Trophy Daughter

Chapter 21

I swear some of ya'll must want me to get pissed off at you. You comment on shit thinking, 'yes, I must tell this author what to do, why I'm offended at this particular comment, why she ain't shit but I still read her stuff, and, what to do with her characters, because I'm obviously the more literate person.'

If any of these pertain to you- Go and eat a Leper's ass. 

OH AND DAMN, some of ya'll are real-life EDITORS. Bitch, if I don't edit my shit, you don't need to. Fuck outta here, especially if I go to your profile and it's like a three-year-old child learning how to spell properly. 

BUT, I love most of you. 

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"So what's the big deal with your parents and shit?" Barnabas asked, disturbing me from the compact bliss that was a meatball sub. I glanced up, considering him for a moment as we sat in my dorm lounge. 

"Caroline called me a while back and ate me out for requesting the emancipation." I shrugged, taking a bite of my sub and swallowing thoughtfully. "And then Carlisle texted me this morning saying Caroline had gone missing. He doesn't know where she is."

Barnabas's brows raised, bewilderment clear on his pretty face. He took a sip of his coke then shook his head, "why are rich people always the most messed up?"

I snorted, eyes widening as I accidentally inhaled some cheese and choked. Slapping my hands against the table, I stood up and beat a fist against my chest, coughing as the piece of food remained lodged in my throat. Barnabas's eyes widened and he sprang up, coming behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist, pushing upwards in the Heimlich maneuver. 

He made three motions before I coughed up my food, immediately sagging in his arms and feeling tired from nearly dying. Life would have been so much easier if I didn't have a gag reflex. In more ways than one. 

Barnabas leaned down to my ear, still holding me up as I turned to goo, "Are you okay?"

I snorted again, amazed at the situations I found myself in. "I'm great. Let me rest a few more minutes right here, then I'll stand up."

He chuckled, making a groaning noise. "You're so fucking heavy though. Ease up on the pies Circe."

Rolling my eyes I elbowed his leg, falling down enough to be practically sitting on his feet. I weighed a hundred and twenty pounds wet, and he had muscles on muscles, so he had no problem with my weight. 

"Circe! I didn't know you had a hot piece of ass on the side!" A voice said, stopping my heart. Why did Carla always turn up at the worst times? At least she hadn't seen me choke, and then Barnabas engage in some rather...insinuating movements. 

I stood up, then shoved Barnabas for laughing silently, not bothering to rebuff what Carla said. Nikhil and his sister were also with Carla, and Nikhil was staring at me in an unusual way. His dark eyes were steady on me, his mouth turning down into a deeper scowl than usual. Something must have happened on the way here.

Barnabas draped an arm over my shoulders and I pushed him off, flipping him off the harder he laughed. 

"He is a hot piece of ass, but he ain't my side piece. I prefer guys without micropenises."

Carla immediately cackled, and I slid a triumphant smirk over to the now red Barny boy. He glared at me, a pout curling his full lips, and I flicked my short hair over my shoulder. 

"The marshmallow girl is Carla Trooney- her dad is the headmaster and she's student council president. The tall girl behind her is Erica, and she knows twenty ways to kick your ass with a spoon. She is also marshmallow's girlfriend." Both the girls did bows as I introduced them, and I met my gaze with Nikhil. 

Barnabas raised a brow at my pause and I smiled. "That's Nikhil." 

Everyone waited for me to say more, and I shrugged, walking over to the big baddie. He stiffened as I approached, but I still smiled and hugged his arm. "He's really angsty and angry, and also can beat your ass, but he's a really big softie once you get to know him. Like a giant, Russian teddy bear."

Nikil growled, jerking his arm out of my grip and stalking up the stairs to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. 

Barnabas watched me closely, something unreadable crossing his face. I shrugged, "He's just a bit shy."

_____

"Did I know about your dad's, I mean ex-dad's, contribution to the school? Of course. He kept it hush hush though, and the only reason that little bitch knew about it was because her mother is my dad's secretary. She's always spying and shit, then reporting it to her little group of harpies."

I nodded vacantly, pulling out my laptop. "Did that knowledge...influence the way you treated me?" The words were so much weaker than I had hoped for them to be, and they didn't sound nonchalant at all. I could feel Barnabas's and Erica's eyes on me, but I stared at Carla as she searched my face.

"No Circe. Fuck no. We're not like the people from your hometown." 

I nodded again, flicking my gaze back to the laptop and typing up some things to get the attention off me. The relief that swamped me said more than I ever would, and I felt my shoulders lift now that the invisible weight had been lifted off. 

Carla had talked to me a while back about where I came from. I hadn't said much other than the fact that most people used each other or were too selfish to think of anyone other than themselves. 

She didn't need to know much else. 

"We mean it Little C. We're not like them. We actually like you for you."

I smiled, heart feeling like it was about to burst. That was the thing about me, I was a lot of bark but never any bite. And it was nice, more than nice, to feel genuinely appreciated.

"Enough of that sappy shit, Barnabas and I are becoming sleuths, and I can't have emotions ruining my thought processes."

Carla laughed and stood up, followed by Erica. Erica paused for a moment before replying. 

"If you need any help with hacking and things of the like, get Nikhil to help. He's doing international security, so he should know the ins and out of online security." 

Of course he was. That troublesome teddy seemed to pop up in every aspect of my life now. Barnabas shrugged and looked over to me. "We can do this by ourselves."

His voice was a bit firmer than usual, but I brushed it off and kept on typing, the last thing I needed was a boy with a wounded ego. 

We both went to work, searching up information on my ex parents and the college we were now at, wondering what Caroline and her petty little mind could be up to.

"So...are you and that giant Russian guy close?"

I raised a brow, barely glancing up from my screen and shrugging a shoulder. Was anyone on an intimate level with Nikhil? "Eh. It's hard to be close with Nikhil, but I think we are. In a weird way." 

Dumas didn't reply and I kept on typing, pulling up a page that had a photo of Carlisle and a guy who looked suspiciously like Carla's dad. The newspaper headline said 'Business Owner Funds the Building of Prestigious College'.

In reality, a business man funding the construction of a college isn't that unusual, but what was unusual was the fact that my ex father, was standing with another woman. And she looked a lot like me. 

Barnabas peered over my shoulder quickly, the sound of his double take the only thing going through my mind. He pressed his chest against my back as he tilted his head to the side, looking closer at the photo.

"Damn, that lady looks like you!" 

He paused for a beat. 

"Ten out of ten would bang."

It looks like some things, people, would never change.