And now, it's almost Easter, when each family is individually invited to the mansion to do a big family event, which none of the girls know yet since the boys refuse to tell us what's going on. I know that. Lane knows I don't have a family, so there's no way he will even try to make sure they're here, but I know he'll make sure I'm included just as much as everyone else who does have a family.
"Hey, so, this is a surprise so don't tell any of the girls, but I was wondering if you had any family left you wanted to bring here for Easter, since your immediate family has passed." I sigh, thinking for a moment before shaking my head.
"Nope. I mean, my grandparents were all dead by the time I was five, and the only other person I consider family is Ms. Q, but I know she's busy with her job, so I won't bother her."
"I'm sorry." He shrugs, and I can tell he really means it. Most people say it for the formalities, but not many do it because they actually feel that way.
"I'm okay now. I'm sure I'll find a new group of people I consider family." He squeezes me as hard as he can, and even though I'm on the brink of shedding tears, I know he is actually crying. His dad passed so long ago, and I understand the feeling of just forgetting, or wanting to forget, for that split second that your family is dead.
"Hey, why don't we go and see the night sky? I know just the spot to relax and decompress and let out all your tears away from the rest of the girls." He suggests, even though it's midnight, but from what I can see, we both need it.
"Sure." He wipes up his tears and we creep downstairs to find Lexi's keys and he starts the car, driving out to a mystery location that doesn't seem too far away or too close. Just the right distance when you need to get away from life.
"Do you really know who tried to drown you?" He asks, probably confirming what Hayden told him, who is the only person that knows that information and probably my closest friend here aside from Lane.
"Yes. But I've chosen to forgive her." I lay down on the grass, not even waiting for him to grab whatever it is out of his car and watch the stars twinkle in the night sky, something I don't get to do much back home. "Even though I forgive her, I will still report her to my cop friend once this is all done. I don't condone trying to kill others for a silly competition. Not that this is silly, but it really shouldn't be a reason she wants to kill me."
"Good. I don't want to see you or anyone else get hurt ever again because of whoever did this." He lays down next to me after setting out a blanket and he somehow lifts my body onto it, and I just curl right into him as soon as he lays down next to me, hoping to conserve the warmth between our two bodies. As I watch the stars and begin to fall asleep, I try to muffle my own whimpers and the tears slowly rolling down the sides of my face, but I know he can hear me. "No one can hurt you now, Erika. I promise with my whole heart." He whispers an uncountable number of times, until the words slur into each other and we fall asleep to sounds of night and our own breaths.
I wake up to the soft glow of the sun hitting my eyes through the pine trees, and it occurs to me we slept on the ground, away from the house, and most likely in a lot of trouble. Seeing Lane's phone on the ground a foot to my right, I look at the number of missed calls from each of the boys and Rayna, which totals close to sixty, along with another twenty messages. Waking him up, I force him to call Rayna, and hear her anger through the speaker of the phone, which is hard to do.
"Where have you been?" I wince at the volume of Rayna's anger, but I think he was braced for it, since he is a lot more relaxed than I am.
"Look, Erika was not having a good day, so I brought her to my meditation spot, and we accidentally fell asleep." He says, while I brace for more yelling.
"That's fine. You just gave us all a scare. We were just worried something happened to you." She says in a motherly tone, before remembering what she sent me to do last night. "Is there anyone she wants to invite?"
"Her grandparents are all dead and she has no one else." She gasps, feeling awful, before realizing that's why we drove out here. Rayna is the only person who knows where my secret spot is, mostly because I used to go here a lot when my mother got in her moods for the first year after the band went famous and would have missed so many interviews if she didn't drag me to them from this very spot.
"Well, get your butt here ASAP before everyone else here is up." He replies with a quick "yes, ma'am", and we both lay back down for a few minutes before agreeing to head back to the house before we get into real trouble with Rayna.
"Well, we should go before Rayna comes and drags us back to the house." I say, and he nods, following me back to Lexi, where he folds up the blanket and drives us back to the Palazio Grande, sneaking in quietly and grabbing something to eat for breakfast.
The next couple days pass quickly, and soon it's Easter, and time for the family scavenger hunt. Zain and I are a team, since we both don't have families, but we are excited nonetheless. I see Lane's mother and sister, wave hello to Elle, before paying attention to what Rayna has to say.
"Welcome, everyone and happy Easter! I know you are all looking forward to learning what the surprise is, so open the letter each family was given, then start the activity! The gardens, along with the rest of the first floor, and the second and third floors are open to look for clues. Any doors marked with a paper that has a red 'X' are not to be opened." I open the letter up, and read aloud the first clue, which none of us know since Rayna wrote them all herself with the help of Quincy, mostly so the producers knew where to set up cameras and film us scrambling to finish the puzzle first.
"Okay, so I think it's supposed to be the roses in the corner." Zain whispers so quietly in my ear that I almost miss the ending of the sentence.
"You got it." I reply, and he leads me to a kind of hidden path near the house where we take a sharp left and head to the back right corner, first to arrive and are already reading the next clue by the time Lane and his family, the next group to find the location, we move away from the clue box and already know where the next area is, long gone by the time Lane and his family have finished the clue.
"Where black lines come to life and a thousand voices are heard." The recording studios. Probably where the boys do most of their recording. Heading to the third floor, Zain and I immediately find the next clue and are already moving out of the spot into his room, which is not as messy as I expected.
"Where the beauties of the household lay undisturbed" I whisper, and we run off, immediately heading towards the garage — they love their cars, that's for sure — and rushing down to find a basket in the seat of Lexi, which also just happens to be the closest to the door, so makes sense. I see the clue inside a white basket surrounded by blue, pink, and yellow easter eggs. Pulling out the clue, we read it, and head off to where we think the next clue is located, and after a total of sixteen clues, we end up back where we started, first to arrive, and watch as the families stream in, eventually Lane's and Beckham's families arrive last.
"Alright, looks like the last of the groups are trickling in, so congrats to our third place team, Lyla Mcdowell and her family!" I watch as one of...Theo's girls, maybe, walks up with her family. Either Theo's or Beckham's. I can't keep track, but I know it's not Lane's or Zain's mostly because I know he'd probably cheer quietly or something. "Second place goes to Sierra Vance and her family!" Okay, so that's one of Hayden's girls. I talk to her and Yara a considerable amount.
"Lastly, our winners, the two outcasts, Erika and Zain! Congrats to you two!" Rayna smiles at who won, happy one of her boys got in the top three as we walk onto the stage. "I didn't mention what the prize is, but we have Easter baskets for all three groups." She hands each group a basket full of Easter eggs, varying in size between regular-sized, all the way up to near-football-sized. Lyla's little brother, no older than Ellie, has a smile stretching ear-to-ear, whereas Sierra's little sister is barely paying attention to the prize and is instead drooling over the sight of Zain. "Okay, so the rest of the day, you guys can spend time with your families, and tomorrow, we will have to say goodbye to all of them." Rayna announces, and all of us split up. I jump off the stage and head to the pavillion in the back and relax as everyone else spends time with their families, but eventually Ellie finds me and says goodbye. She's such a sweet kid.
"Bye, Erika!" Ellie gives me a hug, and follows her mom out to her car.
YOU ARE READING
Heart & Soul
RomantizmErika Taylor is the complete opposite of her geeky, science- and technology-driven family. She writes songs and creates the backing tracks for them, but no one in her family knows that. Especially her sister, who is obsessed with a show called "Choo...
