“Sorry,” I grumbled. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind. Has it really been two days?”
After spending Friday night with Nathan, I came home and was still in such shock that I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone. I guess I could see how my behavior would freak my parents out. Not emerging from my room at all on Saturday and Sunday would probably seem a bit weird for a social butterfly like me. If we didn’t have Monday and Tuesday off for teacher prep days, they probably would have relied on school to set me right, but with the days off, they had to call in reinforcements.
“Yeah, babe. It’s Monday night. Jeez.” She pointed at my bed. “Sit. I’ll make you a sundae while you explain what’s going on. I’m spending the night, by the way. Mostly because your mom is making spaghetti.”
I giggled, knowing that was Avery’s favorite of the dishes my mom made. “Fine. I don’t really like you all that much, but I suppose.”
Avery rolled her eyes. “You’d die without me.”
I flopped down onto my bed. “I really would.”
Avery pulled out the contents of the bag in her hand. She had a couple of bowls, strawberry topping, and caramel syrup amongst the ice cream and chocolate. She held up the carton of ice cream, caramel apple, my favorite, and I was starting to feel better already just watching her compile a sundae that she knew I would enjoy.
I really did love my best friend. She was the one good thing that came out of The Royal Court.
“Okay. Out with it,” she said. “What happened?”
My cheeks burned as I admitted, “Nathan and I were having sex, and it was it’s typical, boring stuff.”
“Right,” Avery replied.
“Well, then, all of a sudden, in the middle, I started to think about Deon, and I got all turned on and started, quite literally, using Nathan as a sex toy. I said Deon’s name.”
“Yikes!” she yelped. “What… Uh… What did he do?”
“Well, he freaked out, understandably. Then we got into this big fight, and I tried to break up with him.”
Avery froze in place and looked over at me. “Seriously?” I’d threatened to do it many times, but I never followed through, so the shock must have been huge.
“Yeah,” I said. “Seriously. I said the words, ‘Let’s end this.’ I told him that we were empty and that I didn’t know why I was even with him.”
“Wow.” Avery finished adding toppings to the bowl of ice cream she was putting together for me and then handed it over before starting on a bowl of her own. “I guess it didn’t work. You said you tried.”
“No, Avery. He told me that Miss Abrams is forcing him to have sex with her. She’s blackmailing him,” I explained.
Avery brought her bowl over and sat on the other side of my bed, facing me. “Are you sure he wasn’t just—”
I shook my head. “No, no. He wasn’t. He looked terrified, and then, when I tried to tell him that it was rape, he literally covered my mouth and wouldn’t let me say it. It was awful.”
“My god,” Avery said. “Based on your description of sex with Nathan, I wouldn’t think someone would want to blackmail him into continuing sex.”
“I know. That’s why I think there’s something else going on. He wouldn’t tell me what she had over him, so I’m gonna need to find out for myself.”
“Why not just tell Nikita?” Avery asked. “She’s in love with him and certifiably insane, so she’d find out. Or just kill Miss Abrams.”
“If I tell her, it’ll get back to Nathan. I need to try to get him out of this on my own.”
“Here you go again,” Avery said. “Why do you have to save everyone? Just worry about yourself for once.”
“I can’t. It’s not in my nature. Just think, if I can get him out of this, I can say goodbye to him for good. I’ll apologize to Deon, and everything will be fine.”
Avery took a bite of her ice cream. “Somehow, hearing you describe the situation doesn’t give me confidence that it will be fine, but I trust you. Just please be careful, okay?”
“I will. I promise.” I took a bite of my ice cream. “Actually, I don’t really know what I’m gonna do just yet. Some ideas would be nice if you had them.”
Avery thought about it for a minute and then perked up suddenly. “Oh! What about Sicily? He knows everything about everything, and if he doesn’t, he can find out. At least that’s what I hear.”
“Sicily, huh?” She wasn’t wrong about the rumors about Sicily’s abilities, but he also happened to be Deon’s best friend, despite the odds. Throwing some awkward interactions with Deon into this mess did not strike me as desirable, but it might be the best way forward. “I’ll think about it. Thanks.”
“Of course. What are best friends for if not shady contacts?” she asked with a chuckle.
Avery and I finished our sundaes. Having gotten out some of what was clogging up my brain, I was finally able to go back to working on college applications. Avery had already been accepted to her dream college, but I had no idea where I wanted to go. I got an almost immediate response from one of the colleges I submitted to, a local Maine college who’d heard of The Royal Court. They were excited about my involvement with them and wanted to set up an early interview. I left the email to sit while I thought it over. Not only did I not have any idea where I wanted to go, but I had no idea what I wanted to do. My whole life had been The Royal Court for four years. What did one do with those skills after high school?
Thanks to Avery lobbing topics at me, I was able to be more talkative during dinner and calm my parents’ fear about my sudden odd behavior by blaming it on
