Forever Hold My Heart

After Gavin got out of his shower we just talked. We got caught up in old memories and inside jokes that the event from earlier was forgiven. It was hard to accept how I had lived so long without his company. It almost made me sad to think that leaving didn't affect me as much as it did to him.
"Katelyn?" Gavin got serious
"Yeah," I responded
"If I ask you something will you be honest with me."
"Of course," I said as we laid in his bed just looking at the ceiling.
"You didn't just go out with me because I'm a Royal and I asked you to," Gavin said and I sighed
"First of all why would you even think that. Second of all let's not talk about 'politics'," I said and he smiled.
"Before we officially ban 'politics' from our conversations I just want to let you know that I've requested that you can come stay here. So you'd be a part of all the others that guard here." Gavin said
"That's sweet but try not to get your hopes up," I said
"Well I won't stop requesting until they give in," He said and I playfully rolled my eyes.
"You're such a brat," I said
"Hey somebody around here has to be pushy," Gavin said
"Here we go," I trailed off.
"I'm kidding I'll back off," He said with all seriousness. "If treating Custos like equals makes you happy then I'll play nice."
I furrowed my eyebrows
"Why the change of heart?" I asked
"I would rather see you happy," He said as he entwined our fingers together. I smiled at him. I liked Gavin, well he is my best friend, and I can feel the beginning of a spark coming on. Yet at the back of my mind something was nagging at me, wondering if this could actually work out. Who knew how much time I would actually get to spend with him. We laid there in silence but we were interrupted by someone knocking.
"Who is it?" Gavin said as he got up
"Damien," I sat up as Gavin opened the door. We saw Damien standing on the other side. He had a blank expression on his face.
"What's up?" I asked
"You have to go. Mathew called Travis to let him know where you will be staying. He also told him the rest of the arrangements but Travis can explain that to you. He's waiting for you downstairs." Damien said and then he walked away.
"Well I guess that's me," I said as I got up from his bed.
"When will I get to see you again," Gavin said as he stood in front of me.
"I don't know I'll try to come back when I can," I said
"Try not to take too long," He said as he caressed my face with his hand. I looked straight in his eyes, I could see a look in his eyes that I never really noticed before. All I could do was smile at him. I let go of his hands and I walked away. I looked back and gave him one last smile before I turned in the hallway.
I walked down the stairs to Travis and Julian. We left the building without a word. When we got in the car they were still silent.
"So?" I said from the back seat.
"Bad news or good news first," Travis asked
"There's bad news?" I groaned
"Some of it is not that bad, well depends on how you look at it." Julian said
"Fine tell me the bad first then some good than bad and so on and so forth. As long as you end with the good." I said
"Gavin's request was denied," Travis said and I smiled
"That's the bad news," I said
"You took that way better than I expected." Travis said
"Well when Gavin told me he sent in that request I knew it wasn't likely to begin with, if anything he'll probably be the one that's more disappointed," I said
"This is yours," Travis said and Julian handed me a silver brief case.
"What is it?" I asked
"Open it," Travis said I opened it. Inside it was a white hand gun custom made with my name in black lettering on the side. It had bullet cartridges and a gun holder.
"Its' so beautiful," I said as I aimed the gun at nothing in particular.
"Don't get too carried away, and if you have to use it you better make sure it's for a very good reason." Travis said
"How come I've never seen your gun?" I asked Travis
"I don't always carry it with me. Usually I'll only carry it outside of campgrounds." Travis explained.
"Let me see yours," I said to Julian, He pulled out a dark green gun. On the side it had white lettering with his name on it.
"Man this is so cool. I never thought the day would come where I would be so happy about having a gun." I said
"It happens," Travis said
"Oh before I forget," I said handing Julian his gun back, "Where's my phone at?"
"When was the last time you saw it?" Travis said
"At the masquerade?" I said unsure
"Well it never turned up," He said
"You don't think Mathew has it," I asked
"Maybe but I doubt it," Travis said as we pulled into the drive way of a house.
"Nice place," I said
"Welcome home," Travis said
"Seriously?!" I said and I hurried out the car. "Wait who else lives here?"
"Well this house was designed to host 10 people," Travis said getting out of the car.
"4 bed rooms, two of them have 4 beds, 2 of them only have one. That's because two Communia live here too." Julian added in
"Okay but you never answered my question." I said
"Oh right, aside from the two communia, you have; you, Julian, Landon, Adam, Jack, and Me." Travis said I gave him a huge smile. I'm so excited now. I mean disappointed that the family was split up but hey what's done is done right." I said and we walked inside.
"We still have more news."Travis said.
"Shoot," I said
"Well, let's show you your room," Travis said as we followed Julian up the stairs.
We walked over to the last door in the hallway, when we walked in I wasn't surprised.
"Top one on the left is yours," Julian said
"Okay so does this mean you're on our team?" I asked Travis.
"No, I'll be visiting on occasion but this is just where I'll be sleeping at," Travis said and I nodded.
"I'll be downstairs," Julian said and I climbed up the ladder.
"So now what?" I asked
"Well you will officially start doing assignments with the guys tomorrow." Travis said
"Well what's the assignment?" I asked
"Mall watch," Travis said climbing up as well
"They have a mall here?" I asked as he sat across from me.
"Yeah they do," Travis said and a thought occurred to me.
"You still have to take me shoe shopping." I said
"After all this time you still remember," He said
"Yeah plus some of my shoes are all worn down," I said
"Only the black and white ones that you usually wear." Travis said
"True but now I'll be wearing a variety, considering now I won't be wearing comfy sweat and loose shirts all the time." I said
"Fine tomorrow I'll stop by when you guys are closing up and we'll go shopping." Travis said
"Awesome," I said
"GUYS!" Julian called from downstairs. "THERES NOTHING TO EAT!"
I laughed.
"They just went shopping for food yesterday!" Travis answered
"How am I supposed to eat this if it's frozen!" Julian answered back
"Microwave!" Travis yelled back
"If the house burns down it's not my fault." Julian said and I just laughed some more.
"I guess you didn't teach us everything." I said and Travis just shook his head.
"Well you would just assume some things are common sense," Travis smiled and I laughed.
"I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that!" Julian said
"Since I know you're going to be here with me for the rest of the day," I started
"What makes you so sure?" He smiled
"Oh come on today was testing everyone gets the rest of the day off except for Mathew," I laughed.
"Come on, why don't I, show you around." Travis said. He showed me where the other guys were staying, where the communia were staying, the den, the living room, the pool room, the dining room, the kitchen, and finally the back yard.
"Wow seems like a guy place," I said
"Let me guess, it needs a girls touch," Julian said coming out side while peeling an orange.
"No I mean it's enough to keep a guy entertained." I said and I walked over by the edge of the pool.
"Hey if you look close enough you can see the bottom of the pool has designs carved into it," Julian said I actually bent over to try and see when I was pushed from behind. I let out a scream just right before I hit the water. I quickly surfaced to find Julian and Travis laughing. I swam to the ledge and pulled myself out. I took off my shoes and just stood there waiting for them to calm down.
"What the hell!" I said
"It looked like you could use a swim." Julian said and I threw my shoes at him.
"I can't stay mad at you," I said as I walked over to him. I jumped on him and gave him a hug.
"Aw come on," Julian said lightly trying to push me away. "Now I'm all wet."
"I was wondering what the big commotion was about," We looked to the back door and saw Landon, Adam, and Jack.
"Man last time I saw you, you were drunk as hell," Adam said as they walked over.
"Hey, hey let's not discuss that," I said
"Well my darling, go get dressed because we are going to take you to your first assignment." Landon joked.
"Which is?" I asked
"Party crashing," Adam said doing an awkward little dance.
"Party crashing?" I asked
"Yeah going to teen parties and making a bust." Jack said shrugging his shoulders.
"It'll definitely be interesting to be on the other side of this one," I said more to myself.
"You use to party?" Julian said almost uninterested.
"Yeah but I'd like to consider myself 'the one who could actually tell you everything that happened at the party' type," I said with a smile, "If anything I would just dance for fun nothing to raunchy."
"Alright well you better go take a shower or change, whatever it is you have to do," Jack said and I just went on. When I was done with my shower I changed into a playsuit. Although the sun would be setting soon it was still pretty hot. I quietly walked into the hallway and stopped to tie my shoe again. I heard the guys talking so I listened.
“So you didn’t tell her,” Jack asked I was about to start walking down the stairs but stopped.
“No, not even Gavin told her,” Travis said
“How did he even know to begin with,” Landon asked
“Cecilia told him,” Travis answered.
“What doesn’t that girl know” Julian said
“Who’s going to tell her?” Adam asked
“I think Mathew should just tell her.” Travis said
“I think Gavin should tell her,” Landon said
“I was thinking Blake or Eddie,” Julian said
“Let’s not talk about it anymore,” Travis said and I started walking down the stairs. When I walked into the living room, I wasn’t sure if I should even say anything but the look on my face must have given it away. The guys were all silent just waiting for me to have an outburst or maybe even an intervention. I made eye contact with every single one of them. Whatever it was I could tell they really didn’t want to be the ones’ to tell.
“I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear anything, but I do want to know eventually so whatever it is that you guys are not telling me I want to know by tomorrow night,” I said and they just exchanged glances. “So how does this work?”
“How does what work?” Adam asked
“This whole party bust. Do we need badges or do we just roll up like we own the place?” I asked
“Actually this is going to be our first time.” Jack said
“Yeah all we were told was to go around and stop them,” Landon said
“This shouldn’t be too hard.” I said
“So how do we know where the parties are at?” Julian asked
“It shouldn’t be too hard to find a party,” I said
“Well true but we can’t just drive around here all night,” Jack added
“Didn’t you give Charles your number?” Travis asked
“Yeah,” Jack said
“Then you should receive text messages from about any addresses that people have called and complained about,” Travis said
“So what, now we just wait?” Julian asked
“I guess so,” Landon asked and then it was quiet. We then heard Jack’s phone vibrating. I saw him blush.
“So where to?” Adam asked
“It was somebody else,” Jack said and everyone but Adam and I smiled.
“Oh come on don’t leave us out of the loop,” I said
“It’s nothing,” Jack said and his phone vibrated again.
“So are we taking two cars or we going to all squeeze into one?” Julian said. If I could just have my telepathy skill down conversations wouldn’t be so choppy.
“We can all fit into one,” Adam said
“Alright one it is,” Jack said
“I’ll drive,” I said running over to grab the cars keys.
“No way,” Travis said taking the keys from my hands, “You’re not allowed to drive unless it’s a last resort.”
“Because can you imagine if everyone was in the car and you had a connection then we’d all die,” I said mimicking Marcus when he was giving me a lecture.
“He’d be proud that you memorized that,” Julian said and lightly shoved his shoulder.
“Let’s get the show on the road!” I said. When we got in the car I had to sit on Landon’s lap. The car ride was silent until Landon kept making sniff sounds.
“Is everything okay there?” I asked
“Has anyone ever told you, you smell really good,” Landon said leaning his forehead on my back.
“Not really but this is a bit awkward,” I said
“Don’t worry he slept with Jack for about 3 days, but once he gets use to your smell he won’t be all up in your space,” Adam said and I laughed at Jack’s face expression.
“But it’s not like this is the first time we’ve met.” I said
“It’s the first time he’s gotten a good smell,” Travis said
“You guys make me sound like a dog,” Landon said and I laughed.
“You know we make an odd team.” I said with a smile.
“I can see the party lights,” Jack said from the front seat. Travis parked the car. “I also got another text.”
“Let’s just focus on one thing at a time,” Travis said
“So what’s the plan,” Julian asked
“Stop the music. Find the DJ and stop the music and use the microphone and announce that this party is a bust,” I said
“Alright let’s go,” Jack said and we all got out of the car. We almost immediately split up. I went into the backyard there was a lot of people here. I could hear the music I just couldn’t see a DJ. I looked back at the house and they were playing the music from the balcony. I was making my way through the crowd, when someone grabbed me by my wrist. I turned around and was confronted with a boy with black hair combed into a fohawk.
“You don’t remember me do you?” He asked and I furrowed my eyebrows. “It’s me, Nate from the club.”
“Oh,” I paused, “Oh! Wow I’m a bit embarrassed.”
“No it’s okay, I know who you are.” He said with a smile, “I guess it’s a legitimate excuse for never calling me back.”
“Wow, I don’t know what to say,” I said
“You look good,” He answered
“Thanks,” I said
“You’ve taken all the news pretty good,” He said glancing behind me, “How did the surgery go?”
“Surgery?” I asked
“Yeah I read about it on the internet,” He said
“Oh what did you read?” I asked when the music stopped playing and I could hear Julian through the microphone.
“Alright this party is a bust, go home,” Julian said. There was a series of boo’s and cups thrown, “Hurry it up or I’m going to have to start taking some of you in.”
“Well I’ll see you around,” Nate said and he walked away with the crowd.
“Wait,” I said trying to catch up with him I made my way through the crowd and even tried calling out to him but he was gone and before I knew it the crowd was disappearing too.
I made my way back to the backyard. What the hell was this kid talking about? Was this what the guys were hiding from me? I needed to get on the internet.
“Katelyn,” I turned and saw Adam waving me over. I walked over, and just smiled.
“That went well,” I said
“Yeah let’s go to our next hit.” Adam said.
When we got back into the car everyone was talking about their encounters I was too busy thinking about how I was going to get on the internet.
“What about you Katelyn,” Landon asked he was still smelling me.
“Oh I, it was okay,” I said
“Is everything okay?” Landon asked
“Yeah, I was just thinking about something,” I said
“Hey guys so far we have two more parties to go to,” Jack said
“Is it okay if I’m in charge of the phone,” I said and Jack shrugged and just handed me his phone.
“Thanks,” I said easy as pie.
“Alright next place isn’t too far from here,” Travis said.

When we finally reached our destination, just like before we split up, only this time I went to the bathroom. I opened the internet it was noticeably different than the one back at home. I clicked on a search bar and typed in my full name ‘Katelyn Henderson’. I was surprised to see a couple of articles referring to me as the daughter of infamous traitor. It was like I was some celebrity but a lot of information about me was disclosed. I finally found a more recent article talking about my surgery. Reading about it felt surreal, I even had to sit down on the floor. I heard the music stop, followed by an announcement. I immediately exited the browser. I got up from the floor; each step I took towards the door was as if I was carrying the world on my shoulders. I begin to feel sick to my stomach.
Was I really going to try and pretend what I just read was a rumor. I pulled down my play suit and examined my stomach. There was no scarring, no wonder I was asleep for so long. I finally pulled up my playsuit and opened the door. I walked out of the house and over to the car. I saw Travis standing there. I walked over to him, I opened my mouth to say something but no words would come out.
“What’s wrong,” He asked
I slapped him with my right hand, I went in to slap him with my left but he stopped it. I could feel the tears coming. I tried to fight, to fight him, but he only held me tighter. Finally I gave in and started to cry.
“Why did you let them do this to me,” I said and he just held me into a hug without saying a word.