mad hatter // r.s.l.

12 : heads will roll

Bradley Carter

"What are you doing?" Gabi plopped down beside me, looking at the notebook I was writing on.

"Just genuinely writing." She was up again, looking around my room as I spoke. "How was dance?"

"It was.." She paused. "Nice."

I shut my notebook, intrigued. "What do you mean nice?"

"Okay fine; we have a dance show coming up in ballet and they decided to mix us with the boys class and I now have a partner called Kyle and he is the most gorgeous human being in existence. Only that he has a girlfriend, Kim, who is everything I'm not."

"Gabriella Rose Carter, take a seat, for me." I patted the space beside me on the bed, turning down the radio.

"Crushes are brilliant, but don't take them to heart. You never know, this Kyle guy can be an absolute dick in real life and he may feel like he's great now, but chances are, the novelty will wear off in a few months." I said. "And, if he's flirting with you whilst having a girlfriend, that is a definite no-no."

"For someone with only just one boyfriend, your advice is so good." I grinned at her compliment, the blushed. "Wait, you're not crushing on somebody, are you?"

"Perhaps."

She squealed and jumped on me, sending a shot of pain to my stitches. I ignored it. "Freaking spill!"

"I made a friend called Ross, and he is all types of lovely but I can't be with him for obvious reasons. But, trust me, he is so kind to me and he makes me laugh so hard." I gushed.

"You've got it bad. Is he cute?"

I held my head in my hands. "Think Brooklyn Beckham cute, then multiply that by 45 and cube it."

"Holy, I need to meet this gift of God!"

"He's 22 you idiot, sit your ass down." I chuckled and she faked a pout.

"If I was you I would just go for it, risk being disowned but at least you'd be happy." Gabi shrugged and stood up. "I'll leave you be now, I have to shower."

"Good, you're stinking up my room!" I shouted upon her exit and she flipped me off. Just as she did leave, Ross called. "Hey!"

"Hi." his voice kills me. "How you doing?"

I shuffled under the duvet. "Good, feeling like a burrito. How about you?"

"Just finished up some stuff now I'm about to get dressed up to take my sister to some party at her workplace. She insisted for me to come, even though I'm not single."

"You're not?"

"We're getting married."

I released one loud laugh, which I was immediately embarrassed for. "I don't know what that was- but, yes oh my god."

"I'm not kidding, I will marry you." He chuckled, which only increased how confident he sounded.

"Nice, Ross." I sighed.

"If only, right?"

"Yes." I replied.

There was a female voice on the other end. "Well, that's my sister. Off I go to suffer, please pray for me."

"You'll be fine, little bitch. Plus if it gets too boring you can just text me, I'm having a movie night with my brother and sister and some of his friends."

"That sounds far better, but ya, I have to go. Bye, for now!" He said, then hung up.

Ross Lynch

As I turned into one of the most luxurious streets of Beverly Hills, I couldn't help but notice my sister's bobbing knee, which started ever since we got in the car.

She looked stunning, to be pretty honest, so I couldn't see why she was so nervous. "You good?"

"Huh?" She looked at me blankly. "Oh, yeah."

"You seem nervous, you sure you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." She brushed it off as I parked the car. I handed her the furry mini cape that came with her dress and allowed her to fix it on as I sorted out the ridiculous bow tie I had on and gave my hair a final shake, allowing it to fall to its messy state.

Rydel looked at me. "I'm sorry, it looked too proper."

"I love you sometimes." She laughed, getting out of the car. I copied, then handed it to the valet standing outside of the house where jazz music came from.

She took my arm as we came in, her demeanour now changing to the happy, bubbly and giggly one the world was used to seeing. We cruised through the party as she introduced me to people.

"I was going to say." A lady with a British accent began to speak as I quit looking at the expensive things around this mansion. "You can't be together, you look scarily alike."

Rydel laughed. "This is my brother, Ross."

"Lovely to meet you." I smiled to the lady who grinned back. She soon cantered off to go looking for her husband, and Rydel was off with some work friends.

So I was completely shocked, when someone hugged me from behind. "I didn't think you would be here."

"Hi, Rebecca." I smiled to her. She looked stunning also, in a silky navy blue dress and her hair in waves. "How come you're here?"

"Stepdad's party." She rolled her eyes. "He's a fucking dickhead."

"Damn." I said.

"You're driving, right?" I nodded. "Then it's apple juice for us both."

I stayed with her for the night, and we just made fun of all the 'proper' people attempting to dance. It was all fun and games until I went looking for the bathroom.

"You look lovely today, is all of this for me?"

"You bet it was." It was my sister's voice, coming from the master bedroom. I pushed open the door, and nothing prepared me for the sight I was about to witness.

My sister was pinned against the wall, her dress up and past her legs, arms around a man who looked as if he was in his mid 40's. They both gasped at my entrance.

"Ross, it's not what you think." Rydel attempted to intervene, but all I could do was turn around and run to the car.

I sat inside as a panic attack settled in my chest, so I rolled down the window, staggering my breaths. As it began to fade, anger fell into place and I pulled on the glove compartment, looking at my options.

No, I put the gun aside. That would be messy, loud and hard to fake. Behind it was a small container of cyanide powder. Nice.

+++

There was a small residue of the poison on my thumb, which I discreetly licked off as I took my seat at the very large dining table, between Rebecca and another man. Rydel was positioned in front of me, surrounded by her work friends. She looked at me, but I looked away.

The man she was with- or the CEO of her and many other firms- James Topeka, took his seat at the head of the table, and everybody began to eat. The menu was sushi, which I really liked so I went first for a California roll, watching as he took the first sip of his glass of wine. I smirked.

It wasn't long until his chopsticks dropped and he began to cough violently. Out of panic, he grabbed the whole glass and drank it in one gulp. Fucking idiot.

He fell limp on the table, and panic officially settled in. Everybody was horrified. Me? I was over the moon that just happened, and Rebecca wasn't far off.

But I wasn't finished quite yet. I still have things to talk over with my dear sister.

Rydel was actually meant to be harassed by James; it changed as I was writing it 🌚