Page 58 of Honest With You

I let out a dramatic sigh, wiping my forehead with mock relief.

“Thank God. I was about to orchestrate an intervention.”

Another sputter of infectious laughter escapes Vanessa and I follow suit. Swiping at my tear-filled eyes, I look up to find Jesse grinning at me. He’s holding a piece of the dreaded avocado toast in his hands and he pauses mid bite.

I reach over, stealing it from him and point it at him in mock rage.

“Don’t you start!” Then I turn to Ryder, raising an eyebrow.

Ryder laughs as he takes a sip of his mango juice, while he pushes his plate back, patting his tummy. “I’m good. None for me, thank you.”

Stephen’s phone rings and he looks at it before finally looking up from his plate.

“The lawyer is almost here, so if you guys have any questions, now is the time to ask. Otherwise, we have the NDAs ready for you to sign and our security will drive you home when you’re ready.”

Ryder raises his hand tentatively before breaking into a sheepish smile when he realizes he’s not in class and can just speak without asking for a turn.

“The NDAs are for what, exactly? I’ll sign them no problem and I won't say anything that you guys don’t want me to. I just want to understand why it’s necessary when there are pictures all over the internet already.”

Stephen and I share a look. It’s hard to explain the amount of money and the level of resources my father’s “fixers” have at their disposal. I’m not entirely sure how they manage to do it, but no matter how many pictures or articles are out there, by the end of today, they will have expunged it from the internet.

The NDAs are more of a formality — to appease my father, and for his lawyers to have on hand should the situation be used against us or my friends. While Mr. Figgs is building a case against Dean, the success of it lies on everything we say and do from now on.

I clear my throat when Stephen raises his eyebrow at me, indicating I take this question.

“Our PR team will find a way to spin it with a statement, and our lawyers will undoubtedly threaten anyone publishing or posting about us with a lawsuit. By this time tomorrow, there will be something or someone else headlining the news. It could be from my dad’s team or something else entirely.”

My smile turns sour when Stephen tips his head for me to continue. “The NDAs are more for protection, in the event this blows up and the press finds out about your involvement and you’re hounded for interviews.”

I turn to my friends in apology. “I’m not saying you would have interviews or anything. I trust you immensely, and I am beyond grateful for your understanding through all this. This is just the nature of my father’s business and unfortunately, we have been burned before so this is more for his peace of mind than anything.”

I turn to Vanessa. “This is also for your protection. Our lawyers will find a way to make sure Dean pays for what he did to us and our silence will ensure you get the justice you deserve, but for the time being the less we say, the better.”

Vanessa smiles at me gratefully, tears welling in her eyes. She looks up at Ryder, who nods in understanding. Then, he frowns like something occurred to him and he turns to Jesse, who is folding his napkin into squares like he’s mulling something over.

“You don’t look surprised by all this.”

Jesse shrugs in response, leaning back on his chair. The epitome of calmness as he tips his head back and looks up at the sky.

“Our dads are friends and my mom used to work for their dad, so it’s nothing new to me. I understand the ramifications of what happened last night and what it could possibly do to them and Vanessa. I’m willing to do whatever I gotta do to protect them at all costs.”

Beside me, Vanessa leans her head on my shoulder, her arm curling around mine.

“Ditto, Ava.” She squeezes me close, her tone teasing as she says, “Although, I am a little mad you didn’t tell me you were a celebrity.”

I sputter a laugh and she giggles. “I’m only kidding, Ava. I told you on the first day we met, you’re stuck with me now. In return, I got you for life. You can count on me.”

I lean my head on hers, my cheek pressing against the top of her head on my shoulder. I manage to keep my emotions in check but can’t help the slight tremble in my voice when I thank her quietly. “Me too, Van.”

Iwant to say the past few weeks have flown by without incident, but unfortunately they didn’t. Things got crazy at school after word of Ava’s family and Dean’s expulsion spread. Rumors started flying about the connection between the two.

Ryder proved to be the greatest friend to Ava in all this. He quit the basketball team completely, walking away from his and Dean’s friends, now knowing they covered for him, not just in his womanizing tendencies but his abusive ones as well. Since he had more classes with her than I did, we alternated walking her to classes so one of us was with her at all times. He kept it friendly and made sure I knew he respected my relationship with Ava.

Turns out, we have more in common than just our mutual love for playing ball. He writes music like I do, but his instrument of choice is keys instead of strings. We’ve jammed in Ava’s music room at her house a few times and even went out with the girls to test his photography skills.

The four of us have been hanging out more often at Ava’s house, though we’ve ventured out into a few hideaway spots at night, away from crowds. With the gossip mill still running overtime, we have had to keep to ourselves a lot, with the exception of Matt, who finally got vetted to enter the Torres compound. In the weeks that followed, Ava was constantly being bothered by random kids at school, so the school administration had to put her on a hybrid class schedule. Now, she’s only at school three days out of the week, with the other two being supplemented by a private tutor her dad hired. Ava could barely walk down the halls without someone stopping her, playing reporter on Instagram Live. The only consolation in all this was somehow, Vanessa managed to stay out of it. If I were to guess, it’s because the only people besides us who knew about her involvement in it didn’t want to be associated with Dean and face the consequences of getting expelled alongside him.

Reese was also pulled out of her school, now that their information had gone public. No amount of “fixing” could prevent the media from finally identifying them. They placed her into a private international school for her own safety, which didn’t sit well with her at first. But according to Ava, she’s since acclimated to it. Stephen, on the other hand, didn’t have a hard time adjusting to people knowing who he was. He’s in med school and his peers cared more about graduating than whoever their classmate’s dad happened to be.

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