TRAVIS LEWIS My phone vibrated, immediately followed by a hiss escaping my lips. The vibration was signaling a text. A text from my father. VC: Come to my office. I need to talk to you. There were various perks of having my father has the vice chancellor and honestly, I hated it all. Though I loved being popular, I hated the extra popularity being associated with him brought. Simply put, I hated being associated with him. He was my father and was nothing more than that. He was simply the man that slept with my mum, got her pregnant and for some reason unknown to me, the man she decided to get married to. Ever since I was little, we never shared a normal relationship. We never had a reason to be close to each other, not even when my mum died, and quite frankly, I’d gotten used to it. More than used to it in fact, making his new attempts at trying to suddenly be more than just the man partially responsible for my existence nothing but irritating to me. “What is it?” My closest f
BRITNEY ASTON The weekend went by slowly. Rather slowly. It was finally Monday and I was expected to finally resume college as planned but I didn’t feel even the tad bit excited. Instead I felt a whirlwind of emotions, confusion and anxiety topping the list. I’d spent the past two days in the house, alone. Though my mum and Jack were home, occasionally calling me out of my room for breakfast and dinner, it didn’t count- the house still felt empty. And it was all thanks to Travis’ absence. Considering the fact that I desperately wanted to stay away from him, it was supposed to be a good thing. But strangely, his absence didn’t feel good. Not in the way I expected. Instead of relishing over the fact that I finally had moments to gather my thoughts, I spent my time wondering where he could be and why he just wasn’t showing up at home. Given his reputation, I wondered if he was spending his weekend with different girls, sleeping around and being as shameless as possible. For some
BRITNEY ASTON I watched Travis drive away, a wave of confusion washing over me. It could swear I was confident the feeling of confusion wasn’t going to last. After all, I was finally at school and was naturally supposed to find something else to catch my interest. But that didn’t happen. At least, not immediately. With the brochure in my hand, I managed to navigate my way around my faculty in hopes of finding the classroom lectures were supposed to hold. However, it was quickly proving to be harder than I expected, as an unsettling feeling began to linger around me. It felt strange and completely bizarre but I was confident it was happening. For some reason unknown to me, i could feel eyes on me as I took my every step. It was almost like I was the new topic of fascination for everyone I walked past. Slowly, it grew past the eyes and turned into whispers, fingers slowly pointing in my direction as I moved. “What is going on?” I muttered to myself, wondering why everyone had su
TRAVIS LEWIS. If there was one thing I was slowly bringing myself to accept, it was the fact that I couldn’t completely wrap my head around the type of person Britney was. One minute she’s acting like she didn’t care about me and I could swear I felt the same and the other, she’s acting all bothered about me and in return, leaving me equally bothered about her. Maybe it wasn’t necessarily ‘bother’. Maybe it was more of intrigue. More of me wondering what type of person she was. How she could wrap her head around the whole scenario of her mum getting married again and be so cool with it. How she could manage to stay in the same room with my father and not notice he was basically sheep in wolf clothing. Or maybe, it was something more about her I considered fascinating. But whatever it was, it was intoxicating and extremely disturbing. Staring at the empty wine bottle in front of me, I clicked my tongue and contemplated fetching another one. After all, it was all I could think of
BRITNEY ASTON “What?” I stared at the phone in my hands, unsure of where my confusion was majorly stemming from. The fact that he gave me his number voluntarily or the fact that he was offering to drive me around whenever I needed him to. Lucas’ words rang in my head, fueling my confusion even more. What exactly was goin on his head? And just why was he willing to drive me when apparently driving girls around wasn’t his thing? “Why are you giving me your number?” I couldn’t help but ask. “I thought you-“ “You can delete if you want to,” he tried to reach for the phone having me immediately flinch. “Your choice.” “Whatever,” I rolled my eyes, shoving the phone into my pocket to prevent him from trying to snatch it from me again. Though I was still confused on why he gave me his number, I was going to get the answers to my question without necessarily losing the number. “I thought so too,” he smirked then turned away to leave. “You’re welcome.” “What? I’m not-“ Before I cou
BRITNEY ASTON “No!” Heads immediately turned in my direction, confusion spread all over their faces. I couldn’t blame them though, it was only natural my mum and step dad reacted that way at my response to a simple question- if I’d like Travis to drive me to school, again. “No, I mean, no it’s okay,” I rephrased, trying to make the situation less awkward than it already was. “He doesn’t have to. I can manage myself. Thank you.” From the corner of my eye, I could catch him smirking in amusement. Of course it was easy for him to just stand back and be amused at my misery. “Are you sure honey?” My mum asked like I wasn’t clear enough. “You’re both headed to the same place anyways and I don’t think Travis has a problem with dropping you off.” She was right. We were both headed to the same place and though he indeed probably had no problem with dropping me off, I wasn’t willing to sit in his car again.I was more than willing to walk all the way to school if I needed to as long as i
BRITNEY ASTON The second Lucas and I took our first steps into the party, we were welcomed by the music pulsating the air, engulfing the room in a lively atmosphere. The dimly lit house was teeming with people, their laughter and animated conversations filling the air and adding to the buzz. Unfamiliar music pulsated through the air, creating an infectious rhythm that managed to compel everyone to move their body. My gaze lurked around the house, catching sights of a couple of random people- some drunk, some smoking and some heavily making out. “So how’s it?” Lucas spoke up, casually draping his arms around my shoulder. “You like what you see?” “Well, it isn’t all that different to the normal parties in the states,” I replied, catching sight of a couple shoving their tongues down each others throat. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.” “Wait, the states?” He repeated. “You spent your- ah what do you call it, high school in the states?” “Wasn’t it obvious?” I chuckled, trying my best
BRITNEY ASTON Nothing was going on between Travis and I. Nothing could go on between Travis and I. Nothing was allowed to go between Travis and I. Other than the new sibling relationship between us, of course. And Lucas’ question did a good job at slamming that reality right onto my face. “Do you guys not get along well?” Lucas continued with his questions before I could reply. “Is that it? Does he not respect? I don’t know, does he bully you or acts strange with you?” “What? Oh. Oh, no, he doesn’t,” I shook my head, trying to stay as calm as possible, reminding myself I was once again just over thinking things. “It’s- it’s nothing like that.” “It’s not because of me, is it?” “You?” I almost hiccuped, still finding it hard to get a good grasp of the situation of things. “No. You- why would it be because of you?” “I don’t know,” he shrugged then looked away for the first time in a while. “I just felt- I just wanted to make sure.” In response, I simply shook my head and looked