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“Sarah!” Noah called out.
He waved at me from across the garden. He was in the middle of a group of women. They all looked to be in their twenties, and he was the center of attention. I also saw that he had a champagne flute in one hand. He was clearly underage, but the women were encouraging him to drink.
“Sarah, come meet my new friends!”
I approached cautiously. Noah’s face was flushed and all of the women appeared to be tipsy.
I smiled politely at everyone.
He slung his arm around my neck, making me stumble. I struggled to stand up straight under the weight of his arm. “This is my girlfriend Sarah. Isn’t she pretty?”
“She’s cute, I guess,” one of the women said dismissively.
“Noah, why don’t you come inside?” I said.
“Why? The party’s out here! Right ladies?”
All of the women laughed. One woman ran her hand down his arm possessively.
I glanced around nervously, looking for help, but at the moment, everyone I knew appeared to have disappeared.
One of the women leaned in close and whispered something in his ear. He turned his head and kissed her. It was a brief kiss, but it was more than a peck on the lips.
“Noah!”
I couldn’t believe he’d do that out in the open. With his arm around me even.
The women closed in around him. I didn’t see who lifted his arm from my neck, but before I knew it, I was separated from him. The women blocked me from reaching him without shoving or pushing. They were running their hands down his arms and back. He laughed and flirted with the women. Someone begin to unbutton his dress shirt and he did nothing to stop them.
The charade was going to be ruined if he kept this up. If his mother saw him, she’d have proof that we weren’t a couple.
If the women thought they could keep me away from Noah, they were sadly mistaken. I had no qualms about pushing my way through the women to him. If I stepped on a designer shoe, that was just a bonus. I reached the center of the group. He had his arms around two different women. One of them was pouring champagne into his mouth.
“You know he’s in high school, right? You could get arrested for this.”
“He’s a Nash. I’m sure his lawyers could get the charges dropped.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled his arms off the women. I was going to drag him into the house if I had to. One of the women plastered herself to his back, holding him back.
“He’s partying with us now. Go away.”
“Noah, come on!” I tugged on his arm.
He balked at my efforts. “Sarah, stop being a spoilsport. Have some champagne!”
He pushed a champagne flute to my lips. I slapped it away. The glass went flying and the champagne splattered on several of the women.
“Hey!”
“Oops!” Noah laughed.
I’d had enough of his shenanigans. I grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. I grabbed his other shoulder to put tension on the pinned arm and to keep him from twisting out of the hold. I’d learned the hold from a friend who took judo.
“Ow! Sarah, what are you—“
“Excuse us please,” I said to the women and frog-marched Noah toward the mansion. The drunk women parted in disbelief. None of them made a move to stop me.
“Sarah, what the hell?! Let go!”
Against my better judgment, I let him slip out of my grasp. He whirled around to glare at me.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
“What are you doing? You’re supposed to be my boyfriend, and you’re kissing other women?”
“God, you’re such a prude. It didn’t mean anything.”
“Yes, it does! How do you think it looks for you to be all lovey-dovey with a bunch of other women?”
“Lovey-dovey?” he asked sarcastically.
“It’s the polite way to put it.”
“Maybe I want to be lovey-dovey. Maybe I like being lovey-dovey.” He said that so intensely that the hair stood up on my arms. I didn’t know what he was trying to say. He couldn’t be suggesting he wanted me to do that sort of stuff with him. There was no way.
The women had trailed after us and were watching our drama with amusement. Other guests had noticed us too and joined in. We were attracting quite the audience. Noah’s paranoia about cameras infected me. “Let’s go inside and talk about this someplace more private.”
“No, I don’t want to go anywhere with you. I’m tired of you telling me what I can and can’t do. I’m tired of having to be someone else. I’m tired of you!”
I lowered my voice so only he could hear me, “Noah, calm down. You’re saying crazy stuff.”
He didn’t lower his voice. He got louder. “I’m not crazy. I’m finally seeing things clearly. We should never have been together. Our relationship is a farce. I’m breaking up with you.”
I realized this was my New Year’s gift. He was ending the charade by breaking up with me. But what about his mother? She’d pounce on this and insist that he date the rich heiress.
“Let’s go inside and talk about this, please,” I said. We needed to speak honestly and that could only happen in private.
“I think my son has made himself clear,” Patricia said. Of course, she’d appear now.
I turned to her and said harshly, “He’s drunk. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”
“I think you just don’t want to hear it. You were never suitable for him. Give up.”
“She’s right. We were never going to work out. Our worlds are too different,” he said.
Patricia latched onto this. “Exactly. You’ll never be equals. My son is out of your league.”
“Mother, stop it. That’s not true. I’m not good enough for her.”
I was surprised Noah wasn’t jumping on the bash Sarah train with his mother. The fact that he wasn’t trashing me confused me more. I stared at his face, and his eyes were shiny. Were those pretend tears or real?
“Oh, please, just look at her. You’re trying to break up with her, and she won’t let you go.”
I didn’t have an argument for Patricia. She was right. He was trying to break up with me, and I wasn’t happily accepting his offer like I thought I would. “Noah?” I said again. We needed to speak privately. I couldn’t agree to this without knowing if he had a backup plan to keep his mother from pimping him out.
“Who even are you?” one of the women asked.
Oh goody, more passengers for the bash Sarah train.
“Her name is Sarah Smith, and she’s the best thing that ever happened to Noah.”
And now Damien and Angela were there.
“The best thing, huh? Sounds to me like you’d like to date her,” Noah said.
That was far too close to the truth. I didn’t know what to say or do. He didn’t take Noah’s bait. He crossed his arms and glowered at the other boy.
Noah stepped back from me. “Just go away. I don’t want to see you anymore or be with you. How do I make you understand?” He turned his face away from me.
“I bet she wants money. How much to get you to leave my son?” Patricia said.
I stiffened. That had been such a brazen offer. I had no clue how to react. Should I play up the jilted lover and argue against the breakup or quietly back away and accept it?
“Sarah, let’s go inside,” Angela said.
I ignored her offer. I kept staring at Noah hoping for some cue, but he wouldn’t look at me. I realized that he wasn’t drunk. This entire thing was an act. It was so frustrating because even though I wanted to break up with him and end the charade, I knew if we did, he’d go off and hurt a girl and he didn’t want to do that.
I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled his face close to mine. “Is this what you really want?” I demanded. This close, I’d see if he really wanted this. I’d see if he was lying or telling the truth. I’d catch any hidden message. I had to.
He opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was got caught in his throat. His eyes widened. “Sarah?” His hands crept up to cradle my cheeks and trace the tears on my face.
I angrily rubbed my cheeks against my shoulders. I wasn’t letting go until I knew for exactly what he wanted. “You haven’t answered me,” I said.
He dropped his hands from my face to my waist. His answer was soft. “No.”
“No what?”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “No, I don’t want to break up with you.”
“Good, because you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Noah, don’t let her guilt you into staying with her! You don’t need her!”
Her words didn’t sting anymore.
“Mother, shut up.”
“Noah!”
We stared at each other intently. I couldn’t blink. If I did, more tears were going to fall. He pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me. I let go of his collar. We embraced in full view of everyone. Patricia had a front view seat.
Against his ear, I whispered, “Remember no kissing.”
He chuckled and squeezed me tight. “Not even a little smooch?”
“No, not even that.”
“Come on, why not a really small one?”
“Have you forgotten that Damien is watching us right now?”
But he wasn’t who attacked us.
“I will not stand by and watch this lunacy. Get off my son!”
Patricia grabbed my head.
“Mom, what are you doing?!”
I had to let go of Noah as Patricia pulled me back by my hair. I didn’t know what to do. I very well couldn’t attack her. Noah reached out, but he didn’t know what to do either. He couldn’t fight his mother. She wheeled me around and pushed me down hard. I fell on my side, and my momentum made me roll down the slope, unable to stop until I reached the bottom. When I stopped, I lay there for a few seconds in shock. My arms and knees stung some from hitting the ground. I wasn’t hurt really just shocked.
“What are you doing? Get your hands off me!”
Men in dark suits had taken Patricia by the arms.
“Patricia, I’m sorry that you won’t be able to stay with us tonight, but we understand why you can’t,” Mr. West said with Mrs. West beside him. Mrs. West had her mouth covered in dismay.
“Let me at her! I’ll scratch her eyes out! Call the police! They can arrest me and take her out in a body bag!” Cora’s mad rant had me moving before I even knew what I was doing. I rushed to her walker to stop her, but to my surprise, Damien and Angela were already holding her back.
They couldn’t gag her though. She might bite them. I rushed to her and put my hands over her mouth.
“Did you hear her? She threatened me!” Patricia cried out.
“And you assaulted me,” I said.
Cora managed to wiggle free from my hands, “Pick on someone your own age you old c—“
I managed to cover her mouth before she said something other than “cutie.”
Mr. West discreetly motioned to security and they began to firmly escort Patricia out.
“Noah, you’re coming with me,” she declared.
“I would like to stay with my friends,” he said.
“You don’t get a choice. You’re coming with me!”
“Let the boy stay here unless you don’t think I’m an appropriate chaperone?” Mr. West said.
Patricia appeared to remember where she was and who was watching her. She smoothed out her dress and stood up straight.
“Of course, Noah can stay here. If you’re safeguarding his well-being, he couldn’t be in better hands.”
She turned and strode out of the garden with security trailing her.
Cora wanted to follow Patricia, but I blocked her walker and wouldn’t let her leave.
“Move! I’ll show that woman some real class. I’ll bludgeon her with it.”
“Cora, stop it. Mr. West handled it. She’s gone.”
She continued to stare in the direction that Patricia had gone.
“He was too polite. Barely seemed like he was kicking her out. Let’s go jump her. I know together we can take her. I’ll pin her with my walker. You cave in her head.”
“Grandmother, stop psychotic.”
“What did I tell you about calling me that?”
“I’ll start calling you Granny if you don’t leave Patricia alone.”
She lowered her brow in ire. “You wouldn’t.”
In a fake voice, I pretended to shout, “Granny, come back! Granny, you need to take your medicine! Granny, it’s nap time!”
Cora shuddered. “Jesus, that’s terrifying,” She looked around and declared, “I need a drink.” A caterer went by with a full tray of champagne. She stomped her walker after him. “Where are you going, good-looking?”
I relaxed in relief at Cora safely defused.
A pair of hands latched onto my biceps making me jump. I whirled around with fist raised. I wasn’t getting thrown to the ground again. Damien held up his hands.
“Woah. It’s only me.”
“Jesus, Damien.”
“Sorry, thought you saw me. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Maybe a few bruises.”
“Let’s go inside. Where are your parents?”
“In their room. They decided to celebrate by themselves.”
“Come to my room.”
I laughed in surprise. “What? I can’t do that.”
“Why not? You can’t want to stay out here.” He tugged on my arm.
Maybe he didn’t understand what I was saying. “Damien, I can’t go to your room.”
“Why? Come on.”
He tried to pull me into the mansion, but my knees locked.
Angela appeared. I gave her a silent plea for help. She’d get it, maybe she’d be able to explain to Damien why it’d be inappropriate.
“Damien, what are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m trying to get Sarah out of here.”
“I can go to my room,” I said.
“But mine’s closer.”
“But it’s your room,” I said. Was he really this dense? I couldn’t go to his room. Alone. At night.
“Yeah, I know. I think I have permission to use it.”
“Damien, Sarah can’t go to your room,” Angela said.
“What’s wrong with my room?”
“It’s your room,” I said, which he didn’t understand.
“Damien, why don’t we go to my room?” she said.
I bobbed my head enthusiastically. This was acceptable. This was a good.
“Fine,” he said with a sigh.
We all went to Angela’s room.
I sat down on the floor with my back against the bed.
Fireworks began to go off outside.
“Happy New Year!” Angela cheered.
Damien got down to sit beside me.
“Would have preferred it if it were only the two of us, and we were in my room.”
I realized with a shock that he knew exactly what he had been suggesting earlier. My cheeks grew warm as I dropped my eyes.
“Oh.”
“Happy New Year, Sarah.” I could feel his breath against my face. I tilted my head up and our lips met. He put a hand on my cheek like Noah had done outside, but he wasn’t wiping away tears. His thumb stroked my cheek in a way that made my heart speed up. Our tongues danced around each other. His other hand went to my rib cage and crept upward. I took no action to stop him. I don’t know how far we would’ve gone if we hadn’t been interrupted.
BANG! BANG! Those weren’t fireworks. The noises came from the door.
“Who's there?” Angela asked in alarm, but Damien and I had heard this particular knock before and had immediately slid away from each other.
“Angela, is Sarah in there?” Dad asked through the door.
“Yes,” she said giving me a worried look.
“Is Damien in there too?”
She opened her mouth, but she didn’t know whether to lie.
“This is why we couldn’t go to your room. If we had, he wouldn’t have knocked.” I picked myself off the floor and opened the door. My pajama-clad father loomed in the doorway.
“It’s late, you should get to bed,” he said. A robot would’ve said those words with more feeling.
“In a minute?” I asked.
“I can wait.”
Great, Dad was in full Terminator mode.
“You scared Angela,” I said.
“Sorry, Angela,” he said in a monotone.
“It’s okay, Mr. Smith,” she said weakly.
Yeah, he was Mr. Smith when he was like this. I looked over at Damien. He hadn’t stood up. He still leaned against Angela’s bed. “See you tomorrow,” I said.
“Sweet dreams,” he replied.
Dad’s presence kept me from taking a step toward him, so I blew him a kiss. Dad escorted me back to my room.
“How’d your dress get stained?” he asked, his face hardening.
I knew he thought Damien and I had some romantic tryst. I decided to shock him with the truth. “I got into a fight with Patricia Nash. She threw me down a hill.”
“Wha—“
“Night, Dad!” I shut the door on his face.
“Sarah?” he said through the door.
“I’m fine, and Mr. West took care of it,” I told him.
“We will talk about this tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
I listened to Dad walk away. I thought about sneaking back to Angela’s room, but a monster yawn caught me off-guard, and I realized how tired I was. I got ready for bed. I needed to get my rest. Tomorrow I was swimming with dolphins.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
WHEN I CAME DOWN TO breakfast, Noah was showing Angela something on his phone. Her hand was over her mouth and eyes wide. I went around to see too.
“What’s so interesting?”
There was a black and white video. It took me a moment to recognize where it was from, but I soon realized it was a video from last night, specifically, it was when Patricia pushed me.
It was on TMZ and the headline read “Mommy dearest Nash tries to break up Cinderella romance.”
“Crap,” I said, looking at Noah. I thought he’d be upset about his drama being all over the gossip websites, but he was grinning. I realized that could mean one thing. “Did you send this to them?”
“My most popular nicknames is “anonymous source”.”
“But why? This is terrible for you.”
“I know! How am I supposed to date the heir of House Gigi now? I have a girlfriend and a terrible mother to boot.”
“But you broke up with me,” I said.
“You rejected it, remember?”
“But that doesn’t really stop a—“
“No take backs,” he said.
“Please tell me you didn’t plan last night to go the way it did,” I said.
Noah’s smirk widened, but then he laughed. “No, I didn’t, but I’m quick on my feet. It was simple enough to get a copy of the security tape and send it in.”
“Has your mother seen it?”
“She’s not awake yet, I’m sure, but I’ve sent her a link.”
Cora appeared in the dining room wearing large dark sunglasses. “Am I dead?” she asked.
“How much champagne did you have last night?”
“I don’t know. One, maybe two?”
“Bottles?” I asked knowingly.
The corner of her mouth crooked up. “Trays.”
“Good morning, Mother! How are you today, Mother? I hope you’re feeling well, Mother?” Dad asked loudly from behind Cora. She groaned and scuttled away from him.
Dad stopped and stared at me a moment. “Okay, what happened last night?”
“Noah has video of it,” I said.
“You really want him to see this?” Noah asked under his breath.
I shrugged. “Might as well.”
He queued up the video for Dad and gave him the phone.
I picked at my food as I listened to the audio. When it was over, Dad handed back the phone.
“Sarah, I want you to break up with him.”
“What? I can’t now. Not after what I said last night.”
“I don’t care.”
“Sir, I promise nothing like this will happen again.”
“I know it won’t because Sarah won’t be allowed near you or your mother.”
“Dad, come on! It wasn’t that bad. Patricia barely touched me.”
“The fact that she laid one finger on you is unacceptable,” he said.
Noah had been right. I shouldn’t have shown him the video. I thought he’d shrug it off. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal. She was disgraced and that was it.
“Do you wish to press charges? I’ll be happy to summon the police,” Mr. West said. He’d appeared behind Dad. Damien was with him.
“No, it’s fine,” I said.
“That is for your father to decide,” he said.
“Dad, really, no.”
“I need to discuss it with your mother.”
I hated how I wasn’t the one who was making this decision. I was the one who’d been attacked.
Dad turned and left, presumably to talk to Mom.
“Don’t worry, Sarah. Your mother will talk him down. There’s no way she’d press charges against that woman.”
“Why not?” Noah asked.
I was surprised he wasn’t arguing against the idea. It was his mother we were discussing having arrested.
“You’re a student of Noble. Charging a parent just isn’t done,” Cora said. There was a touch of sadness in her voice.
“She assaulted Sarah. It’s on video. There’s nothing to debate,” he said.
I couldn’t look at him. I was remembering the first day of school. Damien had attacked me, and when my father defended me, he was the one taken into custody. I was sure that was all on video, but it didn’t matter. My father was made to apologize to him.
“Noah, come to my office and we’ll discuss it,” Mr. West said.
That hadn’t been a request. He left with Mr. West. Angela, Cora, Damien and I remained.
“Is today a bad day to see the dolphins?” he asked.
I’d forgotten that he’d planned it for today.
“No, I think it’s perfect. I’ll chaperone. Leave all the grown-ups here to do their boring grown-up things,” Cora said.
I was fully onboard with Cora’s plan. I turned to Angela. She was so excited that she was vibrating.
“Let’s change into our swimsuits quick and meet back at the front door,” I said.
Angela tipped over her chair running out of there.
In fifteen minutes, we were ready to go. I wondered about telling my parents where we were going, but I didn’t want to go near them right then.
Cora saw I was looking in the direction of their room. “I told them. They said have fun.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Of course. Sarah, they’re not mad at you. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“But this isn’t good,” I said.
“It’ll blow over. Now, do you have a towel? Sunscreen? Fish treats for Flipper?”
“I’m fresh out of dolphin treats. Do you think we’ll get to feed them?”
“I’d think so, but we’ll see. This is a wonderful way to spend New Year’s Day.”
She was right. This was excellent.
“Are we ready to go? Where’s the car?” Angela asked in a bikini and nothing else.
“Ang, don’t you want to put on shorts or something?” I asked. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt over my bathing suit.
“They’ll slow me getting to the dolphins.”
Damien surprised me by opening the front door from outside. “Is everybody ready?” A gray limousine waited behind him.
I wasn’t sure where we were going. I’d half-imagined we’d go out on a boat and meet a pod of dolphins, but that wasn’t correct. We went to a resort. The aquatic park was a part of the grounds.
The limo dropped us off right at the front doors. There was a pair of employees in polo shirts and khaki shorts waiting for us.
“Welcome West party,” one of the women said.
Angela hopped out still in only her bikini. “Where are the dolphins?” she demanded.
The other woman held up her hands. “We’ll get to them. Don’t worry. We first need to fill out a bit of paperwork and get you fitted with life jackets.”
The next hour was orientation. We filled out waivers. Got our life jackets. Saw a safety video about the park. But eventually, the pair of park employees were ready to take us to one of the dolphin lagoons.
Angela was on their heels the whole time. She’d been attentive about the safety regulations, and I was sure she wouldn’t do anything to hurt or upset the dolphins, but she was not going to waste a second getting to them.
We were led to a lagoon and the handler had us wade into the shallows. She taught us the proper way to greet the dolphins and how to pet them. When she was done, it was our turn. It was amazing. We got to swim with them, feed them, and do tricks with them. We spent the whole morning with them, but eventually, our time had to end. I got a little worried if we’d be able to get Angela out of the lagoon without force, but after giving the dolphins farewell kisses she got out of the water. We had lunch at the resort. We opted for simple burgers and fries, but it all tasted better than it should. I think because we were enjoying ourselves so much. The aquatic park had more than just dolphins. After lunch, we were shown different pools. We fed sea turtles and petted stingrays. I would remember that day for the rest of my life. It was a long exhausting day, but worth every minute. As we rode back to the mansion, we were all droopy with exhaustion.
“I’ve never had a better New Year’s Day,” Cora announced.
“Yeah, it was amazing. Thanks, Damien,” Angela said.
Damien and I were sitting together, leaning against each other. Propping each other up actually.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said.
“It was fun,” he said.
“Did you not expect it to be?” I asked half-jokingly.
He shrugged. “Yeah, a little. I’ve done things like that in the past and didn’t really enjoy them.”
Angela leaned across the limo to whisper something in his ear. I didn’t catch what she said.
“Maybe not the right ones,” he replied.
When we got back to the mansion, I showered and changed out of my swimsuit. I kept expecting someone to appear to summon me, but no one appeared at my door. I went looking for my parents. I had to know what they’d decided about Patricia Nash.
They were down on the beach, sitting on beach loungers, watching the waves.
“Hey, honey, how were the dolphins?” Mom asked.
She and Dad seemed pretty chill. I sat down on the corner of a lounger and looked out at the ocean. “It was amazing. We got pictures.”
“I can’t wait to see them.”
“Are you pressing charges?” I asked.
“No, we decided not to,” Mom said.
I peered at Dad because he hadn’t said anything during this and realized that he was asleep.
“Is Dad okay with that?”
“No, but he’ll get over it. As long as she doesn’t do anything else to you.”
“Yeah, but she might.”
“We have the video, but I think she’s getting punished enough by the court of public opinion.”
“Oh?”
“They played it on all of the morning talk shows. People are outraged. I believe you’re trending on Twitter.”
“Oh, great,” I said glumly.
“Are you hungry?”
“No. Have you eaten?”
“We’ve been snacking. Maybe later.”
Dad stirred. “Hey, kiddo, did you have fun with Flipper?”
“A ton of fun.”
“Good. Is it time for dinner?” he asked while taking a big yawn.
Mom rolled her eyes. “You still haven’t eaten enough today?”
Dad was still pretty groggy. “It’s dinner time. It’s when we have dinner.”
Mom helped him get up. “Okay, I guess we can eat something. Do you want to go out or stay here?”
“Not a vacation if you have to cook,” he said.
“I don’t mind cooking for my family.”
Dad stared into space still too out of it to make a firm decision. Mom slipped her arm around his waist and guided him to the mansion. “You sure you’re not hungry?” she asked me as they walked ahead.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
They went to their room. I saw Noah was in the den. “Hey,” I said.
“Hey.” He was watching CNN. Or rather he had it on in the background. Most of his attention appeared to be on his phone.
I waited to see if he said more but he didn’t. I wondered what Mr. West had said to him, but wasn’t sure if it would be polite to ask.
Damien came looking for me. “Do you want to take a walk on the beach?”
I liked the idea, but my eyes landed on Noah. ‘You, Angela, and Damien walking down the beach hand-in-hand-in-hand.’ I dismissed the memory of Noah saying that and nodded. “Sounds nice.”
Noah stood up with me.
Damien frowned. “What are you doing?”
Noah held up a finger for him to wait while he continued to tap something out on his phone. I had a suspicion of who he was texting.
“No one’s gonna be watching us,” I said.
“That’s what you think. After last night, the paparazzi will be circling us, hoping to cash in further on this story. A love triangle would be a juicy angle.”
“We ready to go?” Angela asked, coming into the room.
I’d been right. He’d sent a message to her.
I looked over at Damien. I knew he hadn’t suggested the walk as a group activity.
“Do you still want to go?” I asked.
“He doesn’t have to. I’ll go with you,” Noah said.
Damien glared at him and headed toward the beach.
Angela looped her arm with mine and gave it a sympathetic squeeze. “A walk on the beach at sunset is romantic,” she said.
“Exactly,” Noah said, linking his hand with mine.
So instead of Damien, I was hand-in-hand-in-hand with Noah and Angela. I didn’t like Noah holding my hand. It didn’t feel natural. I tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let go.
Damien saw my predicament. He stopped and looked ready to pull him away from me. Angela left me to take his arm. “This is nice,” she said in a fake upbeat tone.
This was definitely not what Damien had envisioned when he invited me to take a walk with him and it wasn’t what I’d agreed to either. I didn’t mind Angela, of course, but Noah’s closeness was making my skin crawl.
There weren’t a lot of people on the beach. I didn’t see any of these determined paparazzi that he was so sure were following us.
“Let go,” I said, tugging my hand.
“Not unless you’re intending to take my arm like Angela has Damien’s.”
Angela was wrapped around Damien’s arm. It was a very romantic hold. It should surprise me how natural they both made it look, but I knew Angela had plenty of practice with the move. She often took his arm to hold him back from getting into a fight, but she had to hide what she was doing because often people didn’t know how close Damien was to taking a swing at them.
I sighed and let Noah keep holding my hand.
Angela let go of Damien and turned around to walk backward. “You know we should just swap boyfriends. I mean all I need is a fake boyfriend and that’s all Noah wants. We can be fake together.”
“That wouldn’t work,” I hedged. Angela still didn’t know Noah had once had real feelings for her.
“I know because of Patricia and all, but it makes sense, right?”
“No, it doesn’t,” he said.
“Why not?” Angela asked in challenge.
“Sarah plays better.”
“What does that mean?”
“For the narrative, it’s better if it’s Sarah.”
“So what? It doesn’t have to be Sarah, and she’d be able to have a real relationship with Damien.”
“I like that idea,” Damien said.
My cheeks reddened slightly at his ready endorsement.
“There’s no point discussing it. Sarah’s locked in as my girlfriend. I can’t switch up now.”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Yeah, Sarah is great. She’s smart, she’s kind, she’s got a backbone,” she said.
“Exactly,” Noah agreed. I could tell she was planning something.
“And if you say she’s your girlfriend enough maybe it’ll become true.”
She’d put two and two together and got five.
“That’s not it, Ang,” I said.
“Then what is it?” she demanded. “He could’ve dated any girl in the school for real, but he decided he had to fake date YOU.”
“Ang, it’s okay. It’s not what you think,” I said.
“How isn’t it?” she asked, clearly not believing me.
“I decided to fake date Sarah, as you so charmingly put it because I couldn’t really date you. At the beginning of the school year, I thought she’d help me break you and Damien up but that was never going to happen because you two aren’t in a real relationship. And you can’t be in a real relationship with me. The only girl I ever wanted is gay so please excuse me if I’m not ready to date someone else right now.”
We’d stopped walking as Noah made his confession. He let go of my hand to wipe his eyes. He turned and started heading back alone.
Damien was the first to start following him.
Angela came up beside me. “Did you know?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t feel it was my place to tell you.”
“He flirted with me, but I’d shut him down pretty hard every time. I didn’t think it’d gone beyond simple attraction.”
“Oh, he had it for you bad, and Patricia knows.”
“I’d wondered why you told him, but I figured that if you trusted him, so could I. But it was because he had a crush on me?”
I winced. “Oh God, no. I didn’t tell him anything. You did inadvertently. You remember the bug at the West Estate?”
She went still. “He has a recording of that?”
“Yeah.”
She turned and stared at me in alarm. I couldn’t hold her gaze. This time she was putting two and two together and getting blackmail.
We walked back to the mansion in silence. I felt like such a traitor for not telling Angela about Noah’s recording.
When we reached the mansion, Angela went inside, but Damien called my name from the back garden. I went into the enclosed space and found him under the banyan tree.
“How’s Noah?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said dismissively.
He was fiddling with something in his hands that I couldn’t see.
“Sorry about the walk,” I said.
“Not a big deal.”
He turned and got down on one knee in front of me. The pose made me immediately uncomfortable. It was too formal and was usually only taken for one reason.
“Damien, what are you doing?”
He held out his hand to me. Nervously, I put my hand in his. With relief, I watched him put a flower ring on my finger. I’d been half afraid he’d put a diamond ring on me.
“Will you marry me?”
I gasped and jerked my hand back like it was scalded. “That’s not funny!”
“What does that mean?” he asked.
He was still kneeling.
“Stop joking around.”
“I’m not joking.”
I waved the hand with the flower ring on it. “Clearly you’re joking. Ha. Ha.”
“No, I’m not. We love each other. Why shouldn’t we be engaged?”
“Because we’re only freshmen in high school!”
“So?”
“So? We’re too young to get engaged.”
“Says who?”
“Says me!”
“I know we have to keep it secret, but why can’t we be engaged?” he asked again.
“Because we’re too young,” I repeated.
“We love each other,” he countered.
“So?” I said.
“So? Why shouldn’t we commit to getting married?”
“Damien, I’m not old enough to drive a car yet. How the heck am I old enough to be engaged?”
“I said we’d keep it secret. Only the two of us need to know.”
“Why?” I pleaded. How could he seriously be suggesting this? We were not old enough to be thinking about marriage.
“You don’t think we’ll be together through high school?”
“It’s not just high school. It’s the rest of our lives! We’re not grownups yet. We shouldn’t be making grownup choices.”
“You know, for all of your protesting, you sound pretty grown up to me.”
“Don’t joke about this. We would have to keep this completely secret because no one would be happy about it. My parents would forbid it. I’m sure your parents wouldn’t be thrilled. Everyone would say we’re too young. And they would be right.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know getting engaged to me would be such a terrible idea.”
“Damien,” I said with a sigh.
“No, you’re right. I’m an awful human being. Everyone agrees on that. I’m impulsive, violent, with anger management issues. Who would want to marry me?”
The really mean part of me wanted to say, “Exactly,” but I held my tongue. Instead, I said, “You have known me for four months. That’s not long enough to discuss marriage, and WE’RE TOO YOUNG.”
His shoulders slumped. Maybe I was finally getting through that thick skull of his. “Just say it.”
“Say what?”
“Say you don’t want to marry me.”
I wasn’t getting through to him. I couldn’t do what he wanted. I couldn’t say yes or no to his proposal because I wasn’t old enough for the question, but trying to explain that to him wasn’t working. And I couldn’t turn to anyone for help. If I told a grown-up, we’d get in trouble. They might even try to separate us and I didn’t want that. I took the flower ring off my finger and held it out to him. “I can’t accept this.”
“You’re saying it?” He went pale.
“I don’t want to, but if it’s the only want to get you to drop it, then I will.”
He snatched the flower ring away and tore it apart. Seeing the petal fragments fall to the ground made me feel sad for some reason. “Say it.”
“You’re not listening to me.”
“I am. Right now. Say it.”
I was too tired to try and explain it to him again. “I don’t want to be engaged to you.”
He gave me a clipped nod, turned around, and left me alone in the garden.
I sighed and looked up into the crooked, spreading branches of the banyan tree. It seemed less complicated than my life.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
THE NEXT DAY, NO ONE noticed that Damien and I weren’t speaking. He wore oversized headphones the whole time, though he wasn’t listening to any music. Mr. and Mrs. West saw us off. They were staying for a few more days. I half expected Damien to decide to stay with them. No one would begrudge him some extra time in Hawaii with his parents, but he’d shuddered at the suggestion.
As we flew back, my family was chipper. They were happy to be headed home. Noah had his nose glued to his phone, and Angela was quiet but had a smile for everyone. I tried to appear happy and normal, but I tensed up whenever I glanced at Damien. I didn’t want anyone to know that there was a problem between us, but it was difficult to hide.
My text alert sounded. I pulled it out, and Noah had sent me a message from across the airplane.
*What happened last night?*
*What do you mean?*
*You know what. Between you and Damien.*
*Nothing for you to worry about.*
*It is if he does something crazy.*
He’d already done something crazy, but I wasn’t going to tell Noah. He’d just figure out a way to use it to blackmail me again.
*Did you and Angela have a nice chat?*
I knew she’d spoken to him after his confession.
*I destroyed the recording.*
That surprised me. It had been his insurance to keep me as his fake girlfriend. Could I trust his word? He didn’t have any reason to lie to me about destroying it. Actually, he had every reason not to tell me. But he also knew that I couldn’t break up with him. At least not right now, not after what had happened at the New Year’s Eve party. We had to stick together at least for a few more months.
*Thanks. I’m sure Angela is relieved.*
*Yeah. BTW, she’s pretty scary when she’s angry.*
Noah was telling the truth. Angela had given me chills in the past.
*So what’s up between you and Damien?*
I frowned at the text. I hadn’t expected to get that question from Noah before anyone else. Angela had nodded off, and my family was amusing themselves in the front. Damien was facing his window. I wondered if he was awake. There’d been no threatening of duct taping this time at takeoff. Damien had taken his seat and hadn’t moved from it.
*Nothing.*
*He has never been good at hiding his feelings. He’s clearly hurting about something.*
Hurting? I didn’t like the guilt that word brought up in me, but I was in the right. We could not get engaged.
*Don’t worry about it. It’ll blow over.*
*You might as well tell me what happened.*
*Why?*
*Because I’m your boyfriend.*
That text caused a very unladylike snort from me.
*If you don’t tell me, he will.*
*No, he won’t.*
“Damien, why are you upset with Sarah?”
Noah’s voice startled me so bad I dropped my phone.
Damien didn’t turn from the window. “None of your business, Nash.”
“So you won’t mind if I take Sarah away for Spring Break?”
He shrugged and kept looking out the window.
*Jesus, what did you do to him?*
I glared at Noah across the plane and turned off my phone.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
ARRIVING BACK AT NOBLE was a relief. It meant I could get away from Damien’s silence. Angela had finally picked up on his mood and had been giving me questioning looks. We Smiths all went home to decompress. I unpacked and straightened up. Mom and Dad took Cora home. I decided it was safe to turn my phone back on.
There was a new text from Noah.
*Can you come by my apartment? There’s something I need to give you.*
I wondered what he wanted to give me, but I hoped it wasn’t another piece of jewelry. I still couldn’t bring myself to wear the diamond-encrusted angel.
*You want me to come by now?*
*The sooner the better.*
I went to the West Dorm, and as I rode the elevator up, I wondered what Damien was doing. I was beginning to feel bad that he was still upset. I wasn’t going to say yes to him, but I did feel bad.
The elevator doors opened on Noah’s suite, and I could see him standing, facing someone on the couch. The someone on the couch had poufy dark hair.
Noah raised his eyes at my entrance but didn’t acknowledge me.
“So did you and Sarah break up?”
Damien sighed loudly. “I don’t know. Maybe?”
“WHAT?”
I went around the couch to face him.
He looked up at me resentfully. “What? You rejected me.”
I turned to Noah. “Could you wait outside?”
“This is my suite,” he said.
“Yep, and this is what you get for sticking your nose in our business. Go wait in the lobby,” I said.
He seemed ready to argue but relented. “Just don’t break any of my shit,” he said as the elevator closed.
“He has barely any shit to break,” Damien muttered.
“You think I broke up with you?”
He turned his face away from me and shrugged.
“Bullshit.”
“Isn’t rejecting someone’s proposal an automatic breakup?”
“I didn’t reject your proposal.”
“Bullshit,” he said repeating my earlier rebuke.
“I told you that we’re not old enough to get engaged.”
“And I say we are.”
I wasn’t going to convince him that we were too young. I would need to take a different tact. “I’m not going to say yes no matter how much you try to guilt-trip me.”
“I’m not trying to guilt trip you.”
“So the silent treatment is because everything’s hunky dory?”
“Just like you won’t say yes, I’m not going to smile and be all happy about getting rejected.”
We were going around in circles, and it was driving me crazy. “You don’t get it! I’m not rejecting you!”
“You said no! That’s rejection.”
“No,” I winced at having to use the word, “Forget I said no, pretend I didn’t say anything at all.”
“That’s the same as no.”
“No, it isn’t. It means I haven’t answered. In eight or nine years, I could answer and it will be yes.”
“Eight or nine years?”
“Maybe ten,” I hedged.
“This is ridiculous. You’re ridiculous.”
“Keep that attitude, and it’ll be twenty years.”
He glared at me.
Tentatively, I sat at the other end of the sofa.
Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like he was starting to soften or maybe I was wearing him down.
“I’m sort of glad classes are starting again,” I said. “It’ll be nice to get back into a normal routine.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“I’m sorry the trip didn’t go quite like you hoped.”
“Maybe we can go back sometime or am I too young to suggest that?”
My heart fluttered at the idea of going back to Hawaii, but I couldn’t get distracted by that.
“I don’t know. Am I spending spring break with Noah?”
“Anything you do, he’ll have to come with you, won’t he?”
“Yeah, if we’re still together.”
“Just break up with him. You don’t have to date him.”
“I have to stay with him. At least until his mother stops trying to set him up.”
“That’s his problem.”
“It helps keep suspicion off us. If I come to West Dorm, everyone will assume that I’m going to see him.”
“But anywhere else, you have to be with him.”
“Yeah, but you know it’s fake.”
“I don’t like being fake.”
“Me neither, but everyone we care about knows the truth so it’s not that bad.”
“I guess.”
I inched over on the couch. “Come on. I know it’s not perfect, but it’s not that bad. We love each other.”
He didn’t answer. I inched over a little more.
“And with classes starting, we’ll be hanging out more than ever again.” I inched closer. Damien finally noticed my movement and turned his body to face me. A smile tugged at his mouth, though he tried to squelch it.
“I guess I should be glad that Noah doesn’t share any classes with you.”
I leaned in until we were nose-to-nose. “That’s right.”
It was cute how my closeness flustered him. He dropped his eyes and his cheeks began to redden. I reached up and ran my fingers down his cheek. “It’ll be nice sitting next to you again,” I said softly.
He was almost panting. I began to worry that I was overdoing it. He might get upset and bolt. I started to back off, but he followed me. I got confused and fell back on the couch. He landed on me. We stared at each in shock for a moment then Damien straightened and looked around the room frantically.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He relaxed and turned back to me. “I expected your dad to come busting in and drag me off you.”
I propped myself up and combed my fingers through his hair. He leaned into the touch. His eyes fluttering closed. “He’s not here,” I breathed.
His face was blank as he stared at me, but his pupils were huge. I felt like I was being sucked into them.
He leaned down and our lips met.
“Hey, not on my sofa!” Noah said in dismay.
Damien looked over the back of the couch at him. “What did you expect when you started dating Sarah?”
“You have your own suite. Go there.”
“No, I better go home or my dad will appear. See you tomorrow, Damien.”
“What about me?” Noah asked.
“Do I have to see you?”
“No...”
“Then nope. Bye bye.”
I left West Dorm with a bounce in my step. I was excited to start school again. The break had been fun and relaxing for the most part, but it would be nice to have things back to normal.
“Excuse me, is this West Dorm?” A girl my age asked. She was blonde and tall. She had on designer clothes and had a rolling suitcase with her. A transfer student? Noble barely ever got those mid-year.
“Yeah. Go in and enter your code in the elevator to go to your suite.”
“Are you one of my neighbors? Hi, I’m Tara Gigi.”
I blinked. “Hi. No, I’m not one of your neighbors. I was visiting someone.”
“Then I guess I’ll see you around...” she trailed off waiting for me to supply my name.
“Sarah Smith,” I said.
Tara’s head tilted back and she looked down her nose at me. “Oh, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other then, but we won’t be friends.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because your boyfriend should be mine.”
“Did Patricia Nash tell you that?”
“No. It’s just what’s meant to be. I’ll try to go easy on you, but prepare to be obliterated.”
“Okay then. See you in school.”
I turned and headed home, but I no longer had a bounce in my step. Why had I jinxed myself? Things could never be normal at Noble.
I took out my phone and sent Noah a text.
*We got trouble.*