Arranged

Nessa's birthday rolled in like a flash and - with help from Joshua and the staff - she had somehow managed to convince Terry to give her a small party in the kitchen instead of a ball in the rest of the house. She had been severely relieved when he'd agreed. She'd never had a birthday party before and it didn't seem right to throw a party in a strange house when she had no one to invite. But the small celebration had the desired effect.
Of course, Nessa had forgotten about it easily within a month, so when Joshua led her into the decorated kitchen, she'd been taken completely by surprise.
All of the staff came - which only included ten maids and butlers, the two kitchen helpers, Chris, Terry and Joshua - and each of them gave her a gift.
Joshua gave her a chain bracelet with a glass, blue and green heart dangling from it. the chain itself was silver, he said, but it was so beautiful she hadn't known what to say.
Terry had given her a giant cake decorated with edible roses and chocolate stars. But he'd also given her a single rose - a real one.
"Every beautiful young lady deserves a rose from a gentleman at least once in her life," he'd said with a wink.
"Too bad he's not a gentleman," someone had said, making the room burst with laughter.
And Chris, blushing and fidgeting, had given Nessa a pair of silver earrings that dangled down with shining green beads at the end. The silver wrapped around the beads like vines.
"I didn't know what you liked," he'd said, blushing from head to toe and rubbing the back of his neck. He'd felt like a schoolboy again. Nessa had been so moved she'd cried and they'd all shared a laugh as Chris panicked.
Laughing and crying, she'd kissed his cheek. "It's okay. They're happy tears. I love the earrings. Thank you." She'd looked at the staff. "Thank you so much." Overwhelmed, her eyes had overflowed and she was forced to sit down, crying like a baby as everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her.
But now. . Now she was cooling her head outside. The sun was setting and a red glow was cast over the lawns as she walked across the fields.
This place was amazing, she thought with surprise. She felt at home amongst the staff. it was the family she'd always wanted growing up. The family she had wanted to create with her husband.
She frowned at the thought.
Her husband. . Married or not, the brat could have had the decency to drop by and introduce himself. but instead, she'd heard excuse after excuse about why he couldn't exactly come home. But, then, she couldn't really judge him. She wasn't too keen on meeting him either.
Sighing, she turned back to the house and stopped. She looked up at the towering structure with its high windows and iron balconies and suddenly chilled. Though laughter drifted from the open kitchen door, she felt trapped.
The house was a cage. Much like her last home, it was a facade. A perfect image created to hide the disasters within. This time, instead of the fighting and forced slavery, the disaster was loneliness.
She hugged her arms around her and stared at the gilded cage. Something told her the disasters she found here were far worse than any she'd ever faced before.



"Nessa!" Joshua yelled. "You're gonna be late. Hurry up!"
Nessa grabbed her backpack, stuffed in a few notebooks and pens, her class schedule, ipod and wallet and ran down the stairs, riding the banister because it was faster. She landed in front of Joshua only slightly out of breath, but still late.
"Okay, that was cool," he said, leading her out of the house. "But, next time, make it so you don't have to ride the banister, 'kay?"
"Right," she said as they slammed the car doors and sped away.
First day at a new school, she hadn't even gotten there, and she already felt like an outcast. She'd done her research on the place and had found that it was one of those stuck-up, private institutions for the rich. She wasn't going to enjoy this much. Not to mention the small, itty-bitty little fact that somewhere inside the school was her cheating, adolescent husband.
She sighed as they pulled up to the large rectangular building. She already new from their virtual tour that the building had four wings - each wing for each subject - and each wing had three floors. The four wings surrounded a large central courtyard, which had a remarkably stage-like platform where students could eat or just mill about. Right now, they were crowding.
As she walked into that courtyard now for the Orientation Ceremony, it seemed that the platform was converted into a stage. There were microphones, a drum set, speakers, lights. . You name it, it was probably there.
Squeezing her way to the front to get a better look, Nessa accidentally collided wit ha boy, knocking them both to the ground.
"Ouch," she muttered, rubbing her elbow.
"Hey, Shade," another boy said, helping him up. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he answered. "I think she'd worse off than I am, don't you think, Sade?"
She looked up and was dumbfounded. Nessa was staring at a pair of identical twins. They both had on extremely tight pants and were skinnier than - not to mention tall as - trees. One was just standing there, staring, his arms crossed over a chest that hadn't quite filled out yet. The other was dusting off his pants and a shirt that sported some logo for a musical on the front.
Nessa couldn't help but stare. They were hot - even if there were a little skinny. Each had a square jaw and large, lush lips, a long nose, dark-chocolate eyes and even darker hair that was gelled to looked stylishly messed.
"Are you guys models?" she heard herself ask. Inwardly, she cursed.
They both looked at each other then burst into identical forms of laughter. Reaching their hands out, they both said, "Come on!" and pulled her to her feet, dusting her off.
"Well," she said after thanking them. "I"m Nessa Blo-" She stopped. She didn't really want anyone to know that she was now related to Mr. High-And-Mighty, but she didn't want to lie either. "Nessa. Just Nessa."
The twins shared a look again, but made no comment.
"My name is Sade," the one on the left said. He pointed to his twin. "The one you knocked over is Shade. You new here?"
She nodded and turned to the stage. Luckily, no one had stepped on them while they were on the ground, and that gave them front-row - if there were rows - center-stage seats.
"So, what is this?" she asked, waving a hand at the stage.
"Orientation," Shade said, coming up on her left.
Sade came up on her right. " Fevered Dreams puts on a show every year to start it off. It's become their thing. The lead, who makes all the girls go-"
"-crazy-" Shade put in.
"-picks a chick from the audience, pulls her up on stage, then takes off with her. And he's got a reputation for being a little-"
"-loose-"
"-with himself."
"Ah." Nessa grimaced. "Gotcha." She crossed her arms. "So, what? They just sing and it's off to classes?"
Both boys shrugged. "Pretty much," Sade said. "They hold a Christmas, Valentine's, and end-of-the-year concert and they're pretty big already in the Main Stream, so it's not that bad."
"Besides," Shade said. "They play our kind of music."
"Yup," Sade agreed, nodding. "Pretty good stuff. Hey, how old are you?"
The abrupt change of topic had Nessa stumbling. "Uh. . Eighteen. My birthday was a week ago."
"We're seventeen. We'll catch up to you in December. Did you know that our birthday is on the same da-"
"It's starting," Shade interrupted.
The stage suddenly erupted in fog and noise and lights. The school - or crowd, in this case - erupted in cheers and screams. Sade and Shade screamed and shouted, too, and left her feeling like an outsider. But, then, she was.
Then, suddenly, with a pop, a boy jumped out of a trap door in the ground and landed on stage, a mic in his hand. A drummer rose behind him and to his sides, a bass player and guitarist rose. Music poured from the speakers, an odd mix between techno and rock, but it really wasn't the music Nessa was paying attention too.
The boy - who seemed to be her age - was tall and his body was already filled out. He was wearing black jeans and boots that came to his shins covered in buckles. Chains hung from his waist along with a studded belt. On his left wrist he wore a spiked leather cuff as a watch. A large chained bracelet covered his right and he wore three rings - one on his right hand and two on his left.
Her eyes trailed up to finish the outfit in a gray tee-shirt, covered in black designs, that faded to lavender as you went down and a black jacket that was tailored to look marvelously torn. The sleeves didn't reach past his elbows, held in place by straps. Three necklaces of varying sizes topped it off.
Nessa made her eyes continue upward and had to catch herself before jaw hit the floor.
Sade laughed beside her. "And you thought we were models," he yelled over the music.
He was right. If Nessa had thought Sade and Shade were hot, then the lead singer was just flat-out gorgeous. His face was rather round and soft, but his jaw was square. His mouth was wide, his lower lip fat and pouty under the thinner, more feminine curve of his upper lip. His nose was somewhat short, but straight and smooth, and his eyes were curvy almond - shapes of pale green under thick brows that arched up. His forehead was square and gave the illusion it was small under the thick mass of his hair - which was slicked back and to the left side of his head, creating a sort of wind-blown effect.
Nessa was mesmerized and she suddenly realized why all the girls were going nuts. It didn't matter that he had a voice as smooth as silk, his face would have gotten him any number of fans.
It wasn't until the middle of the song that Nessa was able to actually snap out of her crazy spell. By the time he was finished, she was completely back to normal.
"Now I'm gonna pick one lucky girl to spend the day with," the boy said. He winked at the crowd. "And who knows? by the time that's over, we might be more than just acquaintances."
The girls screamed and Sade sighed. "Oh, it's too bad he's not into men. I bet I could show him a really good time."
Nessa's brows raised. "Sade, are you. . ?"
"Gay?' he finished, flashing a smile. "Totally."
She shifted her gaze to Shade. "What about you?"
Shade's cheeks flushed red as Sade busted out into laughter. "Shade? Gay?" he said. "He's as straight as they come. It's the only thing different between us, really."
She smiled. "Whatever. I bet there's more."
"It doesn't bug you?" Shade asked.
"The gay thing?" She shook her head. "Not in the least. Now can we get out-"
"You!" the speakers blasted.
Nessa stopped, mid-turn and glanced at the hand that was extended down to her and followed it up to see the lead singer of Fevered Dreams.
"You've got to be kidding," she said in shock. Girls groaned around them in disappointment.
His mouth quirked up at one side. This girl, whoever she was, was absolutely and one-hundred percent going to be his. She had stood there - just stood there - and watched him with a cool and assessing stare that nearly had him forgetting the lyrics to his song.
She was definitely going to be his. "Not in the least. For today, you're mine."
Nessa shivered. From what, she wasn't sure, but she felt as if he meant she'd be his for far longer than just a day.
"What are you doing?" Sade whispered, shoving her forward. "This is once in a lifetime! You better have fun for me. I wasn't to know everything later."
Later. She could see them later. Relief filled her, making her go against her better judgment. Her husband was probably having fun somewhere, why couldn't she?
Shrugging and taking his hand, she threw caution to the wind. "What the hell."