Gatekeeping (High Society Book 2)(Completed)

57|Notwithstanding

Holly Willis

_

"Your siblings again?" Noah asked me as I frowned at my buzzing phone.

"Yeah."

Amanda and Luke are way older than I am. They are our parents favourite as I am known or treated as the outcast. If there wasn't strong evidence of my birth, I would've thought I was adopted or the bastard child. While my mom is Irish and an immigrant, my dad is a redneck from the heart of Texas. Both my parents and siblings are brunettes while I was blessed with faults as they call it. The redhead I inherited from my hated traditional grandfather (mother's dad) and the spill of freckles and beauty spots all over my body that I was cursed with. It was practically everywhere; face, limbs, back, chest, breast, ears, fingers, toes, butt and even my darn vagina when I shave.

I am ugly and there is no other way to put it. I feel sorry for myself as I've been using my allowance to purchase large bottles of concealer or body makeup for as long as I can remember. For that reason alone, I avoid getting wet in public so I say home. I've done research to find out if it's a skin condition and it wasn't, it was treatable with chemicals but I didn't have the money for it. Not when I have to provide for myself in college next year.

"What do they want?" He asked and I smirked, sensing the annoyance in his tone.

Looking at the phone, I was greeted with multiple messages. They wanted to know my location, when I'm returning, if I'm getting a job, what item they can borrow from the privacy of my room and how do I look as if I'm with Noah. "The usual."

"I don't want to sound controlling but can you turn it off or something. I didn't kidnap you to let you suffer, you deserve a break." He grumbled and the girls laughed from the backseat.

Noah's stepdad bought him this navy blue jeep wrangler for his seventeenth birthday and he has been keeping his baby clean, cared and maintain since then. With us were Persephone (Penny) and Hana, her best friend from Japan. They were doing their own thing on the backseat while I was up front with Noah who drove like a grandma. He's been careful and anxious since his sister had that accident on his sixteenth birthday last year. He double check so much that it became apart of his daily routine, OCD.

"You didn't kidnap her, I did. You just drove the runaway vehicle." Penny added, correcting his mistake.

"Like a grandma." Hana giggled and I rolled my eyes but said nothing as they laughed.

I wasn't a fan of Hana, I wasn't anyone's fan either, maybe just Noah and his family. Just my presence alone was threatening to her and I did nothing. I wasn't in a relationship with Noah but our closeness angers a lot of persons. The hateful comments and death treats were like love letters to me, I grew up welcoming and living it all.

"I hope you took enough stuff though, you're not going back early." Noah warned and I hummed, afraid to say anything as I just grabbed some things last minute.

I still needed permission from my parents to go outside, even for inhaling fresh oxygen, especially when I don't hide the spots. It's like they were scared of the humiliation they'll received if our neighbors saw me. Those very neighbors who liked me for who I was and not for what I looked like.

We drove all the way from Sterling Heights to Garden Grove, Oakwood Ranch. We parked along the motor court where the butler, two maids and Conner stood. Conner, just like Bernard is the head security overlooking the safety of Tristan, Asheika and their kids.

We were greeted by them before the maids took our luggages and Connor led us in the direction of the garden. He only said we should follow him and he leads us to the gym where familiar faces stood.