Chapter 57

For the next two weeks, Noah and I worked diligently on the journals. Either that or I tutored him and Chris until late in the evening.

Both of them were terrible at math.

Both of them had the attention span of a fruit fly. I wanted to knock their heads together at times.

I was sure Noah and Chris talked about our findings. Noah told me they didn't, but sometimes Chris would mention something, and Noah would shoot him a look that would cause him to zip up immediately.

On Wednesday evening, I tutored them until midnight since they had a math test that Friday that covered several lessons they struggled with.

It was nice to feel competent in math again.

Math, for me, was becoming my least favorite subject.

Robbie was impossible. He went from ignoring me during math class and it being as if he didn't exist in the same classroom to purposefully cutting me off every time I went up to work out a problem.

At one point, I almost hurled the dry erase marker at his head.

"The answer is two," he would say before I had a chance to work it out.

I felt my fists clench.

"Fantastic, Mr. Bennett," the professor would say. Then give me a disappointed look. I sometimes drew mini Robbies falling off cliffs in my notes.

Justin found them hilarious. 

When Chris left, Noah took out the P.I.'s phone.

My eyes widened, "You got it back!"

"Yeah, it took longer than they expected. He had the phone jailbroken and encrypted. I guess he wasn't as amateur as I thought."

"So?"

"There are like 70 gigs of information here to sort through. It will take a while, but I managed to get what I believe is his name. Darrien Arosky. He's listed as living in Detroit. I don't think he ever updated his address. Or he was just here for your assignment."

"If he's still on our case, he has to be here. That's a long trip to make back and forth."

"Yeah. I'm getting my guy to look into it."

"So we wait."

"So we wait," he repeated. "Come on, let's go to sleep. I feel like I'm barely functioning these days."

I had been staying over at Noah's pretty often. His mom did not mind at all. She was so happy his grades were at a B average. She even set up a guest room for me. I had uniforms in the closet, extra P.J.s. My dad was not aware of me sleeping over so much; I was afraid he would find out, but Noah's house was so close to the school, and it was so convenient, I found myself making dinner, staging my room, and then climbing out my window more often than I wanted to admit.

——

The following day we overslept. We were thirty minutes late when we arrived.

Noah slipped around the front of the school to find parking.

"Geez, these fucking parents are even more entitled than their kids," he said, getting upset at a Rolls Royce that was taking up two parking spots at the entrance.

"I wonder who that is?" He muttered as he parked across the street.

We didn't have to wait much to find out. As we took off our helmets and he grabbed my bag, I saw Robbie's grandmother step out of the car.

I grabbed Noah's hand and pulled him back.

"What?"

"Shh."

"Who is that?" He asked.

Right behind her came out Robbie. I guess he was back. He looked annoyed. Well, more annoyed than usual. He had on a crisp white trinity button-up and held his jacket on his arm. Right after him, Viviana stepped out, followed by what I assumed was her mother.

"Seriously?" Noah asked, "Lia, who cares? Let's just go."

"I can't," I said; my feet had suddenly become cement blocks.

Then I saw it. Viviana's hand around his waist on her finger was the ring I saw in the room. The ornate one. I couldn't breathe. She slid down her hand to hold to lace her fingers with his. I felt so sick, and I could hear my heart was pounding so hard in my ears.

This isn't real. This isn't real.

I saw Robbie reach into his pocket and pull out his phone. His grandmother walked ahead with Viviana's mother and disappeared into the open front entrance of the school.

I saw Viviana mess with his tie as he spoke on the phone. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the tie. It seemed as if she just wanted a reason to touch him. I wanted to rip her hands off him. I could feel my nails dig into the palms of my hand.

Robbie finished the call and put his phone in his pocket, smiled down at her, and placed a kiss on her mouth.

I could hear a ringing in my ears.

"Lia?" Noah asked, snapping me from my fugue state.

I pulled him into the shop we were in front of. It was a copy shop, and the guy looked at us strangely before going back to his book.

"I can't," I said, shaking my head.

"You can't what?"

"Go in there."

"You're already late," He said.

"I can't," I repeated.

"Well, what do you want to do? Lia, I have parole; whether I want to or not, I have to go to school."

"Okay, you go. I'll stay here," I said, laughing nervously.

"Cecilia, look at me."

I widen my eyes at how serious he was, "You used my whole name."

"Fuck him, fuck his family. You are way too good for them. Put on your big girl pants and walk to school."

"No. Did you see that, Noah? Tell me I imagined that."

"Did I see what? Bruno making out with that girl. Yeah."

"The ring."

"The ring?"

"On her finger."

He shook his head, confused, "No. I mean, I wasn't really looking."

I shook my head, "I can't." I felt as if I were malfunctioning. Noah looked at me as if I had an error message on my forehead.

"Lia, who cares, fuck that dick. We have to go to class; you're going to fuck up your scholarship."

I nodded, "I know. I will go. But first, can they disappear into the school? You know, give them a head start?" I bargained.

"Lia, I will throw you over my shoulder and take you in, kicking in screaming if you do not step out of this copy shop in the next five seconds.

"But—"

"Four, three —"

"Noah," I whined.

"Maybe this is good. Maybe the old witch should see you and get the point that you two are over and leave you alone. Call her Cronies off."

I felt my lungs constrict and my stomach heave.

"Come on," He said, grabbing my elbow.

I shook my head.

"Two and a half, two—"

"Fine," I huffed and stomped out.

—

We walked into the school entranced, and I prayed that we wouldn't bump into him. Like every prayer I recently sent up there, it went unanswered.

"Cecilia," I heard someone say as we rounded a corner.

I stopped in my tracks.

"We can just ignore it," Noah said, "pretend we didn't hear it. I do it all the time."

"Cecilia?" I heard again, louder this time. I recognized the dean's voice.

I sighed and turned around.

The dean stood there along with Robbie, the girl, her mother, and Robbie's grandmother. They look like they belonged on the cover of some gothic novel. Dark colors. Arrogant expressions.

I felt Noah's hand grab mine and squeeze it.

"Come on," he said softly.

"Everyone, this is Cecilia," the dean said.

"She is our top student and on a scholarship at that," the dean said, sounding like a proud parent, as we walked toward them.

"Cecilia, this is Mrs. Bennett, her close family friend Ms. Silva and her daughter, Vivi. They want to donate funds to the school to help students like you."

I stood there, not knowing what to say.

The dean gave me a look urging me to say something, a greeting, an introduction, anything.

"Cecilia?" She said again, her eyes silently pleading with me.

I took a deep breath and plastered a fake smile.

"Hi, nice to meet you," I said, sticking my hand out.

"Well, we know who she is," Viviana said, smiling at me; the tone in her voice called the dean stupid in many different ways.

"Oh, you do?" The dean said, surprised.

"Yes, we've met before," I said.

"I haven't met her," Viviana's mother said, grabbing my hand.

"Mamãe ela é prima do Roberto," Viviana explained.

"Ahh, sim?" her mother said.

Robbie and I looked at each other. I saw it for a split second the way his eyes widened.

"Excuse me?" Robbie's grandmother said completely lost with what was going on.

Noah looked at us, not understanding either, but getting enough to know things had suddenly taken a wrong turn.

"I'm Noah Ryans," Noah said, sticking his hand out.

Everyone looked at him as if wondering where he had come from.

The dean suddenly looked embarrassed, "Noah is one of our more...artistic students."

Viviana's eyes widened, "Wait, I know who you are! Your mom was a supermodel. Oh my god, I love her! I made a collage of her once for my room's mood board!" Viviana said, clapping her hands together.

She turned towards her mother and explained, "Mamãe ele é Filho de Poppy Mayford!"

Her mother's smile grew wide.

"Noah, your mom is an icon in Brazil! She was on the cover of Vogue twenty times! That's more than Cindy Crawford!"

Noah gave her a tight smile, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes, well..." The dean said, hoping to steer the conversation away from Noah.

I couldn't stop looking at Robbie; his gaze hadn't moved away from mine either. It was the most we had acknowledged each other in weeks other than two weeks ago when I interrogated his uncle.

"Robert, you must tell Cecilia the good news," his grandmother interjected, putting an end to Viviana gushing over Noah's mother and insisting the two families grab lunch soon.

Robbie's eyes broke away from mine as he looked down at his shoes.

Viviana squealed, "look!" Viviana said, holding her hand up. The ring on her finger caught the light in a way I had never known to be possible.

I felt his grandmother look at me. This was a game to her. I swallowed tightly, trying to control my breathing.

I felt Noah's hand on my waist.

"It's beautiful," I said, giving her a smile.

"I know!" Viviana said and wrapped her arm around Robbie's waist. He kept looking at his shoes.

Coward.

I turned away. I refused to glance Robbie and Viviana's way again.

I would cry if I did.

"Well, we need to get to class," Noah said. "We're already late."

"Right," The dean said as if she noticed the time, "do you two need passes?"

"Nah," Noah said, waving her off, "we're just heading toward Drama. She barely knows whose there."

The dean's eyes widened, and she cast a nervous glance toward Ms. Silva and Robbie's grandmother.

The dean gave Noah an annoyed look, then turned back to me, "well, Cecilia, thank you for stopping by, Ms. Silva was just telling me how we should have a banquet where she could meet all of the scholarship students, so we hope to see you soon."

I nodded and then said bye to everyone as quickly as I could without being impolite.

Noah and I walked down the hallway towards the drama room.

"Are you okay?"

"Peachy."

The hallway was empty, but Noah pulled me into a secluded awning away from any possibility of prying eyes.

"Lia?"

"I'm fine."

"For the record, I don't know a lot about jewelry, but that ring was hideous. So obnoxious."

I lost it. I fell into his chest, a sob coming up my throat.

"I don't get it," he said, smoothing my hair, "I thought you said they weren't real. That seems like a really elaborate move."

"Well," I said, wiping my eyes, "maybe things have changed."

"What did she say to her mom?"

"She thinks we're cousins."

Noah snorted, "that's right. Why did you guys tell her that? I have a feeling she's going to find out pretty quickly you aren't related; his grandmother seems really into the idea of parading you around as the scholarship student and shoving that engagement in your face."

"We didn't tell her anything. She just assumed," I said, pulling away from him and rubbing my nose.

"They're all such psychos," he said, his lip curling.

"Let's just go to class," I said and led the way to the auditorium.

—-

Robbie didn't show up to Drama that day. I was actually relieved. I didn't think I could handle seeing him.

I didn't see him again until I was heading to lunch. There was a broken pipe from a sprinkler in the courtyard.

During winter, they closed the open space and created a sort of greenhouse area where we, the students, could still eat in the gardens and be safe from the cold temperatures.

The students piled up in the hallway that led to the lunch tables waiting to be allowed outside again.

I had been answering a text from Lana and didn't notice I had stopped right behind Robbie. My breath caught in my throat when I saw his tall frame and broad back in front of me. He hadn't noticed me, and I hoped I could make an escape before he did.

"Lia!" A disembodied voice called out from somewhere within the sea of Trinity students.

There goes my escape.

Robbie turned and looked around as if searching for me before realizing I was right under his nose.

We looked at each other, and he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something,

"Lia!" I felt someone grab my arm. I looked away from Robbie, Justin.

"Hey, you weren't in math today," Justin said, pushing his red hair back with his hand.

"I had a busy morning," I explained.

"Yeah, well, I took notes for you," he said, reaching into his bag, "I have office block right after, so I made some copies for you."

"Thanks, Justin."

"No problem, partner. Listen, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to hang out this weekend; there's an event on Friday, and then we always go to the movies on Saturday."

Fuck it.

"Yeah, sounds great."

I turned around to look at Robbie again and noticed he was gone. The hallway had cleared.

"Eat lunch with us, Lia," Justin said, nodding towards the group sitting all the way towards the back of the courtyard.