20

- Voodoo Doll; 5 Seconds of Summer - 
- Speechless; Dan + Shay - 


Aurora Holland

"This is where we separate," Katherine stated as we walked to an intersection. "I live that way." She quickly added, pointing a finger to the right. I looked to the left, knowing my own neighborhood was that way.

"Well, thanks for hanging out with me. I know it was probably weird how blunt I was about it, I'm not usually like that." I told the blonde, twirling my ring resting on my index finger.

"It wasn't," She spoke with a shake of her head. "I was just taken back by it. You've probably gathered on by now, but I'm not very liked at Riverway."

"I only know what James said, and I know that it's none of my business so I'm not going to push you about it." I held my hands up in defense.

"Thank you for that," She said nicely, shoving her hands into her denim jacket. It was a light shade of black and hugged her small figure perfectly.

"I will say though, that I'm not one to judge on things like that," I said, remembering that James had been harassing her about her mother. "My family is not as it seems, but either way it's not my business."

Katherine didn't say anything, seeming lost in thought at my words. I sighed, knowing Paige was probably already waiting for me to get home to get ready for the event tonight. "I should get going, I've got to get to this thing."

"Yeah, of course, I'll probably see you Monday." She pulled her right hand from her pocket, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"See ya. You have my number so if you need to get ahold of me just text me," I said. "I text back embarrassingly fast."

Katherine nodded, waving goodbye and turning to cross the intersection. I didn't send another glance as I turned and made my way toward my neighborhood, remembering the directions as I'd ridden by it numerous times when with Paige or someone else.

My thoughts were clouded by anything and everything. At first, I thought about all of the homework I needed to do, then I thought about the art club that was mentioned on my first day of school. Then, my thoughts went to Katherine and how our blossoming friendship was one of the first friendships that were genuine, and didn't feel forced or faked by Paige the way others in the past had.

Then, my thoughts went to what happened at the end of homeroom earlier. I didn't know who that boy was, but I really wanted to thank him for attempting to help me today. He didn't need to do that, and it made me think of when I didn't hesitate to help Katherine on Tuesday despite knowing I was no match for James.

However, if it weren't for Carter Jackson who knows what would have happened? I would've for sure been late to AP Environmental Science, but surely James wouldn't have gotten too far considering the unknown boy was right and that Mr. Maroni would have arrived sooner or later.

He definitely wouldn't have James do anything further than what he was, but it didn't change the fact that he'd already had a death grip on me.

My eyes landed on my right hand. Now, besides the scratches littering the skin beneath my thumb knuckle, bruises the size of James' large fingerprints scattered across the top of my palm.

They weren't super dark yet, but they were already showing up even though it's only been about three hours since the confrontation happened.

As I approached my house, I saw that Paige had already arrived just as I thought she had. She wasn't in her car, meaning she was probably in my house. She had her own key, considering she's my cousin, and plus my mother loves her that much.

Walking in, I noticed my mother was talking to my father in the dining room. I didn't care to listen to what they were talking about and instead began to make my way to the staircase leading to my room.

"Paige is here!" My father called out as he saw me.

"I know, thanks!" I shouted back, beginning to make my way up the stairs.

It didn't take me long to get into my room, and I arrived to see Paige laying over my bed on her phone. She glanced up as she saw me, ditching her phone as soon as I shut the door behind me.

"You took forever, where were you?" She asked. Her tone was nothing like it had been the last few times she talked to me, giving me even more proof that she was finally over what I'd said about Carter.

"Hanging out with someone," I answered, throwing my backpack on the butterfly chair.

"What? Who? Logan said you've totally been ditching him," She said.

"I haven't been ditching Logan. I just haven't been talking to too many people." I shrugged, "And it was Katherine Windsor."

"Katherine... Windsor?" She asked, her eyes bouncing around as she tried to think of who I was talking about.

"Blonde shoulder-length hair, brown eyes--" I started. She shook her head, showing she still had no idea who I was talking about. "She's a junior and in my homeroom."

"No idea," Paige spoke with a shrug, letting it go. "So, I was looking at Pinterest, and I'm thinking for your makeup we could do something dramatic!"

"Dramatic?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Yeah!" Paige exclaimed happily, seeming to be back to her usual bubbly personality.

"With what I'm wearing don't you think that'll look weird?" I asked, "I mean if you think it looks good go right ahead but my dress is very simple and I don't want my makeup to be too bold when my dress isn't even bold." As the words left my mouth, I twirled my ring hoping I didn't strike another nerve.

Paige thought about it, before nodding. "I see what you mean. But a dramatic smokey eye will still look good considering your dress is black." She explained, "You showering beforehand or not?"

"I showered this morning," I told her.

"So did I so neither of us need to shower. We can get dressed last and I'll do hair then makeup." She stood from her spot, beginning to walk over to the bags she'd brought with her.

I then took notice of her fancy dress hanging in my closet next to mine. Mine was just hanging on a hanger where hers was in one of those fancy dress covers.

"Sit sit!" She exclaimed, pulling my vanity stool out.

Knowing I should just go along with it, I obliged. I sat down and she immediately began to mess with my hair, deciding to do that before my makeup.

She brushed through my hair, getting all of the knots out that had shown up during the day. As soon as it was nice and smooth she began to work on it, curling it in beautiful loose curls. They cascaded down my back beautifully, already giving me a much different look since I don't curl my hair too often.

It grew hot, thanks to the heat being so close to my scalp from the curling iron. I ignored it, and only about five minutes went by before Paige took a pause on my hair to turn some music on. She turned on a band she's obsessed with at the moment, but their music was catchy so I didn't mind.

I'm not one to judge other's music tastes, simply because I'm well aware that everyone has different tastes. Others prefer One Direction or 5 Seconds of Summer while others prefer Drake or Lil Wayne. It's all music, and it's okay if someone doesn't like pop but loves rap.

I think that music is another form of art, and all art is beautiful to me.

As soon as Paige was done with my hair, she gave me a break and worked on her own. She ended up putting mine in the half-up half-down hairdo, using a black ribbon to tie it together in the back. It was nice and even trailed long enough to twirl in with my hair.

Pieces of hair hung at the sides of my face, much like she'd done with my hair the night of the party. I looked to see what she was doing for her hair, seeing she was just putting it into a cute bun on the back of her head.

It was a loose bun, one where she put numerous bobby pins in to keep the strands to stay to her head. It looked like something you'd see a bridesmaid or even someone attending prom would wear, but it suited her quite well.

Her hair took less time than mine did, simply because she didn't put any heat in it. As she finished spraying hairspray all throughout her hair, she stood from the stool and motioned for me to sit back down to begin my makeup.

I obliged, letting her do her thing. I was just glad we were on a talking basis. We weren't back to how we were before, but part of me didn't want to be. I didn't want her to control every little thing I did, forcing me into friendships that weren't going to last either way.

As of right now, I seem to be doing a pretty good job at making my own friends. People who I've never seen talk to Paige and who she has no idea exist. It was nice because for once I feel like I wasn't put on this Earth to be Paige's little Barbie doll.

I feel like I'm my own person, and I don't want to lose that feeling.

After what felt like forever, she was finally done. I opened my eyes and looked into the vanity mirror, shocked to see what I looked like. Paige has only done dramatic makeup on me a few times in our life, none of which I ever left the house in.

Part of me was curious to know if my mom will even let me leave the house looking like this, considering I look much more mature than I usually do. My face held much more makeup than it ever has, and although I know in the end I'm going to end up with pimples from it, I appreciated how nice it looked.

Paige stared smugly into the mirror, liking my reaction. She held setting spray in her hand as she'd just finished spraying before I looked, and I think I boosted her ego without even trying by the way I admired my face in the mirror.

I've never been a fan of the way I look, mostly because most of my life I'd been compared to anyone that's not me. I thought it was because I was ugly, or maybe just not pretty enough to be considered beautiful.

But for once, I felt pretty.

I know, it's sad. The only way I've ever felt pretty is when I'm covered in bunches of makeup, and it's not even what I truly look like. But I'm going to cherish this little self-love moment, even if it's not me truly loving myself.

After I stood from the stool and Paige began working on her own makeup, I walked over to my closet to grab my dress. Thankfully, I chose a dress that I could wear a bra with.

Not that I was afraid of something happening the way alcohol was spilled all over me at the party, but it just made me feel less insecure.

Stupid, I know.

My dress was a long-sleeved soft fabric dress, one that ended just above my knees. It was completely black, except for a small section toward the bottom that was made of a mesh type of material.

It covered everything, kept me warm, and I didn't have to worry about my figure. It was perfect, and I didn't care that Paige told me it wasn't as fancy as the event is.

I was careful to not smear any makeup on the dress as I slipped it on, the material soft on my skin as it made contact. I straightened out the sleeves, rubbing my palms on the dress afterward.

Paige did a fancy makeup look on herself as well, making me feel just a little bit better at how dolled up I looked. However, whereas my dress was simple and easy to hide in the background, hers was extravagant.

She began to get dressed when she was finished with her makeup, giving us not much longer until we had to be downstairs and ready to go. I pulled on the black wedges I bought the day we went to the mall, tightening the strap so they didn't fall off of my feet.

I'm not very experienced in walking in heels, but wedges are easier than heels such as stilettos. From what Logan told me, there were going to be different things happening and he mentioned food, so maybe that means there'll be a chance to sit for a while and not kill my feet.

I sure hope so.

"You pull the dress off really well, Ror." Paige complimented as she pulled her heels on. "Logan's going to fall at your feet when he sees you."

"Oh, stop it." I joked, "He saw me in the mall."

"Right, he did. And he looked like he was going to pass out from how cute you looked." She continued anyway, and my face began to flush.

I didn't want to say anything to trigger her about when we fought, so I just kept my thoughts to myself. Especially doing it so close to the event was risky, because my mom will most definitely have my head on a stick if I find a way to embarrass her in front of all these proper people.

When we finished up the last touches of getting ready, we were ready to get going. Paige walked out first, taking her time to walk down the steep steps so she didn't fall.

I grabbed a black purse, the same one I used the night of Logan's party. I put my phone, wallet, keys, and sketchbook in it. It was the same one that was mysteriously put in my backpack, and although I have no idea who put it there I wasn't going to take advantage of it. It just saves me the money of having to buy a new one.

Making sure I grabbed extra pencils, I shoved them in my bag as well before rushing out of my bedroom. I followed Paige's footsteps, careful to not fall over as I descended the stairs.

When I arrived at the foyer, I saw my mother, Jason, and father standing there talking to Paige. They were all dressed up as much as me, if not more.

"That's what you're wearing, Aurora?" My mother asked in distaste, looking me up and down.

"Yes," I answered.

"I think you look beautiful, Ror." My father smiled at me, one that seemed more apologetic than anything else.

"It's not a casual get-together, it's fancy." My mother scolded, putting her hands on her hips.

"I helped her choose it out, Auntie Viv," Paige spoke, putting on an innocent smile. She knew my mother was much harder on me than Jason, and I was thankful for that. Of course, she still doesn't know about what she was truly like when no one else was around, but she knew enough to know I would get in trouble if she knew I actually chose the outfit myself.

"Well, I guess it's not that bad." My mom frowned, looking me up and down again. "It will have to do, we're already running late."

I watched as she straightened out Jason's hair. He glanced over at me, his eyes rolling to the back of his head at the action. I stifled a giggle, knowing I'd get in trouble if my mom heard me.

We left shortly after, all of us listening to my mother talk about what she expected most of the time. Paige was riding with us, leaving her car here. My mom insisted she rides with us, as she wasn't going to let me ride with Paige in fear of us showing up late.

Paige, being the person she is, agreed despite how much she wanted to drive her own car.

So I sat in the backseat of the car, squeezed between Jason and Paige. I wasn't sure how we weren't ripping each other's heads off with how close we were all sitting, but I think the fear of setting my mom off was more than enough for all of us to just stay quiet and complain to ourselves as we rode to wherever it was we were headed.

The drive consisted of my mother continuing to talk about how we all needed to be on our best behavior, but I knew it was mostly directed at me. She was looking at me as she said it, plus there's the obvious knowing that she thinks both Jason and Paige are angels on Earth.

After what felt like an eternity, we pulled up to a giant mansion. I thought Logan and Carter's house was huge, but this venue was twice the size. Cars were already parked, and people littered in and outside the building as they mingled with each other.

As my father parked, my mother turned back to us once more. "I mean it, you be polite, showing nothing but manners." She glanced between us, her eyes lingering on me.

"Of course, Aunt Viv. Who do you think we are?" She asked innocently, throwing her door open. Jason did the same, and my father followed shortly after.

My mother continued to look at me, looking at me as if she wanted to say something. Before she could, Paige bent in and leaned in the car. "Come on, Rory."

Rory was something Paige has never called me, not in the years we'd been old enough to talk. I looked at her in confusion but shrugged it off as I obliged anyway. Maybe she's just catching on to what the others are doing since most of them have followed along with Carter's nickname.

As soon as I was out of the car, I was greeted with the late-night August air. It was breezier than it was during the day, but it felt nice as I was in long sleeves. My legs were a little cold, but nothing to complain about.

I stood in between Paige and Jason, and we walked behind our parents toward the entrance of whatever type of venue this was. We meet up with Uncle Murphy and Aunt Priscilla, who complimented their daughter on how pretty she looked as they usually did.

They said hi to us, Uncle Murphy even going out of his way to give me a hug and a fist bump to Jason in greeting.

My father and Uncle Murphy immediately began to talk about the business and what these events usually entail, while my mother and Aunt Priscilla began to chat about the people attending the group and what to expect.

My mother's attention was finally off of me, which made me relax. We three kids followed the adults through the slightly crowded building, greeting everyone we ran into. Paige already knew most of the people as she's been doing this for over a year now, which meant more attention was on Jason and me as we were completely new to this.

Person after person, family after family, we finally made it into the main room the event was being held at. People were in extremely fancy suits and dresses, just their necklaces and watches alone looked like they cost over a thousand dollars.

I was tired by the time we arrived at the main room, which sucked because I knew it wasn't going to be over for a while. We finally got to another family, one that caught my attention very quickly simply due to the last name.

"Cyrus Jackson!" Uncle Murphy exclaimed happily, pulling the unknown man in for a hug in greeting.

"Always a pleasure, Murph. It's good to finally get to see you in person, Harry." The man -- Cyrus, turned to my dad. "This is my wife Lainie and my youngest son, Logan."

My eyes drifted to the right, where Logan stood. He was almost directly in front of me, and I hadn't even noticed due to my mind being elsewhere.

He looked good, wearing a fancy suit that looked a lot like his father's. It was a plain black suit with a white button-up underneath, and a black bowtie to tie the outfit together perfectly. His hands were in his pant pockets, and he was paying no attention to the conversation our parents were having.

"You're the famous Logan!" My mother exclaimed, and my eyes widened at her words.

Oh no.

"Sorry, what?" Logan asked, his brows pushing together.

"You're the one that left the car at the house the other day and was kind enough to bring our Aurora home and to school. Right?" My mom asked, putting on the same fake facade she usually does around people.

"Oh, that'd be me." He nodded with a blush, a smile covering his face.

"I didn't know you were Cyrus' son," She held a hand to her chest.

"We have another son as well, but he usually does his own thing," Cyrus explained. His attention then turned to me, "You must be Aurora."

"Yes, sir." I softly said, repeatedly looking between him and my mother. She was sending me a look, one I knew all too well. It was a warning to be as polite and on the best behavior I could manage.

"I've heard so much about you," He said with a smile. "From both my sons and Harry here."

"Yes, this is my one and only daughter," My dad proudly said. He spoke as if he were proud I was his daughter, and although I knew he loved me I knew it was part of that fake facade my mother put on.

"You've made quite the impact on our kids," Lainie told me, a beautiful smile covering her face.

I side-glanced Paige, seeing her stare at the scene in shock. I don't know whether it was about both Carter and Logan talking to their parents about me, or if it was about the fact that she knew I lied about the car being left at the house. Either way, she was shocked and she wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it.

"Should we head to the bar and get some drinks while the kids mingle?" Cyrus then asked the adults.

"Well, I don't know if we should--"

"Of course we can, let's go, Viv." My father cut my mother off, wrapping an arm around her waist to drag her way.

She sent me one last look to let me know that she was still making sure I was on my best behavior, and I just took my eyes away and looked to the ground.

"Okay, what?!" Paige asked almost immediately, causing my eyes to snap to her. "What was that?"

"There was a day that I left my shoes in Logan's car and he brought them back," I admitted. "He was in my room because Jason sent him up, and so he was in my room when my mom got home so I kinda lied."

"You lied to your mother? Oh my god!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, Mom asked me about it." Jason then brought up, "You're lucky I didn't want you to experience her wrath. I said nobody was home."

"You did?" I asked in surprise, crossing my arms.

"Yeah, you think I didn't know he was still there? Why do you think Mom took me to see a movie and go out to eat?" He asked, raising his brows.

"Where are your glasses?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Where are yours?" He asked in return, causing me to roll my eyes.

"They're reading glasses," I said.

"That you don't wear when you should." Paige chimed in.

"Okay, first of all--" I stopped. "This isn't about me."

"It is when you're suddenly lying to your parents," Paige said.

"It was one lie," I said.

"Sis is livin' on the dark side without realizing it," Jason joked, high-fiving Paige.

"Okay, no I'm not." I shook my head in denial, "It was a lie so I didn't get beat for having a boy in my room when no parents were home."

"Don't worry, you say that now but soon you'll be lying every day--"

"Okay! I'm going to go find some air." I cut Paige off, holding my hands out in defense. "And officially leaving this conversation."

My eyes flittered to Logan for a split second before I turned, leaving the three of them there. I was able to successfully get away, and out of my mom's sight. I know Paige will say something if she catches onto the fact that I'm no longer with them, so I wasn't too worried about that. Plus, Paige is really good at lying, especially when it comes to lying to adults.

I roamed the building mindlessly, not really caring about where I was going. I didn't even pay attention to how I got to where I was going, I'm sure Paige will find me before anything important happens.

Turning a corner, I walked around a group of old people talking about important business stuff I don't really care about. I twirled my ring as I walked, my eyes on my wedges as I avoided people from my peripheral.

I suddenly collided with someone, my nose hitting their chest roughly. I held my nose in pain as I backed away, bumping into something behind me.

"Excuse you, young lady!" An older voice exclaimed, and I turned to see an old man. He looked like he could be old enough to be my grandfather - maybe even my great-grandfather if he had kids early enough, and even had one of those cliche circle glass things covering his eye.

I don't know what they're called.

"Excuse me? Excuse you, old man!" I exclaimed, still pinching my nose from pain.

The man's eyes widened at me, as he stepped forward. Strong arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me out of arm's reach from the old man.

"Who are you? I'll have you know, I'm a very important man and I won't hesitate to tell on you to your parents," The old man threatened.

"She's sorry, Mr. Jenkins. Right, Rory?" The sound of Carter's voice filled my ears, and I felt his breath run down my neck. I froze at the contact, feeling goosebumps run down my body despite the fact that it was extremely hot in the building.

The old man -- Mr. Jenkins, raised his eyebrows at me as he waited for my apology. Remembering my mother was watching me extra carefully tonight, I sighed in defeat as my hands dropped, landing on top of Carter's arms which were wrapped around my torso.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little flustered." I apologized, knowing it was going to do nothing but boost this old man's ego.

He smirked a wrinkly smile, just as I figured. "Don't let it happen again. You keep that girlfriend of yours on a tight leash, Jackson." He told the boy standing behind me before turning away, his attention back on the group he'd previously been talking to before I bumped into him.

"Excuse--" I started to advance after him, but my words and movements were cut off as Carter slapped a hand over my mouth so Mr. Jenkins didn't hear. He pulled me backward, further and further away from the annoying man who thought he was better than everyone else.

It was only when we were away from the people lingering around the hallway that Carter removed his hand, dropping me completely. I turned around to him, caught off guard by how close we were standing to each other.

We were a good two inches apart, and I was able to feel his body heat. I breathed heavily as I rested my hands on his hips. "Who do you think you are?!" I asked angrily, my brows pushed together.

"It's good to see you too, Rory. You look stunning."


++


Old Man Jenkins v. Rory, who's winning?

Dress at the top is Rory's, use your imagination for Paige!

Crazy we're finally already at Chapter 20, what are your thoughts on the story so far? I love to hear from you guys :)

* This chapter is not edited *

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