Chapter Fifty-Three Petra
Chapter Fifty-Three
PETRA
We’re all trooping obediently to Adrianna’s decadent new nightclub, photo-faces at the ready. It’s the one thing Kensington Manor School girls all seem to excel at – looking good in pictures.
Silky still isn’t here, and dark thoughts are tugging at me.
I hate Silky. Hate how she drags me back to such dark places.
She reminds me too much of the person I was before Leopold.
As we file into the nightclub in a line, I’m reminded of the last time all five of us were alone like this.
Three years ago. At Adrianna’s birthday.
It was midnight. We were shuffling in our masks through a torch-lit jungle trail.
The palm leaves cutting jagged shapes against the moonlit sky.
Dri had decided to host a midnight event at the Old Bell Tower just for us.
We’d all received special invitations, but none of us could figure why we were chosen.
‘I don’t get it,’ Ophelia whispered to Silky. ‘Why is it just us? Where are the other guests?’
Silky didn’t answer. She was completely wasted, eyes rolling around her head. She kept fending away branches that weren’t there.
‘Some stupid game of Adrianna’s,’ I said, dismissively. But my stomach was churning.
I looked ahead to see a fire had been lit, deeper in the jungle, casting shadows against the stone wall of the Bell Tower. My pulse kicked up. Kensington Manor girls used to come here in their first year for their ritual ring giving. I’d heard they didn’t do that anymore.
Adrianna directed us to settle around the fire on little log seats. Flames crackled.
‘What’s going on?’ I tried to sound bored.
‘Truth or Dare.’ Adrianna’s voice came from under her mask. ‘Do you remember that game, Petra?’
I didn’t answer.
‘Someone has been sending Dri hate mail,’ said Georgia. ‘At first we thought it was a stalker, but now we know it was one of you.’
She held up the invitation we had all received.
Flashy gold, and made at huge expense, with a publicity campaign to match.
This was back when Adrianna was finding her feet as heiress and her attempts to garner press attention often fell flat or got the wrong kind of attention.
The invite was criticized as vulgar in every fashion magazine.
It had the word Trinity in the recipient box, and BITCH scrawled across. Beside me, Silky jerked slightly.
Ophelia’s voice came breathlessly. ‘That’s awful.’
‘It’s addressed to Trinity,’ said Georgia meaningfully. ‘Is this someone’s idea of a prank, or something? You might as well be honest.’ Her face swiveled toward me. ‘You were pretty mad not to get an invite, right, Petra?’
I stood up fast. ‘This is bullshit,’ I told them. ‘I’m not staying around for this.’ My log stool fell as I backed away and retreated into the jungle. No one came after me. I breathed a sigh of relief. Stupid little girls with their stupid little games. I needed to speak with Leopold.
We’d only just got together, but both of us knew there was something special between us.
Leopold had opened up to me. Told me how his one and only brother had gone missing, aged fourteen.
Got on the wrong side of some hoodlums. Leopold told me the police didn’t even bother to dredge the river for his body.
I knew then there was a lot more to him than he let most people know.
I stepped back into the undergrowth and took out my cell. Leopold answered on the first dial.
‘Hey, Petra. I miss you.’
My smile widened under the mask. ‘I know.’
He laughed. ‘Where are you?’
‘I’m at the Old Bell Tower. On the island.’
‘Oh.’ I loved hearing the depth of his voice when he was thoughtful. I missed him so much, my body hurt. ‘I told Adrianna not to go to that part of the island,’ he says. ‘I sunk just about all of my free capital into developing it, and it’s still not safe,’ he concluded ruefully.
‘Not safe?’
‘Never mind. When are you coming home to me?’
I eyed the girls as they settled themselves. There was a rose-gold flask of some kind of cocktail being passed around.
‘Tomorrow,’ I decided.
‘I don’t know why you insisted on going out there anyway.’
‘Proving a point, I guess. Keeping an eye on a few people.’ I hesitated, in the dark. ‘I wish I hadn’t. I wish I’d stayed home with you.’
There was a long pause.
‘Marry me,’ he said. ‘Come home and marry me.’
I closed my eyes, and felt tears bubble up.
‘I can’t,’ I whispered.
He sighed then, and I felt like my heart was breaking.
‘I’m not the kind of guy to have a mistress, Petra. You know that.’
I let my gaze fall on the girls sat around the fire.
‘I told you when we got together,’ I replied, ‘I’m not the kind of girl who fits in.’