I have been going through this Florence + the Machine faze and I thought i would put one of their song into the story somehow. It took awhile but i found a way. I knew I would lol. Im also going through a Ed Sheeran faze along with my best friend. I feel like I converted her into loving him haha! I also noticed mistakes in my chapters like when the charaters are talking so i have to work on that but before the rambbling starts I just wanted to upload a chapter for the 4th of July because I know I will forget to do it tomorrow. Happy 4th everyone and I hope you like the chapter!
Enjoy~
I got to the college a lot faster than if I was just taking my time. It would usually take about half an hour. I got here in less than 10 minutes. I'm kinda surprised that there weren't any cops around to give me a ticket, but I don't mind. I sat in my car for a few minutes, thinking over what I had just done. 'Nice going, Hawthorn. It was so smart to punch him and run. You're turning back into your old self, wild and impulsive. And I thought you were doing so well, but looks like you're digging your own grave all over again.'
A knock on my window shook me out of my thoughts. It's was Zachary, or Zach as he is known as but also, my soon to be wedded-husband. He wore a lop-sided smile on his face and I returned it with a smile of my own. I stepped out my car and gave him a hug. There was nothing romantic going on between us —this being an arranged marriage — and him also having a girlfriend. He wasn't really my type anyway. Zach was a douche-bag but he was the kind that you could tolerate and befriend. He was wearing a pair of washed-out, ripped jeans with a black, silk, long-sleeved shirt and had on suede shoes. We let go of the hug and he gave me a very obvious look over, running his fingers through his black, wavy hair.
"You're wearing that? I know you could have done better. But I guess that your goal is to bore me to sleep well, congrats, you have done just that."
"Have I mentioned how much you get on my nerves?" I said, smiling.
"That's why we're getting married. Remember sweetheart?" he replied, sarcastically.
"Yeah I remember." We started to walk over to the west side of the college, which was completely focused on the performing arts. The east side was focused more on people that were good with their hands. We walk in to find the theater room filled with people. They were using the seats that guests would sit in whenever we would have performances. The stage was huge, ready for any type of performance. It was dressed in a classic red-velvet curtain with a regular black backdrop. The floor was completely black but when some people would do performances, the aisle would light up like little stars illuminating the room. But now, people were practicing singing as best as they could, they were dressed up with designer clothing and their hair done up, very nicely if I may add. Now that I look at my self — with my white tang-top, black jeans and black flats— I did feel a little under-dressed of the occasion. Zach looked back at me, with his lavender eyes, like 'I told you so.'
"Oh shut up." I told him and he started laughing.
"Rose! I found you!" Zach and I looked at each other and looked to see who was calling me. It was Marisol. "There are so — what are you wearing?" she looked at me like I was stupid.
"See? What'd I tell you? You're sticking out like a sore thumb."
"Come on." she said, ignoring Zach, "I have something that will help you look better." Marisol took me wrist and pulled me to wherever we were going. It looked like she got dressed for this event as well. Her light brown hair— the same color as Damen's, was put up into a pony-tail, curling at the ends. She had a white, linen shirt that was long-sleeved and laced around the edges with black dress pants and 2-inch white, peep-toe heels. 'Damn, she looks better than me and she isn't even auditioning.' We ended upstairs in what looked like the costume room for plays.
"What are we doing here? I highly doubt that the judges are going to like seeing me dress up as little red riding-hood."
She rolled her eyes. "I have some things in here that aren't costume related and would probably look great on you." Marisol started to go through multiple boxes that were scattered across the floor. Her face lit up and pulled out a long dress. "Found it! Now hurry up and put this on. I'm the one running the auditions and you have less than half an hour left before you go up on stage." She pushed the dress into my hands and ushered me into a dressing booth. I quickly put the dress on and automatically loved it. It was a light rose color that was sheer and flowing. It started out as a tube-top design and flowed out dramatically while accentuating my curves in all the right places. I have to give it to her; Marisol does a great job when it came to these things.
I came out of the dressing booth and saw the triumphant smile across her face. She already knew that she did a wonderful job. "Marisol…I love it."
"I knew you would. No one can see the flats, so you're okay with shoes now I need to find you something to fill the empty space around your neck." She went back to looking through the boxes and found a simplistic necklace adorned with diamonds, or what looked like diamonds. She placed around my neck and looked at me from head to toe. "Perfect. Your hair already looks nice with your natural waves, so there is nothing to do with that." She looked down at her watch and gasped. "Oh my god! You have ten minutes until you go on stage. Now go!"
I ran back down to the theater and got backstage, where everything was chaos. People were rushing back and forth to make sure lights, speakers, and anything performance related was set and ready. Marisol said that I had ten minutes and it was, without a doubt longer than that. Supposedly something happened with the microphones and it took forty-five minutes to fix it. Fifteen minutes in, I was sitting on the floor, talking to a random contestant about how awesome The Strokes are live. She thought the same thing. We stopped talking when they announced that everything was fixed. We wished each other good luck and she stepped out onto the stage. I noticed I never got her name but she did a wonderful job on singing. I think it was 'Rumor has it' by Adele. Everyone applauded her and she walked off the stage giving me a wink. Now it was my turn. "Our next contestant is, Rosealina Hawthorn singing 'Swimming' by Florence + The Machine!" The violins start to play the opening and I gave it all I got.
Your songs remind me of swimming,
Which I forgot when I started to sink
Drank further away from the shore
And deeper into the drink
I could slowly feel people stopping in their tracks and watch me sing, eyes widening and mouths agape.
Sat on the bottom of the ocean,
A stern and stubborn rock
Your songs remind me of swimming,
But somehow I forgot
I was sinking, but now I'm sunk
I was drinking, and now I'm drunk
Your songs remind me of swimming
But somehow I forgot
My nerves stared to fade away as I continued into the song along with my confidence rising higher and higher…
I tried to remember the chorus I can't remember the verse
That song that sent me swimming
Is now the life jacket that burst
Rotting like a wreck on the ocean floor
Sinking like a siren that can't swim anymore
Your songs remind me of swimming
But I can't swim anymore
and I can see new faces appearing after almost every verse and three new faces that almost catch me off guard…
Pull me out the water, cold and blue
I open my eyes and I see that it's you
So I dive straight back in the ocean
So I dive straight back in the ocean
Take a deep breath, suck the water in my chest
Take a deep breath, suck the water in my chest
And cross my fingers, and hope for the best
Then all of a sudden, I heard a note
It started in my chest and ended in my throat
Then I realized, then I realized, then I realized
Lissa, Christian and Dimitri…
I was swimming, Yes, I was swimming
And now I'm swimming
Yes, I am swimming
I pretend that I didn't see them and continue to sing out my lungs…
Your songs remind me of swimming
Which I forgot when I started to sink
Your songs remind me of swimming
Which I forgot when I started to sink
Oh, your songs remind me of swimming
Which I forgot when I started . . .
Your songs remind me of swimming
Which I forgot when I started . . .to sink.
The song ends and I try to catch my breath as the applaud continues and people stand. I hear people cheering and whistling. I walk off the stage toward Marisol, Zach and Damen who are waiting with bright smiles.
"Like always, my little sister never fails to impress." said Damen holding me in a tight hug.
"Did you expect anything less?" I countered.
"Never did I have a doubt."
"Rose, every year you manage to out-do yourself. I was just wondering if you found some type of singing-steroids." Zach joked.
"I highly doubt that they exist." Marisol interjected.
"Do you always have to think so logically, Mari?"
"Well since I'm the one who has to run this entire thing every year, the answer to that question would be yes!"
"Well stop it." He said, "It's annoying."
"You want to know what else is annoying?" she asked.
"What?"
"You."
"That is not true. I am a very entertai—"
"Both of you, shut up!" Damen shouted. "You guys bicker all the time and never stop. Now that's annoying."
I laughed at the faces Marisol and Zach made, which by the way was almost identical. They argued all most every time they see each other no matter what the topic is. I never understood why and thought it was hilarious and never had any intention of stopping them. "Now that were done with you two, I'm gonna go outside and cool off a bit. There is way too many people in this theater for my liking." I said, removing myself from Damen's hug.
"I'll come with you," said Damen "I guess wearing a long-sleeved linen shirt and long pants wasn't such a good idea." We started to walk away till we heard someone scream.
"Don't leave me with HIM!" my sister had a desperate look glued to her face and pointed straight at Zach. I couldn't help but laugh.
"I'm not that bad." he said defending himself.
"Only you think that! I have to find something to do to get away from you." Marisol quickly ran off to find something to occupy herself.
"Wait! Come back now I don't have anything to do!" he then ran off after my sister.
I looked at Damen and he looked at me like I did something wrong. "What?"
"Nothing. I'm just wondering how the Queen picks out these guys. She wanted you to befriend him…but now what?" I never told him about the marriage but sooner or later I'll have to.
"I don't know but she must have something in mind for the both of us."
"Yeah…" he ended and started to walk off, with me tailing behind him. He led me to the Council Garden. My feet were staring to hurt from all the walking and standing so I took off my shoes when I got onto the grass. The theater room led straight to the garden. The path was lined with cherry blossoms in full bloom. The large grassy area was surrounded by willow trees and the nightshade was scattered all across the land. I noticed that every step I took little flowers would appear. They were colorful and bright. I always wondered why they did that though. Maybe it was because I controlled all 5 elements? Maybe my soul was connected to the earth? I don't know, but all I know is that I can't control it. By time I stopped looking at my feet we had stopped at a little gazebo. It was light blue and white with intricate detailing on the top. It was toward the left of the field surrounded by bushes and the willow trees, making it look like we were at the end of the space. It was around evening time for us so the sun was starting to rise. There was a cool breeze in the air that felt wonderful do to the warm weather on the coast. The smell of nightshade filled my head both sweet and gentle.
Damen walked in and sat down inside. "Come here." I did as he said and sat down beside him.
"What's up?"
"How have you been?" He's trying to get me to tell.
"Fine."
"Stop with the bullshit and tell me how you really are." "
Why does it have to be bullshit? I can't be 'fine'?"
"You can't be fine because I got a call from Christian telling me that you punched your ex in the face and ran off." ]
"He told you that much? I was hoping he was just gonna ask where I was."
"Now that he told me that, you can tell me the rest of what happened." he said
"It's none of your concern." I snapped.
"Come on we used to be so close."
"Yeah, before you 'died'"
He looked at me, the features in his face hardened. "Don't make this about me."
"I'm not but I'm just wondering why did you leave? Why didn't you tell anyone? You could have told me! Like you said we were so close. I just don't get it…" an unexpected flood of emotions filled me slowly. Saddens, anger, and worry.
"We're making this about me but I should tell you anyway." he sighed and started his explanation "I never wanted to be like mom, how she was controlled by the other royals. They told her that she should do this or that would happen or if she didn't do as she was told then someone's life would be on her hands. The royals were horrible and cruel and I was scared. So I wanted to remove my title. When you remove title its some sacred process that no other person should know about. I had to stay away from royal politics, royal cities and most of all the royals themselves, including you. It was torture staying away from all of you. I couldn't tell anyone about removing my title and after I put you though so much and using my illusion powers on you, watching you cry holding me, saying that it was all your fault that this was happening…" he stopped taking a deep breath and continued. "I was drowning in guilt knowing that I did that to you. I never thought how it would affect the other people around me. I was being selfish. If I never did that then all of you would be safe up in some big palace, with me as king."
There was silence. It was comfortable, knowing that he finally opened up after keeping it in for almost seven years. It made us feel closer all over again, like the void or space that was between us had been closed, sown tight so it can't unravel. "That may be true, but no one would want you to force yourself into something that you didn't want. That was so many years ago and you thought you had no other way out. If you never did that then I would have never had Marisol turn me into a dhampir. I would have never meet Lissa, Mason, Eddie — everyone. I would have never experienced an array of emotions that I did when I was with them. I wouldn't have gotten as strong— emotionally and physically as I did when I was there. The thought of protecting the people I cared about would have never crossed my mind."
He put his arm around me and moved his head to the side to flip his hair out of his face. I couldn't help it, but I giggled.
"What?" he said.
"You just did a hair flip. You can be such a hipster sometimes."
"What's wrong with hair flips?"
"Nothing, it just looks strange when you do it." I couldn't keep the goofy smile off my face. It was like we were young all over again, just talking about stupid stuff. I liked it.
"Ok enough about me now tell me why you socked your ex in the face." he demanded.
"Ugh…fine. He was accusing me that I still had feelings for him, when I don't. I'm getting married to Zach anyway so I we couldn't be together if we wanted to."
"Your getting married?" I heard two voices shout.
'Crap, I didn't want to tell him but who else heard that?'
I look up to find Marisol standing in front of the gazebo; hazel eyes widened and mouth agape. I didn't really know what to say so I tried to change the subject a bit.
"What are you doing here?" I yelled.
"I—uh—I came here to look for you!"
"Liar. I could always tell. Lissa sent you here didn't she?"
"Your friends don't know their way around the school campus so she asked me to find you."
"You. Sit. Now." I demanded.
She quickly obeyed me and sat down next to me underneath the gazebo.
"Now what is this about you getting married?" Damen narrowed his eyes and looked at me, expecting an answer.
"I never told you guys?" I asked sweetly.
"No." Marisol snapped.
"Oh… well, because I'm the Queen's heir she wants me to get married, so I guess it's that someone can rule along my side."
"What the fuck? Does she think my little sister can rule the half-blood race on her own?" Damen said, insulted.
"That's what I said!"
"This is bullshit! Sometimes I think Lilyana is just so stupid and likes fucking up people's lives."
"Damen!" Marisol shouted playfully, "you can't say things like that out loud!"
The three of us never liked the Queen. We always thought that she didn't think of the people and that she only thought of herself and her close royal friends — or posers as I like to call them. The more I've been around the Queen and her friends the more I've noticed that they only want to be her friends to get special treatment, never to help her or to do anything remotely friend-like. Meantime, Damen continued on with his with his tirade.
"I don't care! Rose why the hell are you even marring a guy like Zach? You may have known him since you got here but he doesn't seem anywhere near the kingly type! To me, any time I was around him he liked to be a complete and utter ass!" he stood up, fists clenched tight, eyes filled with anger.
"Because once I'm married I'm gonna make him hate me so then we'll divorce and then I'll really become Queen!" I ended my evil plan with an evil laugh.
My sister sighed long and hard. "Rose, really." Marisol touched my arm and looked at me intently.
I sighed myself."Because I want to prove to everyone that I'm different. I'm not going to be like everyone else hiding behind closed curtains and I'm not going to give in to whatever it is that they have in store for me, because I have the final say. I go along with the marriage thing but what it comes down to is that I'm the controller and you're the controlled." They looked at me, shock written all over their faces. I caught myself off guard from what I just said too.
"Wow, Rose. I never thought of it that way and you're really taking responsibility for all of this. I'm so proud of you." my sister pulled me into a hug.
"Good job, Rosie. My little sister just got a little bit older." Damen then came over and joined our hug.
"What is with all the hugs?" I asked, feeling suffocated.
"Shut up and take it." Marisol said and squeezed me harder.
They let go and Damen looked down at his watch. "Uh…Two things, one— shouldn't you be working, Mari?" Damen paused and looked at Marisol. The look on her face told us she forgot. "and two, now that we're all together lets go back inside and take a look at the chaos, shall we?"
We all knew it was going to be hell because Marisol wasn't there but Damen and I wanted to take a look at the mess she made. We all got up and rushed back in to find a clutter of people rushing all over the place trying to doing whatever it was that they need to do. Zach came running to us through the horde of people, looking frazzled with his stark black hair messed up.
"There you are Mari!" he shouted. "Where the hell have you been? Everyone's been asking me all these questions and I don't know how to answer them!" he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard, then abruptly stopped and looked at me. "Oh, and your friends, the pretty blond, the dangerous-looking guy, and your tall Russian, they're all up in the Council Room."
"He's not my Russian but whatever." I murmured to myself but then got into presidential mode "Thanks, we'll go upstairs, and Marisol," I paused and gestured to the theater room. "fix this all before the headmaster finds out. His office maybe on the top floor of the school but it's not sound proof."
"Alright, prez." Marisol ran off to fix the mess.
I then looked at Zach. "I have guests to tend to upstairs and I can't have you here. They have no idea about the marriage and I don't plan on telling them anytime soon, since we don't even have a wedding day. Go hang out with your girlfriend or something."
"Can't, Marianne is studying for her PhD in Psychology and she told me that I'm a distraction, which— by the way— is a complete lie."
"No I think Marianne is right on point. You can be very distacting sometimes, wait, most of the time" Zach glared at me before i continued. "We met before Damen hooked you guys up and she seems to be able to read you like a book." I commented.
"I know and that bothers me a little…" Zach shivered as if he was scared. I laughed.
"Alright I have to go play president upstairs and like I said, leave. Now."
"Ok! Ok! I get going and be lonely." He said, sulking away.
"Yeah, whatever." I waved him off and headed up to the elevator with Damen. "Do you think Lissa figured out that I'm your brother?" he asked.
"It's been so many years I highly doubt that she is going to figure it out just as fast as I did, but I suggest that you tell her when we get upstairs. She maybe all sweet and angelic looking on the outside but she doesn't take any shit."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Don't tell me I didn't warn you." I said as we walked out the elevator, down the hallway and through the glass, double doors into the Council Room.
"Rose! What did you think you were doing?" Lissa was the first to catch me in a hug.
"Yeah about that…" I pushed out of the hug and walked over to Dimitri. "I apologize for punching you in the face; I was out of line and lost control of my temper."
By the looks of it, I had caught him completely off guard. I felt a little smug that there are things that can catch him off guard. He then covered the look of surprise on his face with a small smile and a sincere look.
"Thank you Rose." He nodded curtly and Damen spoke,
"Well I did my good deed for the month by returning her safely, so I shall be going—."
"Damen." My voice was warning. "Nice try, but spill it."
"Now?" he whined.
"Stop acting like a child and tell Lissa."
"Tell me what?" she interrupted.
Damen sighed. "I'm her fiancé."
"What?" Lissa shouted.
"Damen!" I glared at him hard. "Tell her."
"Alright. We're married." Dimitri stopped snickering along with Christian and shock filled the features in his face. "Since when are you married Rose?"
Christian was still laughing but even harder now.
"I'm not! Jesus Christ Damen, tell her or I'll choke it out of you."
"Fine! I'm her brother."
