The Penthouse

Chapter Five

Anna’s POV

The Penthouse

I waited for six hours, calling my mother at intervals. All the calls were unresponded to, and by the time I was right outside the dorm, she already had fifteen missed calls sitting on her phone. 

Sighing, I dropped onto the steps outside, my limbs giving up on me. I knew I was right. I should never have come to Yale. But my mom seemed to think it was either an Ivy League University or nothing.

She was wrong about a lot of things, and we were about adding this to the list. 

The earth seemed to have come outside to laugh at my situation as thunder struck, the sound reverberating through every wall. I had nowhere to go. And as if that wasn’t enough, I was just about to be drenched by the rain in the middle of summer. 

When thunder struck the second time, my phone vibrated against my thigh, and I jumped so fast that it fell to the ground, the screen shattering.

“Shit!” I cursed, picking it off the tiled floor. “Shit! Shit! What the hell is happening today?”

The phone vibrated again, and with relief flooding through me, I hit the green button. 

“Cole,” I sighed, feeling all the frustration from the day pouring out. “I have been trying to reach you. Where have you been?”

“What?” 

I heard it then. The loud music coming from the background. He said he had a test later today. That should be over by now, but a party? Didn’t he have to rest or something?

“Where are you?”

“Give me a second,” he yelled over the music, static replacing his voice along with a whir of other voices jumbled together. It felt like an eternity of me pacing before his voice finally came up again. 

“Hey.” The music was now a blur in the background, but I could still hear it. “How are you doing?”

“Did you get my text?”

“Text? What text?” I knew he’d drawn the phone away from his ear, scrolling through our conversations. “Oh my God! Anna, I’m so sorry. I was studying for the test since we were out all night, and I must have missed it.”

“And now?”

“My friends brought me to this party to relax.” He sighed in exasperation. “I knew I shouldn’t have come here. I was just…”

“It’s fine, Cole.” I didn’t want it to be my fault that he couldn’t have fun with his friends tonight. 

“No, it’s not fine. You are stranded out there because of your mom, and I couldn’t pick up your call when you most needed me.”

“I tried everything, Cole,” I whispered, tears stinging the corners of my eyes. I hated crying outside, but I couldn’t help it. 

“What happened?”

“The space that was kept for freshmen was all taken up because I never showed interest.” My voice broke as the tears rolled down my face. “I’m such a fool, Cole. I should have known my mom would have never let me go to Boston.”

“Honey,” Cole drawled. “No. It’s not your fault. You didn’t want to go to Yale, and your mom should have listened to you.”

“Now, she’s not even picking up my calls. I have nowhere to go, Cole. I left my cards in the house because she… she didn’t let me pack anything. Not even an extra cloth.”

“Okay,” Cole breathed. “Let’s do it this way. I am going to send you Andre’s address. You can just go there to spend the night. Or at least, until you get through to your mom and sort out the issue with your accommodation.”

“Cole, you know…”

“I know,” he cut in. “You and Andre are mortal enemies, but he is going to have to do this for me.”

That wasn’t what I was going to say. I still didn’t remember what happened that night, but I asked myself one question over and over again. Why did I drink with him?

“Cole…”

“I’m going to tell him you are coming over. Just go there, okay?”

The call ended before I could get another word out, and his text came in next. I couldn’t even tell him that the screen of my phone had broken, or that I needed to get clothes too. He seemed busy.

I was keeping him away from the party.

My tears were the only company I had as I started the journey to Andre’s house, uncertain if he wanted to see me. Cole, in his text, said it wasn’t very far from the school. I had walked seven minutes already, yet I couldn’t see it.

Maybe this was a sign that Andre’s house was the last place I had to be, but I had no other choice.

After ten minutes, it started raining. A gasp escaped my lips as I picked up my pace, running through the wet floor. The coffee shops had closed for the day. There was no way I could stop by to wait. 

After what seemed like an eternity of running, with the harsh whips of the rain hitting me, I finally stopped in front of a huge building, half of it made of glass.

I had heard that the Clark family was rich, but I had never actually seen it.

Until tonight.

There were no lights in the building, save for the last floor. 

The penthouse. 

I approached the gates and pressed hard on the buzzer. I heard its muffled ring, but no one came out. I tried a second time, and then a third, until I thought my fingers were about to grow numb.

Without any response, I sat on the floor next to the gate, the rain still pouring, thoroughly soaked, and my phone barely protected.

The tears started again. I wanted my mommy. I wanted Cole. Why did this have to happen to me?

But in that split second, I heard the latch of the gates before it slid open. 

“Hey.” It was a blonde girl, with wild hair and … nothing.

She had no clothes on.

“Who are you looking for?"