how much money her dad has, she could afford to get her makeup professionally done for her videos!

  8: Posted on Friday 1/16 at 6:09 PM

  You all know the only reason she’s so well known is because her daddy paid One Connection to perform at her sweet sixteen and tweet about her YouTube channel. ANYONE would be famous after that!!

  9: Posted on Friday 1/16 at 6:58 PM

  she thinks shes a hell of a lot hotter than she is, too. she looks like every other blonde teenage girl around here! nothing special. people only put up with her cause she’s a Diamond.

  chapter 5:

  Courtney and Peyton still had no idea that Savannah had broken their pact and talked to Mom and Grandma, and Savannah planned on keeping it that way.

  So when Grandma had asked them to visit over the long weekend in January for Courtney’s birthday—using Aunt Sophie’s illness to guilt-trip them into saying yes—Savannah had been relieved. Soon her sisters would be forced to talk to Mom and Grandma. Savannah wouldn’t have to feel like she was going behind their backs anymore.