Mallory put on her Romona Keveza light pink dress and her nude jimmy choo heels. She looked at herself in the mirror to make sure she didn't have any baby hairs sticking up before leaving.
Once she arrived she took a seat and waited for the ceremony to begin. As she watched everyone take their seat she couldn't help but remember the previous day when she turned to see Ezekiel. She then snapped out of her thoughts and clapped when she saw her cousin Noelle walk up the stage to get her diploma.
Mallory loved graduation ceremonies but she stopped smiling when she saw her uncle Benjamin hand Noelle her diploma and hug her. Noelle seemed forced and all of a sudden Mallory remembered that he was head master of the school.
Once the ceremony ended she waited for everyone to leave their seats so she could look for Noelle. When she spotted her she saw Noelle being embraced in a hug by a woman she didn't know. Noelle spotted Mallory and let go of the woman and walked towards Mallory.
"Congratulations" Mallory said as she hugged her cousin. "Thank you, why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Noelle asked as she received the gift box that Mallory was handing to her.
"Surprise" Mallory shrugged. "Thank you. I want you to meet someone, come with me" Mallory followed Noelle.
"Mallory this is my mom, Anastasia. Mom this is my cousin, Mallory" Noelle introduced them.
"Mallory Kline, pleasure to meet you. I see where Noelle gets her looks from" Mallory stuck her hand out for Anastasia to shake. "Nice to meet you, you're Roman's daughter?" Anastasia asked Mallory.
"Yes he is my father, unfortunately" Mallory smiled. "You look a lot like him" Anastasia nodded. "Did my father in any way hurt you because I know my grandfather wasn't the greatest father in law and-"
"You're father never did anything to hurt me. He was the only one besides your grandmother to be fine with the relationship I once had with her father" Anastasia assured Mallory but that's only what Anastasia believed. "It's great to finally hear something good about him" Mallory said.
"She's not like her father or even worse like mine" Noelle said as she turned to see her father getting off the stage. "I think he's coming in this direction, would you like me to distract him while you guys leave?"Mallory said.
"No" Noelle said. Benjamin stepped in front of them and looked at Anastasia. Mallory could tell with just that one look that he was still deeply in love with her just like Mallory was with Ezekiel but things were different. "Anastasia. Mallory what a surprise to see you" He greeted them.
Anastasia didn't respond and Mallory could tell that in a way she was scared of him. Mallory was going to answer with sarcasm just like she would answer to her father with something like 'oh you know uncle Benjamin every Kline is full of surprises, wouldn't want to stay behind' but decided to answer with a, "nice to see you"
"Can I speak to you for a second?" He looked at Noelle. "I can stay with you" Anastasia said to Noelle. "I'll be fine" Noelle said.
"Why don't we get to know each other more" Mallory suggested to Anastasia who didn't want to leave Noelle alone with her father. Anastasia walked besides Mallory but kept looking back over her shoulder at Noelle and Benjamin.
"She'll be fine" Mallory said to Anastasia. "I worry about her. She doesn't have to pay for his mistakes" Anastasia said. Mallory thought about how she would love to hear her father say that. "I don't know much about what happened just that he's being charged with murder which is a really big deal of course" Mallory said.
"Noelle spoke to you about it?" Anastasia asked. "She did" Mallory nodded. "You seem very different from them"
"Thank you" Mallory smiled and turned to see Nick walking by. "Would you excuse me for a minute I have to go to the restroom, can you please tell Noelle to wait for me. Thank you" Mallory said as she began walking in the same direction that Nick went.
Mallory followed him and realized he was heading towards Noelle just as she was walking back towards Mallory and Anastasia. Mallory quickly grabbed Nick's arm and pulled him aside where Noelle couldn't see them. "What do you think you're doing?" Mallory looked at him.
"I have to speak to her" Nick said. "No you don't have to. Just like you didn't have to hurt her for something she didn't do" Mallory frowned. "You don't know anything" Nick frowned back.
"You're right I don't nor am I interested to hear it from you because my uncle may be a monster but what you did to her doesn't make you any better. You're just as bad as he is or even worse" Mallory said and turned to walk away.
"I didn't mean to hurt her"
Mallory looked over her shoulder, "But you did"
When she met back with Noelle and her mother they invited her to have dinner with them in her mother's home.
"Do you want to get some air?" Noelle asked when they were finished with dinner. "Yeah" Mallory nodded. "Come on" Noelle said and they excused themselves.
"Your mother has a beach in her backyard?" Mallory smiled. "You guys have a lake" Noelle responded.
"A lake is nowhere near a beach. I really like your mother's home it feels warm and homey. She seems like a really great person too" Mallory said.
"She really is" Noelle nodded. "How are you doing with everything that's going on?" Mallory asked.
Noelle took a while to answer making Mallory regret her question. Maybe it wasn't the time to ask it but she did. "I think I'd like for it not be happening" Noelle said.
"I'm sorry" Mallory said. "How are you doing?" Noelle asked Mallory.
"Terrible. I can't stop thinking about him as much as I try to do anything to distract myself" Mallory responded. "Is that why you're here?" Noelle asked.
"No, I came to see you but I mean I guess part of it is. I thought that maybe I would spend my vacations here before I leave to Oxford" Mallory nodded.
"You got into Oxford?" Noelle asked. Mallory nodded. "We should be roomies then" Noelle smiled.
"You're going to Oxford too?" Mallory smiled widely. Noelle nodded. "Oh my god that's great" Mallory hugged Noelle. "This is going to be fun it's like where going to have the time we didn't spend together when we were little except even more fun now that we'll be able to drink alcohol"
"I thought you didn't drink alcohol?" Noelle asked. "I thought so too until I tried Vodka" Mallory smiled.
