Ten: Dinner disaster.
THE YARD was filled with the sound of silverwares scraping on the plate and people conversing with each other.
The dinner party looked livelier than Jude had expected it to be. She'd thought that it would be something classy, like no talking on the table except for business matters and all that adult stuff. But it seemed that everyone was very close and conversive.
She had been listening to Rachel, and Gracie conversations when Tate nudged her elbow. The brunette turned from the two girls that had sat across from her, and then to Tate who sat himself beside her. He technically led her to sit next to him right away when they came in.
"What?" she questioned him.
"I have a question"
"Ask away, Andrew"
"I thought we're friends. Why are we still on second based?"
"I don't remember agreeing to being friends. You're more of an acquaintance, than a friend." Jude explained. "Is that you're question?"
The boy shook his head. "No. What I was going to ask was my mom told me before that you and your mom used to live in town before you moved away. I thought you've never came to Twisted Acres before?" He asked her. Tate had been asking the same questions ever since Jude had came here. He tried to see if Jude had any recognition of the town, but she'd never show any. She could've forgotten but what's the harm in asking.
Jude on the other hand was taken surprised with his question. Her brows pinched in confusion as she looked at him in questioning. "What do you mean? I've never heard of Twisted Acres ever in my entire life, not until now. If I known wouldn't my mom had told me before?"
Tate shrugged. "Maybe your mother thought you knew, so that's why she didn't say anything." Although, the reason didn't sit right with him, because something deep inside of him thought that there was more to the reason why Jude doesn't know about Twisted Acres.
Now that he thought of it, not even the teachers at school acted unfamiliar with her. They acted as if they had known her for a long time, and they were surprised to see her 'back' in town. Not only that, he also wondered why the other students had suddenly chose Jude during the Founders day election instead of Harley like they usually do. Sure, Jude was nice and she had made close friendship with the other students making them could actually rely on her, but still there's something more to that.
"You're just overthinking it, Tate." Jude said as if sensing his thoughts. But Jude was also overthinking it. If Tate said that she and her mother had been in Twisted Acres before and she couldn't possibly remember it, then it must explained why Tate was very familiar to her. And it wasn't just him, but even Gracie, Adam and Rachel. It was like she knew them right before she stepped foot in town.
Jude admit that back in New York, even with her friends, she felt as if there was something missing. A part of her had gone disappeared and it disrupted her thoughts during her daily basis. Every time she spaced out as if she was trying to remember something, her head would hurt and she mostly ended up unconscious after that.
Beside her, Tate nodded but he wasn't fully convinced, though maybe he was overthinking it as well.
"Is that you're only question? Because I have one of my own."
"Ask away my mad hatter."
"It's about the founders day."
Tate hummed at her as he eat the savory desert, strawberry cake. "You'll be representing the Hatter family, right?"
"Yeah, about that. Who did represented the Hatters before me? Was it my grandma?" she asked.
"She was supposed to, but ever since 2011, barely anyone saw her. Everyone in town thought that Gwen might've went to a retirement home, but Gracie's mom confirmed that she was still living in the manor. Refusing to get out of the manor until you and your mom come back. Instead of replacing her, the mayor was reluctant to keep the seat for the Hatters untouched."
The brown haired boy then leaned closer, as if he wanted no one to hear him. "But don't tell anyone, I can tell that Harley was itching to sit there when I first represented for my family during my sophomore year."
Jude shook her. Not a single doubt that that would happen.
Before Jude could respond to him, someone had clinked the glass with a spoon to get their attention. Jude looked away to the center of the room to see a woman around her 30s, blonde haired and those emerald eyes, and doesn't take a second for her to figure out that it was Garnet Hawthorne.
There was mischief forming in the air and Jude could tell it wasn't any good.
"Oh no. The she-devil's about to cause some trouble." Gracie said across from her. Jude could see Rachel and Adam shaken at the sight of Garnet, and even she felt herself tensed slightly. Key word: slightly.
"I wonder what she's going to do, tonight." Tate piped up.
Garnet cleared her throat as she looked at the people around the world. Her wicked emerald eyes landed on the familiar Hatter, and grinned. Her right hand raised to toast the glass to her before facing the rest of the new families. "Welcome, to our little town, Twisted Acres."
"Where the twisted ones lives." Gracie mumbled, earning a kick to the shin from Tate.
"It's good to see some familiar faces once again." Garnet started.
The adults of the new families smiled at her, feeling the same thing as the blonde woman, but they couldn't help but think that something was going to happen.
"it feels like back in the old days. The old gang back together again." She said with enthusiasm as fake as her personality. Garnet turned to the Carpenters, with a pearly white smile. "Sarah, how are you with the hospital? I hope the staffs aren't troubling you."
Sarah Carpenter, hair as red as Rachel's smiled warmly at the woman's concerned. "The staffs there are lovely. Thank you, Garnet with your concern."
Garnet nodded before turning to the man sitting beside Sarah. "Henry, I hope you have reconsider in working alongside with me at my lodge." she said.
Jude watched as the Sarah's husband looked confused before reluctantly answered the woman with a nod. Jude could tell Mr.Carpenter had nothing to do with what Garnet had said, and being pressured into agreeing to whatever was going on between them in front of everyone.
It was the Lavenders turn to be greeted. "Lucy, I heard you and Molly are working with each other now at her bakery?" Garnet questioned as to which a sandy blonde haired woman, Lucy Lavender, nodded. "Ahh, just like old times isn't it. I remember how closed you two are."
"It's nice to reunite with a close friend once again." Lucy agreed.
Garnet smirked. "It was sad, though, when you two had a fight between George. I remember how the both of you used to have a teen crush on him. I guess we already see who he ended up with." She said. Her intentions in trying to provoke something in between the two former friends.
Rather than getting angry at her, Lucy smiled, standing up for herself. "It was just a teenage crush. Though without George's help, I wouldn't have met Ben, who's now my husband." The woman turned from Garnet who's smile began to falter, to her husband, Ben.
Everyone laughed as George Young stood up and bowed playfully. "Thank you, thank you. Without me, we wouldn't have a very lovely couple in our hands." A napkin was thrown at him as a joke by Ben, and the laughing continued.
Molly deciding to not let Garnet off with what she had said, spoke up for Lucy. She knew that Lucy doesn't like to talk about their past as they had agreed to let it go. "Yes, it was just a little crush, Garnet. You would've understand that, right? Because I remembered that you also have one or maybe more."
At their table, Jude saw Gracie smirked before hiding it with the glass as she drank its content.
However, Garnet was not having it. Her planned for tonight didn't exactly went as she thought it would. She had planned to do something regarding the three families. The older woman thought that she wouldn't have to see their faces again but it seemed that her luck was not on her side. Everything she worked for, as dangerous as it is, would be destroyed.
As if remembering something, Garnet turned to Hatter who had left the town. A thought had occurred to her that she only realized something interesting.
Cassandra was talking with Malia at her table when Garnet had called out her name. Jude sensing something wrong was about to happen, looked straight at Garnet. Figuring out what she was about to do.
"Cassandra. I thought I would never see you once again. I thought you'd be gone for a few more years."
Cassandra, knowing that was supposed to offend her, didn't take it to the heart even though it really did hurt her. Instead she mustered up a smile, genuine enough to provoke the other woman. "It's been long, I know. I figured that Jude might've need to learn and reconnect with her old friends."
Old friends? Were they friends once? The thought of it was absurd, that even Harley looked at them in confused and disbelief. The rest of the teenagers were. But still, Old friends? Maybe there was something that they didn't know about themselves.
Garnet chuckled. "Yes. That was a good idea. Reuniting our children once again, after Jude decided to abandon them. I couldn't imagined the pain in their little hearts when they found out that one of their closest best friend had left without saying goodbye." she said.
Jude ignored the stares sending towards her and her mother, as she stood up. Although she had no idea what Garnet was talking about since she had no recollection of being friends with them before, Jude doesn't like how Garnet was interpreting that her mother was a bad mother to Jude. In fact, she was the greatest mother a girl could ever asked for.
"Lady, I don't know what you're talking about, but if you're calling my mother out as a bad parental figure, you better shut your mouth, because I could say the same thing with you." Jude warned her.
Garnet scoffed at the 17 year old girl. "Do you know who you're talking to, little girl?" she questioned.
"Well, I sure know that I'm talking to a woman who's trying to cause drama. Are you sure that you're the one who's a little girl? because you act very much like one." Jude responded. She felt Tate tugged on her wrist, and instantly pulled away, not giving him a glance. She heard a snicker behind her but Jude doesn't moved her eyes from the woman who's fuming right now.
"How dare you disrespect towards me." Garnet scolded.
Jude rolled her eyes. "You won't earn my respect if you continue to act out on my mother."
Garnet nodded, and a smirked formed on her face. "You are Rob's kid after all."
His name left everyone shocked and some confused. All the adults were caught off guard at the mention of their late friend, while the teenagers -except for Jude, were confused as to who this man was. The only thing they got was that he's Jude's father.
"I never liked him anyway. Always knew he was going to die in the end with his condition." Garnet added, as if it meant nothing.
But that meant something to the Hatters. Especially Jude and Cassandra, and hearing this woman talking bad about him made their blood boiled with anger.
Jude was the first to react before Cassandra could. She walked around her table and stood in front of the woman. Their height was no difference. "Don't you dare talk about my dad that way, old lady." She warned.
Harley who had been frozen in her seat, stood up and marched towards them, standing next to her mother as she glared at the brunette. "Don't you dare talk like that in front of my mother! Don't you know who she is? Your life would be miserable the second you something like that once again." She threatened her.
Jude only scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I don't care what she can or what she cannot do. She had no rights talk about my father as if he was nothing!"
"Maybe he is!"
It was quick. Her hand flew across Harley's face, leaving an imprint on her cheek. A frown formed on her lips and her eyes stared down at the girl in anger. "You really are your mother's kid." Jude mocked her like Garnet did to her. "Obnoxious and a brat. Thinking your on top of everyone."
She leaned down to Harley's ear, and whispered. "As long as I'm here, you won't be thinking like that anymore. So I advise you to enjoy while it last. Because soon, you won't be sitting all high and mighty. People like you, will someday fall."
As Jude leaned back, she saw Garnet's eyes widened and assumed that she heard what she had said to Harley as the woman started to tower over her. "You little brat-" Before she could hit her, her hand was caught by Cassandra who had approached them.
Cassandra shared the same frustration as Jude as she stared down at Garnet. "Stand down, Garnet. You should've known what you did was wrong, so stop acting like a child and apologize" It wasn't Cassandra who had said it but Gwen. The elderly stood up and walked towards her with the help of her cane.
"But Granny Hatter-" She was cut off before she could plead to her by Cassandra.
"Admit what you did, Garnet. Everyone saw and heard what you said." Everyone could hear the stern in Cassandra's voice.
Garnet glared at her angrily and annoyed. "You think I wasn't at fault here? Your daughter threatened my daughter! That is unacceptable! She should be punished for what she did."
"I was only giving a warning to your daughter. You think she was innocent? Not days ago she had threatened me at school to stay away from Tate just because I'm a lowlife. So you're saying what your daughter did was right?" Jude defended herself.
Malia stood up from her table, shocked at what she had just heard. The woman looked at Tate for confirmation. She wasn't angry at Jude or any other Hatters, but she was toward Garnet. Malia knew that Garnet always like to do this when it comes to newcomers in town. She would test them into being able to handle the 'pressure' or not. If not, they wouldn't last a week and left. No wonder that Twisted Acres have small number of population.
Garnet was driving them away.
And knowing Garnet and Cassandra's bad history, she figured that Garnet was trying to make them leave, and Malia was not going to let that happen once again.
"Tate, is this true? Did Harley wrote Jude that letter?" Malia asked her son.
Uncomfortable in his seat, Tate looked back and forth from her mother, to Harley's face telling him to not mess up whatever they had by telling them, to Jude's back who refused to look back at him. Because she knew that when she looks back at him, he would say the answer right away.
She wanted him to answer it on his own. Because there'll be days where Jude won't be there to help him. Tate needed to find his own freedom, and that's what Jude was giving him. Freedom.
Looking back straight at his mother, he nodded. "It's true." He tried to ignore the hurt on Harley's face before she covered it up. "Harley had sent the same thing to every girl that got close to me for the past few years." He didn't mentioned about Suzie because he doesn't want to bring the matter further into a huge mess.
"Could you blame her? Tate is her boyfriend! Of course she's allowed to tell others that he was off limits!" Garnet defended her daughter. Though Harley knew better. Garnet only did it to protect her own reputation.
"Harley and I broke up a year ago. We're no longer dating, so she has no claim towards me." Tate stood up for himself, he then looked at Harley. "It's not okay for you to give other girls a threatening letter just because they're close to me, or is a lowlife. I'm allowed to have friends of my own."
Malia nodded understandingly and mouthed thank you to her son before focusing back to the two Hawthorne. "Garnet, I think it's best if you go home and rest for the night. It's getting late and I think it's best if we end this." Malia advised her as nicely as she could. But truly she was furious at her.
Garnet turned to her furiously. "Me?!"
"No." Cassandra started. "We'll leave. Jude has early violin practice tomorrow and I think Jude, Tate, Gracie, Adam, and Rachel have detention tomorrow, so I think it's best for her and the others to get some sleep for the next day."
The rest of the families agreed, not wanting to continue the mess that was caused by Garnet.
As Jude was about return to her table, Harley grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She felt the blonde leaned in to her ear and whispered. "If you decide to mess with me one more time, I swear I will make your life miserable like I said before. Beware, Jude Hatter. You'll be dead by the second you decide to mess with me again."
She was about to answer her back but she was pulled from Harley's grip by Tate. She looked up to see him glaring at Harley. "Stay away from her, Harley. Don't try to make another scene, everyone is already tired from what your mother had started."
The blonde scoffed and folded her arms. "Just because it was over her dead father? Get over it."
Jude was about to attack her only to be pulled back by Tate. She was pushed behind him and felt his hand intertwined with hers. He squeezed her hand as his thumb rubbing the back of her hand as an attempt to calm her down.
"Death is not something to make fun off, Harley. What you and your mother just said about Jude's dad is horrible. Your mom talks about his condition like it was nothing, and you're telling Jude to get over her dad? That was low, Harley. I thought you were better than that."
Not wanting to see her reaction, Tate left with Jude. His hand tugging her along while the other has her purse.
Tate didn't stopped when they passed by Malia and Benjamin, so Jude could only smile at them and bid them goodnight as she left.
The two Andrews watched as their son led his former bestfriend to her parents car and smiled. They were reminded by the old times where it would be Tate who was the one that follows Jude everywhere she goes when they were only small children, and now they grew up, and oh how the tables have turned. Maybe there was a part of them that the two never forget.
And that was their love towards each other.
Malia and Benjamin could see it. Cassandra and Gwen could see it. Everyone in the yard could see it.
Except for the two teenagers who were oblivious to their feelings that have been buried for years.