WESTCHESTER SPORTS COMPLEX
PARKING LOT
11:59 AM
JULY 4, 2013
"Dylan!" Lloyd exclaimed as he coasted the car to a smooth stop in front of the youngest Marvil.
In response, Dylan coughed out a batch of fresh tears as she climbed into the sleek black limo. Then she slowly began to speak. "I-I have to get away from here, Lloyd," she breathed.
"I'm going as fast as I can. I just have to make a U-Turn here. Dylan, what happened?"
"No, Lloyd," she insisted. "I have to get away from here."
"What do you-" He exhaled quickly, as though the wind had been forced out of him by her sentence. "You're not leaving, are you Dylan?"
"I'm sorry." She hid her eyes with her arm, but she couldn't stop the salty drops of water from leaking out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She loved Lloyd like the father she'd never really had. He was her paternal figure, and she'd trusted him with everything she couldn't tell her mother. She could joke with him, play road games with him, and he wasn't as protective as Isaac was with Massie. He was everything to her. Merri-Lee had purposely left him in Westchester for Dylan, knowing what he was to her. Plus, there was no way to bring him to California, unless she had him drive cross-country. It was a win-win for everyone.
"Oh, Dylan." He reached back cautiously, careful to keep his eyes on the road, and rubbed her back. He was the only male she'd ever let touch her that way. Except for Kemp. No. Kemp was off-limits. She would never, ever let that bastard cross her mind again.
She let out a small, shuddering sigh, and her core shook. She leaned her head against the cool, frosted glass of the windows and watched the world pass by, letting her eyes travel along the metal rail on the side of the highway, even though it made her nauseaus. She watched as they followed the gravel path down the block, not stopping at the Marvil Manor. "Where are we going, Lloyd?"
"We're stopping." He pulled the car into a secluded area, sheltered by trees. Lawfully, it was part of the Crane property. They had a son named Landon, who was a year older than her, and a daughter named Allison, who was possibly in kindergarten, but might still be in her last year of nursery school. Allison liked to play on the edge of the woods, and most of the neighborhood was in agreement that Landon brought his cronies there to officiate his drug deals. Ryan and Jaime shared an opinion that Merri-Lee should expose him on the show, but her mother kept saying that that was not what The Daily Grind was for. Dylan hadn't put her two pennies in. It was nice seeing her family fight when it didn't include her, which was rare.
"Why? This is the Crane's."
"Doesn't matter. I need to talk to you." He opened the door and came around the car, then slid onto the seat next to her. "What's up?"
She giggled. Her driver had that effect. "A girl I thought was one of my closest friends betrayed me, my boyfriend left me for her, and I don't have anyone to side with me."
"Why not?"
"Massie's in England, and she's going awn and awn about this "ah-dorable" Carson boy, and I doubt she wants to be bothered by my petty problems."
"Don't you always say she's your Alpha?"
"Well, yeah."
"Then if she wants the privilege of leading, she has responsibilities to take care of her friends. Try talking to her. She might care more than you think. And if she doesn't, she either doesn't know what she's doing, Alpha-ing, or she's a crappy friend."
She actually laughed this time. "Alright. And I really don't want to annoy Leesh. She's got enough awn her plate right now; nawt sleeping cuz of her new brother and sister, and dealing with them. She's really trying to help her parents out."
"That I get." He nodded solemnly. "What about your other friend? Kirsten?"
"Kristen," she corrected him, much as Alicia had corrected Massie when she'd first met her. "She's the one who backstabbed me."
"Oh. Okay. Isn't there another?"
"Yeah. Kuh-laire. She's in Orlando with her other best friends, who don't really like us that much. I don't want to intrude."
"That makes sense. I'd suggest talking to the Block girl first."
"Okay. Thanks, Lloyd. I'll try her tonight, but if she doesn't do something fast, I don't know how much longer I can survive in Westchester. Everyone's gonna know by tonight that Kemp broke up with me for Kristen. I don't think I can handle that."
"Keep your head up, girl," he encouraged. "I'm rootin' for ya."
"Thanks, Lloyd," she repeated. "You're a guh-reat driver. And a guh-reat person. You rock."
"I know." He grinned, showing off sparkling white teeth. "You too."
"I know." She smirk-grinned back.
WESTCHESTER SPORTS COMPLEX
MINI-GOLF COURSE
12:10 PM
JULY 4, 2013
They were at the beginning of the course, getting ready to start over.
"No fair!" Kristen teased. "You know the course. You have an advantage!"
"You're sporty girl."
"So?" She liked this flirting thing. It felt effortless, more like they were friends than in a relationship. It came naturally.
He swooped his arm toward the first putting green. "Would you like to go before me, m'lady?"
"Why nawt?" she said grandly, walking up to him and positioning her (Dylan's) club. She was ready to take a whack at the neon green ball, but then she drooped.
"What's wrong, Kristen?" Kemp asked, smoothing back his gelled, jet-black hair.
"I feel bad for Dylan," she admitted quietly. "I mean, I did tell her she could date you."
He looked confused. "But I never wanted her anyway. I would have found some way to get to you eventually."
She smiled. "Really?" She stood up straight again.
He patted her on the shoulder. "Definitely."
COUSIN CHRISTELLE'S HOUSE
FRONT PORCH
8:01 PM
JULY 4, 2013
"What about the holiday?" Massie whispered, holding her mother's hand back from ringing the doorbell.
"They're not American. They take that seriously. Don't say anything about it at all," William instructed, knocking on the door himself. "And if you can't say it in French, don't say it. Okay?"
"Got it, Dad." She pushed a lock of brunette hair off her soft cheek and waited patiently for someone to let them in. Eventually the lock clicked and a face appeared. Cousin Christelle.
"C'est tellement agréable de vous voir!" Cousin Christelle leaned in and planted two kisses on Kendra, one on both the woman's lightly tanned cheeks.
"Vous aussi!" Kendra smiled back, her diamond earrings flashing, and also pecked Christelle's cheeks. She waved a hand at the two people accompanying her. "C'est mon mari, William, et ma fille, Massie."
Massie threw on a beam as Kendra introduced her, and dipped her head slightly before making eye contact with Christelle.
"Je n'ai pas vu des photos de vous pendant deux ans! Vous avez obtenu plus grand." Christelle grinned, flashing her teeth, so Massie figured it was a compliment.
"Merci."
"No French?" asked Christelle, in perfect English, with only a slight trace of an accent.
"Not really." Massie chanced a look at her father, who shrugged.
"I didn't know she spoke English," he told her.
"I was an exchange student for two years, after you last saw me." She directed her explanation at William. "And what I said, Massie, was that you've really grown up."
"You never met me."
"I saw pictures. And I've FaceTimed your mother."
"In French," she pointed out stubbornly.
Christelle grabbed her arm. "Come meet everyone!" she cried, her flaxen hair swinging behind her.
Massie's pocket vibrated, and she twisted out of her cousin's grip. She held up a finger. "Hold awn. Go ahead. I'll catch up."
Christelle nodded and led her parents off. She reached into the back of her jeans and pulled out her phone. Someone was requesting an Oovoo chat. She accepted. A huge face with a few faint pimples scatted around the round, pert nose, looked at her.
"Dylan?"
"Yeah, it's me. You won't believe what happened."
"Ehmagawd." Had someone stolen her place as Alpha? Was it Alicia? Ooh, that girl was so dea-
"It's nawt Alicia. And nobody's threatening your Alpha spot. Chill. This has to do with me, nawt you."
"Got it." She flicked herself on the fleshy underside of her arm for making assumptions when Dylan clearly didn't need them. "What's wrong?"
"Kristen stole Kemp."
"Whoa. What? Our Kristen stole your Kemp? She wasn't abducted by aliens or anything, was she?"
"Massie!" she heard a shriek from behind her. "What are you do-"
"Coming!" she hollered back. "Two minutes!"
"No, now!"
"Hold awn!" she bellowed. "Hurry, Dyl."
"You know how I told her a thousand times that if she ever felt uncomfortable, you know, cuz she liked Kemp, that she could-"
"Kristen liked Kemp?"
"Yeah. You didn't know that?"
Massie shook her head. She hated being out of the loop. "Now I do."
"So anyway, I told her if she ever felt uncomfortable, she could just tell me, and I'd break it awf with Kemp. But she just ambushed us when we went mini-golfing. And she said some really, really mean things to me, right in front of Kemp. And then Kemp just declared, right then and there, that was in love with her. I mean, what the actual fuck?"
Massie whistled under her breath.
"So I'm leaving." Dylan didn't tell the brunette that she considering her choices. It was better to make it sound urgent.
"You're really going? To Cali?"
She shrugged, trying to invoke some sadness into the gesture. "I guess so."
"I'll miss you, Dyl, truly." She sighed. "You'll have to FaceTime me awl the ti-"
"Massie Block!"
"Oh Gawd, Dyl, I need to go. At least stay until the end of the summer so I can say good-bye."
"I can't. They'll have to get me enrolled in school there for seventh grade and awl sorts of stuff. I'll have to go now if I don't want to be the new kid for the rest of my life."
"You're Merri-Lee Marvil's daughter. You'll never be "the new kid." She scoffed.
"Massie!"
She heard footsteps. "Gotta go." She pressed Hang Up with her manicured index finger and turned to face a steaming mad Kendra Block.
ORLANDO
HILTON HOTEL
3:13 PM
JULY 4, 2013
"This afternoon, there's a nice group tour along the shore, and it's also the last day of the Climb Like a Monkey park before it closes for repairs. And tonight, there's a huge fireworks demonstration by the beach." Jay was reading off a glossy pamphlet, scratching his balding head.
"Climb Like A Monkey!" Claire's little brother screamed, running around the room and hitting himself under the armpits and on the chest. "Climb Like A Monkey!"
"I don't know, Todd," Judi fretted. "The last day right before it's closed for repairs. That doesn't sound very safe."
"I don't think so either," said Claire, finger-combing her blonde tresses. "The walk sounds nice." She could just stroll along with her iPod, listening to her favorite music combined with the water lapping against the sand. It had been her favorite thing to do with Sarah when she was younger.
"I agree." Judi rested a hand on the Epsilon's shoulder. Claire shrugged it off and shot her mother a dirty look. Judi looked sad.
"I'm not in the mood for a walk," Jay said. "I think a few hours of getting some energy out is just what this family needs. And they wouldn't keep the park open if it was going to fall apart at the seams if someone put weight on it. It's probably just yearly maintenance checks anyway."
"If you say so," Judi sang doubtfully. "But you're paying our medical bills." She winked at her husband.
"If you say so!" he echoed back at her, smoothing a loose red tendril back into her sloppy bun.
"Can we go now?" Todd begged.
"Sure, bud." Jay hoisted himself off the bed.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Claire excused herself. She ducked inside and leaned against the shiny white sink. What was wrong with her? Why was she so upset all the time? Was it before the thing happened with Sari, or after? No, she'd felt like this before. It was ever since starting OCD. But she had true friends now, and she had Layne, and in seventh grade, she was excited to join Photography Club. So what was going on? She sighed, telling herself she'd think about it later, when she was supposed to be sleeping. She opened the wooden door and tried to put some fun into her voice. "Let's go!"
RIVERA MANSION
ALICIA'S ROOM
3:27 PM
JULY 4, 2013
"Okay," Alicia whispered to herself. Whether or not she was the alternate captain, she could still perform the best routine there. Then everyone would know she was made to be the leader of the squad. "And five, six, five six seven eight."
She would so kick ass tomorrow.
WANG HOUSE
HALLWAY
3:30 PM
JULY 4, 2O13
Dylan crept down the hallway that led to Vera's bedroom. The designer also had her own wing of the house, but not for show. She kept live-in assistants, whose job it was to keep up with any people who somehow found her private phone number, and to sort spam from actual e-mail. It was tiresome, boring work, but Vera paid them a high salary and gave them lots of days off. And she really had no trouble keeping workers; she was a nice lady, without a nasty bone in her body.
Dylan knocked. The door was cracked open immediately.
"Dylan? Goodness, I thought you were going to be Marla!"
That was when the Gamma noticed what her godmother was wearing: a silky black push-up bra with matching wispy boy shorts, revealing much more than a 64-year-old woman should. Her hair was pulled into a tight-loose bun, and she had on piles of makeup. Clustered behind her were four younger women attired in more or less the same thing, but a little more risque. One was African American, and she was sporting an eye-catching red set. Another was an All-American type, blonde with green eyes, tan skin, and a serious six-pack. She had on something that was so see-through she might as well not be wearing it. The other two she couldn't really see, but she had a hunch their outfits were along the same lines.
"What's going awn here?"
"Marla's coming for a photo shoot for my line, Simply Vera Wang," Vera explained.
"You're going to be in it?"
"Well, no. But I figured it would help me get into the spirit of things." She smiled. "Anyway, what is it you need, sweetie?"
"Well, I had something to tell you. But it can wait until dinner."
"Oh, honey, I think I might be working straight through. But I'll try to get out for a few minutes, okay?"
"Puh-lease don't turn into Mom," Dylan pleaded, tears dotting her eyes.
"What was that?" Vera bent down so as to be at eye level with the redhead.
"Nuh-thing," she murmured. "Puh-lease try to make a few minutes, k?"
"Of course," Vera assured her warmly. "Oh, Marla, come in!"
Dylan jumped to the side as a tall woman with striking blue eyes and graying hair bustled past her, gripping a folder in one hand and her phone in the other. "Excuse you."
Marla pushed through the door, closing it behind her, not appearing as though she had noticed Dylan was even there.
But she should be used to it. That was pretty much how she'd been feeling lately.