Chapter 20
“You should be leaving now,” Jessica says, breaking me out of my reverie.
I turn to June. “Summer, are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?”
“Lucy and I will happily stay with her,” Jessica says.
I sigh in relief. “Really? Thank you. Please make sure she has dinner on time.”
They nod simultaneously.
After I administer June’s nightly dose of insulin, I hug her, wishing I could take off all the fancy stuff and just spend the night curled up with my sister. Instead, I find myself heading to the dining hall, my stomach dropping further with every step.
Not everyone is in the hall when I arrive. I count only seven girls, excluding Lara and Valerie. While I don’t know what’s keeping Lara, I’m sure Valerie is glued to her mirror, making sure she looks extra special for the Ashfords.
The first five seats at the table have place sets different from the rest, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they are for the Ashfords.
In preparation for the banquet, we were instructed that no one was to take a seat before the Ashfords did, so everyone is standing, just lingering until they arrive.
I spot Eliza across the room and make my way towards her. But before I take more than three steps forward, I feel a warm hand at my waist, and I
stiffen.
“April.” Peter grins at me, his perfect white teeth almost blinding me.
“Peter,” I greet, forcing a polite smile when all I want to do is wrench his hand off me.
“Come sit next to me,” he declares loud enough for the other girls in the room to turn in our direction.
My eyes widen. “Um, I don’t think-”
Just then, Samuel, Marisol, and Lucas walk in, nod a general greeting to the crowd, and move to take their seats.
Peter also moves and, to my horror, applies pressure on my waist, forcing me to either move with him or cause a scene.
Samuel takes his place at the head of the table, and Marisol follows suit on his right side. Lucas sits at his left. To my horror, Peter leads me right up to them, taking a seat next to his mother.
“What are you doing?” He smirks as he pats the seat next to him. “Sit down.”
Marisol glances at me, her dark blue eyes–identical to Peter’s–piercing through me, and I find myself mutely sliding into the seat, feeling bamboozled.
The rest of the girls take their seats, and just as I note that the seat next to Lucas is empty, Nathan strolls in, Valerle hot on his heels.
Before I can acknowledge once again just how beautiful Nathan is and how dashing he looks in his dark suit, or that next to him, Valerie looks even more gorgeous than I could ever hope to be, Peter lets out an exaggerated gasp, and I turn to him in question.
“My bad!” he says as he stands. “Nathan, I forgot that you were supposed to sit next to Mom.” He turns to me and smirks as my eyes widen.
Then he points to the empty seat across the table from him. “That’s my seat.” He points back to the seat he just vacated. “This is Nathan’s.”
With a wink in my direction that he doesn’t bother hiding, Peter heads to the other side of the table, taking Nathan’s would–be seat just as Valerie also sits next to him.
Nathan pauses, his hand on the seat Peter just stole, looking unsure. A chill runs through me when I realize that the only other seat on the table set for the Ashfords is the one beside me.
14
My heart pounds loudly in tune with every step Nathan takes–towards me.
