Love At The Headington Hill

CHAPTER 13 - Truths and Schemes.

Valerie stared blankly at the calender.

21st December.

She was supposed to be flying to Greece today. She brought her attention back to her phone, punched a series of numbers and pressed 'call'. Hera Carter picked up on the first ring.

"Hello, honey! You are visiting today right?" Her mother's voice floated from the other line.

"Yes, mamá about that, actually I'm quite busy right now. But I'm sure I can find time after the tournament I'm having on third of January, so-"

"What do you mean you can't come? And what happened to you? You sound strange." Her mother's voice had risen.

"I'm fine, it's just a cold. And my schedule is tightly packed, so I can't, I'm so sorry mamá."

"I'm not talking to you, I had planned so much!"

"Me too, but I can't, I'm really sorry."

"Hm, alright, visit whenever you can. s'agapó." A small smile showed up on Valerie's lips. She hung up.

She had a lot going on, she had to practice, pay the rent, manage things with Prof. Brown, talk to Gemma and most importantly - STUDY.

There was a knock on the door. Valerie rushed to open it.

Julian appeared, smiling. No, smiling would be an understatement. He was beaming widely. "What's wrong? Who's getting married? And what the heck are you doing in my apartment at six o' clock in the morning?"

He frowned, "Why would anyone get married? Rather, we have found a solution to your problems." Said Julian, his smile reappearing on his lips.

"And by we you mean?" Valerie was staring at him as he made his way into her room. Just as she was about to close the door shut, a very tall girl with raven hair appeared at the doorway.

"He means us" Dahlia said, and got into her room without taking permission along with a bunch of people, namely - The Davis twins, Sebastian and his girlfriend Nova.

Valerie blinked. What in the name of Jesus were half a dozen people doing at her flat, so early in the morning? And Nova? Why?

Before Valerie could process anything, Dahlia dragged her by her ankle and sat her down on the bed. Slowly all of them settled.

"Now, what's the plan? We drag her straight to Brown's office after vacation, or organise everything before pressing 'play'"? Nova asked. She looked surprisingly cheerful and excited at the prospect of doing a blunder.

Which was a blunder according to Valerie only. Because everyone else also looked like it was just a detective movie, whose outcome was not yet known. They were being childish, because it was a real life situation which Valerie Carter had never gone through in her life. She had wanted to forget about the viral online article, she had tried focusing on other things - from overworking herself to trying to sleep early - but she always ended up staying up late and scrolling through god knows how many different websites, just to find a different picture of James Bryant. But upto this day, there hasn't been a single one of that kind.

She was not scared. She just wanted something to convince her that her mind was foolish enough to just imagine things.

"Oh please, its a difficult time for her. We need to explain things first." Trevor said, then turned to Valerie, "listen Val, we are here to help you and," he added, noticing her reluctant expression, "You have no right to deny our efforts."

Valerie was about to protest, when Audrey cut her off, "After the vacations, on the first day, you will go to Brwon's office and confront him about the article. We will set up a spy camera on your outfit, so we could record any kind of expression he gives off during the confrontation and if we find anything suspicious, we either report to the higher authorities or notify the media and police directly if they don't take any actions." Audrey finished, a satisfied smile playing on her lips.