[ 35 ] 2014

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"I don't have time to argue with childish fucks. Might as well be talking to a monkey."

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Harley's eyes flew open after a moment and she spit up the salt water she had ingested. Her throat burned and her eyes burned from having almost succumbed to the ocean. Her brother pulled her into his arms tightly, silent sobs and tears falling into her hair which was at the moment filled with little grains of sand. Cindy immediately dropped to her knees beside them and hugged her as well, tears were streaming down her face. Harley couldn't speak, everything burned, even breathing. Con only stood where he had been next to Cindy, watching the three teenagers with a scowl on his face.

As Cindy made sure that Harley was alright, Billy jumped back on his feet and went to confront Conrad Hood who was currently in his grandson Calum's body. "What the fuck, mate? You said you would take care of her!"

"It was an accident!" Con defended himself as he raised his arms in front of him when he saw Billy Quinn charging towards him. Billy shoved him back with all his strength, and the boy with raven hair stumbled for a moment. 

"She could have died!" Cindy turned towards him and shouted with a glare.

Harley coughed and tried to sit up. Her clothes were nearby and Cindy grabbed them, offering them to her. Harley used them to cover herself from the harsh wind that was battering her body. The autumn air felt much colder right now that she was drenched from head to toe. Her uniform would provide her with little cover from the cold as well. Still, she was more interested in defending Calum from her brother. "Leave him alone, Billy." She pleaded. Her words sounded scratchy as she croaked out weakly. "It was an accident and I'm fine now, so lets get back to the hotel."

Cindy helped her get dressed and then helped her back on her feet. Conrad moved in, trying to pick her up in his arms after he got dressed as well. But Billy Quinn stepped between them. He swept his younger sister into his arms and they made their way back to the hotel. 

Harley felt as though things were still off about Calum, but she remained quiet about it. That night, the two stayed with Cindy and Billy in their presidential suite. It had two bedrooms and Billy had Harley stay with them in their room while Conrad got a room of his own. Cindy and Harley slept on the king sized bed while Billy slept on the floor. It was better than leaving his sister alone with Calum, who he didn't fully like or trust yet. Especially not after what had happened just moments earlier. He decided he'd be watching that boy like a hawk now, and he really had to make merits if he wanted to get on Billy Quinn's good side. Harley didn't complain about sleeping in their room, since she wasn't entirely comfortable around Calum anymore. 

The next morning, they all got up around ten and Harley had a killer ache in her throat which Jack offered to fix for her over breakfast with the rest of the group. When they were done, the girls went back to their rooms and got ready to go down to the beach again for group photos. Doing their hair and make up took at least two hours, and they decided to get there an hour early so that if everyone got there on time, they could leave quickly. 

The photo session took about an hour and then their coach allowed them to have the whole rest of the weekend off. She only told them they had to be ready on the bus at five in the afternoon so they could return to Sydney. 

Harley spent the rest of Saturday and then Sunday mostly avoiding Calum. Billy was delighted about it, since each time Calum seemed to approach her, she'd get closer to him and Cindy. Maybe Luke was right and Calum Hood was a horrible person, and maybe Harley was finally beginning to see it. The group spent the rest of the weekend sight seeing and they returned to their home the following afternoon.

By the following Monday, Conrad had gotten dressed up in Calum's St. Genevieve's uniform for the last day of school. As Conrad looked in the mirror, it was his own reflection he saw, with the uniform on. The mirror showed a reflection of his soul. He was also surprised that the design of the St. Genevieve's uniform was mostly the same from what he remembered when he was in high school. When he went downstairs in the morning, Niall and Andrea were having breakfast. The two eyed him with confusion, and Andrea quickly spoke up. "What are you doing? You got expelled from school, remember? If you show up there, they'll just send you back home." 

Conrad was confused, since he didn't know his grandson had been expelled and he needed to come up with a lie quickly. Just then, he heard a ding from the electronic device that was in his pocket. From what he had seen the people around him doing, it was called a cellphone, and it was used to make phone calls like a regular landline as well as to send and receive text messages. He got the phone out of his pocket and touched the screen. It asked for his finger print scan and he turned it around, not able to find it. Butt he couldn't tell Niall and Andrea he didn't know how to use his phone, so he quickly ignored it and instead looked at the text message preview on his screen.

It was from someone named Dirk Van Holt, and he was asking him to come over to the physical education some time that day to collect the things from his locker as well as to get his varsity jacket, his jerseys, and his other belongings. He grinned to himself as he found his excuse. "Dirk says I need to go get my stuff from my locker and I want to go undetected."

Niall gave a shrug of his shoulders, not questioning it. "Makes sense."

Andrea rolled her eyes, but just went with it. Sometimes the things Calum did were a mystery to her. But she would let him be. If he wanted to tell them what was going on, then he would tell them.

They waited for Harley Quinn to walk over to their house and then climbed into Calum's Camaro and headed off to school with Niall driving again. "Its so weird to see you in your St. Genevieve's uniform after weeks." Harley commented when there was a bit of silence in the car. Both the two people in the front--Niall and Andrea--nodded in agreement. But Conrad remained quiet. He didn't really like people and he didn't have time for mindless chatter. By the end of the week, Harley and Calum would both be dead and that was all that was important to him.

They arrived at the school and Niall handed Conrad the keys. The three of them went inside and Conrad lingered outside for a moment, assuring her that he would go straight home after meeting with his soccer coach. He waited by the car for a few minutes until another sports car pulled up into the parking spot next to him. It was a grabber blue Mustang that Conrad was highly impressed with. It was a convertible with the top down and he had to do a double take when he saw who was inside. Lucas Hemmings' doppelganger if he ever did see one in the flesh. There was one girl in the front passenger seat, and another couple in the back seat, a boy and a girl. 

"What the fuck are you looking at, dickwad?" The blonde boy in the Mustang immediately shouted an insult towards Conrad, and the boy with raven hair was taken off guard. The blonde boy no sooner added. "I thought I got rid of you when I got you expelled from here." 

Conrad quickly composed himself and replied in a bored tone. "I don't have time to argue with childish fucks. Might as well be talking to a monkey."

With that, he turned and he left, making his way inside the school. As he walked, he could hear Luke shouting after him. But he ignored him. He didn't know the boy anyway, and as much as he was annoying, he was not there to deal with him. He had better things to do. 

He entered the school building and decided to hide in one of the bathroom stalls until the bell rang and he was sure no one would see him walking around.  He wasn't going to meet with his soccer coach, he was only there so that Calum's friends wouldn't find it weird that he had dressed up for school. But he didn't see any harm in walking around the school for a bit and looking at how things had changed over the past fifty years. He left his stall after the bell rang and he walked out to the sinks. 

Just as he was about to make his way to the door, it swung open, revealing the same boy from that morning. His blue eyes narrowed into thin slits as he glared at Calum Hood. 

Conrad had his hands in his pockets and was very nonchalantly going to pass him to get to the door when Luke stopped him by poking him in the shoulder with his index finger. "Where the fuck do you think you're going? I wasn't done with you this morning, and I'm not done with you now."

"You really don't want to do that, mate." Conrad warned him in a low voice, looking from his shoulder to the boy standing right in front of him.

"Oh. You mean this?" Luke asked innocently, poking him in the shoulder again. They were now standing in front of the mirrors at the sinks and Conrad knew that if he took one look at those mirrors, Luke Hemmings would know something was up.

"Piss off, I have stuff to do. You aren't really worth my time." Conrad said to him, once again trying to walk around him, but Luke stood in his way. 

He had the entire weekend to rehash another plan after the fiasco down by the beach and now he would need to find a patsy to do it for him. His plan was that he would make a wooden stake and soak it in chrysanthemum water, which was highly poisonous and deadly for both shifters and hunters. He would then mind control some poor idiot into stabbing Calum in the heart with it, and then Harley. As his mind came to the realization that maybe Luke was that poor idiot he was searching for, he heard something of a gasp escape Luke's lips. 

As his attention came back to the boy standing before him, Conrad noticed that Luke was looking at their reflections in the mirror with his jaw dropped. His own reflection was the same. But Calum's reflection was slightly different. It almost looked like him, but a few details in the appearance were off, and it just seemed like it was the reflection of a sibling or a cousin rather than Calum. He blinked back a couple of times, not understanding why that was happening, and he knew that logically that could not be possible. A part of him told him that he was either seeing things or perhaps he was just dreaming.

"What the fuck?" He pointed to the reflection with shaking fingers. Only one other time something like this had happened. When he and Harley were in the dance studio at his house, where all the walls were giant mirrors. He had sworn he saw Kylie there, but then he told himself it was only his imagination. Now he was starting to think maybe he did see her. "Why is your reflection different?"

That was when Conrad saw it as his opportunity to jump into action. He lunged forward and took Luke by the neck, slamming him against the tile wall near the sinks. He concentrated on using his mind control powers and he immediately began to give his command. Luke was soon entranced by Conrad's piercing dark eyes. "You will forget everything you saw here today. You will forget I was even here. But this afternoon, I want you to go home and carve a stake. Leave it soaking in chrysanthemum leaves for an hour. Then you will drive to Harley Quinn's house and stab Calum Hood through the heart. Once you're sure he's dead, you will do the same with Harley Quinn."

Luke nodded his head absently, repeating back everything Conrad had instructed him to do. Pulling his hand away from the boy's neck, he hit him on the side of the face with two slaps. 

"Good boy, now run along and get the fuck out of my face." Conrad said with a satisfied grin.

The boy with blonde hair turned slowly and left the bathrooms. Conrad waited a few more minutes before he left the school grounds. He had found someone to do his dirty work. Someone would see Luke Hemmings do it. That was a triple revenge. He would get rid of Harley and Calum, and he would punish Luke for being such a wanker to him that morning. 

His plan was all coming together nicely.

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so i have like two hours before i go to sleep and i'm actually feeling pretty inspired. so i may or may not write one last update tonight. but i'm going to go eat some strawberries first because i am a little hungry. 

please let me know what you think of this chapter guys. i know the first part was super filler. but it will start getting more dramatic again, i promise. 

have a wonderful night!

and hey! countdown to the end of the story begins now. only fifteen more chapters plus the epilogue. so please stay tuned for the ending of this story. it means a lot to me that so many of you give your support. thank you for everything! this series is almost coming to a close, but i will be writing a continuation series with harley and her kids, for those of you who are interested.

-clary