Disclaimer: I don't own The Covenant.

Co-Author: SkyyRyder

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Keep them coming!


Fallen Now is Babylon the Great

Chapter 8: The Masquerade Part II


-Reid's POV-


"Oh my God, Reid you are so funny!" The dirty blonde that had found herself hanging on my arm squealed, a huge, fake grin on her face as she let out a very heinous laugh.

What was her name again?

I mentally searched the back of my mind, looking for her name. Bailey? No. Betty? Definitely no. Does it really matter if I'm just going to fuck her brains out and then leave her?

I shook my head and squirmed as her nails dug into my arm. What the fuck? There's a time and place for hat kind of thing, and this definitely isn't it. Great, she's one of those girls that tries waytoo hard to be sexy and ends up acting like a fucking lunatic. Whatever though, a fuck's a fuck. I'll have whatever her name is in my bed in no time.

I groaned, she's on the girl's swim team. Not that anyone gives a shit about the girl's team. I knowit starts with a B… fuck.

"Mind if I borrow him for a second, Beverly?"

Baby Boy to the rescue! I grinned as my best friend grabbed my by the arm and pulled me away from her and the rest of the swim team, making the save. I could feel those dark blue eyes staring at me. Shit, what the helldid I do now?

"What's up?"

"I just thought you'd like to know that the table of dates that came with the rest of you—" Tyler lifted his chin in the direction where we had once been standing. "—you know, the one that has yourdate at it—" I saw Babylon; she was sitting with her back to me, Sarah and Kate both shooting daggers in my direction. "—are giving you death glares."

"And?" I watched as Caleb and Pogue worked their way over to the table. They both took their respective girlfriends and headed to the dance floor. Suckers.

"And I figured you might want to pay a little more attention to your date maybe?"

I glanced back at the table and saw her turn in her seat, a scowl on her face. Great, she looked pretty pissed off. But maybe if she hadn't been acting like such a bitch since I picked her up, I wouldn't have ditched her.

"Maybe you should go ask her to dance or something," Tyler encouraged, knowing I wasn't the greatest at getting myself out of situations involving scorned women.

I bit my bottom lip. I can't get sidetracked now. Swim girl can wait. I had worked way too fucking hard to get Baby to come here with me. I can't take my eyes off of the prize. Especially not for some lesser challenge. I could have Bail-Beverlyany day of the week.

Grinning I slapped a hand down on my best friend's shoulder and grabbed his attention again. I held up a fist and he knocked knuckles with me. It was our own little way of saying thanks. I headed over to the table where she was sulking.

That's what she looked like, a two-year old sulking in the corner, not getting any attention. I walked up beside her and stuck my hand out.

"Wanna dance?"

I was expecting her to slip her little pale hand into mine, and show me exactly what she was working with. Instead she glared up at me and shook her head.

"C'mon, you've got to dance with me. You're my date..."

"No," she spat out.

I could tell by the look in her eyes that she really wanted to go dance with me. Who wouldn't? I smirked and offered once again.

"I said no, I do not want to dance with you Garwin!"

I licked my lips, amused by this and crossed my arms over my chest. "Really?" I couldn't fight the smirk that was dancing on my lips. It was hard to; it came so natural to me. "Because the last time I checked you were the captain of the dance team, am I correct?"

She shifted her gaze to me for a second, a brow lifted as if giving me my answer. I grinned; that was a damnsexy look for her.

"Well, why don't you show me what you got?"

"Like I said in the car, I'd rather die."

Liar.

I could see it all over her face. She had been jealous at lunch the other day, she did want me to touch her, and she definitelywanted to dance with me. I can read her like a fucking book.

"Are you afraid? I promise dancing with me won't jeopardize your chances at getting into heaven… tonight at least." I teased, smirk never leaving my lips as I challenged her.

I know her type. She would get wound up over a situation like this and she would succumb to everything that was Reid Garwin. Just like that. Just because I am that damn, fucking good.

"What, pray tell, would I possibly be afraid of? I would never do anything with you that would even come closeto jeopardizing my chances in heaven, except maybe murder you." She glared at me once again. I slid coolly into the chair right next to her, letting my knee brush against hers, and I knew it did when her gaze snapped up to meet mine.

"Look—" I let my voice soften, put my hand on top of hers and gave her that 'putting my pride aside' look. The same one that Caleb used on Sarah when he was apologizing for being stupid about something. He was stupid for even dating a girl, in my opinion. He could be drowning in primo pussy. "I know you're putting yourself out there tonight." I cleared my throat. "Y'know… by coming here with me. Because apparently I'm that awful."

Her eyes softened; no longer did they glare at me with a fiery passion. No, they held a soft resilience but still wanted to hear what I had to say. I knew throwing that guilt card at the end would work in my favor.

"Y'know," I muttered, scratched the back of my head. I had to play this off good. I couldn't let her see through this. Oh no. "I've… I've kinda had a thing for you… for awhile now." I licked my lips, praying to God that she would believe this bullshit I was spewing.

She was quiet for a minute and she didn't move her hand away from mine while I tried my best to look damn convincing. I think I'm doing a pretty good job at this. Her eyes grabbed me and the smoky grayish-blue color wasn't as frigid as it normally was.

She looked convinced.

Hell yeah!

"Alright, we can go dance, if you want." She looked down at her lap and then back up at me for a second.

"It's okay, we don't have to dance." I tried to look like I was disappointed and like I felt like the only reason she wanted to dance was because I was practically begging her. And Reid Garwin doesn't beg. "I just thought you'd like to dance, y'know, since you're a dancer and all." I think I've been taking lessons from Tyler on this modest boy shit. Or maybe I just paid too much attention to Stiffler's techniques in American Pie. Smirking to myself, I reached over and brushed a piece of her dark hair out of her eyes. "I just wanted you to have a nice time. I'm just trying to prove I'm not so bad, but it'd be easier if you'd give me a little something."

Babylon looked at me, her lips slightly parted, and she stood up, my hand on top of hers still, before she turned her hand and pulled mine in to her grasp. That was totally unexpected. I gave her a small smile and she lifted her chin to the dance floor.

I played it off, hesitant at first, but got out of the chair and followed her to the dance floor. I twirled her dramatically and she let out a small smile. That was way too fucking easy.

She was like putty in my hands already/

I'm pretty sure my dancing impressed her. I'm not half bad. Me and my boys were forced into ballroom lessons back in elementary and I guess I just never forgot it, so I can dance decently. Yeah, she's impressed.

"You're not a bad dancer Reid," she admitted suddenly, probably enjoyed the fact that I was fully respecting her boundaries despite being given this easy opportunity to cop a feel.

"We all had to learn when we were kids. You remember all those stupid parties and shit, don't you?" I reminded her, knowing she, at one time, used to appear with her mom and dad at the local socialite gatherings; lots of galas and charity balls. But that was a while ago, before her dad left.

"Oh, gosh. Yeah, I remember. I also remember at the Make A Wish benefit, you threw a frog at me." I couldn't help but bark out a laugh at the angry expression on her face.

"Is that why you hate me so much? God Babs, we were like eight. You can't hold that against a man." Her lips were pursed unusually, more like she was trying to fight of a little smile. This dancing thing was a great idea!

"Can we just keep dancing before you ruin it?" she quieted me, and it sounded almost like she was teasing, flirting with me even maybe. But she did her best to hide her face from direct view, looking off to the side as she followed my lead, stepping in sync with me.


I'm actually a little surprised she isn't putting up more of a fight. We're just sitting here at the table with my brother's and the two girls and she's actually having conversations with everyone, getting along with everyone and letting me keep my arm around the back of her chair.

She's cracking, slowly but surely.

God, I can't wait for tomorrow night. The costume I got is going to look so sexy. And she better not put up a fight about it. I'm looking forward to showing her off at Pogue's house; it was the party of the year, after all, excluding the insane end of school bash I throw every year.

I smirked, picturing her in the costume.

Then something terrifying occurred to me, something that could expose this whole plan. She seems to be getting a little too friendly surprisingly with Kate, and more unsurprisingly Sarah. What if Caleb and Pogue told them the only reason I was going after Baby was to sleep with her and win a bet? What if they tell her? They better not have fucking said anything. I'm gonna have to have a little talk with my boys later on.

Out of the corner of my eyes I caught someone waving subtly towards me from the doorway. Abbot. What the hell does he want? I hope he has a nice view of my arm around Babylon from there.

He wants me to go out in the entrance hall of the school with him. He better not start sulking about me on the verge of winning already. I moved my face closer to Babylon's and waited for her to look at me, breaking her previous conversation. "I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be right back," I lied.

"Okay." I got up out of my chair, letting my fingers brush over her shoulders lightly. Goosebumps appeared on the skin I touched and I smirked when her body convulsed slightly with a shiver. I'm too good at this. I almost feel bad. Almost.

I waltzed out the door, my name being called by a few girls as I passed them. I can't help that I'm so good the girls never forget.

Abbot was leaning against a wall casually, trying to look cool. Poor guy, he has a lot of trouble in that department. "Is there a reason you pulled me away from my lovely date?" I asked with a smirk, trying to push his buttons.

"Okay, okay Garwin. I'll admit it. I'm impressed with what you've done with the bitch. Who knew that prude princess could look so hot. I can't believe you already got her to a dance. She's clearly a lot easier than I expected." The sudden twitching, tightening of my muscles was brushed to the back of my mind as I quickly came back at Aaron.

"Or I'm just that damn good," I pushed, hoping for a reaction. Again, a smirk graced my lips when his jaw tightened. Mission accomplished.

"Whatever Garwin. Since you're so good, maybe you want to up the stakes a little?" I scoffed. Whatever. If he wants to up the bet, fine. He'll be the one giving me his money anyway, so I'll bet whatever he wants.

"Bring it Abbot. I'll do it. Whatever it is, I promise you, I can do it."

"Tape it." What?

"What?"

"I want you to get it on tape. We can put it online or something. She'll be on the black list of every Ivy League school she applies to. Not to mention everyone will think she's a slut. You're in this to ruin her, aren't you?" Was he challenging me? That all seems a little… I don't know.

"Yeah dude, but..." I don't know about that. Taping it? I could get arrested for taping us having sex without her knowing and then putting online, couldn't I? I definitely didn't plan on going that extreme with this whole thing. I just wanted to mess with her and get a little something out of it. Prove I could change the little Bible-thumper's mind about abstinence. I didn't want to completely ruin her life, especially after meeting her family and shit. It's just... a little too much.

"What Garwin? Getting soft already? Don't turn into some pussy whipped bitch. I want proof when you deflower the Virgin Mary." I hate how he can rile me up just as easily as I can piss Babylon off.

"Fine," I snapped, letting him know I'm not fucking soft and I don't give a shit. There's no way I'm going to look like a chump in front of Abbot. We shook on it, both squeezing each other's hands a little tighter than necessary. Lucky my gloves are on so I won't catch any of Snider's diseases from the contact.e'He wants me to go out there. If