CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE  |  She Falls

ALTHOUGH I STAYED at the idiot's house for one night and sort of gave him a pass for few things like my name, he still wasn't allowed to get more close to me. I couldn't reveal fragments of my soul to him. He cannot know my deepest fears, my heartfelt desires and the memories that I had preserved in the coldest corners of my cold, cold heart.

He just can't.

After all, he was still a man. And I was still the lonely, broken sad girl who couldn't trust anyone. Not even her girls.

Digging my nails deeper into my palm, I gritted my teeth and slowly sent the throbbing pain to my other leg by putting more pressure on it. When Sebastion had offered help, I said nothing. Why would I rely on him when he hadn't given me a part of his soul to keep? Why rely on him when his soul was barely touched by pain? When he didn't know what pain was.

I gulped when I saw the flashing red car speeding down the main road. The girls were here. Forcefully grabbing a fistful of his shirt, I pulled him toward where I was stood. The redness blossomed on his face and so did his eyes which lit up with confusion. "Wh-"

"They're here. Now we have to wait."

He obediently nodded, the cheeks still glimmering with crimson.

"Omigod, SJ." This was Natalie. Her gold chain proudly hung around her collar as she got off the car to check me out, the handbag resting on her wrists like a diva. Pushing her shades up her hair, she smirked. Cora, who was in the driving seat, bent her head to observe me. They all had this collective expression of amusement and excitement decorating their beautifully crafted faces.

Holly was smiling at me, her eyes slowly giving way for her true purity so that it could outshine her misery. "You look neat-" she paused once she realized she had to scoot over to let Sebastion squeeze in between her and the twins. When she had secured herself a comfortable position, she looked over at my form as I made myself fit into the passenger seat.

"Damn, you smell like Sebastion."

Pause.

A terrible squeeze in my chest awakened my senses as I placed my palm on top of my heart, gently tapping it. Heart palpitations or was it something else? Furrowing my eyebrows, I forcefully clicked the window down.

"Did you guys sleep with each other?" I heard one of those twins muttering to Sebastion in a low whisper. "You both smell like each other, actually!"

Biting hard onto my lower lip, I began to move my thighs restlessly. He's awfully quiet. Why is the fucker so quiet? I cannot be associated with a man...this is too much.

"N-No, we didn't sleep with each other." Sebastion uttered this in a timid voice, his hand rubbing his neck awkwardly. I watched him through the side view mirror. He dragged his fingers to his lips which looked a little too soft and a bit too full for boys.

I breathed in a little. Distraction. Why does this fucker have such a pretty face?

Cora turned her attention to me. "You spent one night with Sebastion and his scent is all over you. Honestly, what did you do?"

Turning to her, I gritted my teeth. "Drive," I said sternly. Laughter boomed inside the car but I only had this plethora of mixed feelings residing in me. I was glad my girls, especially Holly, had found something amusing to distract them but I was bitter too. Very bitter.

I'll make him regret ever counting himself among us. He could swore thousand loyalties with us but his kind will always contradict our feelings and decisions. Hurt. Snap. Break. That is all they know. It is only our kind who never learns.

The school had most of its classes canceled due to the on going inquiry about Logan Price' immediate disappearance. Due to the inefficiency of the law practitioners and their perpetual greed for money, the case was automatically shut down. No one bothered to inquire nor did anyone ask around. It was a win win situation for us.

Apparently, every guy had eyes on Natalie. The face of the Underworld. But no one was really sure. No one dared to go upto Natalie because her parents were at the top most tier of elite uperclassmen.

I had chosen to sit on the lower bleachers, trying to blend in with people who were waiting their turn out. Natalie was in the court area, her long ponytail swishing behind her as she acrobated around the area while waving her orange and green pompoms.

Observing the entire area, I began to glare at the ceilings. I could see air vents and some tubular wires scattered all over the ceiling but there were no fire alarms. Seeing this as my chance, I fisted the left side of my jacket and pulled at it, making the left pocket visible to my sight. Spotting a stray joint in my pocket, I lit it up.

Casting the hoodie further down my face, I leaned back to take lengthy drags of my joint. The restlessness was slowly vaporizing along with the rising smoke. A girl below me looked up to glare at me but quickly looked away once she realized I was the one who beat a burly looking guy in school hallways.

I think his name was Alec or Alex, I didn't care.

Slowly closing my eyes, I rested my head on the bleacher above me. Please don't fade away when I wake up. Please.

"WHAT? DAD, YOU FED Alayna shell fish?" The phone was attached to my ears as I shoved my binder into the locker. I saw a white card neatly placed on top of Tuesdays With Morrie. A heavy frown graced my face. Picking it off, I quickly turned it around.

hey hottie x

"Cora," I sighed with a small smile. Tucking the card into my hands, I took my leave from dad's phone call. On my way to the gym, I passed the school hallways and found Alec. Surprisingly, he was standing next to someone. It was a guy around our age with floppy blonde waves that covered his receding hairline with startling silvery grey eyes. It was the same guy who had ambushed me with Alec.

The same guy who tried to emotionally blackmail me before beating the crap out of me.

On cue, his eyes met mine. My skin begin to crawl with disgust. Then he smirked. Alec, who was busy on his phone, graciously turned around. The dark irises were still locked in cold fury, aggression buried beneath the cold gaze.

Vengeance danced around in his mind.

Letting his eyes fall to my hands, he noticed the white card and narrowed his eyes.

I hid the card by pushing it into my left pocket.

Noticing my traitorous move, his lips lifted in a ridiculous sneer filled with venom. A shiver ran through me as I quickened my pace to reach the girls. My phone began to vibrate with the incoming messages. Sliding it open, I found Cora's message. She had added me into one of those close groups on VibeMe.

Cora :
Meeting at 3:25. Join us in the media room. Take care.

A chuckle bubbled out of me when I saw my nickname in the Underworld group. Quickly typing up a message, I clicked the 'sent' button before shutting my phone close.

Queen Sebastion:
ok lol👍

Who's my King then?

In the media room, Delly and Debby were trying their best to bolt every window shut. Natalie was settled on an armchair, her legs crossed on each other. A filer was in her hand as she mentored her nails to be perfect.

I was on a chair with my bag placed on the desk, desperately waiting for Savannah or Cora to come and go on and proceed with the meeting.

"Oh, Gucci." Her gold skin shimmered wherever the light touched it. She had her long tanned legs put on top of a desk which the same height as her knees but all I could notice was the large double G's on her waist. Was she wearing a Gucci belt? I internally scoffed at her richness.

"I'm getting late for my theater rehearsals," she exclaimed, her soft and velvety voice too affectionate for a simple sigh of complaint. Then she looked over at me coolly. I was leaning forward in my seat. That cold, mean look caused me to lean back in my seat.

" Are you sure, you've never had a girlfriend before coming here?" She suddenly asked out of nowhere, trying to start up a conversation. I decided to humor her so I shrugged jokingly.

"You had a girlfriend?" A small smile touched her lips as she placed her chin on her palm, eyes sparkling with curiosity and lips ablaze with bright red. I found myself leaning forward. "Sometimes I feel like I might have a girlfriend, you know. But then, I wasn't this outgoing guy back then. I was more...closed off. Why would any girl like me? I am a void?"

That was more like a question to my own self. I didn't want to dwell on this.

Natalie didn't understand a single thing or she pretended to be dumb, I couldn't distinguish. Debby was snoring on a distant table while her clone was furiously typing something on the phone. I huffed to myself.

"Bejeweled is the next-" Cora launched her form into the media room with Corish grandeur, the cornrow braids covered with a lilac scarf this time, allowing two cornrows to curtain around her face. The purple extensions were off now. The orange top was knotted at the bottom revealing her belly button piercing. Her face blossomed into a smirk.

"Angel's here too," she drawled out and then turned back around to whisper something to someone outside the door. I cocked my head to the side, confused. She stepped inside and settled on top of the teacher's desk.

Holly timidly walked in after her, her eyes searching for someone hungrily. When she met my gaze, the lost expressions dissolved into a huge smile. She waved. I only waved my fingers impatiently. I don't know what possessed her to sit next to me but she did anyways.

"I made Whoopie pies for everyone," she announced after zipping open her bag and taking out a green Tupperware.

"We tasted it on the way so it's yours now," she added when I picked one out of her stash. "Really?" I replied excitedly, grabbing the container from her. Her head bobbed up and down. When I bit into her goey, chocolaty goodness, I let out a satisfied moan. A new world opened in front of me, sweetness seducing my taste buds and arousing my hunger.

Damn, she's a good baker.

Only Savannah was missing now.

Natalie motioned to one of the twins to go get her a cookie as well. I offered to her myself so the twins didn't have to do all her bidding.

Soon, the door opened once again. "SJ?" Debby questioned the air. It was indeed her.

But she looked different, yet again.

Her dark hair were pulled back in a neat, straight ponytail. They didn't look dead anymore nor were there any tangles in her ebony strands. She had wrapped her leather jacket around her waist and her skin appeared stretchy and leathery as if she had aged a lot in the past few hours. The make up was gone. 

I think she tried to 'fix' herself.

"DID YOU HEAR the news, SJ?"

Natalie came into my room, her sweetheart neckline too deep for a sixteen year old but this was Natalie. She liked to flaunt things that she had perfected herself over the years. Her toned stomach and the thigh gap was one of the few things that she was quite proud of.

I had just come out of the shower, my hair dripping wet.

"Delaney Ashford James (48) was brutally beaten to death by her third ex-husband. She tried to resist but he broke her pelvic bone by pushing her down the stairs. He's in jail."

My towel slipped.

Natalie shook her head at me. "Girl," she drawled before going back to her phone screen. I pulled up my towel, too tired too show authority.

"She was your mother, right?" Her question made me frown. Do mothers kick their daughters out when they accidentally kill their boyfriends? Do mothers not care when their daughters are pimped out to men thrice their ages? Do mothers not care when their daughters are forced to live in orphanages where they're treated like animals? Do mothers not care when the daughters escape for a better future out in this town's wilderness? Mothers don't care.

"Did you try to contact him, SJ?" Natalie attempted another question.

"Drop it," I replied sternly.

"I'm just worried about you, SJ. Maybe I didn't tolerated you at first but you've grown on me and I care about you."

"If she's dead, he must be dead too." 

Just like mothers, fathers don't care too.

I was NOT expecting Sebastion Meyers to be there in the media room awaiting his second meeting. I thought Logan's death had scared him away from us. His soft waves were fluffed up on his wide forehead, glasses askew on his nose. A cookie was stuffed in his mouth so he couldn't be himself by trying to initiate a dead conversation with me but he did smile at me.

Ignoring his annoying, persistent self and his overly affectionate eyes, I began the meeting by waving my hand slightly and sitting on the first seat I could find.

Cora began. "Bejeweled's is premiering in the Mall on this Saturday."

"I've heard. It's too inexpensive for my preferences," Natalie complained, red painted nails fondling her curls. Cora lifted her lips in an incredulous manner before continuing.

"There's a necklace going to be launched on the premiere night but it's only for one show, then they'll move it to one of the nobles houses. Obviously, they'd circulate it around the houses before returning the necklace to the middle east. It's worth more then $45 million and has 637 carat diamonds with a whooping 18K gold jewel in the middle."

"Hmph, research." Natalie was smirking. Cora growled at her lowly before opening her phone.

"It's owned by the Miller & Beauregarde and they keep it in the Middle East for safekeeping," she air quoted that. I raised my eyebrows but chose not to say anything. It could be false for all I knew. Sebastion was completely engrossed in Cora's words, his eyes widening at all the right words.

"It's not kept there for safe keeping. According to the news, one of the royals of Middle East had actually bought the necklace but they liked to keep it moving around the globe so much that the company M&B bought it. To keep it safe, they say it's in the Middle East but it's actually here. It's kept in their vault, " Sebastion shed some of his knowledge on the matter.

"Oh wow," Natalie snarkily retorted. Cora was quiet for some time. Holly laughed.

The fucker wasn't so stupid now, was he?

"Impressive but I was coming to this. It's here and it's going to be launched in Bejeweled. Our plan is to get invited into the Bejeweled's fancy masquerade party this Saturday. Befriend the M&B directors and get invited into the private after party where the necklace will be launched. The rest is on Holly. "

I put my hand in my hair and pushed them to another side before breathing out large volume of air in annoyance.

Sebastion was looking at me, his eyes too emotionless for someone like him. It seemed like all the light in his eyes had vaporized. As if Holly's voice had flipped the switch in his eyes, he turned away and the sparkles of giddiness returned to his irises. What just happened?

"All talk, Cora. Do you really think the Bejeweled's are going to just randomly give out their invitations to high-schoolers. Pshft."

Cora folded her arms against her chest. "You have a week to manipulate your parents to get five invites or I'll manipulate SJ to kick you out."

"You wouldn't," she hissed, her eyes changing colors in rage.

"You can do this, Nats. I know you can," Holly sweetly whispered, eyes crinkling up just like the fucker sitting across from me. Sometimes, if you really really dropped everything just to stare at them, you'd find their mannerisms to be so similar to each other.

Natalie snatched her hand from Holly. "I know I can get five invites easily but who're those five people, that matters. Daddy would like to meet them before he recommends the extension of the invites to M&B directors." Her eyes were still full of annoyance.

"Well, I know it's you, SJ, Cora and me. So obvious but I'm not sure about the fifth person."

Holly quickly counted the core four. Isn't it obvious?

Sebastion was unknowingly fondling with his cookie by pulling the pieces apart and then putting them back together. His eyes were focused on his lap.

"Isn't it obvious? The fifth one is Sebastion." I hissed out.

I knew I had said something good because all of my girls were smiling from ear to ear, their eyes dancing with amusement and challenge. As if me mentioning his name was enough to trigger their happiness. I wonder why, I thought to myself in sarcasm.

A. N:

This is a filler chapter, please don't get annoyed.

Are you guys noticing a slight change in her personality?

-f.q.🥀