Nine

I took my bag and changed out of my uniform as Stephanie took charge behind the counter. I sent a quick goodbye to Monique and Antony. I thought I would be at Natalie's house for the sleepover by 8 but I was running a little late.

I wasn't worried about the fact that I didn't have clothes with me, I would just borrow Natalie's. 

I got in my car and started driving towards Natalie's house. I had to give my details to the security man posted at the gate of the colony Natalie lived in. The same colony where Harper lives.

Why does this colony even need security guards?! It was not as if Arada was full of cutthroats and criminals.

I parked in Natalie's driveway.

Her house held a modern yet conservative touch to it. With light cream walls and two huge pillars supporting the patio, the house was simply magnificent. The wide garden wrapped around the house and gave it a soothing aura. The house consisted of two floors and many rooms, all brilliantly furnished.

I knocked at the door, waiting for the maid to open the door. Yeah, Nat was that rich! The maid knew me, so she opened the door and let me in. She had seen me spending countless nights in the mansion.

I greeted her and stepped into the foyer. Soft lights dominated the entrance giving a soft and welcoming glow.

I climbed the staircase and headed towards Natalie's room, where I knew Samantha would be too.

The three of us took full liberties when we were at each other's houses. It had always been this way. So, instead of knocking and waiting for permission to enter the room, I simply walked in, hoping that both of them were decent.

Both of them never found it odd to strip in front of each other. They said they found nudity liberating and easy, but it had always been awkward for me. I never failed to wonder how, though, after some time I accepted it. But I still refrained from publicly showing my tits.

Luckily for me, they were decent, well decent for them, but I could still live with whatever little clothing they had on. Both of them were sprawled on the bed, wearing nothing but their pushup bras and shorts that were barely covering their butt cheeks while music blasted in the room.

They were bobbing their heads to the rhythm of the music and were so lost that they didn't even realize that I was standing there.

I smiled wickedly as I ran and threw my body on the bed and landed on top of them. They immediately jerked up from the sudden weight and shot me a murderous look.

"Ah! This is bliss." I stretched my arms and covered as much space on them as I could while hitting Nat in the face and Sam in her stomach. I opened my eyes and enjoyed their irritation.

All of a sudden, they pushed me off the bed. I landed on my butt and looked at them with narrowed eyes. They both looked at each other and laughed hysterically.

I pouted and crossed my arms.

"These puppy dog eyes won't work on us, Zara," Natalie said between her bouts of laughter.

"Oh, hush!" I got up from the bed, while rubbing my sore bottom and plopped down on the bed between the two of them.

"Before you join the party, you got to change, Zara," Samantha said.

They had this weird rule about being as naked as possible on sleepovers. Because to them, naked equaled comfort. I never got that logic.

"Yeah, I know." I grabbed the set of shorts and crop top Natalie laid out for me. Even she knew I wasn't going to move around her house in just underwear.

After I changed and came out of the bathroom, I found Samantha going through the many DVDs Natalie owned, picking out a movie. Natalie must be downstairs getting the popcorn and all the junk food we needed for a sleepover. Neither one of us could live without food.

Samantha was a romantic at heart, so I knew we would all be watching a sappy romantic movie which we had already watched a countless number of times before on these sleepovers. I would have picked some mystery or action movie while Natalie would have picked out something with blood and gore in it. That girl and her choices, seriously.

Samantha popped the movie in the player and my suspicions proved to be correct when The Notebook started playing. Natalie entered the room just as the movie started, with her hands full of food.

Natalie put down all the food on the floor and groaned out loud when she saw what we would be watching.

"Shit! Not this again. How many times have you watched that movie, Sam?"

"Oh, shut up. It's my turn to choose the movie and I choose this, so you will watch it."

"I am going to throw out this DVD," Natalie muttered under her breath but Samantha heard it and gasped in mock horror.

"Don't you dare even think about it?" Samantha looked truly horrified. 

I laughed at the scene.

We settled down on the lush carpet in the room, all of us facing the TV. We each took a tub of ice cream and started eating it.

I started to get bored in the middle of the movie. Can you blame me?! We have watched this movie so many times because of Samantha that I could write all the dialogue all by myself.

I looked to my left to see Samantha engrossed in the movie as if she had never seen it before. Anyone would find it hard to believe that it was her thousandth time watching it.

I looked to my right to see Natalie barely holding her eyelids open. How can she even sleep while sitting? I wish I had that talent.

I nudged her using my elbow. She jerked awake and looked at me as if she was going to kill me. I stuck my tongue out at her and shifted close to her.

"Got anything interesting to talk about, Nat?" 

Samantha shushed both of us, clearly riled up at our interruption.

We looked at each other, silently communicating, and moved closer to each other.

"No. Do you know about any gossip? Anything to take my mind off The Notebook?!" She looked at me expectantly.

I chuckled. Typical Nat.

Samantha shushed us, yet again.

We both rolled our eyes at her behavior.

I just nodded my head at Natalie's question. I did have something to talk to her about. The visit by Harper, Aiden, and the boys was still fresh on my mind. 

The way he looked at me, how he guessed my favorite item on the menu, and how later, he claimed that it wasn't just a "guess".

So, in a hushed voice, I told her everything that happened at Monique's. She listened attentively and then released a breath.

Nat looked like she was deep in thought.

"Why do you hate Harper so much, Zara?"

I flinched at her loud volume. I looked at Sam to find her snoring softly and the credits of the movie rolling in. Great, now she can't shush us. That bossy woman!

"I hate him because he plays with every other girl, he sets his eyes on. He doesn't treat them with respect at all. He hurts them and acts as if they don't matter." I ranted as I had ranted hundreds of times before, the reason already imprinted on my mind.

"You know that you are talking about every popular guy in every school there is, right? Besides, most of the girls know what they are going to get. They know that Harper is only going to hook up with them. Everyone knows Harper is in no mood to commit right now or anytime soon. So, you can't exactly blame Harper when it's the girls that throw themselves at him."

I contemplated whatever she said in my head for a few moments and I realized whatever she said made complete sense.

It wasn't like she had given me that argument for the first time. Whatever we were doing now, it wasn't playful banter. It was talking and discussing my feelings. This was serious. And I refused to lie to myself anymore if there was even a little chance that I had been blind to my feelings towards Harper. 

How was Harper supposed to act when every girl was trying to get him to sleep with them?! Should he be celibate?!

"He slept with my sister and broke her heart. I remember she used to cry so much. Her eyes were red-rimmed for a whole week and she couldn't trust a boy after that, till her sophomore year at college."

Yup, that's a good point.

"I remember you telling us that she is in a serious relationship with some guy who kept going after her for two years and she finally caved in. So, does she still hold a grudge against him?"

That was a good question. Did Emily still hold a grudge against Harper for taking her virginity and then breaking her heart? 

I didn't think so, because after she went to college, she stopped talking about Harper at all. Whenever I used to bad mouth him, she used to listen to me but stopped agreeing with me after a while. She told me that there were worse boys in her college and that whatever happened with Harper was in a way her fault. I could never understand her reasoning. But now that I think about it, I don't think she hated him. She may regret the decisions she made when she was with him, but she wasn't going to plot his death anytime soon.

"Um, no....." My voice sounded weak to my ears.

The whole time the three of us just kept arguing about Harper, we never dissected the real reason why I hated him so much. Or was it just playful banter?! I always thought the reasons I had in my mind to hate him were plausible and practical. 

"Zara, why do you hate Harper?"

Why did I hate him? The answer had always been clear to me. My sister's heartbreak was one of the biggest reasons but when she, being the victim, didn't have any grudge against him, who was I to hate him as the third party? 

I had no reasonable answer to Nat's question as I thought about it.

"I think you "supposedly" hate Harper because you are subconsciously attracted to him and you don't even know it. And the fact that he sleeps around just disturbs you."

I liked him. I liked Harper. Hell No. No Fucking Way.

"I think that is a bit too farfetched, don't you think?" I was pretty confident that I did not like him.

"I don't know. Could be. You know what I think?!"

I nodded, already giving myself reasons why I didn't like Harper Cain.

"I think you should just think hard. I mean, hard. Do you even hate Harper or is it just a defense mechanism?"

Nat was just spewing bullshit now. She was not making any sense. There was no way I liked Harper Cain. Hell, I barely found him tolerable.

And I never felt jealous whenever I saw him with any other girl. Nor did I feel any longing towards him. So, it was simply impossible.

"Since when did you become a damn Dr. Phil?" I snapped at her. I bit my lip when I realized my outburst was uncalled for.

"I just read an article at Cosmo this week. Thought I would try the bullshit that no one would agree to." She laughed.

Samantha groaned beside me.

Nat got up and stretched her toned body. "I am going to the bathroom and then we will sleep. The Notebook drained my energy and I barely watched it."

I chuckled. Yup, the movie sucked my energy too.

As I lay beside Sam, I thought about what Nat said. Surely, I didn't like Harper, right? I mean, my subconscious has to be smarter than that.

Right?