Lenley
THE PARTY BEGINS WITHa champagne reception. Technically I’m underage, but Mom and I talked about it and we agreed that as long as it’s a private event—like the museum pre-opening was tonight—she doesn’t mind me having a glass of champagne. As long as I don’t embarrass myself or her.
Sarah and Kiara are the only other two underage people in the room and I guess the same rule applies to them.
Kiara however must’ve not gotten the memo about not acting like a total jackass after a couple of drinks, because as soon as we enter the fairly crowded room, all I can hear is her shrill voice.
“All I’m saying is that there was no fucking need to keep Lenley on your lap!” she screeches, trying to keep an annoyed Darrius from walking away by grabbing onto his arm.
“Kiki, you’re making a scene,” he states through gritted teeth, looking around the room for our parents.
“I wouldn’t have to make a scene if you kept your hands off of Lenley’s ass!” She pouts.
Darrius’ eyes flash with fury and it’s impossible to miss the tightness in his jaw and the tension in his shoulders. “Look Kiara, you have a choice. Stop trying to create unnecessary drama or go home right now. You know you have nothing to worry about when it comes to Lenley. Remember that tonight is about me!”
I can’t stifle an eye roll, glad that Mom is out of earshot at the opposite end of the room with Kyle, the Devils’ manager, and the mayor.
“God, how didn’t we notice how annoying our ex-bestie is?” Sarah says, standing by my side and linking an arm through mine.
I shrug. “I don’t know, babe. I’ve always known that I had to be careful with her and couldn’t really tell her everything the way I do with you. You know how sometimes she’d get so judgy about random stuff.”
Sarah agrees. “Yeah, I know. She’s always wanted all the attention on herself but she got a lot worse after you left. Darrius would do everyone a favor if he told her to go home; we all know that she’s only going to get worse the more she drinks.”
I nod. “True. But she isn’t the only one who needs to be slapped on the head. Darrius has been a real pain in the ass all night. He was rude at the museum and he just had a fight with Peyton in the limo. Tonight is about my papà and his legacy and he’s been acting like an entitled, spoiled brat.”
My bestie sighs. “I know you and him have been best friends forever, but I’ve always thought he wasn’t very different from his older sister.” She points with a nod of her head toward the bar, where Anna is practically climbing Jameson like a spider monkey on a tree; he keeps trying to step away from her as they wait for their drinks to be served but she won’t take a hint and she isn’t being subtle about her advances, attracting the attention of all the people at the bar.
Seeing Anna throwing herself at him makes me so mad that I don’t even think about what I’m doing. I march toward the bar, with just one objective in mind; tearing Anna off of Jameson. I know Jameson isn’t my boyfriend, but we have a deal. And he definitely looks like he needs help right now.
“Come on, J. I’ll give you a tour of the house, show you my room,” Anna says, pawing at Jameson.
“Anna, stop. Everyone’s looking at us. I’m not coming to your room, we’re here to party.”
“But we can have our own private party! My bedroom is so nice—” She whisper-yells right into his ear, making him flinch and jerk away from her.
“Hey J.” Peyton and Channing arrive at the same time from the opposite direction, followed by Darrius, Kiara, Niko and Trent, the other two Angels. “We’re all going swimming.”
Anna beams, clapping her hands and obviously excited about the new turn of events. “Yay! Let’s go, J! We can skinny dip!”
“We aren’t going to the beach, sis.” Darrius intervenes, as annoyed as I feel by the sight of his sister making a move on one of his rivals. “This loser here,” he says pointing at Peyton, “says they’re going to kick our asses in every event this year, including freestyle. So I dared them to give us a demonstration by diving into my pool.”
Kiara chimes in. “This party is boring AF anyway. So we’ll leave the ‘oldies’ here and we can all swim after the Devils show us what they can do.”
Jameson nods, relief evident in his handsome features. “Cool. That sounds fun. I’m assuming we can swim in our underwear? I didn’t bring any swimming trunks.”
Niko chuckles. “Sure. Neither did we. Underwear is more than fine. Or are you looking for an excuse to chicken out of it?”
Channing barks out a laugh. “Hell no! We’re just going to show you in how much trouble your team is in this year! Which way is the pool?”
Darrius has a knowing grin on his face as he walks toward the foyer and up the staircase that leads to the second floor. “Follow me, it’s right this way.”
“Is your pool on the roof?” Peyton asks.
“No. We have an infinity pool in our backyard, but since I didn’t like that I always had to go to our HQ wind tunnel to practice my acrobatics, my dad thought about a roof deck from which you can dive right into the pool. It’s over forty feet high, so it gives you some time to practice your figures and positions once you jump. Let’s see what you guys can do. There’s a changing room for everyone to leave their clothes in. Of course the girls can get into the pool from the backyard, I don’t expect them to jump from the third floor.”
I don’t even have a chance to take a step in the opposite direction to the stairs.
“Oh, no. We’ll come and jump from the upper deck too. That sounds so exciting! I’ve been dying to try it since Lenley told me last year!” Kiara gushes, literally jumping with excitement.
Her eyes are fixed on me when she says it, and to anyone who didn’t know her, her glee might look and sound genuine. But I’ve known Kiara since we were first graders and I see right through it.
I’ve seen her doing this a few times, when she liked a guy and she thought she had a rival; I have no idea if she’s excited about jumping from three stories into the pool. She wants to make me look bad in front of Darrius. She knows that one of his favorite dates when he wants to impress a new girl is to take her skydiving and do a tandem jump with her. I’ve told her countless times that Darrius had invited me to go out jumping with him—even though I’ve never been sure if Darrius considered that a date or just a day out with his bestie—and she knows how much I’ve always wanted to go but I couldn’t.
Since my papà died, I’ve been scared of heights. I used to enjoy jumping strapped to him and going diving from stationary objects—even though Papà would choose the safest possible places when he took me out with him.
But since the day he didn’t come back from his last jump, when I was actually waiting for him to go cliff diving together, I’ve been unable to deal with any heights. Just the thought of climbing on a chair causes me to shake with fear, almost to the point of passing out.
I open my mouth to say something, I’m not sure what, since all eyes are on me.
“I—” I hate that she’s getting what she wants, making me look exactly like the boring, unattractive girl Darrius thinks I am.
My hunch is confirmed when Kiara’s expression changes, her features schooled in a sympathetic expression that’s as false as her lashes. “Aww, I’m so sorry, babe. I had totally forgotten that you’re too scared to jump.” She looks at the others, explaining. “Len can’t even jump from the edge of the pool into the water. She’s so scared of heights. Weird for the daughter of the most famous skydiver in the world, huh?”
Panic has me frozen in place. I hate the triumph that’s shining in Kiara’s eyes but I don’t think there’s any way I can actually jump.
“That isn’t the problem. Len isn’t scared of heights anymore.”