Nine

KATHERINE THRONES

“Katie, this is insane. I can’t believe I’m listening to this. I almost got beaten up by his minions today, but you want me to be his fake girlfriend. No way in hell am I doing this! I had thought about it several times and it still didn’t make sense to me.

I was trying to live a completely quiet life, finish my degree, and then leave. Get a job or work at Dad’s company, which he offered but I haven’t accepted yet until he tells me what happened between Mum and him and why they separated. Everything was already in place for me, and now she wanted me to get involved in a drama that didn't concern me.

I couldn’t picture myself with Alexander, no matter how she worded it. Everything about him disgusted me: his attitude, his personality, the way he slept around, and then having girls chase after him as if he were a deity. He was trouble I should avoid, and that’s exactly what I was going to do.

“Come on, Katherine, it’s won’t be difficult. Remember how you said you wanted to know what fun was all about, and how you wanted to live life for once? This is the best opportunity, you’ll love it,” Katie suggested, but I shook my head.

“I can’t do it, I can’t stand it. He’s someone I should be running away from, not toward, and yes, I said I want to live my life and have fun once in a while, but not this kind of fun.”

“This is the best you’ll ever get, and it’ll be a lot of fun. Just make him fall in love with you, and then, boom, break his heart and give him a taste of what he does to people,” she said, lightly squeezing my hand.

“A taste of his own medicine, hmm... Now, Katie, tell me why you want me to do it, and why you can’t do it yourself. You’ll be great at this because you’re the one giving me advice on it,” I suggested.

“You were the one he chose, not me. Suspect me, if I had been chosen, I would have gladly accepted the chance to torture him.”

“That’s easy of you to say because you won’t be dealing with his minions.”

“Leave them up to me, sweetheart. I’ve got your back on this one. Remember how much you hate him? Now is your chance to make him pay, darling. So, what do you think?” Katie asked, putting me in a tight spot that I wasn’t sure I could get out of.

“Katie, I’ll have to think about it. It’s not something I can immediately respond to. I really need to think about it and relax a bit before responding. I need to ask myself if I can do it without getting hurt. He is a player with fans ready to destroy anyone who comes close to him... technically not fans, but those who want to date him, and then he chooses me. I don’t even have what it takes, so why did he choose me?” I wondered aloud.

I didn’t dress as outrageously as the girls he dated, and I didn’t wear makeup. Why did he want me, a nerd who was not sociable? Nobody wanted me for anything, not even as a toy. It made me feel like he was just trying to humiliate me, and I wasn’t going to let him.

“Fine, take your time, love, but promise me you won’t back out on this,” Katie said, extending her pinky finger as a sign of promise.

“Katie!! I’m not sure yet,” I replied, unsure what to do.

“You have to make a promise to me.”

“Yeah, I’ll do it only if you answer my question.”

“I will, as long as you do it and don’t back out,” her response prompted me to ask what had been bothering me since she made the suggestion, and why she wanted me to make him pay. Had they met and something happened between them that left her broken to the point where she wants him to go down?

“Can you tell me what happened between you and him? Think twice before telling me nothing, sweetheart, because if it’s nothing, you won’t pressure me to do this, but rather tell me to stay away from him. What’s the deal between you and him?”

I took my hand away from hers and sat up straight, my gaze fixed on hers.

If I was going to do this, I needed her to be honest with me and open up to me. I wanted to know if what I was doing was for the right or wrong cause. I didn’t care about others, but when it comes to Katie, I would go the extra mile to help her, but in order to do so, I needed her to be honest with me.

“I need you to be honest with me, Katie.”

My words startled her, and she took a deep breath before raising her head to look at me.

“We had a thing during the holidays, but when the holidays were over and we went back to school, he ghosted me and went for that Bambi, Samantha, as if I didn’t exist. I asked what went wrong, and he told me I wasn’t to his liking and wasn’t worth keeping as a girlfriend,” she also said, and I gasped.

“No way he didn’t...How dare he!” I exclaimed. “Did you two go down memory lane... like have sex?”

“We didn’t, no. He told me I wasn’t worth it. That I didn’t fit his taste.”

“He's a dickhead, that’s what he is! Who the fvck in their right sense can’t see that you are perfect and unique, every man’s choice? Now I understand why you dislike him, but I’m glad you didn’t have sex with him; you should be glad you didn’t get to that point yet,” I told her, and she smiled.

“I know, but it still hurts, and I want him to pay for what he did. I want you to break him for me because he broke me. Could you please do that for me?”

This was none of my concern. I should just say no and move on. Ignore it because it has nothing to do with me, and then ignore Alexander for the rest of my life. Avoid him like I used to, but instead, I accepted her plea, making it difficult for me to say no to her at this time.

“I’ll do my best, Katie, but don’t put all your hopes in me because the outcome may not be what you expect.”

She screamed with delight and drew me in for a hug, kissing all over my face as I tried to peel her off of me.

“Thank you, Katherine. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will gladly do anything you ask of me. I love you, sis.”

“Yeah, yeah, now get off my back,” I said, and she smiled.

I stayed with her for a few more hours as we talked about other things, mostly how we were going to make him pay for his sins. Around 7 p.m., I said my goodbyes and headed to my apartment, after she promised to come pick me up for school because I couldn’t drive.

I was thinking about what I had just agreed to not long ago and whether I would be able to carry it out. Failure was inevitable for someone like me. I would most likely fail the task and disappoint her. I just had to accept the challenge and see where it took me, but first I had to pretend that I was worthy of the chase and make him chase after me before accepting him.

I was about to insert my key into the door of my room when I felt someone behind me and turned to see who it was. I was surprised to see Alexander standing there, smiling.

“Hello, neighbor. I’m guessing we’ll see more of each starting now. Please look after me,” he said before turning around and entering the room across from mine.

“Screw this. I think I just sign my death wish.”