Torn Between Two Enemies

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Kate chews her bottom lips. This is a disaster. She and her big mouth! Tonight, is the night that Seth will ask for s*x. He has waited long enough now, about a full month. It’s not like Kate is a virgin. Everybody knows that she’s not a virgin. That’s the thing. Everybody is wrong. She is a virgin. She and her big mouth has told everybody that she had lost her virginity to a European prince when she was vacationing in Europe last summer. The story was then told about a million times and everybody had believed her. Every-freakin-body. Gosh, high school students can be so stupid sometimes.

It’s not like Seth is her first boyfriend. No, she’s had two other boyfriends before him. Well, three if she counts Lucas from way back when they were still in kindergarten. Lucas, they had a fall out a long time ago. Now, Kate doesn’t even wanna go there. She has a pressing matter to attend to.

Seth can’t know that she’s still a virgin. Perhaps she can get him drunk first, so drunk he won’t even remember that they didn’t have s*x when he wakes up the next morning. They have to sleep in a bed together and stay naked until the morning. That Kate can deal, but what if Seth asks for morning s*x after? Oh God!

The thing is, Kate is popular. The most popular and most beautiful girl in high school. And she’s only in her junior year now. Seth is a year older, a senior. So, no. How can the most popular and not to mention most beautiful girl in high school is still a virgin when all her posse aren’t anymore? Her group consists of four beautiful and sexy girls, and her being the most beautiful is then dubbed the queen bee. When she was still fifteen, she made it clear to her first two boyfriends that she didn’t want to have s*x until she is sixteen.

But then summer came, along with her birthday in July. Thank God she was in Europe with her family. And just like that, with the help of a couple of i********: photos later, Kate was allegedly losing her virginity to a European prince whose country she couldn’t even pronounce. Not long after that, two boys chased her. Seth Adams and Chris Forrester. Both were beyond handsome but Kate knew who she had to choose.

Both Seth and Chris played football. Seth being a year the upper class was the quarterback that season while Chris–if he continued doing a good job at it–would hold the position after. Well, the decision was pretty easy then. This year, Kate would date Seth, and next year, Chris. She was, after all, also a cheerleader. Not the head. She’s still a junior. But yeah, right, typical and so very cliché.

So what? This is high school after all.

Kate sighs. Seth is not stupid. He’s seventeen going on eighteen. He won’t get drunk tonight. He might drink a beer or two but that will be it, if any. He will be suspicious if she keeps on offering him liquor. Maybe honesty really is the best policy. She can just be honest with him. They can still have s*x. He can even teach her. He’s not a virgin. He knows a thing or two about the birds and the bees.

But what if he laughs at her? What if he calls her a liar? What if he tells everybody? No, that can’t happen. She still has a reputation to uphold. There’s still one and a half year of high school and she doesn’t want to lose her popularity. She can never ever live with that. There’s just one way to deal with it, then. She must lose her virginity now. She still has… Kate looks at her watch. She still has about eight hours or so until Seth picks her up. It’s kind of a mission impossible, but Kate has always been an optimist.

How to lose a virginity in eight hours.

She can ride her horse and fall. Nah… she doesn’t want to die yet.

Or, she can kidnap a guy and force him to have s*x with her. Now, that makes more sense. Kate thinks so. And more doable. The guy cannot go to the same high school with her, but who then? Kate doesn’t know anybody who doesn’t go to their high school. Well, Kate supposes he can go to the same high school but he must be able to keep his mouth shut. But who?

Kate cringes. The thought of giving her virginity to any unpopular high school boy makes her gag. Oh God, this is a disaster. This is her first time, for God’s sake! She needs to do it with someone who is at least decent. A loner. Yes, that’s right. There are several guys like that in her school. Loners, they always mind their own businesses, right? They will not talk. Some of them are quite good looking even. They like to wear black. Now Kate nods her head with sudden renewed optimism.

But these loners are quite scary. Kate doesn’t know how to approach them; she also doesn’t know where to find them at eleven in the morning on a Saturday. Kate sighs, it seems like she might have to scratch that idea. It doesn’t seem like it’s a go. But wait a minute, if she is honest with herself, there is one loner that she knows. Very well, in fact. She even knows where he lives. He will keep her secret. He will not tell. The question is, will she come to him? After all this time, will she come to him? And he, will he help her? After what she’s done to him, will he help her?

Kate sighs again. She won’t know if she doesn’t ask, will she?

***

Lucas’s jaw drops when he sees the girl who just knocks on his door. He looks around as if looking for a group of pranksters before shaking his head. “Princess,” he says with a smirk. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Kate pouts. “Don’t call me that,” she says before coming inside even though she hasn’t been invited in.

“Why?” Lucas asks, stepping aside to let her in. He’s still smirking. “Nobody’s here. Besides…,” he leans closer and whispers in her ear, “You’ll always be my princess. One day, I’ll marry you, remember?”

Kate huffs. “You wish,” she says.

Lucas chuckles. “I have no other choice now,” he says before winking at her. “You made me promise to marry you.”

“I was five, you silly!” Kate screams in exasperation.

Lucas laughs out loud. “Alright, princess. Relax,” he says. “Why are you here?”

His question silences her. She gets nervous all of a sudden. What if Lucas says no? What if Lucas laughs at her? What if Lucas tells people? What if Lucas says no, laughs at her, then tells people? Kate becomes fidgety, she chews her bottom lips.

“Hey, hey now, princess,” Lucas says, coming closer to her, hugging her. “What’s up?”

Kate sighs. After all this time, his hugs still do it for her. Every time. She leans her head on his chest. “I need a favor, Luke,” she says in a whisper.

Lucas kisses her forehead. “What is it, princess?” he asks. “I’ll do it.”

Kate looks up. “Yeah?”

Lucas nods. “You know I’ll do anything for you,” he answers simply.

Kate nods. Lucas is right, she knows. She always knows. This is not her first time coming to him for help. Despite everything. “Where’s dad?” she asks, stalling.

Kate’s always called Lucas’s dad, dad. From the very beginning when she met him for the first time while she, Sam, Carl, and Lucas were waiting for Bruce Jenkins to pick up his son. When he arrived at the school, Lucas pointed at him. Carl and Sam then came to him to introduce themselves and asked if Bruce would let Lucas joined them for ice cream. They also said they would bring Lucas home once they were done. When Bruce said yes, Kate jumped out of excitement before hugging him. She then informed him that Lucas would marry her one day and that would make him her dad-in-law, so she might as well call him dad now. That made Bruce laugh, but he didn’t object. She was too cute.

“Dad’s at work,” Lucas answers.

Kate nods. “Aren’t you supposed to help on weekends?”

“Nope,” Lucas answers. “I’m doing the house chores today.”

“Then I’m bothering you?”

“Tell you what?” Lucas suggests. “If you help me, then I’ll help you. Whatever it is that you’re coming here for, I’ll help you.”

Kate bobs her head then smiles. This, this is familiar. They’ve done this before. Often, to be honest. Kate and Lucas used to help Sam do house chores at the Conrad’s mansion. Then Carl would take Lucas home, but Kate and Sam always came with him. The four of them used to spend a lot of time together.

“Laundry?” Kate asks. When Lucas nods, she laughs and says, “Lead the way.”

They went to the basement hand in hand. Just like that, like all the hurt and the pain had never happened. Like she had never left him. The basement is still the same, nothing has changed. Kate still remembers all the procedures. She doesn’t need instructions, she knows. Kate goes to work, taking all the dirty clothes, separating them. She doesn’t feel disgusted. She knows whose clothes belong to, Lucas’s father and him. Everything is so familiar to her.

“Aww, look at you,” Lucas teases. “So domestic.”

Kate laughs before throwing a dirty sock at him. “Only for you,” she says, and means it.

Her words make him smile. “Thanks, princess,” he says.

Kate nods. Somehow, she’s happy. She can’t remember the last time she was this happy. “How come Logan’s clothes are here?” she asks, talking about his big brother who’s now in college.

“He came for Christmas,” Lucas answers. “Those are the ones he just left here.”

“Oh yes, of course,” Kate says. Logan texted to invite her to come over, but Kate was out of the country for Christmas so she declined the invitation. “Okay, what’s after laundry?”

“We need to vacuum the living room, clean the kitchen, and clean the bedrooms,” Lucas says. “Skip Logan’s, but we have to clean my dad’s.”

Kate nods. She puts some clothes in the washer and adds the detergent. “Let’s go,” she says. “We’ll come back in half an hour. You do the living room and I do the kitchen.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lucas says.

“Then I’ll go back to the basement and put the clothes in the drier. I’ll also do the second load. After that, we’ll head upstairs. You’ll do your dad’s room and I’ll clean yours.”

Now that, makes Lucas stop whatever it is he was doing. He then gives her a look, then winks. “You’ll clean my room?” he teases. “What else will you do in my room?”

Kate laughs. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” she says. This is actually good. She can seduce him to have s*x with her without telling him about her secret agenda. She didn’t have to tell him that she needs him to ‘pop her cherry’. They can just make out then get carried away. At least she can make it look like she gets carried away. Lucas will never suspect that until he’s inside her. He and the whole school knows that she lost her virginity to a European prince last summer.

Yes, this can so work. And when they’re done, she can beg him to keep her secret. Lucas will never tell anybody. That much she knows.

Lucas chuckles and reaches for her waist but Kate shakes her head. “Come on, Romeo,” she says. “Let’s clean first, then we can play.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

They then make their separate ways. Lucas to the living room and Kate to the kitchen. “Music,” Kate shouts.

“Okay,” Lucas answers. “The Beatles, yeah?”

Kate laughs. “Always,” she says. Bruce Jenkins loves the Beatles. He’s made Logan, Lucas, and Kate fans themselves.

Kate looks at the dirty dishes in the sink, rinses them before putting them away inside the dishwasher. She’s about to ask Lucas where the dishwasher soap is before deciding to jog her memory. She used to know everything about this house. The house has always been occupied by three men; she bets nothing will ever change. She’s right. Nothing has changed.

Nobody will ever believe that Kate can do house chores. She’s the only daughter of Alexander and Barbara Conrad, one of the richest families in the New York – New Jersey area. Rich and blue blood. She could’ve been a spoiled child, and in a way, she is. Everybody sees her as a spoiled child. Everybody excepts Sam, Carl, and the Jenkins. But that was a long time ago. Things went downhill when Carl took Sam away from Kate. Far, far away. California to be exact.

When Carl married Sam, everybody was delighted. But then Carl had a job offer all the way in California with a much bigger salary. And just like that, Kate lost her parents. Well, not her real, real parents. How come she lost something that she never had in the first place, right?

After the loss of Sam and Carl. Kate and Lucas hung on to each other like they were each other’s lifeline. Kate then had a couple of governesses but nobody was Sam. Kate never loved them as much as she loved Sam. One day, things changed. Just like that, Kate knew who she was. And who Lucas was. She was a Conrad, and he was a Jenkins.

The Jenkins were not quite poor. Lucas’s grandfather owned a construction company that he passed down to Lucas’s father. The construction company was and still is the best construction company in their town of Alpequa–a pretentious town in Northern New Jersey, home for the well-heeled, old money folks. Its proximity towards the midtown Manhattan and the financial district makes the location desirable for the likes of the white collars who commute on a daily basis on their Mercedes, Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, or Lamborghini. Like both Kate’s parents.

But the Jenkins’ Constructions is a local business. They don’t do work outside of their town, there has never been lack of work there anyway. In a town full of rich people like Alpequa, somebody’s always building something. Still, the Conrads and the Jenkins are too different, socially and financially. And at the age of ten, pretty little Kate realized that. It didn’t matter that all this time she’d been helping Lucas do laundry. They’re just like oil and water, they could never be together. That day, she left her future husband alone and confused because she gave him no explanation on why they had to go their separate ways.

But what could she tell him when she herself didn’t understand? They were not right for each other. The Conrads were white collar and the Jenkins were blue collar. He was never going to be good enough to be her husband. There were other boys, boys like Seth Adams, or Chris Forrester.

But not Lucas. Lucas was a Jenkins. And therefore, Kate must leave him.

***