Beautiful Tiger

Chapter 9.

Merry Christmas & Happie Holidays! x

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"You look like you're going to be sick, Sara Palmer!" Kylie Brooks yells. "Don't tell me you're allergic to duck!"

"I think it's too many people, she's overwhelmed," Alex is laughing. Traitor.

I feel beads of sweat gather on my nape. Pull yourself together, Palmer.

Cut that shit out in front of this rich family containing your supposed crush, your friend, your teacher, your enemy, your supposed new bestfriend, your new friend, and your university's chairman! Stop.

Every time I tried to pull myself together, I fell apart like an Oreo drenched in milk too long.

Was Hunter really sitting here? After all of this, he turned out to be a rich guy, son of the universities' owner. And he was related to the twins and was possibly even their brother.

How?

Kylie and Hunter were both Brooks and their 'father' was a Martin. Were they adopted? They looked almost exactly like Cormac, they couldn't be.

The other three, Alex, Maggie, and Max were brown eye'd with blonde hair. They were Martins.

Nothing added up, Cormac had blue eyes and brown hair. They couldn't be adopted either, because they, too, looked like Cormac...

And was Ms. Mackenzie McCormick really here, dating Dr. Sebastian Cormac Martin?

Is that why she kept threatening Max and Alex's football career? Because she had the power to, as their soon to be step-mother?

I could see why Mackenzie wasn't sure about bringing another baby into the family. The man had enough to deal with at home with his five teenage kids, and his heavy duty of a job.

"You mean to tell me, this girl sitting here, quiet as a mouse, the whole time is the Sara Palmer?" Cormac was yelling, making me jump. What the hell had I done wrong, now?!

I looked up at Cormac with a twisted expression of sickness, that slowly turned into confusion.

It was as though half of the family despised me, and half of the family wanted to be friends and converse with me. I was bound to rip my hair out at any moment.

And why did the whole family keep saying my name as if I were the president's daughter, or Beyoncé's long lost sister?

Was there a naked picture of me going viral on the Internet that I didn't know about?

"What do you mean?" I asked, and he didn't hear me, as he looked at everybody else for an answer. The disrespect lingered in his set jaw, accusing everyone with his looks.

"What does he mean?" I gulp, asking Kylie. She shrugged. The reason she had called me the Sara Palmer was apparently different from why he was calling me it. I would find out her reason later. Right now, everybody was wrapped in the midst of silence.

I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, and I wondered if everyone else could too.

Then Cormac's blue eyes were back on me. "You mean to tell me, you're Sara Palmer, and you're sitting in my house. At my table. Eating my food?"

He almost sounded mad. My eyes got hot, and I knew everyone could see the embarrassed look on my face.

Yes, I was in his house and at his table, but not really eating his food whereas I was wasting it.