The Heiress Club

Chapter 19: Jasper

CW: drunk driving

I hate Valentina and I love her lies.

She's not what she says she is. I can tell almost immediately, the day she crashes into me at the football game. If she's who she says she is, she should've learned who I am.

The thing about Valentina is how beautiful she and her lies are. I think the lies only add to her beauty. She lies about everything. Who she is. What she is. Every, single, little thing. Her appearance itself is a lie, an illusion. I could tell her eyelids were fake—artfully done, but fake. I could tell that her wardrobe—her little pearl earrings, her navy sweaters, all of it—was new and only an illusion. A lie. I saw her once, when I was running in the morning, leaning out her dormitory window. Her hair was straight. She lies about her hair too—says it's naturally wavy, takes compliments for it.

There's a certain image that Valentina has. It's romantic and intoxicating, and I know she wants it to be like that. Skiing in Switzerland. Royalty as friends. Mansions in Porto Rondo. Vacation villas across the world. Family that might as well be the Medicis. It's all lies—sweet, indulgent lies. The kind that you could drink in and never be sick of. The kind that are so glamorous, so dramatic, so flamboyant and audacious that even when you know you're being lied to, you can't help but love it all the same.

She lied about cheating at poker. I couldn't be angry because I think there's something beautiful about that too. A fierce, burning will to win, a will to do anything it takes.

Her lies are the kind that I could get lost in and never find my way back from.

When she walks through that door on Halloween, I can't even be sure it's an accident. I can't even be sure her attire is an accident. A little red dress, the horns of a devil and the face of one too. They say the devil is beautiful. Lies, deceptions, dishonesties that are as beautiful as the bright-burning sun.

꧁꧂

Jasper didn't know what to do with himself after Valentina left.

He sank back into the couch, staring at the ceiling. What a beautiful, wicked person. He stole the notes of course, and he expected Valentina to see through it quickly. He just hadn't expected her to leave.

He wondered if he should apologise. For what? his mind asked. It's the same kind of lie she likes to tell so often.

Maybe I should.

Or maybe he should just go out and check on how drunk the party guests were. He decided on that. And maybe, if he saw Valentina on the way ...

He didn't let himself finish that thought, standing up and leaving the room.

Outside, the party was in full swing. Some underclassmen had found some cards and started a game of drunk strip poker (an awful combination of three good things, if you asked Jasper). Mia—a silly but easily convinced girl—was also drunk. She was making out desperately with someone else from their grade. Jasper made a note in his mind to ditch her that week. She'd been useful for the little notes-stealing debacle, but it was high time he moved on. There were always new, exciting things demanding the attention of Jasper Rochester.

Like a drunk Seung-jun. He was a funny guy. He'd been insufferable when he first came to Arbourne, but now, Jasper would trust him with just about anything. Maybe not a gun (they'd learned how to shoot together in Aspen and Seung-jun had been asked very politely to put the gun down after the first round).

"Jasper!" Seung-jun slurred, grabbing Jasper's arm and sticking to him like cling film. "Did you know—did you know, did you know that sharks don't have bones?"