26
HARLEY
Harley remembered she hated the cold and even more when the first fall of snow had made its appearance on her way into Thorne.
Snowflakes dusted her coat, all melting as soon as they landed.
None of it stuck, so the ground was wet, icy and slippery in different parts.
Her legs felt robotic like it took everything in her to walk each step into the building but luckily her black boots were sturdy and firm so she managed to not fall face flat.
Her lips felt chapped even though she had applied the vaseline sitting in her pocket only twenty minutes ago.
The focus on her lips were simply a necessary evil to avoid thinking about how she hadn’t seen Scarlett in almost three weeks.
No phone calls. No messages. Radio silence.
Bloss told her not to come into work for some time, at least not until things had settled down.
She wasn’t sure why it bugged her so much, it hadn’t even been two months since they first met.
She was used to not having friends. They never stuck around long enough and back then she didn’t care if they did or not.
But being with and around Scarlett…it was the first time Harley felt hundred percent herself around someone.
She didn’t have to try too hard. The scowling and sullenness wasn’t a deal breaker, she found herself feeling freer than she ever had in her whole life.
She was able to get out of her head and focus on the now.
Harley came to terms with the fact that if she had somehow lost that forever, the friendship, it would hurt.
Scarlett was right, despite all of this she had barely known Harley. She had refused to talk about her life before coming to London. She thought erasing the past would make it easier for her to assimilate, briefly forgetting her past was what made her into what she was today. Asocial and withdrawn.
As she walked into the engineering department, Harley ignored the bustle of students heading in the opposite direction in which she had been walking, not wanting to bother herself with whatever fickle situation they've managed to amuse themselves with.
In the brief months she'd been here, she realised the wealthy were simply bored with their own lives, hence they found idle ways to make their tragic lives interesting.
They were no different from the poor but at least they had the money to do something about it.
Her wired headphones blasted music loudly in her ears, so she jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to address the ghost who had snuck up on her, to see it was Wren and Trinity, the latter carrying a folder of notes as she said, “You’re going the wrong way.”
“No, I’m not.”
“I’m not talking about you skipping class. Albeit, you really should stop doing so.”
Attendance was strict for her course; if it dropped under ninety-five percent per semester, there were consequences. What exactly they were, she didn’t know just yet but she was teetering the edge of finding out.
“There’s an assembly going on, you can’t skip those,” Wren said. This wasn’t true because Harley had not attended a single one, they were like huge pointless seminars that went on for too long. She had better things to do with her time.
“I’ll deal with the consequences.”
“This particular assembly is mandatory for all students and I figured with who the guest was, you would be more willing to attend,” Wren said with a sly smirk. Her knowing eyes twinkled with the same mischief that she always carried with her everywhere.
This stopped Harley in her tracks, “What are you talking about?”
“William Bass is giving a surprise seminar in the great hall.” Harley tried to hide her shock but it was clear as day she had been blindsided by this information.
She wanted to be angry at Annabel for not giving her a heads up on this but she quickly remembered that this was no one’s fault but her own as she had been icing Annabel out in the last couple weeks, every time she tried to talk to Harley she either left the room or held her hands up to stop her.
Yet despite all this, she couldn't help the irritation that flared.
In the time she'd been here she had never been given the courtesy of a visit or communication from her father.
Nothing besides the letter informing her of her parentage and instructing her she was to attend Thorne.
She figured she would be prepared for this.
To finally see him again after so many years and up close compared to the dark shine of the moonlight.
The secret of whom her father was of course still hidden to most, the people here still assumed she was yet another scholarship student wasting their parents hard earned money to grant her an education. And yet by the smile on Wren’s face she had a suspecting feeling she knew more than she should.
“Why would that be of any interest to me?” Harley said in the hopes that she had recovered quickly enough to deflect.
“You're an engineering student, no? The owner of one of the largest tech companies in the world comes to visit and you have no desire to hear him speak.” She scoffed out a laugh before continuing, “Isn’t he your friend’s father? Surely, it'd be appropriate to say hello.”
“She’s not my friend,” Harley sharply retorted before she could stop herself but the damage had been done, Wren’s smirk had transformed into a full blown grin.
“Trouble in paradise already? Don’t worry, you wouldn’t be the first person she’s discarded.
” She doesn’t look at her with any pity but with distaste.
“See you in ten , we wouldn’t want you to miss this exciting morning.
” Those were her parting words as she and Trinity left, holding hands, without saying much else.
After a minute of contemplation she finally headed in the same direction as others, moving uniformly like soldiers going to war.
Harley was the last one to arrive so the doors were already closed, which meant she had the misfortune of opening the ancient creaky wide doors so she could try to sneak inside without too much of a fuss.
Alas, that proved futile. The second she lugged it forward and stepped inside the whole room turned in sync to look her way.
Including the man of the hour standing at the front with a mic in hand and a crisp black suit.
He had paused mid sentence but cleared his throat and carried on talking, no longer looking at her. She was no one, of course. Though it was strange, Harley still felt his eyes on her despite it. It was unnerving.
William Bass looked every bit the powerful man the media made him out to be.
Tall, sharp and handsome. He addressed the room with the same confidence and self assuredness that she'd seen in Annabel when she was public speaking.
Even in his mannerism they were identical; especially in the walk and talk.
The seminar was equal parts motivational speech and Astaeris promotional advertisement.
He ranged from talking about how he built the company from the ground up to showcasing their upcoming product on the projector.
He was giving the illusion of a self made billionaire when everyone knows the Bass family came from a lineage of aristocracy that went farther than one could comprehend.
Admittedly, William did use his passion to create something bigger than he likely thought possible and it wasn’t often that he came out to do something as niche as speak in a school but considering the circumstances it wasn't too much of a surprise.
The command at which he spoke though made you believe his jargon that it even ignited a flicker of hope in Harley. She, like everyone else, was attuned to his every word. Hung on it, even.
“There was a moment over twenty years ago, well before most of you were born,” he said, which earned a scattered chuckle around the room.
He proceeded, “When a person told me, ‘The stars are there for guidance, and as long as you believe, that light will always lead you in the right direction. Making you just as bright.” The saying made Harley freeze in her seat; those were her mother’s words.
She looked at him differently and she saw that he was now looking straight at her.
Like he was speaking to her personally. Naturally, to the rest of the room, they would assume he was referring to Astaeris’ triangular three-star logo.
“I don't need to be the one to tell you you were all born from greatness, but how you use it to your advantage is up to you.
To prove to the world that you're more than the money that made you.”
A round of applause boomed at the end of his speech. People rose to their feet as he started doing that politician wave, shaking hands with the heads of the university and many of the students flocked to him, likely to ask questions.
Harley remained where she sat and she glanced to where Annabel had been sitting alongside her friends to see that she hadn't gotten up.
She itched to close the distance between them, get them both out of their fathers orbit.
She had realised in the last couple months from everything she had learnt, the relationship between Annabel and her father was the root to all her issues.
She was yet to realise it herself mainly because she was still pretending, either to herself or everyone else, there was nothing wrong with her.
Ready to put her pride aside and go to her, red hair flashed in the corner of her eyes grabbing her attention.
Scarlett had been there listening as well, currently exiting the room, and Harley knew this would be her chance to right the wrong.
Her feet were already moving her way, bumping into the other students who had some choice words that she simply ignored.
“Scarlett!” Harley hollered, but her voice must've been drowned out by the chatter of the other students as she didn't turn around. Harley picked up the pace, scurrying past as quickly as she could.