SIX: A new friend.

SIX: A new friend.


Juliet couldn’t remember the last time she slept for a solid 8 hours.

Her life had always been nothing but chaotic, leading to her helpless insomnia. But oddly, for the first time in forever, despite the worries she still had, she slept the entire night. Like a baby.

At exactly 7am, she opened her eyes, the unfamiliar room immediately having her eyes widen. Almost in a frenzy, she looked around her, confirming once again everything that happened wasn’t a dream.

“Woah,” she slipped out of the comfiest bed she had been in in years. “I’m really-”

Quickly blaming her ability to sleep so soundly on the rather comfortable bed, she quickly got out of it, her legs hitting the warm floor. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she took her first step, immediately reminded of the great contrast the room had compared to her old one.

She moved over to her barely touched luggage and tugged at the zipper, pulling out her bag of toiletries at the very top. Holding it close to her chest, she made her way to the bathroom, pushed the door lightly like she needed permission to step in and on receiving none, stepped in to freshen up.

It took her a while but after almost an hour, she was finally changed and ready for school. Grabbing a tote bag containing all the necessities she managed to pack with her, she gave herself a glance in the mirror then stepped out of the room, her heart immediately taking a leap.

Her steps were slow as she made her way downstairs, her lips firmly pressed together in silent hopes of her not running into anyone, particularly Xavier. Luckily, that prayer got answered, one of the maids from the previous night only showing up in front of her as she was about to approach the door.

“Juliet, right?” she had a cheerful smile on her face as she walked up to her, subconsciously reminding Juliet of how Xavier never had such a smile on his face. “You remember me, right? Maria, the housekeeper.”

“Oh, right,” she nodded, finally able to place a name on their faces. “Yes, I do.”

“Did you have a good night rest?” she asked and before Juliet could reply, went on. “I hope you did. Well as much as I’d love to talk to you more, you have classes to attend right? I’ll see you after school then?”

Her words were accompanied by a wink, her chubby face looking even chubby. Finishing off with a light pat on her shoulders, she walked off, leaving Juliet to find her way out of the mansion.

She did that and in the span of seconds, she hit the main road, the rush of fresh air immediately hitting suddenly feeling foreign. Taking in as much as she could, she made her way out of the unfamiliar environment, found the bus station and took the bus to her college.

The mansion was a reasonable distance from her college, Juliet at the very least relieved she wouldn’t have to worry about finding her way. She got to school, made her way to class and all it took was the first hour for her to feel like something was actually different. Her life had actually changed.

She was in class. Like a normal student, doing nothing but paying attention to whatever the professors had to say. She wasn’t glancing at her phone at intervals, counting down to her next part time job or jumping at the mere sound of her phone vibrating out of fear it was a new notification reminding her of a new bill that needed to be paid.

She heaved her billionth sigh and then looked around her. Everything had changed yet nothing had changed. Her whole life had taken a gigantic u-turn yet every single person around looked and acted the same. Like it was just another random Tuesday afternoon.

Her eyes drifted off to a group of girls chattering excitedly as the professor exited the classroom. By the corner of the hall were a bunch of guys all laughing and making passes at the girls that passed. Some students remained in their seats, taking notes even without the help of the professor and she on the other hand was just, there.

She bit her lip, the bitter reality of her life hitting her once again. She didn’t have friends. Not even one and for the past year, she barely even realized it herself. She was too busy struggling- to busy trying to catch her breath to make room for such frivolities.

But now that things had changed…?

“What are you even thinking?” she laughed at herself as she scanned the room in search of a potential friend. “How could you-”

“What’s funny?”

“Huh?” the voice came from behind her and for the first time that day, she was actually startled. Tightening her grip on her phone out of reflex, she turned around to meet an unfamiliar figure behind her, a playful smile on his face. “What?”

“You were laughing,” he plopped himself into the seat next to her. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh. Or even smile. So I was curious.”

He looked innocent. Dark skinned with sharp brown eyes. His curly hair was scattered all over his head in what Juliet could only describe as a beautiful mess.

“Do you know me?” she spluttered, regretting the words the second they came out. “I-”

“If paying attention to you ever since the first day I laid my eyes on you means knowing you then yes I do,” the smile didn’t leave his face. “I promise I’m not a stalker though. I’ve been looking for the perfect opportunity to talk to you but I just never found one. Until now. I guess.”

“What?”

“No, it’s not because this is the first time I’m seeing you smile,” he went on. “Okay maybe it is. It’s just that you always looked so cold and I wasn’t sure how to approach you. I mean I wanted to make you smile whenever I got to talk to you not put you in a bad mood. But you always seemed to be in a bad mood so I didn’t want to be a reason your mood got worse. But now that I saw you smiling I just- God, am I even making any sense right now?”

“Maybe,” she actually laughed. Her life was really changing. “Um, hi, I’m Juliet.”

“Wale,” his expression shifted to one of relief. “Hey. I mean, hi, nice to finally get to talk to you.”

He stretched his arm towards her and she shook his hand, his smile returning to his face. He watched her as she reached for her bag, taking the lead as they made their way out of the classroom.

“So, hungry?” he asked as they walked out. “We could grab lunch?”

The next couple of minutes passed and by the time it was over, Juliet was certain she had made a friend. Wale was the absolute sweetest, completely honest about how he had always wanted to be friends with her and how glad he was that dream was finally coming true.

Though it was strange to her, she enjoyed every bit of the time they spent together. Every second she spent like a normal college girl, talking to an attractive guy and spending her day not worrying about a sick mother, hundreds of bills to pay and especially, weird man who offered to pay her bills for some apparent reason she still couldn’t figure out.

Her distraction however had to come to an end, Wale ending their interaction with them exchanging phone numbers. Promising to text her and making her also promise to text him, he offered to escort her to the bus station before he returned to meet his group of friends she was yet to meet but apparently were members of the basketball team.

“So do you stay around?” he asked as they walked in sync, Juliet immediately falling out of sync. “In a dorm? With your-”

She paused, her stomach immediately clenching. The past few minutes- hours- of her spending time with her new friend had been fun when she didn’t have to talk about things like her life or where she lived.

“You don’t stay on-”

Whatever he had to say and whatever excuse she was about to make was suddenly put to rest as all of a sudden, a black car pulled over in front of them taking the duo by surprise. Immediately glancing at her, Wale took a confronting step forward and watched the door open, more than ready to demand what was going on.

“What the-“

“Fuck,” Juliet was the one that completed the words as she watched a familiar man step out of the car. No, it wasn’t Xavier. But it was one of the men he personally introduced to her the previous night as his right hand man or whatever. “Wale.”

“Miss Bailey,” he bowed to her, ignoring Wale’s demanding gaze. “Get in. I’m here to drive you home.”

“What?”

“Sir De Luca’s orders. I’m to drive you everywhere and right now, you’re needed at the mansion.”

Juliet’s stomach churned as she wished she didn’t understand what was going on.

“Home? What mansion?” Wale was the only confused one, his gaze shifting between them, “Juliet, do you know him?”

“Yes,” her words came out in a loud whisper. “Um, sorry but I have to go.”

“You have to go?”

“Yes,” she avoided his gaze, noticing Carlos’ was fixed on her and that was clearly not going to change until she got into the car. “Um, I’ll see you later then. Bye.”

Her words were rushed as she walked over to the car, Carlos immediately reaching for the handle to help her with the door. Cursing under her breath, she lowered her head and got in, unable to even watch Wale from the rear mirror as Carlos got back in.

“What’s going on?” she breathed out as he roared the car engine to life. “Why are you-”

“Mr. De Luca is waiting,” was all he said to her in response. “All I do is follow his orders. And right now the order is to take you with me.”

She nodded in defeat, having no energy to even argue. She was used to her life being nothing but a rollercoaster so nothing, absolutely nothing, was supposed to take her by surprise anymore.