Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The next morning, we were all sitting out in the back with news from Farah. Tuesday was always her day to make some announcement about this week's festivities. They were always great to hear and the reactions from the girls were always the best. It's like they haven't been down this road before. Aren't they used to this kind of thing? Growing up in Sunbury this should be a normal life for them. Then again, the Hadid's were different. Their kind of richness was on another level.

Regardless it was announcement day and of course Farah came out in her regular silk pajamas and hair up in a silk, tight looking bun. The bun looked painful but the pajamas I could totally get behind. Who doesn't like silk? Plus, I'm sure she was wearing expensive fabric and not that cheap stuff I would get. That's a privilege for ya.

Clearing her throat, Jeremy kindly handed her usual cup of coffee to her as she prepared to let us know what was up.

"Hello ladies, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves last weekend." She smiled, giving her usual eye to Jenna. Fucking weird. "This Saturday won't be about fun. Instead, will be testing your professionalism in a one of my favorites...a ball!"

That got us murmuring and excited as always. Of course, there had to be a ball thrown somewhere in this competition. This means going back to wearing dresses this week and I could only hope that it wouldn't be one of those puffy gowns like Cinderella or something. Not that she didn't look beautiful, but it would be harder for me to enjoy myself in that. Besides that, I didn't want to look like everyone else. No offense to them but I knew they would all be in the classic ball gown just with different material and colors. Hopefully, my Grammy knew me better than that and got something more akin to my taste.

However, it was exciting to hear that this was a ball! Their parties have been an absolute blast and that snack table was always my favorite part. That's exactly where I'll be again unless there is something Cyrus involved. Even then he'll know exactly where to find me I'm willing to bet we'll have to do a dance thing with him again. It's so predictable at this point it was getting boring. I like my meetings with Cyrus after hours than the meetings we had preplanned. Mainly because we get to be our true selves without worrying about anyone watching. Well, except for Jenna.

"This time instead of one-on-one dances with Cyrus, you all will be learning the classic waltz to do with all of us." Well, that threw me for a loop. "And don't think you can get out of it because it's mandatory. My dear friend Sasha will be working with you later today to get the steps down. Good luck ladies!" She smiled, leaving us to talk about Saturday's events.

Everyone was excited and rightfully so. I overheard Jenna talking about how this will be her fifth Hadid ball she's been to. Essentially bragging to all of us that she's always been connected to them in some way. It's times like these that make me wonder why she was even here. Twila aside, I'm sure all of us were here for a chance at getting Cyrus. Not at first, but I'm on board now. Having someone like Jenna in the competition devalues it because of her unfair advantage. Farah knows this and yet still invited her to be a part of it. The favoritism was blatant, but it didn't matter since I knew I was Cyrus' favorite. If I had him in my corner, there would be nothing to worry about.

Bradyn, Twila, and I walked back inside to avoid talking around Jenna and her crew. Although I did like Sienna, she was still associated with her so there was that. We walked towards the front of the house walking outside to talk there.

"It's already week four and the grand gestures keep on coming." Bradyn said happily accepting them. "You thought important people were at the party wait until you see the people at the ball." She fore warned.

Twila agreed. "Yes, but can we talk about this dancing thing? A waltz, really?" She didn't sound so happy about having to do a waltz and I didn't blame her honestly.

I laughed standing in front of them. "Oh, come on Twy, it won't be that bad. At least we don't have to do it one on one. That would be embarrassing especially since I can't dance."

This waltz thing was an interesting twist. I'm not sure what it had to do with Cyrus or the competition in general. I knew the ball itself was to see how well we handle ourselves in important situations. However, dancing didn't seem like it held any merit. What was Cyrus going to get out of watching us dance in front of people? Not only that, isn't a waltz done with two people? How would we go about choosing partners? Who gets to dance with Cyrus? My guess would be that Farah would make Jenna dance with Cyrus because that's her favorite. How would that even be fair though? This week's challenge really didn't make much sense to me, so I was going to just have fun with it. It's not every day that you get a dance lesson so what the heck!

They both laughed, feeling everything, I was saying. "It's a good thing we're getting this lesson then." Twila added feeling a bit better about the situation.

"Even if we didn't, I would have shown you guys." Bradyn was always so willing to help people. She was the nice one.

I looked at her surprised at what she said. "You know how to waltz?" I was stunned to hear that. She never mentioned anything about it.

She nodded her head smiling from ear to ear. "My dad put me in so many different lessons growing up. Something about being well rounded although ballroom dancing is pretty fun." She explained and it totally made sense.

"Wow, the more you know. How come you never mentioned it before?" Twila asked just as surprised as I was.

Bradyn shrugged. "I'm not sure. Didn't seem relevant I suppose."

She was right. It wouldn't have made sense if it weren't relevant to the conversation to bring up, she could ballroom dance. This will make her the most advanced one at the lesson later today so that was going to be fun to see. I was going to make sure I didn't stand next to her as to not look bad in comparison. Trust me, this was going to be difficult for me no matter how simple or hard the dance was. Learning to be coordinated was not my forte but I was going to have fun doing it. Either way, I was excited for Bradyn to show off her skills. She seems to fly under the radar. This was her week to shine, and I was all for it. She was one of my closest friends here.

Still standing outside talking, a familiar voice echoed behind me causing me to turn my head to look at him directly. It was of course Jason, or Jay, smirking at me as he walked over. He was dressed very down today which was always nice to see around here. He looked very eager to see me making sure to stop right in front of my view. This guy was always so flirtatious, reminding me of Cyrus. They were like two peas in a pod I swear. It's no wonder why they're best friends.

They're both assholes.

"Well, well if it isn't the goddess herself." He said talking to me directly.

I rolled my eyes not impressed by his words. "What do you want, Jay?" I asked, giving him my same reaction as always.

He chuckled, finding everything so funny. "Damn, no need to be so hostile. I was just saying hi." Bullshit. "Hello ladies." He finally greeted Twila and Bradyn.

They both said hi back Twila having this weird look on her face. She looked between the both of us like she was trying to piece together something. I'm not sure what she was thinking but it wasn't anything good judging by her face.

I fixed my attention back on Jason trying to end our conversation as quickly as possible. Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike him or anything like that. He was a pretty cool person. I didn't want Cyrus to get the wrong idea, thinking I was going to go after his friend. It's already hard trying to figure out who to trust out here in Sunbury. He needed to know that I wasn't going to be one of those people.

"Why are you here though? Meeting up with your friend?" I was curious to know why he was present. To my knowledge he doesn't just show up out of nowhere.

He smiled leaning down to my level. "That's for me to know and you to find out, gorgeous." There he goes complimenting me again. "Anyway, I really just stopped by to say hi and probably see you later."

That's all he left me with, making me even more curious to know why he was here. I didn't get that answer as he walked inside the house not before saying bye to the girls again. He was a strange one that was impossible to read clearly. However, he was still interesting enough for me to be intrigued by him. It made me wonder why Cyrus was friends with him. Like what's their back story? Aside from knowing each other for however long, what cemented their relationship? Something made Cyrus completely trust him for whatever reason. That was his only friend and there had to be a reason.

Nonetheless I didn't have time to dwell on it since we had to get ready for this dance lesson. Twila looked at me as we walked upstairs to our rooms. She had this smile on his face telling me she was thinking something crazy in that curly head of hers.

"That boy has the hots for you." She simply says confident in her judgement.

I scoffed not believing that. "Oh please, that's Cyrus' friend. He knows I'm here participating in this thing." I counter argue.

Twila rolled her eyes. "What does that have to do with anything, Autumn?" She questioned. "He at very least is captivated by you. Friend or not you can't stop attraction."

I hated when she was right. I could see him being attracted to me but why? He didn't even know me and knew I was not officially with Cyrus. Even Cyrus told him to back off that night at the Hadid party. I know that you couldn't stop someone from being attracted to you, but I had to nip that shit in the bud somehow. Even if it meant letting him down gently it was going to be done. Cyrus was the only one who caught my attention no matter how attractive Jason was. And he was a good-looking man but that's as far as it goes. I also didn't want him to ruin his friendship with Cyrus. That would break him, and I would do anything to preserve that for Cyrus.

Sighing, I didn't want to think about it anymore as I found some clothes to put on for this lesson. We had to wear a pair of heels to this rehearsal because ballroom dancing requires it. Not only could I not dance but now I had to dance in heels, and this was going to be extremely challenging. The best part is I got to see how everyone else does as well. I wasn't in this alone and was fully ready to take this lesson head on. Wish me luck!