Dangerous Play

9 » rumor has it

"Did you know—"

"That Eden is pregnant with my kid and I was trying to give her child support payment? Yeah, right, cause her family is so short on money."

"How about—"

"The fact that Eden's father is secretly a drug lord, she's the supplier, and I'm the poor coke addict? Yes, that one's old."

"There's also—"

"The suggestion that I'm paying Eden to be my beard, to hide the fact that I'm secretly in love with your boyfriend?" Finn paused. "That's the most believable rumor I've heard so far."

Abby snorted and kept scrolling through her phone. "Someone else thinks you, me, Kieran, Eden, and Marissa are cult leaders and you were just taking care of the monthly membership fees. Honestly, the cult leader part is more believable than the idea that I'd ever work together with Marissa and Eden. Where do people even come up with these ideas?"

"Beats me." He flopped face-down onto the bed and groaned. Abby let him wallow for a moment, then poked him in the side. He jerked like he'd been shocked and lifted his face from the blue duvet to glare at his sister. "What?"

"You still haven't explained what the actual situation was. No, wait, if the drug lord rumor is true, don't tell me. I don't need Eden or the Sayeds to paint another target on my head for exposing their shady dealings."

Finn rolled over. "Nothing that exciting. I was trying to return Qadir's ridiculous tip."

Her jaw dropped. "You want to return two thousand dollars? What were you thinking?"

"That I'm not a fucking charity case?" he snapped. "That I'd like to actually earn my own money, and not just be given pity handouts?"

"You and your pride," she scoffed, standing up from where she'd been sitting at the end of his bed. "As unbelievable as it sounds, maybe Qadir was just trying to be nice. You're not totally unbearable sometimes. Maybe he liked you."

"Gee, thanks. I'm still not taking it."

She shrugged and left his room. He heaved a sigh as the door shut behind her. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the money—who in their right mind wouldn't want a tax-free two thousand dollars?—but he hated feeling indebted to people. And right now, he owed Qadir and Eden way more than he could pay back.

Then again, he wasn't sure what to think. He had no reason to think he'd ever see Qadir again. Eden, on the other hand, he might run into at some point. She hadn't exactly been warm toward him, considering their last two conversations had ended in arguments, but if he was being honest, she didn't seem like the type of person to lord a debt over someone. Except for maybe his sister. The two of them had more in common personality-wise than either of them would ever admit. They were only rivals because Eden happened to be Marissa's best friend, and Marissa had been Abby's sworn archnemesis pretty much since the twins had moved to Kansas City.

Why was he even spending so much time thinking about her anyway? She'd made it clear she wanted nothing to do with him. Frankly, after hearing the rumors that were spiraling out of control, he couldn't blame her. Eden had a prickly exterior, but some of the things people were saying about her or her family were bound to hurt anyone. Frankly, a few people seemed like they had been waiting for an opportunity to trash the Sayed name.

Finn glared at the pile of money resting innocently on top of his desk. Suddenly, an idea came to mind. He grabbed an envelope and stuffed the bills inside, adding a scrawled note before sealing it. A quick Google search pulled up the Sayed residence, which was an honest-to-God mansion out in south Overland Park, next to what looked like a private airfield. Go figure. He wrote the address out on a sticky note and affixed it to the front of the envelope.

Since he was grounded, he couldn't leave the house tonight, and he was scheduled to work at the restaurant tomorrow afternoon. Dropping off the envelope at the Sayed mansion would have to wait until next week, but he was determined to get it done.

That was one problem resolved. Now he just needed to ignore the rumors that were still circulating. Thankfully, there was only one more day of school until the weekend, where some new scandal was sure to pop up and push someone else into the limelight. 

————

I slid into the now-familiar passenger seat of Kieran's Maserati as the car idled in my driveway the next morning. "Good morning!"

Kieran blinked at me. "You're... surprisingly chipper. No ranting about school starting at 'the asscrack of dawn' and how this time of day shouldn't exist?" He put the car in reverse as we drove toward Claremont Hill.

"It's Friday, which means tomorrow is the weekend, and practice went well yesterday, which is great, considering our first game of the season is tomorrow. Come on, me being in a good mood can't be that unusual."

"More like the fact that it's 7AM and you're in a good mood. Have you met yourself? You're the worst morning person I know."

I rolled down the window as he drove, inhaling the crisp morning air. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Abby, I've seen you throw a textbook at Finn's head for eating the last waffle at breakfast."

"That's a crime punishable by death. He's lucky I was feeling merciful."

Kieran laughed. "Not sure Finn would agree, but okay. Speaking of school-related things, though, how was your meeting with that teacher yesterday? What unfortunate souls will you be torturing through tutoring this year?"

The smile melted off my face, replaced by a scowl. "There goes my good mood. Maddox Reiser, if you can believe my luck."

"How is that going to work? He doesn't even go to Claremont."

"It's some new program to promote inter-school relations or some bullshit. I tried to get out of it, but besides straight-up quitting, there isn't much I can do." I sighed. "And I can't ignore him forever." I felt a twinge of guilt. Maddox really was a sweet boy, and for long time after I'd ended things between us, I felt like the biggest bitch in the world.

Still, it would have been crueler to let things continue and give him false hope. I had told Kieran the reason I never dated was because I was simply too busy, but that wasn't the whole truth. The real reason I balked when Maddox had confessed his feelings was a lot more complicated and rooted in the emotional turmoil of sophomore year. Those memories were the kind that kept me awake at night, past mistakes on a constant loop like the world's worst movie that I couldn't stop watching.

"If he bothers you, I can say something to him," Kieran suggested, pulling me out of my thoughts. "We are technically dating, after all."

"I don't think that's necessary," I said as he parked in front of the brick façade of our school. "But thank you for the offer."

"Just fulfilling my duties as a good boyfriend." He winked at me over the top of the car as we stepped out and started walking toward the building. I shook my head, a small smile tugging at my lips.

"I do have some good news for you," he continued. "Maddox is throwing a party next weekend."

"That's supposed to be good news?" I asked as we strolled in through the front entrance.

"Yeah, it is." Kieran lowered his voice. "Marissa's bound to be there too. Us showing up together would send a pretty clear message to both of them."

He had a point, but there was one minor detail. "You're forgetting something. I'm still grounded through next weekend." As much as I would have appreciated rubbing this in Marissa's face—after all, I hadn't seen her since we ran into her at Homer's—I didn't think my parents would let me go that easily.

We reached Kieran's locker, and I crossed my arms as he twirled the combination lock. "Your parents love me. I'll convince them to let you go."

If he wanted to fight this losing battle, who was I to stop him? Then again, a party sounded like exactly what I needed. What with school starting, the impending soccer season, tutoring Maddox, and all of the other drama that I'd somehow gotten myself into, I felt like I'd hardly gotten a chance to breathe the past couple of weeks. "Alright. If you can talk them into it, I'm game."

His eyes twinkled as he smiled, the dimple popping up in his cheek again. "Then it's a date."