Two.....the davenports

Moving rapidly to her side, he caught her just before her head hit the ground. He said her name a few times before slapping her very lightly, willing her back to consciousness.

Sighing, he watched as her chest rose and fell steadily. She had a beauty mark, he noticed, in the centre of her collar bone, so central it looked oddly perfect, highlighted by the silver of the chain around her neck. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead, catching his attention.

“Let’s get you some help,” he said quietly as he lifted her out of the room and down to the nurse’s office.

 

Genny gasped awake in a cold sweat, disorientated and confused. It seemed like she was in a hospital room at first, but something was out of place; she could actually breathe, as if no-one had ever died there. She focussed her vision on the posters around her, see something say something " a poster about bullying, a labelled diagram of the human body; it became apparent where she was, and she would choose the school’s slightly uncomfortable mattresses to a hospital ward’s any day.

Getting up and steadying herself, she tried to leave just as the nurse entered the room.

“Awake now are we? Just give me a moment to check your temperature and condition and then you can be off, you’re brother’s waiting to take you home,” she said as she went to the drawer and revealed an oral thermometer.

My brother? Her mind went to Will, who must’ve brought her there, and she couldn’t help wonder if he was the one waiting outside.

After taking her temperature and checking her head, it seemed to the nurse there was nothing wrong her; expect maybe exhaustion from the previous day’s events. The nurse then released her to the dark haired boy waiting in the adjacent room, who was in fact David. Apparently Natalia had a doctor’s appointment for Vidal; one of her little brothers, and Jorge was at work.

“David, do mind taking me to the police station?” She asked the second they were clear of the school.

He looked down at her as if she’d asked him to go swimming in a pool of dirty diapers and gym socks.

            “Please David, I want to find out if they found that girl, I need to talk to her,” she said, thinking of the bloodstained note that was clipped to the inside of a notebook down at the bottom of her bag, it seemed to pulsate palpably, like the telltale heart.

“Why? It’s just a coincidence she fell on you, what could you possibly have to ask her that won’t be prying into her business? It has nothing to do with you,” He chided. He knew just as well as she did that girl was probably in some sort of trouble, and David didn’t want her caught in any of it.

Coincidence is non-existent… This is what it had said on a tattoo on her mother’s back, in a dead language, her father had told her before he died. There was a large photograph of her, just the back of her, showing all her tattoos, it belonged to Genny and her blood brother Daniel now, and was sitting in the attic, with all the stuff that belonged to Adele and Nate, her real parents.

“David, eres mi hermano mayor, por favor, somos familia,” she tried in her most convincing accent, doing what Natalia did when she wanted anyone in the house to do something for her, “te quiero,” she said, putting her arms around him.

            He sighed giving in, “vale, pero me debes,”

            “If you do this I won’t make you drop me home from school anymore,”

He nodded and changed course, heading down town, she saw this as a win-win, the smell in his car was certain to cause her lung cancer, she was sure of it.

The police were a disappointment; they were no closer to having found her than they were to reversing climate change. No-one had even put a missing-person out on her or anyone looking like her, it was as if she never really existed or mattered to anyone. Except that boy... And the note, two things that convinced her she was real and important.

 

She hadn’t told David yet, about the note. When they were younger she used to trust him with every secret under the sun, now, she was still debating it. Rolling over, she stared at her ceiling, now was the time to make a final decision and waste no more thought on it. She resolved that there was no more need to follow it up; if it meant anything at all it would come back to her some day. Finally letting the dark encapsulate her, she fell into a deep sleep.

However, when she awoke, her eyes adjusted to the sight of the toilet and the sink, and the bathtub she was in. Not sleep walking, she moaned inwardly, why does my body always work against me?

 

Smells of Pizza wafted through the cafeteria and the buzz in the air was significantly reduced than that of the day before. Most people had stopped staring at Genny and she was glad of it. She was beginning to wonder if they were expecting some other mystery chick to fall from a window on her, and when they realised she wasn’t even mildly interesting, they all looked away. Story of my life Genny thought.

Scanning the room for Eden, Paige or anyone she knew her eyes were caught by those fierce electric blue eyes of the day before. She thought her heart missed a beat. How long had he been staring at her?

Seeing her look at him, he winked. Her eyes darted for a second. Was that a sign to come over? Or merely a passing hello?  She hadn’t forgotten what he said when he’d entered the room the day before, and that sent a sharp stab of anger through her.

Realising she was already approaching his table, her lips parted to say something. “Thanks,” she said to him. He was sitting alone " not that someone like him ever looked loner-ish " with a sandwich before him, his chunky camera resting on the desk. “Thanks for taking me to the nurse when I passed out. And, and f**k you, I sang a brilliant version of ‘Cry Me a River’,”

To her mild surprise he laughed, it was throaty and genuine. “I was joking, you know, being funny. I forgot you were always a fiery one Gen,”

Her eyes widened in alarm, for the last semester she always assumed he’d forgotten her like so many childhood friends she couldn’t remember herself. “You, you remember me? From elementary school?”

He shrugged. “Well you remember me, clearly,”

“Well yeah, you used to throw mud pies at me and taught me how to cartwheel, we all used to playfight, me, you and Summer and Penn,” she replied, a realisation dawning on her, “How come you never spoke to me when I started CAA in September?”

“I didn’t really think about it,” he said, making her feel slightly more insignificant than she did every day, “Are you gonna sit down or are you on Atkins?”

“Haha,” she said sarcastically, but taking a seat all the same, “Is that another one of your funny funny jokes?”

“Hey, I am funny, so funny you fainted,”

“Nobody finds anything so funny they faint,” she said, a faint smile beginning to creep around her mouth.

Looking at Will, he was not the kid she remembered, but then again, the kid she remembered was just that; a kid and they all looked pretty much the same. Will was the anti-social type, yet still maintained an aura of cool which drew people like magpies to silver, and kept people talking about him and his twin sister. The two rich, hot, social monarchs of the sophomore class.

“Oh yeah, that’s right, you saw me and was so taken by my looks, so overwhelmed with attraction that you couldn’t breathe. Very Medieval really. It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he said, eyes down, flicking through the photos on his camera.

“Wow. You always this egotistical?” she asked, taking a bite out of an apple.

“Egotisical? Most people think I’m charming,” he said, not quite answering her question.

He looked up from his camera, into her eyes since the first time she sat down, sending a jolt down her spine. A devious grin began to play around his mouth as he watched Genny, and she in turn tried to control her expression, calm, controlled and indifferent yet pleasant she went for.

As she adjusted her glasses, he raised his camera and snapped a quick shot of her in a flicker of a movement.

“What do you think you’re doing!?” she cried, alarmed, “Delete that,”

“No way, I never delete a thing, deleting pictures is like altering the truth,” he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Besides, it’s not like they go on facebook or anything,”

“They why take it?” she asked, but something else had caught Will’s attention.

A girl, tall with dark raven waves flowing past her shoulders, wearing a Dior Blazer with a matching bag, had been approaching their table. Summer Davenport really was a new kind of gorgeous, like the first in a long line of 21^st century beauty types.

However Will’s twin didn’t look too happy about the tall blonde guy who had wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Your friend have a good time last weekend?” the blonde guy asked. Lucas his name was, Genny had shared a class with him last semester.

The slightly annoyed look faded to one of sweetness and feminine vulnerability when she turned to him.

“Regina told me about her time with you on Saturday Lucas,” she said, eyes smouldering, “She told me to give you something, but I couldn’t find you yesterday,”

He smiled at her, it was laced with arrogance and macho bravado.

Then the sweetness faded. The look Summer gave him was enough to make Genny’s blood run cold. In one swift movement, Summer’s heavily ringed fist made contact with Lucas’s  nose. Lucas went stumbling back into another table, sending French fries flying as the occupants turned in confusion. If Genny knew what a warrior princess looked like she would’ve said Summer looked like one. Fearsome and powerful, yet still like an heiress.

“A*****e!” she exclaimed, approaching him to strike another blow, “How dare you drug Regina and then put your skeevy perv hands on me,”

By now Will was over by her pulling her off him. He knew Lucas wouldn’t fight back, but he also knew Summer could, and was prepared to kill him if he let her.

“Don’t you dare speak to me again, vermin,” she spat as Will pulled her back.

“Was that really necessary?” he asked as she sat down at the table with us, not appearing to notice all of the eyes in the cafeteria were on them.

“He drugged Regina, lucky I found her before he did, and if anything happened to her his body would’ve turned up in a river somewhere, outside state lines of course,” Summer said, with so much seriousness Genny doubted she was joking. “Have we met?” Summer said, her matching cobalt eyes shooting up to her.

“No, I mean we have, but not recently,” Genny stuttered. Summer still held the full force of her intimidation in her eyes.

“Gen went to elementary school with us, when we lived in Humboldt Park,” Will said for her.

Within an instant Summer’s face was unreadable, behind her eyes she could see a time she rarely went back to, a mother, a father, a quaint house in the neighbourhood her mother grew up in... In less than a second she carefully recomposed her expression, “You played Dorothy in the 6^th grade play? And I was Glinda,”

“Yeah,” Genny laughed, barely believing she could remember, “Wow,”

“I guess we were both meant for the stage, theatre major?” she asked.

“Musical theatre, I err, I like to sing just as much as acting,” Genny shrugged, “You?”

“Theatre,” Summer replied.

“She wants to be the next Jolie,” Will said.

Genny’s mind jumped to Lucas who had left the cafeteria without wasting time. “I could see that,” With the type of connections Summer Davenport must’ve had, she couldn’t imagine it being hard. “What about you Will?” Genny asked, glancing at his camera, she knew CAA didn’t do photography majors.

“Art. I’m the most brilliant artist of our generation, undoubtedly,” he replied, “in all mediums,” he said as if clarifying.

“Of course you are sweetie,” Genny replied " voice dripping with sarcasm " while patting his idle hand on the table.

To her immediate surprise he grabbed it, causing her heart to rise to her throat. Staring at Genny, he didn’t smile, but she could read the amusement in his eyes.

“I’ll prove it to you, easily,” he said.

Sliding her hand away, she took another bite out of the perfectly ripe green fruit. That last gesture made her consider something she wasn’t sure she wanted to yet.

“So, where’s Naomi?” she asked with nonchalance. Regretting the question instantly she held her breath with anticipation. Maybe she should act as if she doesn’t know rich details of his personal life, as if she’d never had conversations surrounding the lives of the Davenport twins.

He looked at her for just a moment. “In London,” he said, “On that student exchange programme,”

“If I were Will I would’ve gone with her,” Summer said, before taking a swig from a big brown bottle. A protein shake, they’d become a fad across the school, girls convinced that was Summer’s secret to a flawless body and perfect hair.

“I don’t think she’ll cheat on me,” he replied.

“Not for her,” she said, “For London, for the experience,”

He looked at her, as if she’s said something wrong, and at the same time he was slightly questioning.

“What?” Summer replied, “A month,”

Will shook his head before looking back down at his camera, both seeming to have forgotten Genny’s presence. It was all Genny could to do to ignore the confused faces that passed their table, wondering and bemused.

“Genny!” a voice called out. She quickly spotted the shock of red hair, “Whoa,” Eden said, quiet and surprised.

With her were two guys. Freddie, the awkwardly tall boy with the bridge piercing wearing the Vans hoodie nodded a ‘hi’ to Genny. He was cursed with more acne than anyone in the school, but quite possibly more musical talent, Genny thought.

Jesús " or Jay as his friends knew him " had been a close family friend her whole life, he wasn’t like too many of the upper middle class kids who had money their entire lives, he was just lucky his parents business was booming against the economy. He wasn’t that much taller than Eden, and Genny occasionally worried he was developing short man syndrome, he always seemed to need to prove he was a tough as taller guys.

“Hey guys,” she said. Jay, was staring at Summer, and Freddie was visibly trying not to. Luckily she was staring down at her iPhone, hitting the screen with a certain flare.

“Paige and me were wondering if you want to try out this new yoga place with us?”

“Is it Enso Yoga?” Summer said without looking up from her phone.

“No I don’t think so,” Eden said after a second.

“Min and I,” Summer replied, referring to the pretty Thai girl people were used to seeing her with, “would never go anywhere else, corner of West Madison and Oakley, 12 on Saturdays,”

Eden looked stunned for a second, Summer didn’t even glance at her. “Err great,” she smiled eventually, “12 on Saturday, you in Genny?”

“Yeah sure,” Genny said.

Summer glanced around at all of them before looking back down as her phone buzzed once more. “Gotta run,” she said without delay, hastening out of the cafeteria.

“Look at that,” Jay said to Freddie, “Another girl runs from you, I’m telling you man, it’s the 99 cents store cologne”

“Shut up man,” Freddie replied, “I booked studio time, so I’ll see you guys later,”

“Yeah I gotta catch up on some editing,” Jay said before leaving with Freddie.

Eden looked thoughtfully from Will who was tapping away on his iPhone, to Genny sitting opposite. She mouthed his name to her while tilting her head in his direction, to which Genny shook hers with an alarmed looked in her eyes.

“Oh, Paige is looking for me,” Eden said, feigning interest at her phones screen, “I’ll talk to you later Genny,”

“So,” Will said, looking up from his phone a moment later, vaguely registering the rest of the room, “tell me what’s happened in your life, while I wasn’t in it, I can’t imagine it was very exciting,”

“Oh no, I was just killing time until you spoke to me again,” she laughed, before actually putting some thought into it, “I’ve been working every fibre of my being into becoming an actor, on stage, since junior high it’s all I’ve wanted to do,”

“It must be nice to have some kind of ambition,” he replied, looking as Summer did only moments ago, like he was staring into some other dimension.

“You don’t have any ambition?” she asked.

His eyes re-focussed. “Should I?”

“You just said yourself, it must be nice,” she said, taking the last bite out of her apple and dropping the core on a napkin.

He ignored her last comment. “Ambition is for those who need something to do with their lives,”

“And you don’t?” Genny couldn’t imagine playing the rich kid his whole life would be that satisfying.

“Everything I want to do, I do, exactly when I want to do it. You should try it,” he replied, “Besides my brother won’t want to run Davenport Industries by himself when gramps is dead,” he shrugged.

Genny didn’t know how to reply, “It must be nice living like you then, Will,”

If he wasn’t looking at her before, he was surely he was now, or looking through her. With the weight his eyes seemed to carry, somehow she felt as though he could see past her eyes and into her soul. “You don’t know the half of it,”

 

The second Genny pulled her headphones from her ears after stepping through the front door, she was confronted by an onslaught of noise, it was almost as if her house had a voice of its own. From the living room came the sounds of videogame themes and prepubescent kids, her two little brothers and a couple more at least. Bachata music reverberated from the kitchen, along with Natalia’s voice chattering in Spanish to most likely one of the moms of the children Natalia minded.

Upstairs Jorge roared at some game on the TV from the master bedroom, not caring he was alone while Alma gossiped down the phone, from the bathroom in fact; the only place she could hear herself as David didn’t care who did or did not enjoy Cypress Hill.

Without wasting time Genny shut the door to her closet of a room behind her. While Natalia and Jorge had the en-suite, the boys had the next largest bedroom, and then David had a decent room while Alma and Genny both lived in sardine cans. David’s room was actually an upstairs extension " he used to share with the boys " which Genny could not wait to inherit when he went to Uni, and baby Marta would get her own little space where Genny was now.

Her room was nothing but a place to sleep in and storage space. The plain white walls held no posters and the few odd pictures she’d bothered to print out, and her bed covers always were basic blue, yellow, pink or black. When she needed to escape the chaos, she went for walks; she did as much work as she could in school, and totally avoided spending time in her room. When she did though, more often than not she had her headphones in, but this was the same in every part of her life.

Changing quickly she took her laptop up to the loft, Natalia had it converted into a rather large office where she permitted nothing but work to be done there. There were three wooden desks, not including the one with the computer on it, swivel chairs and two armchairs, and some shelves with various family textbooks stacked. She knew being a childminder made it hard for a houseful of teenagers to work, but this was her solution, so they had no excuse. It was almost soundproof up there, but what Genny loved most was that she could climb through the skylight onto the roof and permit herself to watch, and more importantly, listen to the world go by.

Similarly to everyone else her age, she knew, she ‘quickly’ checked facebook before launching into work " at least that’s what she promised herself she’d do. Two new friend requests she saw, from none other than her two new friends. Friends? It felt strange thinking of them that way, she never mentioned to anyone she knew them before CAA because it already seemed like they had no idea who she was, they were just people she saw, and heard about, and talked about, without actually knowing to any personal extent, let alone friends. She accepted.

Next she went to reading her unopened inbox message, her stomach dropping when she read the name of the sender.

Author's Note

same request, opinions please :)