Fake Love (Bay Falls High NEXT Book 1) Read online

  Dad smiled. “I guess if I have to say this in a certain way… I’m filthy rich. You will remember it someday but there are late night informercials that sell all kinds of products. A lot of those I’ve invented. That’s what I do. I’ve always done it. But to get back to your original question, I was working on something and it exploded in my hands. I burned my hands and arms, and parts of my face. Leslie was the nurse who took care of me. When I asked her how ugly my face looked, she told me I was the most handsome man she ever met. So I asked her out.”

  “That’s bold,” I said. “I like it.”

  Dad came toward me. “Let me get you settled back in bed. There’s another round of nurses here tonight.”

  I stood up and Dad was there to hold me.

  I paused and looked up at him. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

  “It’s what a father does, Winter.”

  “What about my mother?” I asked.

  “Let’s just take one thing at a time,” he said. “It’s been a long day for you. I know this isn’t ideal, but I’m so happy you’re awake. And walking. It was scary, Winter. I saw what Tank looks like now. I have no idea how you…”

  I shut my eyes and nodded.

  Emotion came over me again.

  I could just barely remember the accident.

  And that was it.

  Dad got me back into the bed and when he moved away, I asked him for a goodnight kiss on my forehead.

  It was still weird because to me it was a stranger kissing my forehead.

  But he was my father.

  And it meant a lot to him.

  I fell asleep pretty quick only to be bothered most of the night by nurses checking on me. They meant well. And I didn’t mind it all that much. Falling asleep with no memory meant no dreaming. And no dreaming was just like… darkness.

  When morning came, I had to go through the same round of questioning and moving my body parts and all that crap again.

  Dad looked so hopeful that I would remember something, but I didn’t.

  My memory was fucked.

  Okay? Completely fucked.

  I was able to eat and sort of clean myself up.

  That meant going into the bathroom.

  That meant facing a mirror.

  Looking at myself… nothing.

  I had no idea who I was.

  My eyes were a yellow-green kind of color. My skin really fair. I looked pale, which was probably normal considering all that had happened. There were a few cuts on my face. A bruise at the top of my left cheek.

  I turned my head and tried to see if I could see the staples in my head but I couldn’t.

  I reached back and touched them and it made my stomach feel wobbly.

  My lips were full, but they were dry and chapped.

  My nose came to a small point. I wrinkled my nose up and down.

  I looked like a rabbit.

  How the hell do I know what a rabbit is?

  I started to feel overwhelmed so I got out of the bathroom.

  Dad waited for me and I held his arm and walked back to the bed.

  “Did you see how beautiful you are?” he asked.

  I smiled. “I don’t know about that.” I got back into the bed. “So let me get this right… you’re my father. Your name is Jack. You’re an inventor or something. You’re filthy rich. Leslie is your girlfriend. You haven’t said anything about my mother yet. So that tells me things aren’t so good with her. She’s alive, but not here. And I’m Winter. Winter Seacrum. I was in a car accident. And I can’t remember a thing.”

  “For now,” Dad said. “You can’t remember anything for now.”

  “You think it’s all magically just going to come back?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to think about a world in which it doesn’t come back,” Dad said. “And speaking of that, would you mind if some visitors came today? You have a lot of people worried about you, Winter. I know it’ll be tough, but you never know what could happen. You’ll be in charge of everything though. If you feel worried, scared, or overwhelmed by it all, you just say something and everyone will be kicked out.”

  I nodded. “That sounds good.”

  Dad kissed my forehead again.

  I was kind of getting used to it.

  I could tell he was a good father to me.

  And I knew something bad happened with my mother.

  But he had Leslie.

  She seemed nice.

  And I had… well… I had no memory of anything.

  Would this be considered the ultimate way of starting over in life?

  Chapter 2

  there it is

  I tried my best to look normal. Or what felt like normal to me. If I was going to be stuck in a hospital bed and friends were coming to visit, then I needed to do something to feel good about myself.

  Dad had brought me a bag of clothes from my bedroom.

  A black hoodie with the letters BFH written in gold on it caught my attention.

  I was drawn to it.

  The hoodie was soft, well worn, and oversized.

  The letters though…

  Dad gave me a minute, but when I couldn’t figure it out, he told me what they meant.

  Bay Falls High.

  I put the hoodie on and instantly felt more comfortable.

  I messed with my hair a little bit.

  There was makeup in the bag too.

  I just went with some lip balm so my lips wouldn’t look like a dirty, old, dried sponge.

  Then it was time to see my friends.

  Dad told me to just press the button for the nurse because Leslie was working.

  I was alone for about two seconds before I heard the click-click of shoes on the floor.

  In came two girls who looked at me and both burst into tears.

  They hugged each other and cried so hard while I sat there, wondering what to do.

  Then they set their sights on me.

  “Ohmyfuckinggod,” one yelled as she hugged me.

  “You crazy bitch, I love you,” the other said as she hugged me too.

  I wanted to feel something.

  I wanted to know something.

  But nothing came to me.

  Nothing at all.

  “Do you remember us?” one asked.

  “This is fucking crazy,” the other said. “I’m Evie.”

  “I’m Darcy.”

  “Evie and Darcy,” I said.

  “Winter, I’ve known you since first grade,” Evie said. “You were my best bitch then, and still are now. What the hell is going on here?”

  Evie had bright blue eyes and bright blonde hair. She almost looked like a doll. Her face. The makeup. The clothes.

  Darcy was kind of the opposite. She had brown eyes, darker hair that was pulled back in some kind of fancy looking ponytail.

  “This is impossible,” Evie said.

  Darcy was a little calmer. She touched my hand. “Listen, Winter, we’re your best friends. We’ve been around for everything. When you got your first period, we were there. Evie walked you out of class, while that jackass Brendan made a comment that you sat on a ketchup packet. I made him eat a tampon.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “You really don’t remember that?” Evie asked. “Even now… when Brendan gets drunk and passes out at a party, someone will put a tampon on him.”

  “Or they put a string hanging from his mouth,” Darcy said.

  I shook my head. “I don’t remember. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” Evie said. “We’re just happy you’re alive. I mean, this is weird though. Like you don’t remember us at all.”

  “But we know all the stories,” Darcy said. “So we can fill you in as needed. It’s not all that bad.”

  “Right,” I nodded. “Do I have a boyfriend or anything?”

  “No,” Evie said. “You were kind of dating Chester. But that was on again, off again.”

  “She did go to the movies with him two weeks ago,” Darcy said as she looked at Evie.

  “But that wasn’t real,” Evie said. “She told us they pulled over and…” Evie looked at me. “This is really weird. Talking about your sex life to you because you can’t remember.”

  “Sex life?” I asked.

  “Hey, think of it this way,” Darcy said with a smile. “It’s like you’re a virgin again.”

  “Oh, can I get in on that?” Evie asked. “I’ve got a few on my list I wish weren’t there.”

  “Please,” Darcy said. “You open your legs near anyone and they need an antibiotic.”

  I snorted. “Wow…”

  “She’s a slut,” Darcy said.

  “No, I’m not!” Evie yelled. She slapped Darcy’s arm. “Ohmygod. I’m not bad at all.”

  “Oh, you’re bad,” Darcy said.

  “Wait a second,” I said. “This Chester guy. What did I do with him…”

  “Nothing,” Darcy said.

  “That night was nothing,” Evie said. “You told us he was all handsy and stoned. So you told him you had your period.”

  “Then he told you he wanted to surf the red river,” Darcy said.

  “Ew,” I said.

  “Right,” Darcy said. “But that was it. You stopped talking to him after that.”

  “You kind of stopped talking to us too,” Evie said with a frown. “I mean, we were all busy and stuff.”

  I looked away and tried to think.

  I ran the names through my head over and over.

  Darcy. Evie. Chester. Darcy. Evie. Chester.

  Nothing came to me.

  I lowered my head.

  “I hate this,” I whispered.

  “I can’t even imagine,” Darcy said. “This is all so messed up. But you’re alive. You’re okay. I he
ard the doctor say that you might remember stuff. So maybe we can help. There’s a few Bumps out there waiting to see you.”

  “Huh?” I asked. “Bumps…?”

  “She’s not going to remember what a Bump is,” Evie said.

  “So tell me,” I said.

  Darcy rolled her eyes. “I hate the names. But… you know… the Bumps. The Trocs. That whole thing.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know what it means.”

  “Told you she won’t remember it,” Evie said. “We have to treat her like a newborn baby or something.”

  “I’m not a baby,” I said. “I was in a fucking car accident.”

  “Shit, right,” Evie said. “Ohmygod, I didn’t mean it like that. Oh, Winter, I’m sorry. I probably sound like such a rude bitch.”

  “As opposed to who you really are?” Darcy asked.

  Evie scrunched up her face and pretended to laugh.

  Darcy rubbed my arm. “Look, Winter, we’re here for you. Anything you need.”

  “Tell me about the Bumps and the Trocs.”

  “It’s just the way things are around here,” Evie cut in. “You have your regular BFH groups, okay? And believe me, don’t get sucked into the East vs. West stuff. Those two places have been going at it for, like, ever…”

  “BFH,” I said as I touched my hoodie.

  “Bay Falls High,” Darcy said.

  “That’s where we go…?” I asked.

  Evie and Darcy laughed. “Do you even remember how old you are?”

  I thought about it. My age. My birthday. I knew those words but I didn’t remember what they meant.

  “Okay,” Darcy said, “don’t worry about it. BFH is where the rich people go to learn. Are we part of that? Sure. But we get to go to the other part of it.”

  “The other part?” I asked.

  “You have no idea how rich you are, Winter,” Evie said. “You got made fun of all your life for what your father does for a living, but the money is… ridiculous.”

  “We have a private place to go,” Darcy said. “A private setting. We’re the Bumps. It’s a terrible name. I hate it, but it is what it is. The name comes from complete jealousy. Because the Trocs don’t have what we have.”

  “Money?” I asked.

  “That’s right,” Evie said. “Nothing worse than someone being jealous and bitter. Like I didn’t choose to be this, right? I was born into it. And if you think I’m not going to enjoy it…”

  “We get the point,” Darcy said to Evie. She focused on me again. “You’ll figure it all out. I promise.”

  “Do the Trocs go to BFH?” I asked.

  Both Evie and Darcy burst into laughter.

  I didn’t laugh at all.

  I was just asking a serious question.

  “Oh, Winter,” Evie said. “The only way a Troc will ever be near our building is if they’re there to clean the toilets.”

  They laughed again.

  Something about it felt so wrong. So snobby.

  I swallowed hard, wondering if I was like them. Before the accident. If I made fun of people because of their monetary or social status.

  Darcy wiped the corners of her eyes. “Sorry about that, Winter. We just needed that laugh. After getting the call about you…”

  “It’s been so hard,” Evie said. “Like ridiculously hard.”

  Darcy took a deep breath. “Okay. You’re in your last year of studies. If you were going to one of those regular places, you’d be done already and probably off to college or something. But that’s not what we do. We make sure we learn so we’re ready to do whatever.”

  “Do whatever?” I asked.

  “Most live off their parent’s money,” Evie said.

  Darcy pointed to Evie.

  Evie proudly nodded.

  “I feel like I need a drink,” I said with a half-smile.

  “That’s the attitude,” Evie said.

  “We’ll have to get you another fake ID,” Darcy said. “Technically you still have about eighteen months until you’re able to go into a bar. But we always have ourselves covered.”

  “Do you know what I was studying?” I asked.

  “Well, you were totally majoring in Chester’s ass and di-”

  “Stop,” Darcy said to Evie. “You were good with investments… math and stuff. You were almost a dork.”

  “But a totally hot dork,” Evie added.

  “Oh, yeah,” Darcy said. “I mean, have you seen yourself in the mirror yet?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “So you know how hot you are,” Darcy said.

  “And you’re not wearing makeup,” Evie said.

  I shook my head. “Do you have pictures of me?”

  “Of course,” Darcy said.

  “Can we let the others say hello first?” Evie asked. “Like a quick in and out thing.”

  “That’s up to Winter,” Darcy said.

  “The… Bumps… are they my friends?” I asked.

  Both Darcy and Evie cringed.

  “Friends are tough to come by,” Evie said. “Think about it this way… those who show up are the ones afraid of you.”

  “Or they want you to remember they were here so they can fuck you over later,” Darcy said. “So keep your eyes open.”

  “Wow,” I whispered.

  I turned my head and looked toward the window.

  What kind of life have I been living?

  I sat up in bed and had this urge to care about what everyone thought about me.

  Maybe that’s who I always was.

  Darcy and Evie stood at the side of the bed.

  And so began this slow procession of people… of Bumps.

  I had no idea what kind of name Bumps was. That’s what the super-rich people were called around here? And then the ones who didn’t have money were called Trocs.

  I was confused.

  I still couldn’t remember anything.

  Today was shaping up to be a really great day.

  “She doesn’t remember me?”

  That was the first question the first girl asked as she spoke to Darcy and Evie as though I couldn’t hear her.

  “I’m not deaf,” I said. “I’m right here.”

  “This is so weird though,” she said. “You don’t remember me? I’m Vivi.”

  I shrugged my shoulders.

  Vivi buried her face into her hands and hurried away.

  Darcy leaned down toward me. “Fuck her. She’s a two-faced cunt. For the record, when you told me about Chester, she overhead. That night she went to Manny’s beach house and went down on Chester. Just to piss you off.”

  I leaned forward and watched Vivi running from the hospital room.

  “So that’s fake?” I asked.

  “Not sure,” Darcy said. “But I stand by what I said.”

  Next in line was Tasha. Then Sloan.

  They just waved to me. They said hey. They said sorry.

  Then there were some guys.

  Andrew. Fletcher. Reid.

  Three different heights, hair colors, and shapes.

  Reid had striking blue eyes and a kind smile.

  I must have smiled back at him the wrong way because Darcy leaned back down to me.

  “I’ve been there,” she whispered. “Both drunk and sober. Trust me, it’s not worth it.”

  I looked at Darcy. “What?”

  She held up her pointer finger and thumb. With a very small space between her fingers.

  Oh. I get it now.

  Soon the hospital room started to fill up.

  It was no longer one at a time coming and going.

  Which was good.

  I wasn’t some museum exhibit.

  I wasn’t in a casket at a funeral home.

  “Yo, I saw the pics of how bad your ride got fucked up,” a guy named Collin said to me. “You’re like a fucking walking miracle.”

  “Just can’t remember a thing,” I said.

  “We’re all pulling for you though,” a girl named Lila said.

  “Ohmygod, you’re so fucking cheery!” Evie said.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Lila yelled to Evie.

  “I hate your voice,” Evie said.

  “And here we go,” Darcy said to me.

  “Here who go?” I asked.

  Darcy gave me the run down.

  Evie had wanted a new car for her birthday. She picked one out and by the time she got home to demand her father’s credit card to buy it, Lila went and got the car. For the super-rich, cars weren’t made to be replicated. It was like a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

  Truthfully, it all sounded terrible.