CHAPTER 28: SLEEPOVERS

"Hey, Claudia!" I spin around, my wet hair slaps me across the face and I sigh aggravated
and remove my hair from my cheek. Willow grins and shakes her head, "want to sleep over
tonight?" I sigh in disappointment.
"I can't sorry, I have uni tomorrow." She quirks an eyebrow and shakes her head, "um, yeah I
do."
"No, it's a public holiday tomorrow!" She exclaims and I grin, oh my god how could I forget?
"Yessss," I grin saying yes because there's a public holiday. "Okay then yeah, I can sleep
over but Aaliyah won't be able to. She is going somewhere, I asked her if she wants to do
something and she said no she can't because her parents organised something," I shrug.
"Oh okay... well let's go to your room and pack your stuff!" We aren't even going to tell the
guys... like, they don't need to know every single detail. Do they need to know when we have
our next period too? They'll figure it out. Shrugging I throw an Australia Day shirt and some
black shorts into a small bag, I grab my toiletries like tooth brush, hair brush and toothpaste
then I put on my flip flops and throw my phone charger in there then a block of chocolate that
was hidden in a draw. "Is it okay if I invite my best friend, Nova?" She asks," I grin and nod.
"Of course it's okay! I'd love to meet her." Willow smiles, thinking to herself as we walk down
the stairs. When Zac and Val appear out of nowhere and notice the bag I'm holding they
furrow their eyebrows and look between the two of us in confusion.
"What's happening now?" Isaac groans running a hand through his tousled black hair.
"Sleepovers! We're also inviting her friend named Nova, it's going to be pretty cool," I explain
to the two of them. Valentino shakes his head and mutters something under his breath.
"I'm sure that Mike would want her all to himself girls," Val grumbles. I freeze. Mike? Nova?
MIKE AND NOVA?! Pieces of the jig-saw puzzle start to come together so I can see a
clearer picture. Nova is the one they were referring to as Mike's girl, she was the one who
couldn't make it. They are married!
"Oh my god, why didn't any of you tell me that Nova is Mike's wife?!" I exclaim looking
between the three of them. They all look at each other and burst out laughing, um, how is
this so funny?
"We hadn't even talked about Nova, babe," Zac chuckles, ignoring the butterflies in my
stomach I scowl at him placing a hand on my hip. "Okay! Let's have this sleepover!" Isaac
exclaims in a girly high pitched voice, I shake my head and storm outside to the car. When
Willow, Val and Zac step outside they're all laughing and I frown. Val grabs Willow's hand
and leads her to his car and Zac just walks over to me with a small smile. He opens my door
and I stare at him in surprise, what is he doing?
"What are you doing?" I ask.
He looks at me slowly and raises his eyebrow, "what does it look like I'm doing? I'm opening
your door for you." A small smile spreads out on my face and nod not bothering to ask him
why is he opening the door for me. I'll just accept the offer. He shuts the door behind me and
runs around the front of the car to the drivers seat, he gets in and slams the door behind him
and starts up the car. I see Val driving towards the gates and Zac slowly follows behind him.
The steel gates open and we drive out and they close behind us, the car is completely silent
but not an awkward silence.
Maybe I should tell him about me telling Val that we are in an arranged marriage, but then
he'd get really mad and I don't really want to deal with a mad and upset Zac. I feel like I've
lost his trust. I should've kept my mouth shut. "Are you okay?" His voice snaps me out of my
thoughts, I look at him and nod, he raises his eyebrows but doesn't question me further.
A black mansion comes into view, not white- black. It is all surrounded and protected by
obviously gang members acting as guards, their faces are serious. They watch as the cars
stroll up the driveway and stop, I jump out of the car after unbuckling my seatbelt and grin
looking around; it's not even scary!
Willow gestures for me to go to her and I skip over to her, as hook out arms together and
walk inside. "Why hello there," I hear another female voice, I look over at the couch and
notice a girl with light brown hair that is kind of wavy, it just passes her shoulders. Her skin is
fair and her eyes are a dark chocolate, hypnotising really. She kind of has a rosy tint to her
cheeks, her cheek bones are well defined. I notice the diamonds sitting on her wedding
finger and now I can tell that this is Nova Saunders, the girl they were referring to as 'Mike's
girl.' She stands and walks over to us, she hugs Willow then looks at me with a small smile,
"you must be the Claudia Miller, am I right?"
I grin and gesture to myself, "in the flesh." She hugs me as a greeting, "it's nice to meet you!"
I exclaim with a grin.
"It's nice to meet you too," she replies. She looks behind me and grins waving, "hey guys!" I
notice Mike wrap his arms around her when he reaches her and presses a kiss to her
temple, she smiles and punches him softly. Five guys come filing down the stairs, one with a
very cold look. Colder than Valentino's.
Zac stands next to me and they all look at me as grin, "I'm Jarrad Grey!"
"I'm Landon Edwards and you can call me anytime," Zac's arm that was slung lazily around
me tightens, I look at him and he sends him a deathly glare.
"Flirt with her again and I'll knock your head in Landon," Zac spits. Landon' smirk widens and
he chuckles putting his hands up in defence.
"I'm Aidan.... Aidan Jones," he cracks up laughing and I shake my head.
"Titus Sage." He's the guy with a colder look than Valentino and that's saying something. Val
doesn't want anyone knowing how he feels, but this guy it's just too much...
"And I'm Chris Hale!!" I grin and wave at all of them.
"It's funny how you don't even care that they are gang members," Willow chuckles, I shrug
with a grin.
"That doesn't really matter to me. It doesn't define who they are, maybe except for you..." I
point to Titus, he glares at me but it really doesn't affect me. "You should know that I've been
through way worse than a creepy gang member glaring at me," he scowls and rolls his eyes.
"Seriously dude. Just because you have a cold face on doesn't make you cold, you will
always change for that one person," I see an emotion swirling around in his eyes. Broken,
sadness, regret.
Maybe I'm a f*cking genius to know what he's feeling but I can tell, he has a pained
expression but he masks it with a roll of his eyes. "Let's eat!" Zac exclaims, they all holler
and walk to the dining room. As I'm walking past Titus who is standing there completely still I
whisper;
"I saw that." Then I walk past him into the dining room.
||
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" We chant throwing our fists in the air staring at Landon and Aidan
pushing and shoving each other; practically the same thing!
Landon is pretty strong for his small size, he's probably the smallest in the group and he can
throw pretty good punches and tackle people half his size to the ground. I bite into the sushi
I'm pretty sure Jarrad made, he's married! Like lucky her, her man can cook! Getting bored
of the whole fight thing I walk away over to Nova and Willow who are sitting on the couches,
they look at me as I sit down.
"Did you see their gory fight?" Willow asks, I shake my head a bit confused. "When these
guys fight- even play fight it can get pretty bad, blood knuckles, blood noses, bruises and
intense fighting. After we first watched them fight we decided to never watch them again, I
don't like fighting," Willow frowns and Nova looks at the ground.
"You don't like your guys being in a gang?" I ask looking between them, they stare silently at
me for a moment before shaking their heads.
"Hate it. He could get killed!" Nova exclaims, Willow bites her lip.
"Well Val and I aren't dating..." she trails off.
"But you like him!" Nova sings pinching her cheeks, she frowns and glares slapping her
hands away from her face. Willow definitely likes Val, last night she said that he was her
boyfriend for crying out loud! And you can just tell.
"Last night you called him your boyfriend when you were telling us who he was," Nova looks
at me in surprise then cocks an eyebrow at her friend. Willow glares playfully at me then
sighs.
"Fine." She grumbles, "I like him a teensie- bit."Nova and I give her a look and she groans
throwing her head back, "fine more than a teensie bit!" Nova and I look at each other
grinning happily.
"We knew that already,"I wave her off and she scowls crossing her arms over her chest.
"I wonder when Amalia and Cadence are coming over next," Willow changes the subject and
it works. I have no clue who any of them are so I don't say anything.
"Who are they?" I ask.
"Amalia Grey and Cadence Wright?" Amalia Grey... Jarrad Grey.. Are they siblings?
"Are they siblings?" Both of them start laughing, the laugh where you can't breathe at all.
They shake their heads and sober up.
"Amalia and Jarrad are a couple- they're married!" My mouth forms an 'o' shape and I nod.
"Cadence is Aidan's girlfriend, they're both cool and are our good friends. I think that
Cadence's little sister likes Titus, she's not that much younger than us though. She's 22, her
names Emberly and Titus is really protective over her. She makes him good, I think he likes
her; finally, after what happened to Jasmine..." Nova trails off, she gasps and slaps her hand
over her mouth with wide eyes.
"It's okay, I won't say anything or ask any questions about her." I'm not like most girls that
want to know everything and want to know who that person is, it's none of my business even
if I did want to know.
Willow twirls her dark brown hair- almost black around her finger nervously and sighs giving
Nova a look, "Titus will kill you Nova." Nova gulps but shrugs it off, she has a nervous look
on her face.
"So you know how Mike and I have been together for like 5 months as a married couple?"
Nova looks between the two of us, I furrow my eyebrows and shrug. No I didn't know
hahaha. "Oh, you didn't know. Sorry Claudia," I wave her off and wait for her to continue.
"Come here, I don't want anyone hearing this!" She hisses.
Willow and I look at each other, I shrug and we both walk over to her then sit next to her.
"Hurry up will you," Willow hisses wanting to know the gossip.
"I'm pregnant," she squeaks. I still, a silence spreads around us and the only words we can
hear are the guys shouting. Doesn't even sound like words though.
"Oh my god! Congratulations!" Willow and I practically jump on her. It's really god how I can
become close with someone after a conversation, it's amazing really.
"Thank you girls." She places her hand on her stomach and sighs looking over at Mike, his
tattoo is on full display. I have no clue what it is but it's pretty cool; Mike is super attractive
though. He has chocolate brown hair, olive skin, brown eyes, he's tall and has muscles, his
jawline is perfect and he has a slight stubble.
"You gotta tell him. How long have you been pregnant for?" I whisper.
"Well I went to the doctors to know for sure, he said I'm about 6 weeks along and the bumps
starting to show. I think he realises I've put on a bit but he hasn't said anything, I think I'm
going to tell him,"
She nods and stands, I look at her in confusion as well as Willow. We tug on her arms.
"No in private," Willow says, Nova shakes her head.
"STOP IT!" She screams. Everyone freezes and turns to her, they look at her in worry;
maybe she doesn't yell that much? Landon and Aidan stand up wobbling around, Landon
has a bruise forming on his cheek and Aidan has a bruise on his jaw. Mike steps forward
looking at her in worry.
"Baby, are you okay?" Willow and I look at each other in panic and try to stop her from doing
it in front of everyone. Wouldn't it be best if he knows before the guys?
"I'm pregnant," she blurts out, Willow face palms and I watch the exchange. All of their eyes
widen in surprise and Mike freezes, he better be accepting or I will kick him up the bum hole.
Tears prickle her eyes but she blinks them away, "say something, please."
A grin slowly forms onto his face, he lifts her into his arms and her legs wrap around his
waist. She lets the tears fall freely and Mike honestly looks so happy, I can see tears forming
in his eyes. He walks to the couch with her in his arms and places her down gently. Mike
looks at Nova's stomach and reaches out to place a hand on it, "you make me so happy
Nova."
Nova smiles, "I love you Mike."
"I love you too baby," I'm internally cringing whenever he calls her baby. He carries her bridal
style out of the room and up the stair case and out of our sight. Everything is silent, then
everyone cheers even though Nova and Mike are no longer in the room. Zac grabs my hand
and smiles.
"Want to go to bed?" I nod slowly and look at the clock on the wall. It's 11 pm at night and I'm
tired, I guess Nova did make the right decision by telling everyone. It shows that she's proud.
"Goodnight everyone!" I shout, they all say goodnight to us and we walk upstairs to a spare
room. I jump on the bed as soon as we enter and grin spreading my arms and legs out, he
chuckles and tries to get on but unfortunately for him I'm using up the whole bed. He pushes
me over and jumps next to me, if this is a honest night then I might as well tell him.
"Isaac," I whisper, he hums so I take that as my opportunity to continue. "I told Valentino that
our marriage is arranged," I blurt out. What surprises me is that he doesn't shout or get mad,
he wraps an arm around me and pulls me to him. And I don't complain.
"I know," he whispers, I look at him in confusion and he sighs. "Val told me," he explains.
"Of course he did. I told him not to and he promised!" Never trust gang leaders... or even
gang members.
"He crossed his fingers?" Zac says but it's more like a question. I laugh and place my head
on his chest because I know that the night I came to his room and slept with him holding me,
it wouldn't be the last time.
It would be the beginning of something extraordinary.