Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
“This is for you, Stick Girl,” she said, holding the envelope out to Taliana, though she was busy giving Sebastian a slow looking over.
Hesitantly, Taliana reached out and took the envelope. “What is it?”
The redhead regarded Taliana coolly. “That’s for Blair to know and you to find out.”
After flashing Taliana an unsettling smirk, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and moved off down the hallway, leaving Sebastian and Taliana staring at each other in confusion.
“Maybe it’s a love letter,” she suggested, looking back at the relatively thin envelope. “Or maybe it’s filled with anthrax.”
Sebastian raised an eyebrow as he stared at it as well. “Are you going to open it?”
Scoffing, Taliana shoved the envelope into his chest. “Are you crazy? I don’t have a death wish.”
He rolled his eyes and took the supposedly toxic item. “If Blair was going to kill you, she wouldn’t do it in a public place.” He slid a finger underneath the flap and broke the seal.
“Don’t pay her any compliments,” Taliana grumbled, though she was relieved nothing suspicious had fallen out.
“I wasn’t,” he shot back as he pulled out the single sheet of paper tucked inside. “Oh no, is this-“
He cut off suddenly as his eyes drifted over the paper, lips parting in what looked like shock. Taliana waited impatiently until he was done, disbelief written on his face as he glanced back up at her. Whatever was on it obviously wasn’t good.
“Give me that,” Taliana urged, snatching it from him.
It took her a second, but she soon realized what had caused Sebastian to react the way he had. The paper in her hands was her rap sheet.
“Oh, shit.”
If that alone wasn’t bad enough, the pink post-it note stuck to the corner of Taliana’s criminal record made it even worse.
Time to give up the charade, it read.
Sebastian doesn’t need to be with a criminal.
Taliana’s stomach dropped.
Sebastian was quick to take the page back but seemed to ignore the personalized note. Instead, he busied himself with reading off Taliana’s crimes. “Disturbing the peace, trespassing, arson, possession of a controlled substance, vandalism, assault…” He looked back up at Taliana, brow furrowed in confusion. “How the hell are you not sitting in jail right now?”
“I’m a rich white girl with a good team of lawyers,” she mumbled distractedly, unable to believe what was going on. “How did she even get this? Half of these charges were expunged from my record. Is Blair privy to that much information?”
“It’s a criminal record, not a classified document,” Sebastian reminded Taliana as he continued to scan over her offenses. “Drunk and disorderly? Now there’s one I would have paid to see.”
She grabbed the paper back with a scowl and tore it into little pieces. While the true record would never disappear, at least this copy of it could.
“You really don’t think she’s going to try to blackmail me into breaking up with you, do you?” Taliana questioned, shoving the shreds into her tote as her stomach clenched in worry.
“Were you not listening when I told you about Emily?” Sebastian looked like he wanted to shake some sense into her. “Blair’s clearly trying to do the same thing to you.”
“This is different though,” she tried to point out. “While I’m not exactly keen on the idea of everybody knowing my business, I’m not going to dump you just because she’s threatening to air my dirty laundry.” Taliana took a deep breath in an attempt to soothe the knot forming in her stomach. “Whatever, I can handle that.”
Sebastian shifted uncomfortably, clearly not believing it.
“Oh, come on,” Taliana scoffed, trying to work up some bravado, even though she was truly worried. “You make her out to be some scary super villain. She’s just a teenage girl with a grudge. I’ll be fine.”
The warning bell rang, signaling they had less than a minute to get to their respective homerooms, one of the few times of the day they were away from each other.
“We’ll talk more later.” After placing a peck on Taliana’s cheek for the onlookers’ sake, Sebastian turned and disappeared down the bustling hallway.
Taliana wiped her cheek on her shoulder before taking off in the opposite direction, barely having to shove anyone out of her way to get there. Since it was now common knowledge that she was dating Sebastian, people had become more aware of her presence. No longer did she have to shout at the assholes who continuously blocked her path in the hallways or nudge aside the ones who crowded doorways.
People now stepped out of her path with just one glance in her direction. It was sort of nice, and it made getting around a lot easier, but it was still weird. She had once been part of the popular crowd of her school back in LA thanks to Zak’s notoriety, but she still wasn’t used to it. After growing up practically unnoticed, having everyone’s eyes on her never seemed to become easier to handle.
Stepping into the classroom was a relief. With less than fifteen students in the room, it was better than having to deal with the packed hallways. Still, there were a few sets of eyes on her, but she was learning how to ignore them.
As she took her seat, she couldn’t help but think about Sebastian’s words. Maybe she was underestimating his ex-girlfriend, but what kind of power did Blair really have? Honestly, she wasn’t too worried about it.
“Oh my god,” a blonde girl a few desks away, who Taliana knew to be Claudia Vayle-one of the biggest gossips in school-gushed to her friend in the seat behind her. “You will never believe? what Blair Bakhtiar gave me this morning.”
Taliana watched as Claudia slipped a folded piece of paper out of the binder on her desk and handed it to her friend. After a few seconds of reading, the girl’s eyes widened, and she glanced back up at her supplier.
“Is this for real?” she whispered, though it was loud enough for Taliana to hear clearly.
“It totally is. Can you? believe Sebastian is dating someone like this? I mean, look at all the stuff she was arrested for! And everyone knows how she tried to kill him back in sixth grade. Seriously, what is he doing with her?”
“Who knows,” she scoffed in disgust. “I can totally see why Blair is doing this though. She obviously wants the best for Sebastian, which he certainly won’t get from Taliana Avilla. Like, come on, he can do? way better than that twig.”
Taliana was seething by the time the girl finished her sentence. It took every ounce of restraint Taliana had to keep from simply tackling her, but she didn’t want to prove to be the criminal the girl thought Taliana was. Instead, she went with the diplomatic way of doing things. This was DC after all.
“Is there a problem?” Taliana asked loudly, gaining the attention of the gossipers.
The friend blushed and ducked her head in embarrassment, but Claudia merely returned Taliana’s glare.
“I don’t think you have the right to talk to us like that when we have this in our hands.” She waved Taliana’s history in the air with a chilly smile on her face. “Unless you want me to tell everyone what’s on it.”
Though Taliana was burning with anger for both Claudia and Blair, she tried to keep her composure. She’d be damned if she let these girls get the best of her.
“No problem,” Taliana answered breezily. “Show the world.”