Chapter Eight

"I hear footsteps," whispers Arabella.

"Me too," her sister whispers back.

"Hide?" they ask each other wide-eyed.

They wink at each other signaling their retreat into the secret hiding place. They use it whenever their parents were being psycho. This was their safe haven; a place in the house that even their older brother couldn't find. And that was a foreign concept now-a-days when he was trying to hide his stash of porn mags from his sisters and his father.

The passageway was from their bedroom closet. They even bought a lock to prevent anyone from opening the door. What they didn't count on was their father, their very upset father, to be sitting on their newly acquired set of antique furniture (wicker chair, oak table and matching chair set).

"So this is where you two go when you're upset with me?" he asks them, shaking his head sadly.

"How?" Blair shakes her head.

"Your mother used to come in here when I was driving her crazy. Especially when she was pregnant and anything I said was ammunition for being locked out of the house. Then, she used to come in here and sleep on the floor because it was cool." Tristan smiled at the memories of his late wife, which were flooding back. "She used to sing lullabies at the walls, and whisper at how she wanted to paint the room canary yellow and make it your brother's room when he was born. She used to take you girls in here, and you'd quiet right down. It was amazing what your mother could do. And now I feel like I'm failing you."

The girls look at each other, a single tear threatening to fall down their cheek. "No Daddy…" they whisper together, "you haven't failed us…"

Tristan's hands cover his face, and his voice breaks. "I need to teach you responsibility. I won't let you end up like your aunt and I. I simply won't." His voice is of steely resolve now. "No. You will find jobs tomorrow and I'm cutting off your trust funds for now."

"But…"

Tristan stands up, brushes off his jeans, and opens the other door, which leads to Aurora's walk in closet. The girls just stare at him in disbelief. One half couldn't believe that he'd make them get jobs and the other can't believe he actually found where they were hiding.

333

Nathan smiles as he remembers his comeback to Adam.

"You seriously like Avery?"

"Don't you?" Adam asked in all seriousness.

Nathan looks him straight in the eye. "Hell no. I just want to have sex with her."

"You're kind of a pig, you know that, right?" Adam tells him with disgust.

"Has anyone told you you're kind of sensitive?" Nathan smirks. Adam walks away, pissed.

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Nathan just shakes his head as he remembers Avery's mother brushing up against him as she runs away. It brought back memories to his first year of high school. Everyone was nervous, everyone was excited, and everyone was scared. Well, except for him. He was certain he'd be school jock, he'd get all the girls, he'd make B- grades. His friends love him, the teachers love him, and most importantly, the girls love him. He is also pretty certain that a couple boys love him too.

Although Avery is Adam's type—brainiac galore, she seems too pretty for him somehow. She had inherited her mother's dark brown hair and electric blue eyes. But she had her father's nose and her grandmother's chin. She was a weird combination, and although desperately wanted to hurt somebody for the way Rory made his father feel, he couldn't hurt the daughter. It wasn't fair. Not really. It was weird. He never cared for fairness before.

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The next morning both Arabella and Blair sat at their respective computers staring at the blank computer screen before them.

"Do you have any clue what to do?" Blair asks.

"Nope."

"Ask…Nate?"

"Hell no!"

"What do we do?"

The minutes turn into an hour and they remained planted in their seats.

"What are you doing?" Nate asks, as Aurora gets fidgety in his arms.

"Resume."

Nathan's laugh was so loud that it rang throughout the entire top floor of their home. He had to put Aurora down because he lost his breath.

"I didn't think dad would do that to you."

"He said that he didn't want us to end up like him and Aunt Elizabeth."

Nate says sarcastically, "Too late."

333

"Okay, so you're tucked in. What next?"

"Will you sing?"

"What?"

"Daddy sings Abba to me."

Nate looks incredulously at her. "There is nooooo way. Sorry."

"Please…" she looks at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Bella! Blair! Get in here!" Nate yells.