39. Harlowe
Topher really was a great guy. All three Immortal Nightmare boys blamed him for the relationship going sour. I didn’t have the full story, so I wasn’t casting blame on anyone, but I could tell Meadow trusted him and considered him a good friend.
And it was obvious Topher was fond of her too. She instantly relaxed when she realized Topher was with me. He slung his arm around her in a bear hug, but it was more like a big brother thing.
“Rue isn’t scary at all, she’s into girls, and she also hates Isobel. There’s no reason to be nervous.”
“There’s one,” she said, her hand brushing her eye patch.
“Nah, I happen to know at least two other people told you it’s sexy and they are like, twenty-five percent as pretty as me.”
“Sorry, Harlowe is way hotter than you, Topher.”
“Don’t peer review me and hurt my feelings, Meadow. It’s mean. Let’s go.”
Topher knocked when we got to Rue’s dorm.
This was my first time seeing other dorms. Mine and the Immortal Nightmare boy’s rooms were apparently guest suites.
The regular dorms were about what I expected.
They were bigger than mine when I was in undergrad, but it was the typical white walls, single bed, dresser, and desk.
Rue had decorated, and she had a bit of a dark streak.
There were four ballerinas sitting in front of piles of pointe shoes while Cullen and Leif lounged on the bed. They had box cutters, pliers, and needle and thread next to their pointe shoes.
Rue perked up when she saw me.
“Hey, I invited a friend. Meadow plays the cello and Topher invited himself.”
“Topher crashes pointe shoe night all the time. Welcome, Meadow.”
Meadow peeped over my shoulder and took in the chaos. Rue’s eyes widened, but it wasn’t the eye patch. Meadow was beautiful. Cullen knew Rue better than I did and he currently looked like a cat who ate a canary. He introduced everyone.
“Someone said I should ask you how many pointe shoes you go through in a week,” I said.
“This is about two weeks,” she said, gesturing to her pile.
Holy shit. There were about ten pairs of shoes in that pile. Alexa saw my eyes bugging out my head and started laughing.
“Rue has gorgeous feet. We all want her feet when we see her dancing, but not at pointe shoe night. Her feet go through more shoes than we do.”
“While I have you all here, has anyone had any problems with Isobel since I spoke to you last?” Topher asked.
“Just what you saw in the practice rooms. You know I had my schedule changed so I don’t have any classes with her anymore,” Meadow said.
“Hold up. What? What is her deal with you? We know about Leif and Harlowe.”
Meadow nodded.
“Topher told me about Leif. Since Leif is here, I want to tell you all, but this can’t leave this room.”
Meadow must have decided safety in numbers. She wasn’t wrong. Topher and the Immortal Nightmare boys were kind of untouchable, but the other students could at least provide a witness or put her off if she wanted to try something.
The dancers agreed not to gossip, and I watched Leif get paler and paler as Meadow shared her story.
And I got it. Meadow lost an eye but the boy she had a crush on just disappeared.
If he just left the school and moved states, there was still social media.
The only artists who weren’t on social media were the ones who either had a team doing it for them or were famous enough that they didn’t need it. That wasn’t a teenage musician.
“That’s insane. Why is she here with us?” Cullen asked.
“Her father took care of everything. I was a minor, so I didn’t have a choice. He offered my parents money not to make a stink about it and they accepted. I’m guessing a lot of people were paid to make this go away.”
“And she hasn’t technically done anything similar since,” Topher pointed out.
“She’s an entitled twat and she could hurt some of you.
Or, her daddy got lucky covering things up the first time and has threatened her that he won’t do it a second time.
It would ruin his political career if his child was maiming people, and he covered it up once.
“Which is why we are going to be proactive instead of reactive. We’re doing the buddy system.
She doesn’t have classes with any of you and she can’t get into your dorms. Have someone with you at all times.
That means late night practices. Leif, if you want to work in the ballet studio on choreography, you’re going to have someone else there.
Harlowe and Meadow, no booking practice rooms when it’s deserted unless someone is with you.
Both of you can practice in your dorm room if needed. ”
Which shouldn’t need to happen. Our crafts shouldn’t be affected by taking precautions from one person. Isobel hadn’t done anything since she was a teenager and might not do anything now.
And, wait a minute. Her father went through a lot of trouble to bury what she did. I knew about the sealed record because my best friend vetted everyone in my life, friend or foe. Meadow hadn’t told anyone. I was guessing there was some sort of NDA involved when her parents took the hush money.
“How did you and the Immortal Nightmare boys not only find out she had a sealed record, but the contents? My best friend practically puts serial killer profiles together on anyone who looks at me funny. She found the sealed juvenile record, but didn’t dig any further.
I know why she dug into Isobel, but she’s been here two years.
Why did you decide to just start digging? ”
“So, don’t be mad.”
“Topher, any time a man says that to a woman, they want to hit him in the face with a frying pan.”
“It would be a crime to destroy this face with cooking appliances like it’s a crime we’ll never fuck.”
“Out with it.”
“So, Azriel overheard Isobel making threats. It could have just been stupid venting because it was right after you got here and pointed out someone was out of tune your first day with the orchestra. Then, one of her friends pointed out your video and Leif being obsessed with it before you got here. She does have friends here and none of them were taking her threats seriously. Azriel did, though. He told all of us so we could come up with a plan.”
“Ass munch, you should have told both Leif and me so we could protect ourselves.”
“Harlowe, we did, once we had the full story. Her sealed record could have been because she didn’t like paying for lipstick.
I knew Meadow knew her back then and Isobel has been a menace to her.
I told her Isobel had been overheard making threats and asked if she knew anything.
She filled me in on the whole horrific thing, even though she’d been forced into signing an NDA. ”
“This was when you were kids, right?” Leif asked. “How old were you when you signed it?”
“Is that important right now?” Topher asked. “Harlowe still looks like she wants to find a frying pan.”
“Yeah. My mother is a prosecutor. She fully supported my art, but she made sure I learned a bit about law because I could literally step wrong and end my dance career. Then, I fell in love with choreography, but I still remember. Meadow, did you sign it when you were under eighteen and did your parents co-sign?”
“I was fifteen. My parents are both lawyers and the only way they would agree to the NDA was if I was the only one who signed it. They put the money in a trust for me, but the money and the NDA really fucked up my relationship with them.”
“No, they were looking out for you. Darren Shackleton used to be a lawyer, so he technically should have known having a minor signing an NDA without their parents means as soon as the minor turns eighteen, they can choose to dissolve the NDA and there’s fuck all he can do about it.”
“You could fight back if you wanted to,” Topher said.
She could, but it was a lot of pressure to put on one person. People never reacted how you expected them too. Darren Shackleton’s constituents could go the complete opposite. Instead of forcing him to step down, they could reelect him for protecting his spawn, even if she was a psychopath.
He might not be able to sue her for talking, but he could still have her blackballed.
He had connections and could make a phone call every time she had an audition.
There were plenty of people who would find what he did distasteful, but I read the dossier JaToya sent on him.
He was an ex officio board member for the organization that gave federal funding and grants to arts organizations.
I don’t know if he had the sway to get a group’s funding pulled, but the threat would be enough.
“I’m not doing anything without a plan. I’m in, but do you actually know what you are doing? Isobel might not be all that talented with the violin, but she is cunning.
“I’ve seen numerous therapists and tried hypnosis and I still have no idea what happened that day.
The hospital claims there was nothing in my system when I was admitted, but a lot of money changed hands.
We didn’t go to the same high school, but you could buy whatever you wanted at hers.
Everyone who has tried to get me to remember thinks I can’t because I was unconscious. ”
“So, this is a lot,” Rue said. “Isobel has already hurt her once. You can’t ask her to put herself in the line of fire again unless you’ve got something solid.”
“I didn’t say you should, just that you can.
Right now, we’re redirecting her away from all of you until we figure out if she was just venting or is planning on acting on anything.
Dante was with her when she was ranting.
He enables her when she’s being a bully, but his mother is in criminal law.
He’s stupidly in love with her, but I think he would redirect her if he didn’t outright report her. ”
“So, we all just sit back and let you deal with it?” I asked.
“Yes. She wants fame and an epic romance. We’re about to throw three sexy men at her who can give that to her.”
Three? Oh, I could see why they wouldn’t have Misha in the same room with someone who didn’t know what no meant if the dining hall was too much for him. That also wasn’t my story to tell, and I’d take that secret to the grave.
“Who is going to protect you while you’re protecting us?” Leif asked.
“Well, she can’t do shit to me. Darren only has sway in the States, so he can’t do anything to Orion and Azriel either. The three of us have experience dealing with difficult people and still getting what we want. We can do this.”
Could they do it together since they didn’t get along?
“Meadow, you’re with us,” Rue said. “The dancers are now your bodyguards.”
At least one good thing came from all this. Meadow and Rue had been exchanging looks the whole time she was beating, cutting, and sewing her pile of pointe shoes.