The Billion Dollar Girl

(Chapter 12)

Ͼ Ella Castillo Ͽ

I stretched. Whoa, that was a good sleep. I’ve never slept better. I considered the things I could do today. Watch TV. Go on my laptop, and lazily surf the net. Sleep.

Nothing seemed particularly appealing, apart from eating. My stomach was rumbling loudly.

My eyes snapped open. I suddenly remembered where I was.

I searched the room. Thank God Ash wasn’t here. I’d have died, if I knew he’s heard my stomach rumble.

I don’t even know why I care so much…I just do.

I opened the door that I thought led to the hallway, and gaped. It was a huge walk-in wardrobe, about five times my old bedroom, and had about ten times the amount of clothes as a normal shop. I stumbled into it, my head spinning as I took in all the rows and shelves of clothes – with one whole wall dedicated to shoes. There seemed to be a split down the centre of the room, and I was guessing, from the suits, that the left side was Ash’s, and the right side, the side that was mainly dominated by skimpy, figure-hugging dresses, was mine.

I was dazzled by the frightening array of colors. The whole wardrobe seemed to be arranged by the colors of the rainbow. Slowly, step by step, my feet moved across the cold wooden floor, towards a less provocative rack of clothing. The rack I came to seemed to consist entirely of hoodies. I pulled on out at random, and immediately shoved it back in again – it was lycra, purple, and had an completely open back. Not good.

 After about an hour of desperate browsing, I picked out a semi-okay outfit – a plain t-shirt, thinner and lower cut than I was used to, but it was the best I could find, without going into the scary lace and silk section. The jeans had silver studs up and down the sides, and a pair of trainers. They were all completely brand new – I had to snip off all the tags (by the way…what’s Prada?!).

Now I was fully dressed, I decided it was time to finally properly explore this place. Opening the wardrobe door, and I gasped. A china vase shattered on the floor.

“Oh, sorry, Miss,” a young girl said, immediately collapsing to her knees, trying to clean up the mess on the floor. Her cheeks flushed, and she refused to meet my eyes. “I thought you’d left, for your classes… I was just trying to change the roses –”

“No, I’m sorry,” I said, blushing as well. I stumbled my way over to her, dropping to my knees as well. “Here, let me help you.”

“Oh, Miss, I couldn’t let you do that. Really, please stop. This is my job.”

I withdrew my hands, hesitantly. I wasn’t used to this treatment.

“Only if you call me Ella,” I compromised.

She smiled. “Thank you, Ella.”

“Now, what was that about my classes?”

***

ῼ Ash Castillo ῼ

I breathed hard, staring at in front of me, at the unmoving race track. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins, my heart running double-time. My fingers were still clutched at the wheel, squeezing so hard my knuckles had turned white. My mind was blank, utterly blank.

With a massive effort, I pulled myself back to reality.

I’d just crashed.

“Shit,” I muttered. I released my grip on the steering wheel, and ran my fingers through my hair. I coughed from the smoke, which was slowly filling the car. “Shit,” I said, again. I opened the door, and slid out, my muscles still not moving properly.