Arranged

Nessa didn’t want to go to school, but it wasn’t as if she could skip. She had come late in the semester and had already missed a few days. She wasn’t behind, thankfully, but it wasn’t easy to keep it that way.
The stress from Christmas still weighed heavily on her mind as Nessa stepped through the gates. She didn’t even hear that someone was calling her name. not until that someone grabbed her arm and physically stopped her.
“Nessa, wait!?” Joshua stopped her, a little out of breath. “Jeez. It’s like talking to a brick.” He was going to make another joke, but then he saw Nessa’s face. “God, you look awful.” He placed a hand on her forehead. “Are you sleeping at all?”
Reluctantly, Nessa shook her head. “But I have to get to class, Joshua.”
She went to pull away, but Joshua’s arm tightened on her arm. His face was serious as he said, “Nessa, we need to talk.”
She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Later, okay? After school. Come by the house.”
“I’m bringing Sade,” he told her firmly, letting go of her arm.
Nessa frowned, but nodded. “Fine.” It was only fair that he got some answers, too. Besides, anything she told Joshua was bound to make it back to Sade’s ears anyway, so he might as well hear it from the source.
With that, Nessa headed into class. First period was easy and uneventful, but second turned out to be a little more than dramatic.
Nessa had been minding her own business, talking to Jennifer as they worked on an experiment when the classroom door slammed open. A huffing, red-faced Kylie stood there in a short skirt and something that could barely pass for a shirt. She stomped over to Nessa’s table, the classroom going quiet and staring in suspenseful interest.
Kylie grabbed Nessa by the hair and slammed her head on the table, making her see stars.
“What the hell?!” Nessa yelled, grabbing her head as it started to pound. She brought her hand down. Holy Christ, she was bleeding! Why in fuck wasn’t the teacher doing anything?!
“Where is he?!” Kylie screeched.
Nessa was back against the wall, having stood in response to getting her face planted in the black counter. “Where is who?!”
Kylie’s foot stomped in anger and Nessa tried not to flinch. Damn it, she was not going to be intimidated. She’d taken worse beatings before and Kylie was just a crazy bitch. A crazy rich bitch with some obvious power. And, Jesus, didn’t she have enough to deal with already without Kylie going psycho on her?
“You know who!” Kylie screamed, her voice piercing. “Where is Rhone?”
Nessa wanted to scream in frustration. Why was it always Rhone? What was so great about that bastard?
Tired of everything, Nessa sat back down, grabbing a paper towel and wetting it down before pressing it to her bleeding forehead. “Hell if I know,” she gritted. “I’m not his keeper.”
“No,” Kylie said through clenched teeth. “Obviously not.”
Nessa glared at her. Was the teacher ever going to do anything? “Then why come to me? What connects the two of us in your pea-sized little brain?”
“Because you’re his wife!”
As soon as the words were out of her screaming, red-painted mouth, Nessa felt what was left of her blood drain out of her face.
Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck. How in hell had Miss Idiot found out? She must have used Daddy’s money and influence. Nessa had to admit as well that she hadn’t exactly taken precautions to hide it. Anyone could have found out with a little digging. But, damn, she didn't want anyone to. Especially not Miss Bimbo With an Attitude.
Nessa grabbed her bag and pushed back from the counter, the stool crashing to the floor. She hadn’t even felt this worn out with Sylvia. At least she could have escaped with her friends for a little while. Get away from the world and try to sort things out before going back to hell. Where could she go in this town but back to Manor House? Nowhere. And now that she and Shade weren't talking, she couldn't even rely on her friends.
As she left the room, shoving Kylie out of the way as the class and those who had gathered in the hall started talking loudly, Nessa wondered where in this cursed school and town she could find somewhere to escape.



Shade knew Nessa would be at school. It wasn’t like her to skip, but the flicker of worry that lit in him when she didn’t show up for PE was quickly crushed under his heartbreak. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t looking for her, though. The rumors about what had happened during second were spreading like crazy, too. That wasn’t exactly ideal circumstances for trying to forget her.
It looked like her secret was out. Everyone knew she and Rhone were married now. And with Rhone not around to quiet the rumors and Nessa’s obvious lack of care, the whole town was going to know by sundown. Shade was likely to get some more of the glances and whispers that people were shooting his way, too.
“Where do you think she is?” Sade asked, sitting down next to Shade.
“Who?” Shade asked innocently, taking a swig of his water bottle.
Sade sighed. “Don’t try that. You know you’re wondering, too. She’s got to be around here somewhere.”
Shade sighed. Damn, he felt like an ass. Was it over between him and Nessa? Yes. But that didn’t mean that he didn’t want to be friends anymore. That’s what they were to begin with, after all, and he’d never had a truer one.
He made a frustrated sound and dropped his face to his hands. “I should have been nicer.”
“Yes,” Sade agreed callously. “You should have. She was obviously upset.”
“I know.”
“And cold.”
“Yeah.”
“I mean, her feet were pink and her hands felt like ice.”
“I get it.” Shade glared at his twin.
Sade shrugged. “Just making sure.” He leaned forward and sighed himself. “So, what are you going to do? I mean, yeah, you were harsh, but you were at the end of your rope.” Sade glanced at his brother. “From the looks of things, so was she.”
“I noticed that, too,” Shade said bitterly. “But it’s not that easy. What am I supposed to do? How should I act? I can’t just forget what happened and act normal.”
Sade put a comforting arm around his twin’s shoulder. “Why don’t you start by talking to her first? You both know that it’s over between you, but what’s stopping you from being friends?”
Shade gave him an “I don’t know” look, obviously expecting Sade to answer the question – which he did.
Sade smiled. “Absolutely nothing but your pride – which could stand to be taken down a few notches, I think.”
Shade frowned. “You know, you’re not very nice.”
“That’s not true!” he pouted. “I’m completely nice.” He smiled then. “I’m just honest.”
Shade leaned on Sade’s shoulder, emotionally exhausted. He’d spent the last four days mulling over everything that had happened. Now that it was all over, everything was a little clearer. It was easy to see that Shade hadn’t exactly made things a breeze for them. He should have been more understanding. If he had been in Nessa’s shoes, he probably would have gone insane, but Nessa had tried to think about everyone and come up with the best solution. Of course, Rhone had screwed almost all of her attempts at normalcy up, but she had really tried. Why couldn’t he have seen that earlier?
“So. . .” Sade started. “What are you going to do?”
Shade sat up. “I guess I’ll try talking to her.” There was no point in avoiding it anyway. They had the next class together, after all.



Nessa was early to Home Ec. Having hidden in the music room during lunch, she’d avoided the crowds and gotten away from the questions. She couldn’t very well miss class, though. So, here she was. At her desk. Where Shade was bound to show up.
What was she supposed to say? She knew he was here. She’d skipped PE because she’d seen him and, after the fight with Kylie, hadn’t wanted to deal with the drama. Now she was going to have to, but she had no idea how to act.
“Nessa?”
Her name was whispered quietly, hesitantly, and she jumped when a backpack landed on the floor next to her. Looking up, she swallowed nervously as she came face-to-face with Shade.
He didn’t look different or upset or angry. She wasn’t sure if that was good or not.
“H-Hey,” she tried.
His face went red and he looked away. “Can I. . . Uh, can I sit?”
She nodded. “It’s your seat.”
He pulled out the chair. “Y-Yeah. Right.” He was quiet for a long time as slowly people started to file in. Shade fidgeted uncomfortably. Nessa was as pale as a sheet and dark circles were under her eyes. There was also a nasty cut on her forehead. That definitely wasn’t all his fault, but he was partially to blame. He knew that.
“Nessa,” Shade said loud enough for her to hear but quiet enough for no one else to eavesdrop. “I know I’ve been a little. . . unreasonable, but I was wondering –“ He cleared his throat and shifted. “I was hoping we could be friends again.”
Nessa turned wide eyes on him. “F-Friends? You want to stay friends? With me?”
He rubbed the back of his head. “Well, yeah. You’re my first friend besides Sade. I don’t want to lose you. If I can’t – If we can’t work out as lovers, I think I can settle for being friends.”
“You can settle for being friends?” she asked slowly in disbelief. “But you-“
“Love you?” he completed. “Yes. I do. But I’d rather have you in my life as a friend than not in it at all.”
“. . . Are you sure?”
He smiled sadly. “Yeah. Pretty sure.” He held his hand. “Friends?”
“But you-“
“Nessa, please!” he shouted, making everyone look his way. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists as he got his anger under control. When the class started talking again, he opened his eyes and lowered his voice. His eyes stayed glued to the top of the desk. “Please, Nessa. Give me this, I need it.”
Nessa swallowed, knowing there really was only one answer. There had never been another one. And if this was all she could do for Shade, then she'd damn well deal with the guilt and everything else that came with his request. “Okay. Friends.”



Nessa was tired by the day’s end. Though Shade had wanted to be friends, it wasn’t as easy as all of that. Nessa could feel the tension between them and even Sade’s jokes and friendly banter weren’t helping. Shade just acted too. . . well, normal. And it just wasn’t in Nessa to do the same. She couldn’t pretend like everyone else, nor did she want to. She just wanted to be alone.
Which was exactly why she was leaving school without them. Shade wasn’t looking for answers (not that she knew of, anyway) and Sade was coming with Joshua to Manor House later. That gave Nessa time enough to walk the forty-five minutes home and think.
She was just leaving the gate, well after the school had emptied, lost in thought and unaware when someone came up behind her.
“Nessa Blossom?” a deep voice said.
Nessa jerked and spun to confront a tall, muscular man in a nondescript suit and sunglasses. She was so surprised she didn’t even bother to correct him on her name. “Y-yes. That’s me. What do you want?”
He smirked. “He said you would be feisty.” He grabbed her arm and started dragging her towards a black, unmarked car. “Come on.”
Nessa struggled, pulling and tugging to try and break free, but the man’s grip was too strong. Panic started to set in. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? Let me go!”
The man frowned, decided that pulling her wasn’t worth the struggle, and picked her up. “Just. . . Calm down, would you? I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Says the suspicious man kidnapping me!”
The man laughed, opening the door to the car and tossing her in the back with another man. One more –in that same nondescript, black suit – was in the front seat.
The door automatically locked behind her and she made a frustrated noise as the first man started the car. “Where are you taking me?!” she demanded.
As he pulled out into the road, the man glanced at her through the rearview mirror and smiled. “Our employer told me to tell you that you would understand if I said it was a date.”
“How would I-“ She stopped then flopped back against the seat, sighing in irritation. If there had been any fear through her annoyance and anger, it was wiped out by the single thought that flitted through her mind. “Damn him.”
Well, she might as well enjoy the ride. Since this was Rhone’s doing, there was no way she was getting out of this. Might as well just let it go and yell at him when she got there. After all, it wasn’t like she was being taken to the middle of nowhere.