Chapter Ten:

“What do you mean?” I ask. 

James looks at me, nervously. “I didn’t want to be famous. Well, I would’ve been fine with it if it wasn’t because of them.” James looks at his parents angrily. 

“So…what made you have a disagreement?”

James’s parents look at him smugly again. 

James sighs. “It all started two years ago…”

 

December 19th, 2014

A Passage From a Magazine Article on The Garcia Family Fallout

 

The lovely prestigious Garcia family was at the Royal Ascot, a formal event for many of the rich to attend. The youngest of the brothers, James Garcia started to head over to the table which was reserved for the Anne family. Another lovely and prestigious family. As soon as James started to talk to the daughter of the family, Alice Anne, a mob of cameras surrounded the two, closing them off from escaping. 

The two just stood there for a few good minutes, then, out of nowhere, James pushes through the mob, pushing them so hard they fall down, knock over tables, people, you name it. James then went over to talk to his parents, Rachel and Mark Garcia and started to yell at them. 

James: “I’m done! I don’t want to do this! I want out!”

The whole room was staring at them. Of course, the Garcia parents are too formal to yell at their own son in public, so they pulled him away to somewhere private. What they were talking about, we will never know…

 

“Are you kidding me?!” I yell. “If you wanted out so bad, why do you still have your fancy Lamborghini?”

James took a deep long sigh. Probably trying to choose his words carefully so he wouldn’t make me madder. “When they took me away somewhere private, we made a deal. The deal was that I would have all my belongings and still be able to buy with the money and live in the house. But…I didn’t want that. I wanted to be free. On the bright side, they stopped taking me to those events because…well, I didn’t like them so much.”

“If you wanted to be free, didn’t your parents aspire you to be an actor?”

“Yes, my parents influenced that on me, but I enjoy acting. So, I’m fine with that.” James says.

“One more question:” I say. 

James motions for me to continue.

“Why didn’t you want me to meet your parents?”

James’s eyes widen. Mark and Rachel look at him, angry.

“Why didn’t you want us to meet her, dear?” Rachel asks James. 

“Yes, I would like to know the same, son.” Mark joins in. 

James puts his hands over his face. He massages his face and takes the longest breath I’ve ever seen a human take. 

“Because…you only want me to date rich girls.”

That hit me like a wrecking ball.

Rachel scoffs. “That…” She pauses. “Is…not…” 

“Mom,” James says. “I know you know it’s true. Same for you, Dad.”

I don’t know what to do at this point. I just stare. 

“That’s why I broke up with Alice. One: She was controlling. And Two: She was the snobbiest richest girl I had ever met. Which reminded me of my parents.” James says with a smug look on his face. 

“Also,” James continues. “I knew the first thing you would want to know about her would be her wealth. So you could make sure she was in your wealth range.”

Rachel and Mark have their mouths wide open. Shocked.

James nods to his parents jokingly and grabs my hand.

The two of us exit the mansion and get into his Lamborghini.

I clear my throat. “Would now be a bad time to tell you that I bought a car…?”

James laughs. “Yes. Yes, it would.” He says teasingly. 

The two of us drive off away from the mansion. I will absolutely never go back there again. And I mean it. 

We finally reach my house and James parks outside. Mom’s car wasn’t there so she must be working the night shift. I look at James’s clock on the dashboard. It was 6:30. We weren’t there for that long, considering we revealed all the family drama that happened two years ago. 

James looks at me. “Well, what did you think of them?” He asks in a sarcastic tone. 

“I think that I never want to see them again. Like ever.”

He chuckles. “I told you you would say that. Right?”

I nod my head.

“I’m just gonna say, your mom is the closest thing I have to a normal mom. My mom would always never have time for me. Though, I think she said that on purpose because she would spend more time with my brothers.”

I undo my seatbelt and hug him. He hugs back. 

James releases his arms from the hug. “Okay, now I really want to see your car.”

I chuckle. “C’mon, it’s around the back of the house.”

The two of us get out of the car and walk to the back of my house. As soon as I show James the car I bought, his mouth was wide open.

“Wha…how…did you…?” 

“I bought it…with my own money that is.”

“With your own money, you bought a Subaru?” James questions.

I nod my head yes happily.

It wasn’t the newest Subaru, I bought a used one at the nearest car dealership. One: Because I desperately needed a car. And Two: I wanted people to not think of me as ‘So poor she can’t afford a car for herself’.

“Well, it’s a nice car, Halo,” James says.

“Thanks,”

James and I walk inside and sit down on the couch. It was weird with Mom not being here to bring us snacks. Well, it looks like I’m gonna have to do it.

I get up and start to make my way to the kitchen. As I start to get some chips out, I hear James’s phone ring. 

I hear him pick up. “Hello?”

He pauses, waiting for the person on the other line to respond. 

“Hello?’ He says again. “Yes, this is he…No I’m free that day, why?…No, absolutely not, I have someone…someone better than you…Yes, I mean it, and I don’t feel threatened by you, Alice. You can do anything, I mean anything, and nothing will keep me from leaving Halo…Goodbye.” James hangs up and I hear him throw his phone in frustration.

Why does Alice keep trying to get James back? It’s not gonna work, he likes me, not Alice. She should just give up. Unless she has something else planned that might work. I tried not to think of what the ‘something’ was. 

I walk into the living room with a bag and a bowl of chips in my hands. James looks at me as if nothing had happened in the time I had gone into the kitchen. 

“I…uh, were you on the phone with somebody?” I ask.

“Oh. Yeah. I was. It…uh…it was Alice.”

“Yeah, I know. What did she want?”

“She kept saying that she knows I secretly still love her. Which, I told her no, obviously. And, she also said that she has plans that could break us up. Which I told her off on that as well.”

I sigh and sit the chips on the coffee table. “You know what? Let’s just eat some chips.”

James chuckles. “Yeah, I like that.”

We eat chips for a long while. Longer than what chips should be eaten. There was so much tension between us right now. He was obviously not telling the whole truth about that phone call, and, I feel like James might secretly still have feelings for Alice. Not because of her personality, because, her personality is terrible. It’s because of her looks. Alice is one of the hottest girls at our school, and I know every guy thinks that too. Even James. But, this is just a theory. 

James leaves the house around 7:00, finally, because I couldn’t handle the silent tension. As I was leading him to the door, he turns and looks at me. 

“You do know you theorize out loud, right?”

I blush. “Wait, I-I did?”

He laughs. “I do not think Alice is hot if that’s what you’re wondering,”

“Well, that answers my question, then,”

For a while, we just stare at each other. Nothing else. Just staring into the unknowns behind those gorgeous blue eyes James has. Then, out of nowhere, James kisses me. On the lips. 

After that, I watch James get into his Lamborghini and drive off, back to his rich mansion and his terrible parents. I walk upstairs to my room and dress into my pajamas. Mom is going to be home late so I might as well go to bed. I turn off my bedroom lights and start to fall asleep. Then, I get a phone call. 

“Hello?” I say groggily. 

“Is this Halo Nelson?” The voice asks urgently. 

“Um…yes, why?” 

“Ms. Nelson, your mother has just been in a car crash. She’s at the hospital right now. She has you written down as one of her Emergency Contacts. We need you to drive to the hospital. But, please, remain calm.”

I don’t say a word. I hang up the phone and run downstairs, grab my keys. and get into my car. I didn’t even get changed. I can’t let another family member leave me. Not again. Not now. 

I turn the keys into the ignition and press down on the gas pedal. So what, if I didn’t have a driver’s license? I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. Plus, on the other hand, I know how to drive already. I used to drive illegally all the time on purpose. But, now, I had no other choice.

As soon as I get to the hospital, I run to the receptionist’s desk and slam my hands down on it.

“Where’s my mom! Where’s Mary Nelson?!”

The receptionist clears her throat. “You must be Halo Nelson, correct?”

I nod my head fastly. 

“Mary Nelson is in room 309. Down the hallway and take a right.” She says and points in the direction.

“Thank you!” I yell as I sprint down the hallway.

I scan my eyes across every room number I see. 307…308…309! I found it!

My hands push the door open urgently and scream. “Mom!”

When I enter the room, I see my mother on a hospital bed, IV drips on her and a breathing mask. How bad was she hit?

I run over to her and take her hand. “Mom, it’s Halo. I’m here, I’m going to stay here with you, okay? I’m not gonna leave you.” 

I meant all of those words. I was not going to leave her again. Not like Dad and Kamile did. Not like I did in the past. 

I ended up falling asleep in a chair in her hospital room overnight. In the morning, a nurse abruptly comes into the room. 

“Ms. Nelson,” She begins. “You have school today, you must leave. Plus, the doctor is going to see your mother.”

“No…” I say. “I’m not gonna leave her. You…you can’t make me.”

“You must. It’s the hospital’s policy.”

I put my hands over my face and massage my eyelids. “Fine.”

I put some clothes on from the hospital lost and found, and stop by the house to grab my school bag. When I get to school, I was about to pass out. 

I’m super tired. I just wanted to fall to the ground and sleep. As I’m walking to my locker, I thought I saw something. Something I highly doubted I would ever see. I rub my eyes and look again. What I saw…was real. Alice and James…were kissing. 

I run to the two of them and shove James against the lockers.