Chapter 10 – Useless Love

I continue to focus my attention on Violet as she walks toward Harvey's date. At this point there is nothing that I can really do aside from trust Violet to be smart with her approach.

I watch as Violet begins conversing with the girl. I just don't get it. Why would anyone want to date Harvey? He's the furthest thing from nice and he's pretty scary looking too. Whatever the case may be, this girl is definitely trouble if she is into such a creeper.

I continue watching Violet talk. She definitely seems to have everything under control. I, on the other hand, am rather useless right now. I have girls doing all the risky work while I watch from the background. Violet is talking to Harvey's girlfriend and London is dealing with Harvey himself. They could both lead to dilemmas I'd rather not even think about. Meanwhile, I am just watching from a distance. Talk about pathetic.

'Maybe it would be best if I check up on London and Harvey.' I think to myself as I see Violet confidently conversing in the distance. Harvey is not the safest person to be around, especially when you are all alone with him. Then again, I'm not quite sure I would be much of a threat on my own if he were doing anything wrong, but I will feel worse in the long run if I do not at least check. Besides, it'll put me to some use as oppose to being useless like I am now.

I make my way to the ballroom entrance and follow the narrow hallway at a very slow pace as to keep myself hidden once I spot Harvey.

After several minutes of walking, I have no luck in finding the two of them. How could they have just disappeared like this? I hope Harvey isn't up to no good again.

I begin to backtrack to the ballroom when I see a closet door ahead of me swing open. I jump behind the big plant that is conveniently next to me to keep myself unnoticed.

I continue to look at the closet door as I find none other than Harvey emerge from it. What was he doing in there? He was certainly not the most innocent person around so I couldn't just pretend I hadn't seen what he was up to.

As soon as Harvey turns the corner, I run as fast I can toward the closet door, which is left open. I look inside and I see London, who seems to be about to exit the closet. I continue observing her facial expression; annoyed as she usually is. At least she doesn't have an upset look so he couldn't have done anything too bad.

"Hey London. How'd it go?" I ask her confidently, pretending I am excited for her whole photography thing and unaware that she was in danger the whole time.

"It went just fine. He took a few pictures of me and then he seemed to think that I wanted him."

"Wait a minute… London… please don't tell me you guess did anything."

"Oh, no. Of course not. He tried to get me undressed, but I got my hands a little dirty and flung him into this closet. I didn't really feel like getting into a whole brawl with the guy so I just paid him to get away from me." London says as she begins walking away.

"Typical London. Paying your way out of a situation."

"You should try it sometime."

"If only it were that easily." I mumble to myself behind a chuckle.

After London exits the scene, I slowly leave the closet. But what should I do now? London can obviously take care of herself and Violet has the talking under control. The only thing I can do for now is head back and see if Violet has obtained all the information we need.

I walk slowly as to not run into Harvey since he is probably ahead of me. Suddenly, it hits me. Harvey is on his way back! He's going back to the ballroom and Violet is there with his girlfriend! He'll spot Violet for sure and I'm scared just thinking about what could happen from there. I begin to run as fast as I possibly can toward the ballroom to the chain of events that my mind has developed.

Within a few minutes, I reach the doors leading to the Tipton Ballroom. I quickly swing them open and begin searching for Violet. I search the dance floor, food tables, and every crevice I could possibly fine. Unfortunately, she is nowhere to be found and, for that matter, neither is Harvey. Maybe he took her somewhere else?

Feelings of frustration begin to flood my head as I realize what a selfish jerk I am. I made everyone risk their own safety and left myself to simply hide in the background. Meanwhile, this whole problem was mine to begin with. What had I done?

Suddenly I see a spark of hope amongst an otherwise hopeless room. In a corner, I see Harvey's girlfriend completely covered in tears. The reason for those tears remains a mystery, but there is a good chance they will uncover a solution to the dilemma I am in.

"Hi there. What's wrong?" I say in a rather sympathetic toned voice as I kneel down to get to her level.

"Who are you?" She says behind all the sniffling and tears.

"I'm Zack."

"ZACK! THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE! My name is Nicole." She says, throwing herself into a hug with me.

"Uhhh how do you know me?"

"Violet was screaming your name a few minutes ago."

"Wait a second... what happened to Violet?"

"'Let's get right to the point. Violet is in trouble. Harvey took her away saying that she did a bad thing by leaving him for you. I tried to stop him, but he pushed me to the ground and warned me to stay away. Then I began to break down in tears."

Wow. This is the kind of girl that is into Harvey? She isn't that bad. She's actually really concerned about Violet and is not even close to Harvey personality-wise. I guess I was way off with how I thought this girl would act.

"Okay, okay. Leave it to me. For now I want you to wait here." I say, trying to rid Nicole of the stress she is under despite how stressful I know this scenario is for the both of us.

Harvey has done it now. First he breaks his girlfriend's heart, and then he tries to hurt mine. I'm not sure what will happen when me and Harvey are face to face, but I know that I have to put myself on the line even if I don't want to. So far, everyone else has been risking themselves to uncover the truth except me, but now it is my turn. Don't worry Violet, I'm coming to save you!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! There should only be five more chapters at most so we are coming close to end!

Please review this chapter so that I can know if you like or dislike the direction this story is headed. ^_^