Diary of a Rocker's Kid (D.O.R.K. Book 1)

by Haley Despard

  “This is Raven,” Jacie says, nudging Raven forward a little towards Dad. “Raven, dear… this is your father.”

  I spy tears in Raven’s eyes, but she is bravely smiling and not giving any other indication that this is the biggest moment of her life thus far. “Hello,” she says, in a smoother version of my voice. She picked up just a hint of her mother’s accent.

  “Hello,” Dad says hoarsely, looking at her with sixteen years of pain in his eyes.

  “Well, girls… Allow me to present your twin sister,” Jacie says to both of us.

  Raven and I lock eyes again, and she gives me a smile that’s difficult to read. “Pleased to meet you, Madison Daley,” Raven says, extending her hand to me as if I’m a business associate.

  I shake her hand, and both our eyes widen a little at the sensation that results when our hands touch. It’s as if half of my body has been gone for sixteen years, and now it’s finally whole. “Likewise,” I repeat, unable to find any other words.

  We sit down and make awkward small talk as we read the menus, and then we order our food. I steal a glance at Dad ever so often as we wait, and he is still fixated on Raven. Meeting her means a lot to him, and it’s making me feel a little insecure. What if he likes her better than he likes me?

  Dad finally breaks the awkward-small-talk-exchange about five minutes after we get our appetizers. “So, Raven, tell me a little about your life. Where do you go to school?”

  “I attend Wilcox High School,” she tells him. “I’ll be a junior this year.”

  “Do you enjoy school?”

  Raven smiles and shrugs a little. “It’s alright. I prefer socializing over sitting at a desk, though.”

  “So, your favorite subject is lunch, then, right?” Dad says, grinning.

  She laughs a little bit. Her laughter is different from mine… it’s stiff, and somewhat forced. “Sort of. I also involve myself in a lot of committees and clubs within the school.”

  “Very impressive!” Dad says, starting to relax. Great… she’s already showing me up. They continue to talk, and we find out that Raven was sophomore class president and a host of other important-sounding titles at Wilcox. No doubt Raven and Gio were that stereotypical king-and-queen couple that everybody worshipped and idolized before she screwed him over. I’m already feeling pretty threatened by her, but I’m quietly gnawing on bites of octopus and keeping my mouth shut.

  After we get our main dishes, Jacie starts talking again. “Well, everyone, there is more than one reason why I suggested this reunion. The first, of course, being that neither of us knew our other daughter,” she says in Dad’s direction. “But I was also thinking that perhaps now would be a good time to make the rest of the world aware of the connection between us. No one knows that either of us have two daughters, and if we’re going to be getting acquainted with each other, it would be nice to be able to do so publicly without speculation and scandal attached. We can handle this however you decide, but I was thinking that the four of us could do a joint interview and reveal this information in an official manner before it reaches the gossip sites.”

  Dad sighs a little. “You make a good point, Jess… However, I’m sure you realize that as soon as we come forward with this information, there won’t be a moment of peace for either one of us.”

  Jacie says, “I know… The media will be hounding us night and day, no doubt. However, I don’t see another good way to do this, unless you just want to handle it all in secret.”

  Dad ponders that suggestion for a moment, and then he stands from the table. “Could we talk privately for a moment, please?” he asks, calmly. I shoot Dad a terrified look. You’re leaving me alone with Raven? Seriously?? He pats me on the shoulder like, “You’ll be okay.”

  Jacie and Dad leave the table and go into a back hallway to discuss things, which leaves me at a table with Raven Redinger, alone, with knives that are disconcertingly sharp. I avoid eye contact with her and focus on my food, but then she starts talking to me. “So you’re the famous Madison Daley,” she starts off.

  “And you’re the infamous Raven Redinger,” I say without thinking, and then I glance up in horror. SHIT, I shouldn’t have said that…

  To my surprise, she laughs… a real laugh. “So you’ve heard my life story, I suppose.”

  “Bits of it, yes,” I reply, returning to my food.

  “Well, I must say, I’ve heard quite a bit about you, too, and… I’m a big fan of your work.”

  Now she has my full attention. “My work?”

  Raven leans forward with her hands clasped above the table. “I’ve heard about your… what do you call them again? ‘Missions?’ I especially loved the one where you organized the W3 reunion. That was a brilliant publicity move.” Her eyes rolled back in her head at the word “brilliant.”

  “Um… thank you,” I say, confused. How the hell did she hear about my missions?

  “However, I do think your skills could use a little fine-tuning, which is why I’m prepared to make you an offer,” Raven goes on to say. “If you agree to what my—excuse me, our—mother is suggesting, I would love to take you under my wing and show you how you can really make it big in this city. You’ve shown a great deal of potential… I mean, in one short month, you went from a Kentucky nobody to the show-stealer of last week’s premiere.” She’s kinda right about that… My debut at last week’s premiere was talked about for several days afterwards. “It takes a lot to impress me, but I truly am impressed, and I believe that if you and I joined forces, we could take Los Angeles by storm.”

  “Wait, so… you’re not even mad about—“

  “Gio Abate?” she interrupts me, and I nod. She laughs derisively. “Sweetheart, that boy is all yours. I do not, nor did I ever, have any feelings for him whatsoever.” Ouch… definitely not relaying this conversation to him now… at least, not fully.

  I sit in stunned silence for a moment, and then I shake my head. “Look, Raven, it’s a tempting offer, but I’m afraid I can’t accept.”

  “Why not?” she asks innocently.

  “I’ve heard what you do to people,” I say, looking her straight in the eye. “I’m not like that. My missions never hurt anyone.”

  “Let me warn you,” Raven says quickly, “if you do not accept this offer, I can’t promise you any immunity in the future. In fact, without my alliance, you’re likely to get burned severely. Do you really think Giovanni Abate is a saint, as I’m sure he’s led you to believe? Did he happen to mention that he cheated on me first?”

  My stomach lurches, and I start to sweat. “What?”

  “If you look back in time at the news articles, you’ll find that our first breakup was caused by him cheating on me, not the other way around,” she tells me, sitting back in her seat and looking as calm as ever. “See for yourself. I might be ruthless at times, but I never lie.”

  Dad and Jacie come back into the room at that moment, so I don’t have time to respond. “Well,” Dad says, lowering himself into his chair again, “Jess made a good case. We’re going public, as long as you girls are both on board.”

  “I’m on board,” Raven says with a smile. Then she gives me a significant look. “Are you?”

  “We can go public,” I say, carefully choosing my words. Raven’s expression becomes determined, like a lioness stalking her prey. She wants my alliance, and something tells me she’s not going to rest until she gets what she wants.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  When I get back home, I immediately go upstairs to search news articles on my laptop. I tell Ana all about it, and she joins me, holding onto me for moral support. We decide to Google search:

  “Giovanni Abate cheats on Raven Redinger”

  Sure enough, the articles populate that Raven promised me I’d find. I check the dates, and they go all the way back to November 2014. I click on one of the articles with a churning stomach and read the following script:

  “Trouble in paradise for Ravanni! Gio was caught c
ozying up to an unknown, lucky girl at a nightclub in downtown LA last night. Pictures of their steamy, rated R makeout session here!”

  Ana protests, but I click on the link to the images anyway. They’re pretty unmistakable… Gio kissing all over a half-naked chick in a club while all of his friends watched. Granted, they all look pretty wasted… But still, I need to make sure that this wasn’t after the scandals with Raven. I search:

  “Raven Redinger cheats on Giovanni Abate”

  The results for that don’t even begin until January. There are multiple guys in these pictures… Clearly, Raven went above and beyond to get her revenge and make him miserable. It looks like Raven was the only one who actually slept with someone else, but the truth remains. Gio cheated on her first, and now I’m wondering if I’ve made a huge mistake in trusting him.

  Chapter 12

  Gio has his face in his hands as he sits on his couch. I just finished calmly confronting him about the articles I found. The fact that I was calm about it was miraculous, but at this point, surprises are becoming par for the course. “Madison…” he sighs. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  “What happened?” I ask. “Why did you cheat on her? Were you in a fight or something?”

  “We were always in a fight,” he says, moving his hands to his sides and gripping the couch. “I was miserable with her. I knew she didn’t really love me, she just wanted me for my popularity. That empty feeling made me drink, and… drinking made me do some really stupid shit.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell me you were the one that cheated first?” I ask, sitting down on the couch beside him.

  “I guess I was afraid you wouldn’t want me if you knew,” he confesses. “But… believe me, after everything that happened with Raven, I will never be cheating on a woman ever again.” He looks up into my eyes. “Especially not you, Madness.”

  I sigh heavily. “I don’t know what to think,” I say. “Raven told me today that she wants to ‘take me under her wing,’ whatever that means. She really seems to like me, and she’s my twin. It’s just… it’s really hard not to want to believe everything she says.”

  “She means she wants to make you one of her minions,” he explains. “All she wants is to use you for your new-found fame.”

  “Well, I gathered that much, but… I dunno, that might be all I ever get from her. I want to know them, Gio. They’re my family. I don’t know if I can do that if we’re still together since you hate each other so much. Also… I mean, now I’m kind of scared that you’re going to get tired of me, and we’re going to end the same way you and Raven did.”

  “Never,” Gio says, grabbing both my hands. “I have never been happier than when I’m with you. Like I said, I’m not going to cheat on you. I swear on my life.” We look into each other’s eyes for a few moments, and he feels my hesitation. “You… you don’t believe me, do you?” he asks, with pain in his voice. I want to believe him… so badly… but I look down and shake my head, and he releases my hands. “If you break up with me now, it’s over for good,” Gio tells me. “I don’t go out with exes anymore. In fact, I went against my own rules already by giving this a second chance.”

  My heart feels like it’s tearing in half as I say, “Well… then I guess this is goodbye for good.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I come in the back door of the mansion, and Dad and Cass are coming down the staircase with suitcases in hand. Panic seizes me, and I run up to them. “What is going on??”

  Cass looks up at me sadly. “Ana has to go home.”

  “What? What happened?”

  “Her parents found out who we really are,” Dad says, looking angry with me. “They told me about the lie you led them to believe about this trip. Madison, I hope you didn’t just lose your best friend for good.”

  “Oh, no. Where is she right now?”

  “She’s upstairs in her room, crying,” Cass says, nodding up in her direction like, “Get your ass up there.”

  I run at full speed up the stairs and into Ana’s room. I push the door open, and she’s sitting on the bed and talking on the phone, so I walk in quietly and sit down next to her. “Jerica, I’m so sorry,” Ana says, and her phone volume is so loud that I can hear what Jerica’s saying.

  “Ana, please don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. If you’re ever in LA again, look me up, okay?”

  “Okay,” Ana says tearfully. “Best of luck to you in everything.”

  “You, too. Bye.”

  “Bye.” Ana hangs up the phone and immediately falls into my arms, sobbing her eyes out.

  “Ana, I am so, so sorry,” I say quietly, as her head rests against my shoulder. “I never should have gotten you into this mess.”

  “Don’t say that,” she says, shaking her head against me. “I’m crying because I don’t want to go back. I… I wish I could just stay here with you. You’re staying in Los Angeles, right?”

  “I don’t know,” I say. “But I promise I’ll come visit you often if I do, alright?”

  She just starts crying even harder. “I don’t wanna leave J,” she sobs. “We were just starting to get really close… Now she’s going to find someone else, and I’ll never get another chance.”

  “Well, if it helps, I just went through a really sucky breakup, too,” I say flatly.

  Ana turns and looks up at me. “Oh, wow… so you and Gio—“

  “Are done,” I say. “Forever. He said he would never even think about taking me back.”

  “Damn… Suicide pact?” Ana teases, managing to make me laugh.

  “I don’t think I’m quite that desperate yet,” I tell her. “But, hey… we’ll get through this, okay? We’ll video chat and text and cry over the phone together. You’ll be eighteen in seventeen months, right?”

  “Right,” she says. We’ve been keeping up with the month count ever since we each turned sixteen.

  “Well then, in seventeen months, you can move back to LA, start working for Steph, and look up the girl of your dreams again,” I say, smiling a little. “If you need any help, you know we’ll be right here for you. It’s just a year and a half. We’ll make it, Ann. I promise.”

  “Okay,” Ana says with a sniff.

  “I love you, girl,” I say, hugging her tightly.

  Ana squeezes me so hard that I’m afraid she’ll break my ribs. “I love you, too.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I’m standing alone by the window in my new bedroom that looks out over the pool. My old one looked right out at Gio’s house, and I couldn’t take the reminder of what I just gave up, so Dad and Cass helped me move all my things. Gio announced the breakup on his social media, and, of course, everybody’s taking his side. He’s not playing the victim, thankfully, but that’s what everybody’s making him out to be. I’ve even received hate mail over the past few days from angry fangirls that would “die” to have the chance to go out with him. I really feel like telling them all to go to hell… As if I’m not feeling suicidal enough. Judging from the noises I’ve heard coming from his pool area, he bounced right back into his player ways the moment I told him “goodbye.”

  I go over and take Dad’s guitar from its stand, and I crank up the lone amp that’s in my room to the highest level. Lately, the only thing that makes me feel better is drowning in sound. I can’t sing right now, since it pains me too much, but I can shred along with my favorite songs and forget the world exists for a while. I’ve also been sneaking glasses of Hpnotiq from Dad’s liquor fridge, which tastes extraordinarily good and gives me the pick-me-up I need to survive.

  Dad knocks forcefully on the door, and I stop playing, hide the Hpnotiq, and yell at him to come in. “Hey, baby girl,” he says gently. “You doing alright?”

  “No,” I say bitterly, “but what else is new?” I pause the music on my laptop and sit down on the edge of the bed. Immediately, I hear giggling and girlish squeals come from the pool next door, and my face falls into my hands. “Can
he really not take those girls anywhere else?”

  “Hey,” Dad says, sitting down beside me and hugging me, “don’t let him get to you. You did the right thing by standing up for yourself.”

  “Then why do I feel like the stupidest girl alive?” I sob, leaning against him.

  “You are not stupid at all,” Dad says, “and at least you didn’t wait twenty-seven years to tell him you loved him. Speaking of which, I have a new mission for you to work on. I think it might be a good distraction for you.” Dad has been completely updated on my missions now.

  “What’s that?” I ask, somewhat lacking in enthusiasm.

  “I need your help pulling off a surprise for Cass,” he says. “A big one.”

  I turn to look at him. “Wait… the big one?”

  Dad nods. “With your permission, I’d like to ask her to join this family… with a ring.”

  I pause in shock. “Y-yes! Of course!” My smile returns for the first time in four days. “What were you planning on doing?”

  “Well, I was hoping you would help me with that, since your ‘Bold Gesture’ mission worked out so well.”

  I think about it hard for a minute, and then the light bulb comes on in my head. “I think I’ve got an idea.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “Mike, what the hell are we doing in this part of town?” Cass asks, as we’re driving through a questionable neighborhood near Skid Row.

  “You’ll see,” Dad says. “You recognize it, right?”

  “Well, of course I do,” Cass says, “but I swore to myself I would never venture out here again as long as I lived.” Cass cringes at the sight of a man with his pants dropped pissing on a wall in plain sight.

  “We’re almost there,” Dad says. It takes about five more minutes, and then we pull up in front of the apartment building where Dad and Cass first met. Cass steps out of the car, and immediately her disgust turns into nostalgia. “Oh, my God…” She has that “memory smile” on her face again.

  “You two go on in,” I say. “I’ll catch up with you in a minute.” I pretend to be busy on my phone, but I’m actually stalling so I can get Dad’s guitar out of the back of the car. We managed to get it in here without Cass even noticing. Dad and Cass go inside, and once they’re gone, I quickly open the trunk and get out the acoustic guitar. I go inside the dated, smoke-smelling apartment building, and then I sneak up the stairs and down the hall to apartment 323 and wait outside the door for Dad to say the code word. The apartment just happened to be vacant at the moment, which I think was a sign from the universe if there ever was one.