AN: Sorry for taking so long. I know I said Wednesday night, and this is late twenty four hours, but my computer broke down for the last two days, so I'm reading and replying to the reviews as soon as I get this posted.
Another important note: The rating of the story is officially being changed to "M". Here on out for the rest of the story, it will concern topics inappropriate for teens under sixteen (drugs, drinking, potential sexual activities, etc.) If this is a problem for you, please don't continue reading. You have been warned. Now, enjoy.
Little Red Dress
Jade couldn't help but purr in self-satisfaction as she leaned over the stairway and rest her arms on top of the railings. She watched as the first, early guests started to arrive. Even the disgust at seeing people congratulate the happy couple couldn't put a damper on her mood.
Somewhere along the way, she'd lost sight of her original goal to make the van Burens miserable. It was all because of Sienna, who had to come along and ruined Jade's perfect little world. In fact, if Jade thought about it, she hadn't done much of anything since that lunch incident.
Well, she'd be upping her game soon enough.
She refocused her attention back on what was happening below and the scowl was back on her face. This had to be just about the most unconventional engagement party she'd ever attended. Not only was it hosted by the soon-to-be bride and groom –Jade shuddered internally before effectively blocking that disturbing thought from her mind, banishing it to the back of her brain--, but it was two months before the wedding. It was a serious faux pas, considering tradition indicated that engagement parties were clearly supposed to be held at least six months before the actual wedding.
But no, Mark wanted an engagement party for him and his sweetheart, and he wanted it now. And nobody ever questions him, unless they want to be served with a nasty lawsuit the next day.
Sighing, Jade departed from her lovely view, and walked back into her hotel room. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the good side of having a stupid engagement party at the freaking Beverly Hills Hotel.
Well, for one, Hannah and Mark had had a little lover's spat over this party. Apparently, Hannah had wanted this to be modest and family-only, since everyone knew that if you invited someone to an engagement party, you had to invite them to the wedding, unless you wanted to come off as rude. And having already seen the guest list with the hundreds of names on it, Jade could conclude that it was a good bet to say good-bye to Hannah's dream wedding ceremony. Ever since yesterday morning, Hannah had been upset at Mark. And Mark, who was still angry about Friday's dinner, didn't bother to patch things up anytime soon.
So now, the two were still slightly miffed at each other, which was definitely a bonus for her. If things continued like this, they'd be over before the wedding even started.
And to make things worse—or better for her, actually--Jade had a pretty good idea how her father's engagement party was going to turn out.
She smirked. Her father had rented the first and second floor of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Downstairs was supposed to be music, food, and dancing. The second floor had been delegated to the teenagers to keep underfoot adolescents from interfering and bothering Mark. It was also the place where all the teenage socialites would be roaming around free and unrestrained. Which basically meant that a hundred or so teenagers would be getting high, getting drunk, and getting laid for the next couple of hours.
Bravo. Mark had certainly thought that little aspect out when he had rented this place.
And if that wasn't a surefire way to pick up an evening, Jade had a little something planned for a certain Blake van Buren. After Friday's humiliation, Jade was going to teach him that nobody ever embarrasses Jade. A part of her still growled silently at his blatant dismissal. Another, even bigger part, was ashamed she had even considered to let her guard down, only to have him throw it back in her face.
No matter, Jade thought, viciously stalking over the king bed in the hotel room she and Arielle had claimed as their dressing room. After tonight, I'm going to make it one hundred percent clear that my only interest in him lies in destroying him.
She smirked. Blake van Buren was going to never forget her after this. He may have thought that he was different from the rich boys at Beverly Hills Champion High, but he was a teenage boy after all. And teenage boys are pretty much programmed to dominantly think of one thing only.
This was going to be so much fun.
Jade tilted her head to that she could see herself better in mirror wall in front of her, so as to pump her self confidence even higher to a near unbreakable level.
This action was not missed by Arielle, who was finishing up with some last minute polishing the final touches. She looked at her sister, and felt a sting of jealousy.
While Jade had always been quite pretty in her own vicious way, tonight she was dressed to kill. Ever since this morning, she'd been up and about, running to manicure and pedicure appointments, dress fittings, and hair salons. And the results showed. Jade was now a manicured, coiffed Barbie doll.
But it was the dress that really did it. It was a red, silk thing, more a scrap of material than an actual dress. The straps were wound around her neck and tied in a neat, little bow at the nape of Jade's neck while the plunging neckline stopped a few inches before her stomach hit. And what had previously been a knee-length confection, had now been shortened to hit a good twelve inches above the original length. This new development, not only effectively displayed Jade's mile long legs that had been topped out with Jimmy Choo stilettos, but also gave everyone a nice view of her lace-covered ass when Jade chose to twist and turn a certain way.
In other words, Jade looked like someone out of Vogue, while Arielle still felt hopelessly prudish next to Jade's outfit.
I shouldn't be jealous of my own sister, Arielle reminded herself sternly. I should be happy for her. Arielle cleared her throat, ready to prove to her inner self that she could be nice to her twin. "You look nice, Jade."
Jade glanced up sharply to see Arielle talking to her. Her eyes softened. Arielle and she were on a talking basis for now, and she didn't want to ruin it. "Thanks. You look pretty too," Jade told her, and it was true. Unlike Jade's revealing outfit—she wasn't going to bother denying what a slut she looked like in it--, Arielle's dark blue dress covered all her body parts and was unadorned, retaining a sort of classy feel to it. If Jade hadn't been so into this plan, she might've chosen to wear something similar. "Blue is totally your color," Jade told Arielle in a burst of sisterly bonding.
It seems like flattery really will get you places, after all.
"I'm totally jealous of your outfit, though," Arielle confessed to Jade, a slight flame inside her hoping that this was the first step towards the easier sisterly relationship they'd had a few weeks ago.
"I totally look like some kind of a whore," Jade admitted, walking over and standing next to Arielle in front of the mirror. She gently reached up to pat her side chignon, delicately.
It's for a good cause, Jade told herself. She went over to the jewelry case and fastened a tiffany necklace that dangled down her cleavage line.
"Anyways, guess what I heard?" Arielle asked, choosing to ignore Jade's previous comment. While the normal thing to do was to deny what Jade said, it would go down terribly with Jade, who couldn't tolerate lying in any sort of shape or form.
"What?" Jade closed her eyes in boredom and sat on the lounge chair in the room, kicking her feet up. She didn't even open her eyes to see if her heels were leaving marks behind on the pristine, white leather.
Arielle came and sat at the base of Jade's feet, and pulled one dainty foot up in half-applesauce stance. "I think Blake van Buren is planning something," she told Jade conspiratorially.
Jade's eyes snapped open, and she focused her steely gaze on Arielle. "Planning something? Come on, even if he's dumb, there's no way that he'd do something as stupid as that. There are five hundred people coming; he'd be caught in no time."
Arielle shook her head, eager to prove Jade wrong. "I doubt it. He has a pretty impressive history of masterminding things against authority figures."
Jade sat up a little straighter, as if someone was pulling a string out of the top of her head. "Has he really?" she asked, a strange glint in her eye that reminded Arielle of a hawk spotting its prey.
"Yeah. At the senior graduation ceremony last year, he apparently caught, bought and released a hundred mice into the auditorium full of unsuspecting parents and seniors. They had to finish up the rest of the ceremony outside on the sidewalk." Arielle nodded affirmatively, glad that she and Jade were actually having an interesting conversation together, instead of the bitch talks that had sprang up on them lately.
"Well, I certainly hope he doesn't try that one again. Father would throw a shit fit," Jade smiled to herself, imagining a potential boxing match between Mark and Blake.
"Anything Blake comes up with would probably send Father into a shit fit. Like the time he started a fire in the art building so that the whole school got out of taking finals. I hardly doubt Father would be particularly happy about that idea either. So you see, it's all the same in the end," Arielle told her sister.
"And we're paying to have him at our school?" Jade asked, shaking her head condescendingly. "That kid should be locked up so that he doesn't pollute the sanity of innocent people."
"And I would watch that pretty, little mouth of yours, Jade," a voice said from the doorway, "So far, it's only brought you a whole lot of trouble."
Jade snapped her neck to her nemesis, who was smirking at himself with an air of extreme self-satisfaction.
"What are you doing here?" She hissed, as she look at Blake, who was decked in a black tuxedo.
He ignored her question, choosing to plop down next to Arielle. "Arielle, you look beautiful, as always." He told her, smiling at the faintest flush that permeated her porcelain cheeks. He turned his attention to the brunette laying on her back.
"And Jade." His smirk widened. "You cleaned up rather nicely. Better than I'd expected, anyways."
"And what exactly did you expect?" Jade asked icily while she seethed on the inside. So, to Arielle, he could be charming and say that she was beautiful, but to Jade, all he could manage was that she cleaned up nicely?
Needless to say, she was feeling very insulted.
"What did I expect from you? Librarian dressed in all black, to match your corrupted, little heart. It would seem like I was wrong though," he said, eying her unabashedly for someone who'd just delivered a backhanded compliment to Jade Lewallen.
"Yeah, well, it wouldn't be the first time, and nor would it be the last," Jade replied coolly, eying him right back so that it looked like the two were engaged in a furious staring contest.
It would've been funny to some bystanders, if Jade's hatred wasn't spelled out clear as day. Blake merely looked indifferent to the point where it would seem as if was being cold. Finally, it was Arielle who decided to break the monotonous silence.
"So, Blake, did you need something?" Arielle asked, fidgeting at the silence that had descended upon the three of them. She didn't know what was happening, but the animalistic expressions were starting to scare her.
Blake broke the gaze first. "Actually, yes. I almost forgot what I came here to say. You guys, lay off the desserts tonight, okay?"
"Does this have anything to do with what you're planning tonight?" Arielle twisted to her side to look at him.
"It has everything to do with what I'm planning," He confirmed. "I just got back from exchanging the deserts in the kitchen with a bunch of pot-infused brownies. I'm not sure if it's in the cake, so unless you're looking for something to do, refrain from eating them." He paused for a moment. "Although if Jade wants to get high with her stuffy friends downstairs, I certainly won't be the one jumping in to stop her."
"So you mean—" Arielle quickly intervened before the conversation could develop into a full-blown shouting match.
He nodded. "In just about over an hour, every grown up down there will be getting high off of those sugary treats."
"Won't somebody overdose down there?" Arielle said, with a worried expression on her face. Even though it was brilliant of Blake, she didn't want somebody to die from their little prank.
"Don't worry," Blake swatted his hand like it was nothing. "I didn't put enough in there. Just enough to get them high and happy. It'll be like they're smoking a cigarette."
"Hold it there for a second," Jade interrupted, finally deciding to contribute to the conversation. "Just where did you get all of these pot brownies? You don't seem like the baking type to me." She threw him a nasty look, his earlier comment still fresh in her mind.
Blake turned and looked at her like she was crazy. "And they told me that you were the smartest on in school…" he made a strangled sound in the back of his throat that sounded suspiciously of someone trying hard not to laugh. "Of course I didn't bake them, I paid someone else to bake and deliver."
"So you mean to say," Jade sneered, and fingers twirling the necklace at the base of her throat, "that my dad is basically paying to get high and make a fool of himself at his own engagement party?"
"Not exactly," Blake shrugged. "A reporter paid me to sneak him in. I used that money to get someone to bake the brownies and get a couple kegs of beer. For all of us."
"Unbelievable," Jade muttered, but unable to find anything to say against that. She hated that this was his idea. If it had been anyone else, she'd be congratulating them on their brilliance. It bothered her that his idea actually sounded like it might work, too.
"Don't worry your treacherous, greedy head about it," Blake stood up and ruffled Jade's hair, earning a murderous scowl from her. "Just do as I say, and you'll be fine. Remember to spread the word to the rest of the people. Now, I have to go find my sister, make sure she doesn't do anything stupid…"
His voice trailed off as he walked out of the room, and the door closed behind him.
"Like I said. Mental," Jade announced once he was gone and got up abruptly to walk to the nearest mirror in order to check her hair. She couldn't believe he'd tried to ruin it like that. And that librarian comment was completely uncalled for. Jade hadn't even been that mean to him lately, so she certainly couldn't see what his problem was.
"It's kind of genius if you think about it, though," Arielle said, her turn to lay down on the lounge chair. She stretching her feet out relaxingly, now that Jade was gone and she had the whole thing to herself.
Jade paused at Arielle's comment, and calmly resumed checking her appearance in the mirror. "So, do you like him or something?" Even though her tone was nonchalant, there was an unmistakable slight edge of hostility.
"I don't know him well enough yet," Arielle murmured, knowing that there was no way she could say anything definitive to Jade.
It was true too; she really wasn't sure if she liked him. She certainly thought he was brilliant and charming enough when he wanted. But for her, liking someone was a process. You took it slowly. Arielle didn't believe in love at first sight, because most of the times, it was purely physical attraction. To really know someone, you needed to spend time to delve through their layers, to get to know them. So, did she like Blake van Buren? She wasn't sure, but it would be a good guess to say that there was a distinct possibility of it in the future.
Without even hearing Arielle's inner workings, which would've confirmed her suspicions, Jade's eyes narrowed in the mirror, but she never even turned around to look at her sister. "I knew you were way too smart for that," Jade called behind her shoulder, even though Arielle had distinctly made it a point to not confirm or deny anything. For her, it was just easier to play it off like nothing, and hope that Arielle wouldn't be stupid enough to stand up against her.
"What would you do if you found out that I did like him, though?" Arielle asked in a quiet sort of voice, unwilling to let Jade get away so fast
Now, Jade did look back at Arielle, who was propped up on a roll-shaped pillow. "Since you've already said that you don't, it's kind of pointless to deal with these hypothetical situations."
Arielle angrily glared at the back of Jade's dress, pissed at how easily Jade had worked herself out of that little hole. She was displeased enough that Jade had immediately assumed what she wanted to believe. It nearly made her growl to know that there was really nothing she could do about it. There was just an air of authority and finality that left no room for any questions.
"We should probably go down," Arielle said in the most impolite voice that she could muster. She certainly didn't want to stay up here any longer, where Jade would be able to write up even more chapters of her future life. Sometimes, it seemed as if tiny step forward with Jade resulted in two steps backwards.
Jade nodded. "You go down first. I need to pee," Jade told Arielle, sweeping into the tiled monstrosity of a bathroom, and effectively shutting the door behind her.
She made loud sounds while lowering the toilet seat, and she ran the water from the taps until she heard Arielle gather her things and leave the room. Once she was sure her sister was gone, she came out of the bathroom again, and popped open one of the bureau drawers.
Arielle's phone was nestled snugly inside, and Jade picked it up gingerly. She's stole it earlier in the evening, and hidden it in the drawer, turning it on silent. Once she'd unlocked the code—the birthday of Arielle's Pomeranian dog, Biscuit--, she immediately searched through her sister's contacts, until she found Blake van Buren's number.
She scowled. She still couldn't believe that her father had insisted on getting the three van Buren kids cell phones, saying something about how it would help them "integrate" into society better. Much as she was angry at Mark right now, it still amazed her to see how Mark could be so generous towards them while he barely made an effort to get to know his own daughters. It was almost as if the van Buren kids were the kids he actually wanted.
Jade nearly stomped her feet in frustration. There was no time for self pity tonight. She needed all her concentration, and thinking negative thoughts was only going to bring her down. Refocusing her attention on the task before her, Jade quickly typed out a text message.
Arielle: Blake, meet me after dinner at 9:00 in room 1209. Keep it a secret and don't talk to me until I get there. I need to show you something.
There. It wasn't the best message ever, but it would ensure his presence for sure. Plus, she was on a time constraint. Even she couldn't think that fast.
Satisfied with what she'd written, she hit send before deleting the message from the sent inbox. Jade quietly slid the phone into her Chanel clutch and made her way down the stairs, already ready to be subjected to her father's friends.
Normally, she loved mingling with Beverly Hills' finest. There was a certain level of intelligence they provided that none of her classmates could.
But tonight, as she talked with all the people that had come to support the hated union, all she could think about was how much she wanted for dinner to be over, so that she and all the rest of the teenagers could escape upstairs and do whatever the hell they wanted.
It wasn't long before people started approaching her, asking her if she was so excited to be a bridesmaid at the wedding. She nearly screamed by the time she'd finished her fiftieth recitation of how happy she was to have such a big extension to the family. In fact, she would've liked to give them all the finger, but knowing that there was a reporter in their midst restrained her.
She wasn't looking forward to ending up on the front page tomorrow, with her middle finger blogged all over the news. If they wanted to take her picture for something, she'd prefer it be her face.
"Dear Jade, what a…provocative ensemble you have, dear," the sixty-something year old Mrs. Gorgas was talking to her now, ruining the fragile mental peace Jade had built. She looked Jade up and down disapprovingly while giving Jade one of those, "Back in my day…" lectures, and it was all Jade could do to start praying in public that Blake had somehow managed to poison the wine too.
By the time they had all managed to sit down for dinner, Jade was dying for some entertainment.
"Here," she whispered to her sister when Arielle sat down next to her, and whipped out Arielle's cell phone, handing it to her. "You left your cell phone in the room."
"Thanks," Arielle whispered back, smiling at her sister. Jade felt a pang of guilt go through her. She knew it was wrong to take advantage of Arielle this way, but as she'd learned early on, you were either the dominator or the dominated. And Jade had decided that not only was she going to be the dominator, she was going to be the only one. That way nobody would ever be able to bring her down.
"How in the world did Duke and Blake get seated all the way over there?" Arielle murmured, turning her head to the side so that she was talking in Jade's ear.
Jade looked over to see that Duke and Blake were indeed seated off to the side. Frankly, she wasn't surprised. She'd purposely had Duke relegated to another table so that there wouldn't be any awkwardness for two hours. And as for Blake, her father had probably moved him as far away from Jade as possible, where they would be less likely to plot his downfall over the lobster entrée.
"Duke and I broke up yesterday morning," she broke the news to Arielle quietly, in order to explain her ex-boyfriend's conspicuous absence at their table. Her fingers absentmindedly twiddled with the bisque-colored napkins that matched the table.
Beside her, Arielle's lake blue eyes went wide in surprise. "I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
Jade jerked a bare shoulder up indifferently. "Not much to say. Things weren't the same anymore, so we ended it."
Or rather, she'd ended it. Duke had demanded to know what she'd meant when she told him that there was no spark anymore. She couldn't bear to tell him that she'd kissed an enemy while she'd still been with him, or that she'd enjoyed it. True, she still thought Blake van Buren was a douche bag, but it felt like she'd betrayed Duke when she wanted to kiss Blake instead of him. Jade figured that it was only fair to Duke to end things before she emotionally and mentally cheated on him as well.
Plus, this way, she would have no regrets about what she was about to do tonight.
In fact, Jade thought, sipping her glass of champagne, not only was she not going to look back, but she was going to enjoy it very much.
It was high time to get the night started, anyways.
AN: I'm still sticking by my old deadline of having this completed by Saturday night, but no guarantees. I can only promise that it will be finished before the end of summer. It's nearing completion, so everyone be patient with me for a little longer. Please read and review, as always. Thanks to everybody who has reviewed so far. They have made me so happy.
ThisIsMyPenName101: Thanks so much for reviewing. Somehow, I can't reply to your review, so I thought I'd give a shout out to you here. Thanks so much for your reviews. I think you're the only one that supports Jade and Blake, and I think that possibility's looking more likely now. I also like the friendship between Ryder and Chase, too. I wanted Chase to be different from someone who just falls over herself in excitement every time Ryder looks at her. Plus, it's fun to see how he can't understand why she wouldn't want him. And as for Chase's stalker, there'll be more on him/her by the end of the story. Anyways, thanks again for reviewing. I really appreciate it.
Sincerely,
JT
Thanks again everyone, and please read and review. All comments appreciated.