Cruel Crush, page 3
part #1 of Hidden Falls High Series
“Heck no!” I said. “The fact Dad thought I needed to buy it was so degrading. And, I couldn’t.”
Summer’s face went from looking anxious to pure relief. “I’m so glad you didn’t,” she said. “It wouldn’t be the Nat I know and admire.”
I stopped breathing for a second, and it was as though my head was spinning. Suddenly, it felt as though my life had been building to this moment with me looking at Summer, and Summer looking at me with her beautiful eyes that could look deep into me and know who I was and the man I could be.
I knew then that I was a goner. That Summer had stepped into my soul and grabbed me and reeled me in. If I believed in forever love and lasting love, I believed then that Summer was mine. My soulmate, my everlasting love.
But I didn’t believe in it. I no longer believed in love. As much as I wanted it with Summer here and now, I knew it could never be. Thanks to Dear old Dad and his cheating ways.
Chapter 4
Summer
Well, Aunt Sookie and I pulled off a fun birthday dinner for the Donovans.
Instead of lots of decorations as Aunt Sookie wanted, I had found files of photos from when all of us were younger and progressively older each summer. There were photos of Aunt Sookie, the Donovans, me, and Mom from the first day we spent the summer together at Aunt Sookie’s. I was about three. The Twins were three, and Nat was four. Then there were photos of us in plays at the Acting Academy. Photos of us learning how to surf with Aunt Sookie teaching each of us on our baby surfing boards. There were photos of Rachel and me, dressed up as Princesses. Photos of the Donovans, Aunt Sookie, and I at Disneyland and at Knotts Berry Farm. Photos of us in Halloween costumes. Photos of Nat in his football uniform when he was fourteen. Photos of Nat with a guitar in his hands at age fifteen. Photos of the Twins having a milkshake at the Shake Shack. Photos of me in a princess costume and Nat in a pirate costume in front of a backdrop of the Malibu caves on stage. We were about five and six years old. Photos of us sailing. Lots of photos of us individually throughout the years. I printed all the photos, framed them, and placed them all over the living room, the bedrooms, kitchen, and even the balcony.
Each cluster of photos had a clue which led to a grand prize at the end of the dinner.
Although it was a simple get together, it seemed everyone had fun. Even Nat, who started so gloomy when I first met him at the front door.
“Summer,” Mrs. Donovan came over to me. “Did you do all this?”
“The photos and the game part,” I said. “Aunt Sookie did all the cooking and food.”
“It’s so creative and cute!” Mrs. Donovan said. “I love how the photos are so personal, yet you added some playfulness to them, too. And the decorations, it fits everyone here. The kids loved it. I loved it. You could always come work for us in the events planning or public relations area.”
I laughed. “I had a lot of fun helping Aunt Sookie out. But if you need me to help out with anything, I’ll be happy to anytime.”
Mrs. Donovan smiled. “You’re already like a daughter to me, Summer. But please, if you can marry one of my boys to make it official, take them please. You’ll make a better person out of them someday.”
“Mrs. Donovan,” I blushed. “I’m too young to think of marriage yet. I don’t even know who I am first before trying to make a better person out of anyone. But Nat or Drew…any girl would be lucky to eventually end up with either one of them.”
Mrs. Donovan looked over at Aunt Sookie while pointing her fried tempura shrimp at me. “Did she learned how to be so well-spoken from you? Or was it Meecham? And why didn’t any of my kids learn the same thing?”
“Nadine, every child is different. But I can say while Summer may have been influenced by me and Meecham, she had always been her own person. She had never cared to fit in just because there was a clique to fit in. She just did her own thing and was happy doing it.”
“So different from my kids,” Mrs. Donovan said. “Always wanting to do what was expected of them. Good in some ways, bad in others. You know how it was like for us when we were younger.”
“I definitely knew what that was like, so when I finally just went for what I wanted, that was when I started to thrive. To heck with everyone’s judgement and criticism. My life is mine, and I will live the best life I was meant to live.”
“Amen, girlfriend,” Mrs. Donovan said, laughing loudly.
I couldn’t help laughing along with her. Mrs. Donovan was so much fun and outspoken. Mom said she was a firecracker when they were younger. She was always such a wisecracker. When Mom, Aunt Sookie, and Nadine were younger, they had formed a band in the 1980s called The Summer Pact and had have quite a musical career before they broke up and pursued personal interests. Nadine even married John Donovan, who was in the band, and the father of Nat, Drew, and Rachel.
I had found a video of them performing on stage in a restaurant called XXY or something like that amongst Aunt Sookie’s old photo collections boxes. As surprised as I was at learning my mother, Aunt Sookie, and Mrs. Donovan were in an 80’s band together, I was surprised Mr. Donovan was in it, too. I thought it would be the perfect surprise at the end of dinner for everyone, if anyone ever solved the game to win the grand prize.
I was happily enjoying Aunt Sookie’s Hawaiian Paradise buffet spread for dinner along with Aunt Sookie and Mrs. Donovan when I heard Rachel called out, “Bingo!”
“Bingo first!” Drew called out.
“I called out first, Drew,” Rachel said, elbowing Drew.
“Doesn’t matter,” Nat said, “Rules said you’re supposed to try out your key in the box first before you call out ‘Bingo’ so you two just let me win!” Nat slid the key he was given in the blue envelope into a pirate’s treasure box hidden on the bookshelf next to the television and said, “Bingo!”
The lock clicked and the lid on the treasure chest box sprung open. The VHS tape labeled “XXY Performance” popped out of the chest and into Nat’s hands.
“What is this?” he asked showing everyone the tape. “XXY Performance?” He cocked an eyebrow, and I almost melted at how arrogant but hot he looked. “Is this something only for grown ups? If so, Rachel and Drew leave the room now.”
Mrs. Donovan laughed. I looked around. Aunt Sookie was smiling but there was something like wistfulness too in her expression.
“Mom?” Nat asked. “Do you know what this is?”
“Here,” Mrs. Donovan walked over to take the VHS. “I’ll do the honors. Now kids, this was the 80’s so don’t judge how funny your dear old mother looked back then.”
Rachel and Drew laughed. “Can’t wait to see what this XXY business is about, Mom,” Drew said. “Is it something we don’t want to see because seeing your mom or any parent without their clothes…”
“Oh Drew,” Mrs. Donovan said, knocking him playfully on the head. “What kind of mother am I to be showing my own kids tapes of myself like that?”
“Mom,” Drew said. “You spawned me, didn’t you? Maybe you might be just that…”
Mrs. Donovan knocked Drew playfully on the head again.
“Hey, Mom, stop that. Do you want me to lose the little amount of brain cells I have?”
Rachel joined in, “Please don’t take away all his brain cells, Mom. He’s annoying enough with some cells, just think how much more annoying he’ll be with no brains at all.”
“Rachel,” Mrs. Donovan said. “How can you call Drew dumb?”
“You just did, Mom,” Rachel said.
“I didn’t,” Mrs. Donovan said. “I love my children all the same, except maybe one more than the other.”
I squinted at Nat, as he grinned at me, obviously enjoying how much fun his mother was having with his siblings. Yes, Nat was Mrs. Donovan’s favorite. He was Mr. Donovan’s favorite too.
Drew took the opportunity of the distraction to grab the VHS tape and insert it into the old VHS player we had out just in case Aunt Sookie wanted to play something classic or old.
The tape looked homemade, but what was important was what was captured. The cheesy graphics came on announcing the band and then the music began playing.
Out came Mom, looking much younger and very pretty. She was about a few years older than I was now. Then came Mrs. Donovan and Aunt Sookie. Last came a close up of the guitar player and the keyboards. It was Mr. Donovan, playing the guitar, and a very handsome man playing the keyboards.
At his close up, Aunt Sookie visibly gasped.
Drew turned up the volume of the music, and Mrs. Donovan began dancing to it, pulling Aunt Sookie out of her chair to dance along.
It was a sight to see them dancing, that Drew and Rachel joined in, acting silly and adding some inspired 80’s dance moves.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of my barstool from the counter where I was still eating. “Come on, Summer,” Nat said. “We have to have some fun, too.” He began dancing with me, twirling me around in the middle of the living room. He did a few John Travolta moves from Grease, while I went along with moves from Olivia Newton John’s Sandy.
Soon we were totally in sync, dancing along, that everyone else had stopped dancing and were watching us dance, as though we were in the musical itself. The music had stopped, but Nat and I were still in the middle of a dance routine.
Aunt Sookie had started the music from Grease right on the spot we were dancing, so well-versed with the musical herself, then we totally went for it.
Drew and Rachel joined in, along with Mrs. Donovan and Aunt Sookie.
When the music ended, everyone fell down on the sofa, laughing.
“It’s great to be home,” Nat said, squeezing my hand.
I wanted so badly to reach over to kiss him, but he pulled away before I could. I was a bit disappointed, and I wondered why he pulled away when Mrs. Donovan, Aunt Sookie, and Rachel were already up and walking away to the kitchen to help clean up, laughing as they went.
Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Drew watching us. His smile had turned to a frown when he saw me about to kiss Nat. It happened so fast, and I wasn’t sure I actually saw it.
“Come on,” Nat said. “Let’s go help clean up.”
Chapter 5
Summer
Out of all the excitement and activities that went on for the Donovans’ birthday dinner, I had forgotten to let them know I was going to live with Aunt Sookie for the school year and attend Hidden Falls Academy where Aunt Sookie had some pull to get me in, even though they normally wouldn’t accept new students this late into the enrollment period. All the students attending had enrolled in the Spring of last year. For me to start in the Fall when the enrollment period closed half a year ago, made me stick out like a sore thumb. I suspected some students would be resentful of me taking some other student’s place at the most prestigious private academy in the U.S.
What I didn’t expect was exactly how resentful they were! The top 3 students who ran the Academy, whose job was to preserve order and prestige, had decided it wasn’t fair that I was allowed into the Academy due to my relationship with a celebrity actress, and concluded that I needed to be driven out. The top 3 students were called the Knights, and they were to enforce the student body’s agenda.
*****
I drove Mom’s black Jeep up the hill along a narrow winding, yet well-maintained road past the secret waterfall that was hidden in the hills, arriving at black iron and gold gates with an ornate HF Crest.
At the gate, I showed the guards my pass to get through the gate, then I made my way to park at the front in the temporary visitor’s parking space. I parked my vehicle and walked up to the Administrative Offices, where I was supposed to pick up my parking pass to park in the student lot, along with some student uniforms that I had ordered. They were burgundy and navy plaid along with a white polo top.
“Can we help you?” the pretty Asian American woman asked.
“I’m Summer Jones,” I said. “I enrolled late so I was told my parking pass would be here for me to pick up along with my school uniform?”
She filed through a bin on the ground under the desk in front of her and said, “Ah, here you are.” She smiled and said, “You’re Sookie’s niece?”
“Yes,” I said. “Do you know her?”
“Oh, I know her alright,” she said. “I took some of her acting classes years ago when she first opened the Acting Academy, and fell in love with theater. I work here during the day, but I perform in some of the local theaters on weekends and at night right now. I love it.”
“That’s great! I’m so glad you’re pursuing it,” I said.
“We wanted to hire her to teach Drama at this Academy years ago, but she’s just so busy with her own school,” the young woman said.
“Maybe she can teach a guest class,” I said, “Um…”
“Ashley,” the young woman said. “That’s a great idea. She’s well-known, and the kids here still watch her television shows. That would be a start. I’ll ask our Head of Education about that.”
“I think Aunt Sookie would love to do it,” I said.
“Great,” Ashley said. “If you need anything, just let me know.”
“Thank you, Ashley. I get the feeling I’ll enjoy being here.”
“You’ll love it. Most of the students here do.”
I took my package, opened it, and went to the women’s restroom next to the reception desk to change into my uniform. The uniform fit me snug like a glove. I made a mental note to order the next size up in case it was considered too tight and not regulation size for the school.
I walked to my car, hung my parking pass on my mirror, and drove to the student lot. My eyes ballooned as I passed row upon row of the most expensive and luxurious cars that I had ever seen. I felt like I was cruising down a rare luxury car dealership rather than a high school academy parking lot.
I finally found an open space next to a red Maserati convertible, even though it was a tight squeeze. The color was exquisite metallic ruby red, glittering like Dorothy’s ruby red slippers in the Wizard of Oz. Who drives a car like that to school?
I opened my door carefully, trying to not touch the Maserati when a loud horn sounded in my ear. And I jumped.
My car’s passenger door slammed into the door of the Maserati with a bang, and I closed my eyes, wincing “Oh no!”
My entire body stiffened as I bit down on my lips.
“Well well well,” a male voice said behind me. “What do we have here?”
I opened my eyes to see a boy about my age or older, with blue hair, half covering his face. His blue eyes peered amusingly at me, taking me all in from head to toe. He had on the school uniform, but it was filled out with a tight muscular body. The buttons on his white shirt were unbuttoned all the way to the top of his waist band, leaving no imagination to how toned his abs and stomach was. And that he had tattoos everywhere.
He had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, while his tongue played with the silver lip rings on his lower lip.
My mouth dropped, and I was probably drooling. I have never met anyone as sexy as this guy in front of me.
“Hey, New Girl,” he said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and placing it into the corner of mine. He took a match, lit it and lit the cigarette in my mouth before he took it out and licked the area of the cigarette that had touched my mouth before placing into his mouth. He looked down into the valley between my breasts and said, “The plaid looks damn good on you.”
“Thanks,” I said. “It looks pretty fine on you, too.” I said lowering my eyes to look at his plaid pants, that was growing tighter by the second, especially in front. My eyes traveled up his bare torso and to his lips before settling on his eyes.
“Forgive me for being blunt, but you are sexy sexy,” he said. “There’s just something really fucking hot about you.”
“I could say the same about you,” I said.
“Smart and observant, too,” he grinned.
“You’re a student here?” I asked.
“Of course he is,” another male voice said joining us.
I looked over to where the husky male voice came from. He was almost the complete opposite of the sexy rock star-like male specimen in front of me. White blonde hair, cut into short layers, but flattering to his high cheekbones, chiseled chin and large dark blue eyes. Although he wore a blazer and a tie over a white crisp shirt that was buttoned up neatly, and nothing was out of place on him, he too filled out his school uniform like a dream.
“And who are you?” I asked, taking him in as he slowly perused my body and face.
“I could be your dirtiest dream or naughtiest nightmare,” he said. “Depends on how you play this game.”
