Chapter Eight – The Lennox Lawsuit

"Come on," I hissed. I ushered Parker onto the bus before checking behind us and following. The bus started moving and he took his hoodie off. Aside from the bus driver, we were the only ones on the bus. It wasn't surprising, since kids with that zip code didn't exactly take the bus.

Suddenly, it screeched to a halt. "Get down," I said to Parker. He put his hoodie up and ducked down. We'd stopped at a bus stop in front of another gated community. I saw Holden and let out a sigh of relief. He waved, grinning.

"Why are you catching the bus?" I exclaimed.

"It looks fun," he replied, sitting on the seat in front of us.

"Are you serious? I hate catching the bus."

"I've never caught one before. Is it always this empty?"

"In this area it is," I laughed.

Beside me, Parker shifted in his seat, putting the hoodie down again. His eyes were dark and sunken in. It'd been a few days since the news broke out and the reporters had been hunting him, camping outside the gates to catch him. We'd spent some time planning a sneak out plan for Parker and figured the bus would be the perfect cover. After all, no one would ever think to search for a kid billionaire on the public bus.

"Any progress with the case?" I asked.

"Knowing my dad, he's probably guilty, but Steph's family is on the case, so if there's any firm that can get him out of this crap hole, it's them," he replied. I nodded slowly.

The bus finally pulled up to the stop closest to the school. Closest wasn't saying much because the stop was a mile away. "You did not tell me the stop was so far!" Holden exclaimed. "If you had, I wouldn't have caught the damn bus."

"I did! You just weren't paying attention," I retorted.

He took his phone out of his pocket and dialed someone. "Uh huh. Are there any posted in front? Uh huh. What about the back?" He hung up. "I'd call my driver, but Steph said they're crawling around the place."

"Guess we walk," I said.

It was uncharacteristically hot for so early in the morning. "I think I'm going to die," Holden complained.

"I would never have guessed that you were such a drama queen."

"I might not die, but my throat is so dry it feels like there's sandpaper down there," Parker added.

I took off one of the straps of my backpack and flipped it to my side, rummaging through before taking out two drink bottles and handing them to Holden and Parker. That was when I realised neither of them had backpacks. "Did you guys forget your bags or something?"

"What?" Parker asked after chugging down half the bottle.

"We have two sets of textbooks and workbooks, and vending machines do exist you know," Holden explained.

"Hold up," I said. I could clearly remember the vending machines that stood at the end of every hallway, brightly illuminated with cold refreshments and snacks. A water bottle in that thing was five bucks. "You pay five dollars for your water bottles?"

"Yeah?" Parker replied, finishing up my bottle before tossing the empty one into a bin.

"Ha ha ha," I laughed weakly.

When we approached the front gates of the school, it was obvious the reporters had also changed locations; there were vans parked out front with a swarm of reporters stopping anyone they could for an interview. That was when a thought hit me. "Why did you not just hire bodyguards?" I asked.

"Good point," Parker replied bluntly. Holden shrugged.

"I've got an idea," I grinned.

Parker waited across the road while Holden and I crossed. We held hands and pushed through the reporters. "Daisy!" Crystal exclaimed. A swarm of girls came towards us, eager to meet me. "Party, Wednesday night," Crystal added. A tonne of similar offers came up. There was clearly a social hierarchy and I was cool by association.

"Woah guys, back up a little. She's my girlfriend, not fish food," Holden said, putting an arm out to fend people off.

"Isn't that Holden Vermont?" A reporter yelled.

"Who's the girl!?" Another shouted. The swarm of reporters hurried towards us like a swarm of bees. Camera flashes went off, one after another, temporarily blinding me. Holden held his arm out in front of us and kept an arm around me as we pushed through, leading the swarm away from the left gate. Hopefully, that had given Parker enough time to slip through, even though the plan hadn't gone according to plan.

We finally managed to get away from them and the gates were shut. "That was your big plan?" Holden asked as we left my locker.

"No. I told you, my plan was to yell out Parker and point in the opposite direction."

"I told you, that was not a good plan."

"Nice one guys. Now the paparazzi are after all our heads," Parker said.

"Did you have any better ideas, bright spark?" I shot back.

We got to maths early and Parker took out his phone. His eyebrows furrowed together and I knew it wasn't good news he's gotten. "What's happening?" I asked.

"Our accounts have been frozen." He let out an exasperated laugh.

"I'm sure the Carters can get you out of this," I said, trying to reassure him.

He turned his phone around to show me an article. A photo of me and Holden was splashed on the web along with the headline: "Holden Vermont's Mystery Girl". That wasn't the thing that caught my attention first; it was the photo of squad cars surrounding Parker's house from the arrest.

We parted ways to sit in our usual seats. Elaine arrived late, as usual, and took her seat beside me. "You going to the dance?" She asked, flipping her textbook open.

"Yep. Are you? I need a friend there," I laughed.

"Aren't you going with Holden?"

Right. Normal people were supposed to enjoy hanging out with their boyfriends; albeit, their real boyfriends. "Yeah, but a female friend, you know," I mumbled, trying to pass it off as a legitimate claim.

"Yeah, I guess I'll go," she shrugged.

"So...you want to give me the details?" She asked, propping her head up on her elbow, leaning on the desk. "You said it was nothing. Now all of a sudden Holden makes a public declaration?"

"We were trying to keep it a secret, with me being new and all, but people were bound to find out with all the snooping," I lied.

"Uh huh," she nodded.

"Anyway, I thought these sorts of dances were mostly for the juniors," I said, changing the topic.

"It's a big deal here. You can't just buy a ticket. Social events that include the top four are rare, and this is one of them."

"Right," I laughed.

"It's messed up, I know," she agreed.

As we were leaving we saw more security officers being unloaded from the van to guard the gate and other school entrances. A private pick up and drop off route was set up behind the school, meaning getting Parker home wouldn't be an issue.

"You loving the paps?" Elaine asked.

"Freaks me out," I laughed uncomfortably.

"Don't worry. At Pemberton, you'll get used to it."

The way she said it was concerning, but I decided not to read too much into it.

By the end of the day, some of the news vans had left and fewer reporters were left. Still, just in case, Parker changed into a hoodie and Holden's driver picked him up instead. "We should finish the assignment, you know, considering how it's due tomorrow," I said to Holden.

"Easy as pie. Swing over by mine again?"

"Alright," I agreed. The driver shut the door and I waved them off.

"Interesting," a voice from behind me said. I turned around to find Logan Green staring at me.

"What do you want?" I replied.

"Just the truth. Like why you're officially his girl a few days of hardly being friends?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you," I shot back.

"I don't know what game you two have going on here, but Holden isn't invincible, and your shield might not be as strong as you think." He stepped back. "I'll see you around."

I let out the breath I'd been holding and hurried home. Unsurprisingly, my mum wasn't home yet, but more surprisingly, there were suitcases near the door. I checked the tags on them; they were my mum's. Was she planning a trip somewhere without telling me?

I heated up some leftovers and took a shower before changing into a pair of denim shorts and a t-shirt. The yellow notepad we always had on the kitchen table was still there, evidence of how frequently we wouldn't see each other at home. I left my mum a note and locked the door, leaving for Holden's.

By now, the guy at the gate remembered my face and he let me in. I got to Holden's and knocked twice, as usual. Samuel opened the door and let me in. "Good to see you again Miss," he said.

"Just call me Daisy," I smiled.

"Holden isn't home at the moment, but he'll be back soon."

"Ok."

I made my way to the kitchen when I heard footsteps coming down from the hallway. I thought he'd said Holden wasn't home? Parker came out in a pair of shirts, no shirt on, towel around his shoulders.

"Thought you were Holden," he said.

"Same," I replied, turning around. "So, please don't tell me I'm Holden's beard."

"What?"

"What?"

"No!" He exclaimed.

"What's going on out here?" Came another voice, a woman. She held a glass of red wine in one hand and adjusted her glasses with the other. Her hair was done back in a tight pony tail and she was wearing a white blouse and black pencil skirt.

"Nothing," Parker growled.

"And who are you?" She asked, turning her nose up at me.

"Daisy? Holden's friend?" I replied.

"Oh, his new friend," she said, looking me up and down.

"Mum, stop," Parker said firmly.

"Well I'm trying to save our family at the moment and you're here doing God knows what," she snapped.

"Mrs Lennox!" Holden exclaimed as he came through the door. "Mum didn't tell me you were coming by."

"Well, she wouldn't have known, considering we were just kicked out of our house half an hour ago," she replied. She looked at me. "Don't you go running to the tabloids for a personal interview," she spat.

"Come on Mrs Lennox, Daisy's not like that," he said, putting an arm around me.

"Maybe if I hadn't known your other girlfriends, I wouldn't feel that way."

"Parker, I need you to call Derek from accounting and get him to straighten out some of the paper work," she said. "You think you have friends until things go downhill and all of a sudden they can't help you out," she muttered.

She turned on her heel and left the room with Parker in tow.

"And that's the Lennox family for you," Holden said, letting go of me.

"Nice," was all I managed to say.

~*~

Not as good a chapter, but it will be rewritten and edited shortly. I just wanted to stick to giving you guys a regular update :]

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