Portal (22 page)

“No, just be your sweet little self!”

“Now, there’s a challenge,” chuckled Ariele and I looked at the two of them and burst into giggles.

It was a wonder that only two people lived in this palatial-looking mansion. The white stone facade was immaculate. It looked like it had been recently cleaned. There was beautifully manicured shrubbery lining the gravel driveway and post lights all along it. We pulled up into a mini parking lot, built to receive about ten cars and parked in the only free space.

We were late. Late mainly because of Ella, who had gone through at least ten outfit changes before she was forced to put on a dress with a yellow and white sunflower design. The problem had been finding something suitable for a “fall” barbeque, not too summery. Until my mom had finally lost it and made her wear this bright, summery number.

Ella was not the least bit pleased and sat in the car looking extremely disagreeable. Her main concern was that her two BFFs, Sally and Jonas were going to be here. Luckily, for me, I didn’t have these issues. I had thrown on a pair of jean shorts, t-shirt and my trusted Havaianas. I had made a little extra effort by putting a scarf around my neck to hide the bruises and added some lip gloss at Ella’s insistence.

I spotted Kellan at the door as we made our way up the imposing walk way. He looked so good, dressed casually in khaki shorts, white short-sleeved shirt and flip flops. He didn’t look as relaxed as usual though and I noticed that he nervously ran his fingers through his hair as he saw me.

He did manage a subdued smile and said, “Everyone’s round the back as usual. I just need a quick word with Arizona and then we’ll join you. Ella, you look beautiful! I love the yellow, it suits you perfectly.”

Ella instantaneously brightened up; the change was miraculous. She beamed as she led the rest of our group through the door. As soon as they turned the corner, Kellan took my hand and started dragging me through the hallways. We ended up in a large room that looked like a study or library. There was a huge leather-topped oak desk in one corner. The walls were covered in bookcases, filled with leather bound books. There was a sitting area in the middle with two large leather sofas facing each other and a glass coffee table in the middle. There was a flat screen TV on one wall and under it two small tables with lap top computers. I noticed a large painting sitting on an easel in one corner. It was of a very beautiful girl with a pensive expression; similar to one I had seen on Kellan’s face. I guessed it was of his late mother. Kellan put his hands on my shoulders and turned me to face him. I looked up at him, he looked hard and serious. It got me worried. He very rarely looked so grim.

“You’re scaring me, what’s up?” I asked with an edge.

He took my hand and gritted his teeth, “Simla and Justin are here.”

I took a step back, feeling my legs wobble. He put his arm around my waist steadying me and walked me over to the couch where he pulled me down beside him.

“Why?” I asked as my hand involuntarily went up and shielded my neck.

“Well, their parents do work for Dad so they always come, but always alone. They are really nice. This is the first time that Simla and Justin have come with them, as well as Simla’s dad. They’ve never come before. So, I didn’t even consider this. I’m not sure why they are here. I’m so sorry you have to put up with this. Maria, Ali, Ariele and Harry are all out there. We’ll make sure you’re not left alone for a second.”

I was going to have to face them sooner or later, later being at school tomorrow. At least I would be able to do it in a safe situation here, I hoped. I wondered what they were up to. Why would they choose to confront me here, when what Simla had done was so very obviously wrong? I could, if I chose, get her into heaps of trouble. What did she have over me, and my family, that made her so arrogant? I felt my head pounding and my neck felt raw.

“Kellan, I can’t do this. Please, take me home.” I could feel the anger building up inside me as I said the words and before Kellan could respond I shook my head and said, “Ignore me. I’m going to go out there, I can’t let this beat me.”

Kellan looked concerned, “Shrimp, you don’t have to. However, if you decide to, know that you are totally safe.”

“I know,” I stood up and pulled him up.

“I can do this. If I don’t, I won’t be able to show my face at the tryouts tomorrow. And there is no way I’m letting anything keep me from that.”

I took his hand and waited for him to lead me to them, but he looked down at my hand thoughtfully and whispered, “Are you sure you want
us
to come out to Harry and everyone else right now?”

I laughed, “I guess it will get everyone’s attention,” I said squeezing his hand. “You have an issue with it? Scared?”

He shook his head and laughed, “No, I think we should, I’m sick of hiding this,” he said squeezing my hand right back. “Although, maybe I should be scared. Harry is going to kill me.” He tightened his grip around my hand and pulled me closer to him. He kissed me softly before pulling me out the door with him.

I couldn’t help noticing the amazing décor of his house as he led me through it, everything was so ornate. Fancy chandeliers hung everywhere, the halls had white stone floors and the red walls were covered with abstract art. One looked vaguely familiar and I pointed to it.

“Your mother did that one, she’s really amazing.”

The furniture was an interesting mixture of vintage and modern. We walked into a huge kitchen, again very modern with a large aluminum island in the middle. A tall middle-aged lady stood by it, concentrating hard on putting decorations onto some pastries.

“Hello, Anna,” said Kellan acknowledging her.

“Hello, Master Kellan. Miss Arizona, how are you?”

“I’m good, thanks, Anna. Those pastries look yummy,” I said and she handed me one. I popped it into my mouth where it melted away into pure heaven, the best pastry ever.

I smiled, “Oh, Anna, these are delicious!”

She looked pleased and smiled as Kellan and I made our way to the porch doors and headed out into the sunshine. Harry came up to us first. He looked at Kellan.

“Did you tell her?”

Kellan nodded as Harry’s eyes moved down to our hands.

“What happened? Did you fall, Arizona? You really need to be more careful.”

Kellan squeezed my hand as he shook his head and shrugged at Harry.

“You’re kidding, right?” challenged Harry.

“It’s ok, Harry. I forced him,” I said mischievously.

I could see that he wasn’t the least bit amused, but decided to let it go for the moment. There were other issues to worry about.

“Arizona, you’re a monkey. Let go of him and stop winding me up. We have to keep you safe. Don’t do anything to prevent that.”

I nodded, but clung on to Kellan’s hand though I could feel him trying to loosen his grip. I turned around and gave him a
Stevens
stare. Thankfully, Kellan’s dad came up to us with some burgers.

“Hello, Arizona. How’s the neck?”

“I’m ok, thank you. Anna is making the most delicious pastries in there. She gave me a preview and these burgers look and smell mouthwatering, thank you.” I could see his eyes move to my Kellan-occupied hand and he winked at Kellan. Kellan and I took our plates and walked over to the cooler to get some drinks. Ariele, Maria and Ali walked over to us and Maria whispered in a hushed voice, “Simla and Justin are over there,” pointing to the trees in the far corner. I glanced over and noticed Simla chatting animatedly with Justin and some other girl I didn’t recognize.

“Who’s that other girl?”

“Oh, that’s Ingrid, she is an exchange student from Sweden. She’s here for a year, she’s ok,” said Ali, “Although a bit silly girly.”

“Where are Simla’s parents?” I asked, forgetting that I was supposed to know who they were.

“Over there, silly,” said Ali pointing right ahead of us at a smallish, nondescript man and a tall, elegant lady in a long gypsy dress. They were standing chatting with a tall, striking looking man. I guessed he was probably Justin’s dad.

“Ah, can’t see what’s in front of my eyes today,” I said trying to laugh it off sheepishly.

Ali looked over at me with a grin and winked, “Yes, your mind’s elsewhere? What’s with the handholding?”

I laughed, but avoided replying and I turned and started walking to the pool. I sat down on a pool lounger with Ariele. Ali and Maria took their shorts and t-shirts off and jumped in.

“Come on in, Arizona and Ariele, its warm, almost hot!”

I looked over. Ella was in the pool screaming angrily at her friends as they splashed her with water. She looked so cute in her little bunny swimsuit. Her face was red with fury. She spotted Kellan and shouted at him.

“Come in and help me, Kellan!”

He looked over at me, “Come in with me?”

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit….”

“Oh, you have a few here, let me show you where.”

“In a minute, Kellan, let’s finish our burgers first, the munchkin can wait!”

“No, she’s no good at waiting,” he laughed as he took of his shorts and shirt revealing his ripped chest and dove in to join them. Ella squealed with delight as he reached her and threw her over his shoulders and mock attacked Sally and Jonas. I closed my eyes enjoying the sun on my face and the happy giggles from the pool.

“Hey, Arizona.”

I felt a chill as I heard the voice behind me. I brought my hands to my neck half expecting Simla to put her hands around it and squeeze again. Ariele reached out and grabbed me. Kellan and Harry were beside me in a heartbeat, even before I had a chance to turn around.

“Simla, turn around and walk away,” Harry muttered quietly as I heard Kellan growl under his breath.

She laughed and said, “See you later, Arizona. Cute guard dogs,” as she walked away.

I sat frozen, not breathing, getting wetter as the drops of water dripped from Kellan and Harry onto me. I could feel a sense of fury rising within me and I felt like I was going to explode. I stood up abruptly, turned around and saw Simla and Justin laughing at me in the distance. My body stiffened and I felt Kellan and Harry grip my hands. I shook them off in anger and started running toward Simla before they could grab hold and stop me. I could feel everyone go quiet. There was no sound from the pool, from the adult gathering by the barbeque, or the group on the lawn. Everyone hushed as they saw me rush over to Simla.

I gritted my teeth and hissed, “You don’t want to mess with me again. You took me by surprise the last time, which is the only reason you’re standing here.
That
will never happen again.” Simla started to say something, but stopped short as her parents arrived. I could feel a very firm grip on my shoulders and my mom said, “Arizona, may I have a word please?”

I took a deep breath and turned to her, “Sure….” And then turned back to Simla and snarled, “later” under my breath. I could see that she was surprised, but she, much to my anger, did not look even the slightest bit worried. She threw me a challenging glance as Mom walked me back to the house. We walked in silence along the hallways back into the study that I had used earlier with Kellan. It must be the, “let’s have a chat room.” Mom closed the door behind me and waved to the couch for me to sit down. I walked over to it and waited for the onslaught of yelling.

There was none. Mom looked worried and said nothing for ages. I knew instinctively that she had gathered that something was up with me and she probably wondered what. I decided to shock her.

When she finally looked up at me, I said, “Mom, I’m Arizona Stevens. Know her?”

She did not look as surprised as I had hoped. Although I wasn’t sure why I felt I needed a more surprised reaction. This must mean that she had been warned and also prepared. That made me angry.

She looked at me thoughtfully and nodded slowly, “This must be very confusing for you, Arizona.”

I could feel a wave of hysteria building up inside me, “
confusing
?” Was that the best word she could come up with? I looked at her. It was clear she knew exactly who I was and who I had been. She had taken my life away from me. I got up and started pacing, looking for something to bash her with. I spotted a suitable lamp and walked over to it. I stopped short at the sound of a knock on the door. Rupert came in with Kellan. Rupert took one look at me and immediately strode to Mom’s side and protectively cradled her. That made me angrier, he knew too. Kellan stood at the doorway and looked at me bewildered.

“Arizona, what’s up?” he asked, as he walked over to me, took hold of my shoulders and pushed me back to the couch.

~

Olivia Darley buried her face as far into Rupert’s chest as she could, trying to hide away from the world. This was her only safe place while everything else around her was crumbling. How could this have happened? All the plans had been meticulously planned and executed. She knew that she didn’t need to tell Rupert anything, he would know intuitively. She stole a glance at his face and he just nodded in affirmation and then kissed her forehead. She wondered what the extent of her daughter’s recall/intuition was. There was only one way to find out now. She had to confront her furious daughter. She slowly pulled herself up and turned to face Arizona. Arizona was sitting on the opposite couch, with Kellan almost holding her down. She was glad Kellan was here. He was a good boy, a good friend to Arizona.