Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Revenge, I Just Love It
Chapter 3: A Good Person
It was a cool Wednesday evening the very next day when Daniel had slipped out of his hotel room again. He was exhausted from the gruelling practice his coach had worked the team through, but after the bargaining, he'd had to do the night before with Emily, just to get a spot beside her on that bench and hopefully another chance to talk to her, it just didn't feel right missing out on the night. So grabbing his jacket, his sketchbook, and a couple of necessary accessories, Daniel casually made his way to that one spot, feeling an unexplainable sense of relief when he saw her dark silhouette on the bench from behind, glad his little plan hadn't pushed her away. "You're here" he murmured with a warm smile on his face.
Slowly turning her attention towards him with guarded eyes, Amanda only shook her head ever so slightly as if she was skeptical of his friendly demeanor or unsettled by the thought of somebody actually wanting to get along with her. "Not for you" she felt the need to state, "I'm here because I like this spot for drawing, and 9 pm is a nice time to come out here…it's when this town finally gets quiet."
And most importantly it kept her away from the house.
About half a year ago, she'd been placed in her sixth foster home, to an apathetic couple who were only in it for the little bit of money they received for her care. Care which wasn't even provided, when it was much simpler to just ignore her. That worked best for her though anyway, she wasn't a weak, trembling, little child anymore, confused by the chaos she'd been thrown into. She was well aware of how the world worked now, alert... stronger and very much capable of looking after her own damn self. Anyway, it was when the husband didn't ignore her when things became bad. For when notice was taken, it was usually when he was intoxicated which was never a good thing with alcoholics prone to aggression.
So she avoided the house as best as she could, she woke up early and went to school... or often times she would skip, for she wasn't so foolish to believe she had a future anyway, not with the name she'd been condemned with. So she'd mostly just spend her days wandering the streets plugged into the cracked iPod she had stolen from a classmate in her last school, or sitting down in the back of the public library sleeping, where no one would bother her, or as Daniel had come to find, sitting down on the bench overlooking the lake; drawing, an action she found the most solace in. Usually, she stayed out until midnight, creeping back into the house when she knew both her foster parents would be asleep.
Ideally, she would have liked having a part-time job, she wouldn't mind the shitty shifts as they'd keep her busy, and at least then she could attain some of her own money... something to keep her afloat when the foster care system could finally rinse themselves of her once she turned 18.
But it was hard getting a part-time job as a teenager in the foster care system, a teenager with no experience and no connections... and it was next to impossible getting a job if you're last name was Clarke, a name that brought about the instant feeling of anger and disgust.
"And you get to see the sun set" Daniel added gazing up at the sky, to see the orange and red hues, blending into the darkening skies. "The views just as nice as it is back home in the Hampton's" he murmured unaware that a millennia ago, or so it felt, she had once seen many Hampton's sunsets as a little girl who had felt happy and secure in the world she thought she knew.
A girl who had lived for the outdoors playing from dusk to dawn on the beach it now pained her to remember. A beach with soft golden sand, which had felt hot against her bare feet, as she had run gaily across it during the hottest part of the day. A beach that had made her giggle and smile with happiness, as she had chased after her adorable little puppy, Sammy, or the boy with the bright, friendly eyes and the curly black hair.
Jack Porter; who she had spent her best summer days with, running around freely, eating ice-cream and building sandcastles with, completely oblivious to the heavy darkness, slowly encroaching in on her picture-perfect life.
How could she have known though? How could she have guessed that her father, her father who had been on that beach with them, her father who had smiled, and laughed, and hugged her with such warmth, could be capable of actions so cold and remorseless?
"I doubt that" she muttered sourly, "I'm sure everything's better in the Hampton's, with your...upscale, glossy lifestyle". It was an uncalled for dig, especially in the spiteful way she'd said it and she knew it, even hated herself for it knowing that he wasn't just a pompous jerk like most of the one-percenters around...but still she was angry, bitter and who else to better take her anger out on, than the privileged son of the people who had thrown such turmoil and hardship into her own life.
Maybe this was a mistake after all, learning his name, had made her want to learn more about him, to comprehend, how such a seemingly kind person could be related to such an evil. But already, he'd stirred up thoughts from her past, thoughts she'd purposely tried separating herself from. Thoughts that turned her into even more of a bitch than usual.
Bristling in anger, Daniel frowned he got this too often, and it was damn frustrating. He understood apologizing for ones wrongful actions...or ones hurtful words but having to apologize for his wealth as though it was something shameful, something he should feel guilty about was just unfair. " Not when there's people like you around passing judgement where it's not due, clumping us all together as if we're all selfish and vain... not all of us are, you know... I'm not." he retorted, expelling out the rest of his frustration in a sigh, as he watched her reaction...waiting for the cutting retort, or icy glare or the inevitably of her simply ignoring him and walking away.
Amanda did none of those things though, instead she surprised him by responding with the simple words, "I can see that", her voice sounding quiet and hushed.
"What?" Daniel asked skeptically.
"That you're actually a good person." she muttered, looking back at him with what seemed like sincerity in her dark brown eyes.
Not knowing what to say, Daniel simply nodded his head, all forgiven as his lips curled up into another warm smile. "You don't seem half bad yourself" he lightly replied.
Amanda only scoffed, she wasn't a good person, she was sure of that... she was bitter, angry and all around messed up to the core. Her only redeeming quality being that she wasn't necessarily a bad person either. "I've been nothing but rude to you".
Daniel merely shrugged, "You're sharing this spot with me now aren't you?"
"Because I had no choice" she countered, though not bitterly, just to make her point.
Pausing, Daniel looked towards her with searching brown eyes, as he steadily asked, "You're not still mad about that are you? Because if it really bothers you then I won't come back here."
Averting her gaze from him, Amanda hesitated ever so slightly, for a part of her wanted to say yes, to push him away, for fear his lightness might dare warm her frozen heart, or for fear that he might actually make her wish she wasn't always so alone. But the other part of her wanted to say no, to share just a little bit of company with him for a few stray days, before returning to her cold, but ultimately safe, unthreatened solitude.
Shaking her head slowly, Amanda pursed her lips together before bravely murmuring, "It's fine I guess..."
"I'm glad" he replied, as he pulled out two cans of coke from his large jacket pocket, handing one to her as he murmured, "Because I come bearing gifts, a peace offering of sorts for sharing this spot with me".
"Thanks" she mumbled uncertainly, watching as he pulled out more treats from his pocket, in the form of small individually wrapped chocolates, which he placed in the gap on the bench between where the two of them were sitting.
Nodding his head to quickly acknowledge her thanks, Daniel picked up a couple chocolates, unwrapping them before popping them contentedly into his mouth. "Like every good child, I like to indulge when my mother's not around to reprimand me for it", he lightly said.
Feigning the smallest of amused smiles, Amanda found her mind orbiting around the idea of that Dark-Haired Callous lady as a mother. A mother who by connotation represented a warm, kind, loving being... someone she could never imagine that woman could ever reflect. So looking at her son with careful, searching eyes, before she could stop herself, she found she had tentatively asked, "What's she like?" wanting to get a perspective on her from someone so unfortunately close to her.
"My mother?...she's well...intense." Daniel replied slowly, trying to settle on the right word, "Back home, they call her the Queen of the Hampton's and she's earned that title. She's very concerned with appearance and airs... and having control over... pretty much everything and everyone, which gets incredibly frustrating as her first-born son. But I guess I can't fault her on it too much, because one of her redeeming qualities, is that she really loves us... her children I mean. I'm pretty sure she'd do anything for us."
"Even give up her fortune"
Daniel shrugged, pausing, "I'd like to hope she could"
"What about your father then?" Amanda asked just as intently, remembering the cold grey eyes of the man who had watched unsympathetically on her very front porch with Victoria, the very night she had gotten ripped away from her father, both literally and figuratively.
Daniel frowned slightly, he and his father always seemed to be at odds. "My father's a very powerful man...and he loves to try exert that and the responsibility of what a Grayson man must be onto myself. A Grayson man this….a Grayson man can't do that...it's so frustrating. He would never understand me writing poetry. My future's pretty well mapped out by him alone. After high school it's a couple years at Harvard Business, then it's straight to the boardroom...I wouldn't be surprised if my dad already has an office picked out for me."
"Hmm, that sounds..." Amanda began to murmur.
"I know how it sounds" Daniel gently cut in, a sad smile flitting across his face, which he tried to shake, as he asked, "What about your parents?", unknowingly darkening the mood.
Shifting her eyes away from him and back to the blank space on her sketchbook, Amanda froze feeling her body tense up as a memory she'd tried to suppress flashed through her mind.
It was from the day she and her father had first moved into the beach house. He was on the porch by the barbecue grilling burgers, and she had run up with a bucketful of soft warm sand from the beach in their very front yard, which she had dumped onto the wooden planked floor.
"So what do you think?" Her father had asked with a big, warm smile on his face. Referring to the lovely property, he'd managed to get his hands on for him and his daughter.
She had smiled back, looking at him with adoring eyes, "I think mum would have loved it" she'd replied sweetly, as he walked over to where she was sitting with the bucket full of sand spread out around her.
"Do you know how much I love you Amanda?" he'd asked earnestly placing his hands steadily on her little shoulders.
"Infinity" she'd uttered knowingly,
"Well infinity" he'd replied, smoothing down the sand in front of him so it was much like a blank canvas which he etched the familiar sign into.
"Times infinity" he fondly added, looking down into his daughter's warm chestnut coloured eyes with infinite love before intertwining another infinity sign into the first one molded into the golden sand.
Her eyes darkening at the memory she just wanted to forget, Amanda bitterly replied, "I never really knew my mother, and my father well... he was a..."
Not being able to say aloud the words which rang so clearly in her own mind, a true devil in disguise. Amanda shook her head angrily, "he was just a horrible person" she muttered under her breath.
"I'm sorry" Daniel murmured tentatively, unsure of how best to respond. It's not as though he hadn't guessed the girl had a troubled life, but the anger in her eyes, the way her whole aura had just darkened when he'd asked made him wonder just how bad.
Amanda simply shrugged, his apology neither comforting nor necessary. "If you don't mind I think I'm just going to draw now" she sighed, hoping he'd catch onto the message that she didn't want to talk any longer... talking exhausted her.
Daniel nodded his head understandingly, watching as she re-opened her sketchbook and began to silently draw, her hand seeming to move almost effortlessly across the page.
Opening up his own journal and reading over his unfinished poem from the night before, he only wished the right words would come to him as easily as the strokes of her pencil seemed to come to her.
Hope you enjoyed Chapter 3, if you did comments are always appreciated =D