Twenty-Three #2
“Good evening, as many of you know, the Havenwood Alumni Association hosts an annual gala, a dinner and dancing fundraiser, if you will,” the woman announces.
“This gala raises money for different departments on campus. This year, we are pleased to announce that our committee has planned an event that will bring together our most talented athletes from current teams, as well as past Devils who want to relive their glory days in a spectacular one-night-only celebration. Your coaches and administrators from the Athletic Department have ensured cooperation from all of you.. Emails will be going out to those expected to volunteer, and we encourage all of you here tonight to attend.”
“For those of you who volunteer to be auctioned for our ‘Dine with a Devil’ event, you will get to pick the non-profit that your earnings will be donated to. After all, it’s in the name of charity, and we at Havenwood strive to maintain the relationships we’ve built with our generous donors.
We expect you all to be on your best behavior; the program needs this. We’re all counting on you, gentlemen.”
“Now, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the granddaughter of our generous benefactor, Ms. Payton Pierce. Payton is new to Havenwood, but her grandmother is a proud alumna and one of Havenwood University’s biggest supporters.
She has graciously accepted our invitation to become the Public Relations and Marketing manager for the Athletics Department.
She’s still getting adjusted to Havenwood, so if you see her on campus, make sure to offer your support.
We know that she’s going to be a great addition to our school.
” I couldn’t give less of a shit. I don’t care about this bitch, her rich grandmother, or raising money for charity right now.
There’s only one person I want to support, and I need to get to her.
“Damn, who’s that?” our backup goalie asks from three seats over.
“I think she transferred here last semester. I’ve seen her around,” Monroe answers as he reaches around the back of Jake’s shoulders to shake mine. “You know this one? I think she’s from New York.”
“Don’t care,” I answered without looking up. And I really don’t. She’s not the girl from New York I’m concerned about. Fuck, Alvi hasn’t seen her.
“You sure, because outta all of us handsome devils in this room, she’s looking right at you.” My head snaps up from Alv’s text, and I lock eyes with the same girl who scared off Ed.
“What was her name again?” I ask while narrowing my eyes at her.
“Payton, something. Pierce, Payton Pierce,” goalie junior says. Who the fuck are you, Payton Pierce? What the fuck do you know?
She’s standing beside the President and the student liaison with the fakest smile possible. Her smile looks plastic, and it makes me fucking scowl. She looks rich, like wealthy, like her family’s name is plastered on hospital cancer centers.
She’s all matchy-matchy with her outfit and her whole do-gooder act as she stands up there looking back at me while I study her.
I saw the look in her eyes when she called Ed Valentine.
She looked like she rolled the dice and won big at a casino table.
And right now, she looks like she wants to cash in her chips when she winks at me.
“You look like you’re gonna kill someone, man, whatsup?” Max asks from my right. My hands are in tight fists again, and all I wanna fucking do is gauge that winking eye out with a fucking spoon for making Ed run off. This is all your fucking fault!
I need to speak to her. I just need to catch her in the lobby before she leaves.
“I’m out,” I say out loud, and start to stand when Jake pushes my shoulder back down into my seat. “The fuck, man?”
“Seriously, what's up with you today, man? You’re not acting like yourself,” he says with a concerned look on his face.
“I’ll be alright, don’t worry about me, man.
You wanna focus on someone, keep an eye out for my brother, he needs it more than I do.
” I chin point to my brother, who’s sitting on the other side of Max.
Jake’s too sweet for his own good sometimes, and if he needs a project to focus on, my brother could use the attention.
Someone else can feed and water him tomorrow.
And Jake will. He takes care of all of us in his own way.
He’s gonna make a great fucking captain next season.
“I can fucking hear you, A. I’m right here,” Chase squawks while leaning forward.
“It wasn’t a secret, C,” I chirp back as I stand up, without interruption this time, and make my way outta the row. I need to talk to that fucking girl and find out whatever I can.
I exit the row, and that’s as far as I get before I’m stuck behind some of the HU Football team.
I fist bump Drew when I hear a southern voice break through the room chatter.
“Hey, man, you get my message?” Davis asks.
Um, no? “I got your number from my sister and left a voicemail a few hours back.” Why would he call me?
“I didn’t check. What’s this about?” I ask him as we pass through the doors to the lobby, and I scan the space for that girl. There she is. I clock her over on the right side of the room and start power walking over there.
“Edison –,” I stop as soon as he says her name and turn around so fucking fast, my sneakers scream against the tile floor, and it cuts him off while piercing my eardrum.
“Where is she?” I demand, while my ears bleed from hearing her name.
“I knew earlier when I called your ass,” he says while giving me a pointed look. I didn’t pick up. Damn, why didn’t I fucking pick up? “I thought you’d wanna know I found her collapsed on the sidewalk over by the football houses.” WHAT THE FUCK, EDISON!
“Is she alright? Was she hurt? What do you mean you found her? Where were you? She say where she was going?”
“Damn, boy, hold on,” he says while raising his palms. “She’s okay, from what I could tell. She seemed a little out of it at first, and then came to. I helped her up, and she walked down the street toward the main road.”
“What do you mean, out of it?” I question as my voice drops down to the floor.
“She was alright, just looked like she was having a conversation with herself that she needed to have. She didn’t want any help after that. I offered to call you and she said no, but I couldn’t take the chance in case she hurt herself and just hadn’t said anythin’ about it.”
“I appreciate the call.” I offer my fist and he bumps it. He just did me a solid, and now I kinda feel bad for giving him a hard time in the cafeteria.
“I saw the crazy in your eyes earlier, I knew ya’d want to know if she was walkin’ around with a concussion or somethin’ like that.”
“If you see her again, call me until I pick up.” I hold up my fist again, and he bumps it while lifting his chin before walking away.
I look around the room and see Payton shaking hands with some coaches, and keep her in my sight while I walk towards her. She’s not getting away without telling me what the fuck is going on.
“Hi, I’m Payton,” she says, sticking her hand out, as she introduces herself to each person in line. I’m standing behind a tennis coach and getting more and more annoyed every time she opens her mouth to let out that fake-ass bubbly voice.
“I was hoping to meet you. You’re Hunter, right? I’ve seen your photo all over campus. It appears that you’re a star.. I’m Payton,” she says to me with a smile that looks like the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood when he’s wearing her grandma’s shit.
“Why’d you call her Valentine? What the fuck was that about?” My tone of voice is crystal clear, I’m not fucking around, and I’m not here for anything except these answers. I could give a flying fuck about being polite to this girl.
She’s looking at me like she’s calculating something in her head.
” You're gonna go pro, right?”
“I’m gonna ask you again, why’d you call her Valentine?” She’s got this curious look on her face as she tilts her head. She narrows her eyes like she’s trying to figure out some unsolved mystery that’s kept her up at night.
“Wait, what do you call her?” The uptick of curiosity in her voice has all the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up. This girl has a deceitful vibe, and I can tell she’s scheming. She’s shady as fuck, and I don’t trust her.
“Hold on, are you with her?” she gasps. I fucking glower at both her and her dumb question.
The tight scowl strains every muscle in my face.
“There’s no way that a guy like you is with her.
You’re way out of her league.” Disbelief spreads over every one of her words, and I grind my molars into dust. “Trust me, I would know,” she goes on, with a knowing smirk as she skips over my point of no return.
Edison fucking Santos is not only out of my league, but she walks fucking circles around the Payton Pierces of the world. This girl’s got it all wrong.
“You don’t know shit,” I spit. I don’t give a fuck what she thinks.
My phone goes off with an incoming text, and the noise interrupts whatever it is that she was about to say. I don’t care; she can say whatever she wants. Her version of Ed isn’t mine, and mine just showed up.
Alvi texted the words that I’ve been waiting for, and they have me turning away from Payton to run straight to the shop.
Alvi:
She’s here.
I don’t need anyone to fill in the blanks. I’m gonna pull them from the fucking source… right after I kiss the shit outta my demon girl.