Better Than Revenge (Sweet Secrets #1) (17 page)

Chapter 21

Lena shook her hair out, looking a lot like a wet dog as she did so. Her green bikini clung to her body as she pulled herself out of the pool, making her skin look tan in contrast with the bright color. She skipped over to me, grabbing my towel and wiping it across her face before tossing at my feet.

I scowled at her, but in response all she did was smirk and say, “It's not like you're using it.”

I lifted my head to get a better look at her as I said, “I'm sun bathing right now. I'll need it later when I get into the pool. Where's your towel at?”

She shrugged, wringing out her hair with both hands and creating a small puddle at her feet. “It's wet.”

I rolled my eyes, letting my head fall back onto the lounge chair. Although it was autumn, it was hot and sunny outside; the perfect day to go swimming. Of course every now and then a cool breeze would blow at us, but since I hadn't gotten wet yet it was actually refreshing. I was just happy that my dad hadn't covered the pool up a few a weeks ago when my mom had told him too.

Today had been Lena's first day back to school from her suspension. For the most part everything had gone back to normal, with an exception to Brianna's army of skanks turning their bitch rays away from me, and pointing them at Lena. To my surprise, they had ignored me all day long.

When Brianna walked past Lena and I, she rolled her eyes at Lena and didn't so much as even glance my way. Her followers had even bumped Lena in the shoulder. The only girl who ignored the both of us was Ella. Her hair had been curled in soft spirals and her makeup consisted of pink lip gloss and thick eyeliner. If it wasn't for her hair color, I would have been sure that Brianna had a clone. It was actually quite creepy how similar they looked. The fact that the school had a uniform was even scarier, because not only did they look alike, but they were also required to dress alike.

My parents loved Lena so much that they didn't mind having her stay at our house, as long as she talked to her parents about it. After a long talk on the phone with her dad, he decided that with everything going on at home, it would be best for Lena to be home with her family. After telling him how being around them made her felt, he allowed her to stay with us until report cards came out. He said that if her grades are all in the A-B range, she would be allowed to stay as long as she visited often. He even said that he would be happy to give my parents money for food costs or anything like that, but my parents had declined.

Another thing that I was grateful for was Brianna's parents. They had come home, and Brianna had finally left the Forrester household. I no longer had to put up with her presence every night. I was able to sleep peacefully in my room without worrying that I’d wake up with only one eyebrow. I could sing in the shower without worrying that Brianna had set up a video camera to record it and send it out to our school’s entire student body. After living with Rose Forrester for nearly eighteen years, I think her worrying ways were starting to rub off on me.

A voice sounded from next to me. “Forrester?”

“Hmm?” I murmured.

“My dad called earlier.”

I opened my eyes, lifting my hand up to shield them from the sun as I looked at Lena. She sat on the edge of the pool with her legs crossed pretzel style under her body as her fingers absentmindedly traced patterns on the concrete next to her. She looked up at me, regarding me with her brown eyes as I said, “What did he say?”

She shrugged nonchalantly, as if the fact that her father calling was not a big deal, when I knew that she got really stressed out or distracted whenever one of her family members was even mentioned. “It’s nothing important. Gabriella lost her phone and he wanted to know if I’d seen it.”

I squinted my eyes at her and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “It’s not lost. You have it.”

Lena’s head bobbed as she nodded at me. “Yeah, that’s what I told him.”

“So, what’s the problem?” My eyebrows furrowed together as I tried to think of where this conversation was going.

“He wants me to bring the phone by tonight and stay for dinner. He welcomed you to join us as well.”

Dinner at Lena’s house couldn’t be too bad. I’d be happy to go with her. The only thing that caused hesitation in my answer was the fact that Ella would be there.

When I didn’t respond right away, Lena added, “Come on, Forrester, you have to come.”

I sighed when she poked her bottom lip out at me, widened her eyes, and clasped her hands together in a praying motion. “Of course I’ll come with you.”

A smirk crossed onto Lena’s freckled face as she said, “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist the powers of the puppy dog face.”

I rolled my eyes playfully, pushing myself up into a sitting position and tucking my legs underneath my body. “What time are we leaving?”

“Well, I told him that we’d be there by five,” she said, looking sheepish.

I grabbed my phone off of the table that stood next to the lounge chair, clicking a button and making the screen light up. “Lena! It’s already four thirty!”

Lena shrugged, “It’s not like he’ll care if we’re a few minutes late.”

I stood from my chair, tossing my now moist towel over my shoulder as I did so. “Hurry up and get dressed. I don’t want to be late for my first time meeting your parents.”

I heard Lena grunt in response as I headed toward the back door to get dressed for dinner at the Snotty household. I was sure that this night would be an eventful one.

***

I tugged on the collar of my dress, feeling slightly embarrassed at my choice of outfit. I was obviously over dressed for the occasion of merely eating dinner and it was all Rose Forrester’s fault. Earlier when I had told my mom that I would be eating dinner with Lena’s family tonight, she had glanced over my outfit—that consisted of jeans and a t-shirt—with disapproval. She had made me change into a sundress that she had bought me at the beginning of summer break, but after wearing it once, I had “accidentally” lost it in a box of miscellaneous items that I placed in the back of my closet. Somehow, she had come across the dress, and had hung it up in her closet. I guess she had been waiting for the right moment to spring it on me.

So here I was, sitting on a plush couch in Lena’s living room, wearing a dress that showed way too much skin for my liking, had a torso so tight that it was constricting my breathing, and was a sickening pinkish-orange color. It honest looked like a cat had gotten sick from eating too much tuna, and had vomited all over my dress.

When we had first arrived, Lena had unlocked the front door with a key and led me into the living room to wait for a moment while she went to the kitchen to tell her dad that we were here. When she returned, she told me that dinner would be ready in about fifteen minutes, and then she proceeded to say, “I told you we wouldn’t be late.”

Not more than five minutes later, Lena sat across from me in an over-sized arm chair with an expression of foreboding on her face. An uncomfortable silence had filled the room, and I felt awkward just sitting there. When she noticed that I was looking at her, she quickly arranged her face into a plain mask to hide her emotions.

“Do you want a tour of the house, while we wait?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

Lena stood up from the chair that she was perched on, and I immediately followed suit. Before leaving the room, she gestured around, saying, “This is the living room.”

“Obviously,” I said with a smirk, hoping to ease the tension.

She playfully stuck her tongue out at me. “I’m trying to be hospitable.”

“I don’t even know what that means,” I joked, even though I was completely serious. I’m barely passing English this semester. How does she expect me to have a wide knowledge of vocabulary?

Lena laughed and walked out into the hallway. We turned away from the front door and toward the staircase that led to the upper floor level. “I’ll show you my room first. It’s kind of…” she trailed off, searching for the right word to finish her statement, but obviously not finding one. “Well, I’ll just let you see for yourself.” She led me down a short hallway that had four closed doors in it. As we walked past the first door on the left, she said, “Bathroom,” and pointed at it. To the door on the opposite side of the hall she said, “Parent’s room.” As we neared the last two doors, she pointed to them, left to right, saying, “This door leads to Heaven, and that one leads to Hell. The red haired Devil resides there.”

My lips pulled back into a smile, showing my teeth as she compared Ella to the devil. Lena opened the door that led to Heaven, and walked in, leaving me to follow her. She kicked some stuff out of her way, paving a pathway through the scattered clothes that littered her bedroom floor. There were boxes that had yet to be unpacked, stacked up along one side of her bed, which sat in the middle of the room. The walls were covered in posters that ranged from bands to movies, and drawings that she had probably done herself.

I stepped over a small pile of crumbled up papers and walked toward the opposite side of the room, staring at one drawing that had caught my eye. It was a drawing of a woman with long, wavy hair that hung down past her shoulders and spilled down over her bare chest, hiding her breast from view. Her eyes were almond shaped, and heavily lashed. The nose was drawn small and thin, and below it were two shapely lips with a drastic bow that only added to the lip’s fullness. Wrapped in a blanket, and being cradled in the woman’s arms was a beautiful baby boy. He had the same eyes and nose as the woman holding him, except his lips were thin and curved upwards in a smile. The little bald headed baby was looking up at the woman with the look of pure elation etched onto his perfect face. The picture was breath taking.

I asked the question, even though I already knew the answer. “Did you draw this?”

Lena’s voice came from right next to me. “Yeah,” was all that she said.

“It’s beautiful,” I murmured, still in awe.

“It’s my mom.”

I turned toward her, my eyes roaming her face. I was surprised that I didn’t guess that. Lena had the same almond shaped eyes, bowed lips, and wavy hair. The only difference was the nose, lip fullness, and the fact that Lena’s nose was covered in a splattering of freckles. “She’s beautiful.”

“Thanks,” she replied, biting on her bottom lip and glancing away from the picture.

Although I didn’t want to annoy her with questions that she obviously felt uncomfortable answering, I still couldn’t help but ask, “Who’s the baby?” If the baby had been a girl, it could have been either Lena or Ella, but the fact that the baby was a boy is what threw me off.

Lena scratched at the back of her neck, still looking away from the picture. “It’s what I figured the baby would look like. If it’s a boy,” she added. “I hoped the baby was a boy. I don’t think I’d be able to deal with another sister. I drew this before we found out that my mom was having twins.”

I smiled, draping my arm over Lena’s shoulder. “If you ever change your mind about not wanting another sister, you’re welcome to call Lilly your sister. I bet she’d love that.”

Lena turned her head toward me, and gave me a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “We should go eat now. Dinner’s probably ready.”

As we headed out of her bedroom, I found myself saying, “Can you draw a picture of me someday?”

Lena bobbed her head up and down and smiled over her shoulder. “I can try.”

Once we were back in the hallway I pulled Lena’s door shut behind me. She pointed her finger at Ella’s bedroom and smirked. “Do you wanna see what Hell looks like?”

“Is Ella home?”

Lena shrugged her shoulders. “Who cares?”

“What if she’s in there?”

“Then you’ll at least get to see it for a few seconds before she kicks us out. Besides, I have to give her phone back anyway.” Lena patted the small bulge in her jean pocket.

“If she sees us, it was your idea.”

“Well, duh,” she said, dragging out the ‘uh’ sound. “Come on,” she ordered as she pushed the door open. It opened to reveal a room that looked as if a four-year-old had taken a bunch of highlighters and was allowed to run amok inside. The only thing that wasn’t colorful was the walls, which were all painted a solid white. The bedspread was a bright, neon pink color, while the throw pillows were an assortment of neon green, blue, orange and yellow.

Despite the house being in the same neighborhood as mine, Lena’s house was noticeably smaller. The rooms were smaller, and there were only three bed rooms, unlike the five in my house. Everything was neatly organized, except for Lena’s room, and the furniture was nice and modern. From what I had seen so far, the house was very cozy and homey.

Lena shut the door and the two of us made our ways back downstairs, but instead of going to the living room this time, instead I followed Lena to the dining room. She walked over to a chair and pointed to the one next to her, “You can sit here. Ella usually sits there, but she can sit somewhere else tonight.”

“Where is she?” I asked, curiously.