The Teacher

The Teacher: Part I Unchained, Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

I HAD MY CELL ON VIBRATE, but early that morning the calls started coming in, first from Holden, then, Lydia. Though not ready to speak with anyone, I did listen to their voicemails. My mind was still swimming in a fog bank of confusion and regret and it was difficult to return to my new reality after what I'd been through the night before. Holden was the first to reach out.

"Fallon, where did you go last night? Are you at home? Anyway, be ready at 2 PM. We're going to take a charter flight to New York, then on to London. If you get this, text me back so I know you're at home. Oh, we will talk more about what happened, and again, I do so regret the whole incident."

The next voicemail was from Lydia.

"Fallon, what happened to you? Are you all right? I passed out. When I woke up you were gone and the place was crawling with cops. Fallon...somebody died...and Blaire is in the hospital, and if all that isn't bad enough, someone at the rave took pictures of me while I was dancing, nasty pictures, and posted them everywhere for everyone to see! I don't remember that even happening...and I don't know what to do about it. I just know it's going to destroy my rep at school and church. Call me back...LIKE NOW! By the way, you left your jeep at the farm with the keys in the ignition, so I drove it home and the cops don't know you were there. Oh, and the strangest thing, the cops couldn't get any information about what happened. While being interviewed, no one remembered anything that happened after they arrived! Call me...text me...love you."

I texted Holden to let him know I was all right and to pick me up, but I didn't get back to Lydia right away, and wasn't even thinking of not going to London so I could be with Blaire in the hospital. I knew that wasn't like me, but I'd become so focused on myself and there didn't seem to be anything I could do about it.

Like Holden's band becoming a national act, and now touring, my modeling career was taking off in a big way. All I had to do was send out a resume with some photos, my phone rang, I had an agent, and bookings soon followed. The runway gig in London and the French Vogue shoot the next week in Paris would establish me as an international supermodel. It all happened so fast, just as Holden predicted.

Similar to Holden's Wall Street deals that always made money, every appointment I set up, every interview, turned into one golden opportunity after another. And my body, it was as if I had become an avatar in a video game. I looked in the mirror with amazement as my reflection morphed into the stereotypical catwalk model—tall, lean, and Adriana-Lima gorgeous.

With the Vogue photo spread contract my bank account would start swelling, just like Holden's. I didn't want to turn my back on Lydia and Blaire, but they just couldn't keep up...they knew it and I knew it. My relationship with Holden was changing, too, but I liked where it was going.

RIGHT AFTER HE CHANGED, HOLDEN was this amazing guy I looked up to. I was dependent on him and in awe of his abilities, accomplishments, and powers. Now, I was more like him. We were becoming equals, and when I had my own money I could be my own person, be more assertive, without having to worry about upsetting him or anyone else in my life.

For the moment I was hooked, seduced, and obsessed with staying on the Guardian's path of living in total freedom from the limitations of conscience.

When Holden pulled into the driveway I was waiting at the front door, packed and ready to go.

"Hey, you had me worried the other night. Why did you leave?"

"I just needed some time alone...to think...to assess what happened at the rave--that hit me hard and I want to hit somebody back just has hard...not you, but I feel like I want revenge."