The Billion Dollar Girl

(Chapter 20)

Ͼ Ella Castillo Ͽ

I could feel Zack's eyes on the back of my head during the whole of the Biology lesson. I tried to ignore it, but it was hard. Was he that shocked? Was I that unmarriable?

He must've been really shocked, because even when the teacher had brought out the pig hearts for us, he was still staring at me. The class burst into mayhem, everyone shouting and yelling. Totally anarchy. The teacher tried to get some order, but people were already throwing the hearts around. This was worse than my last school.

I toyed awkwardly with the pig heart, stabbing it with a scalpel, before giving in.

"What?" I snapped at Zack, annoyed. "Why've you been staring at me?"

He grabbed my hand, and I dropped the scalpel onto the heart in surprise.

"You don't have a ring," he said. I pulled my hand back, and glared at him.

"Do you expect me to wear a stupidly big diamond like that?" I muttered, letting my wavy ebony hair cover up my flaming cheeks. I'd completely forgotten that I'd lost it. I'd called up the building we'd had the Ball in, but they said they didn't hadn't seen it. "It's so embarrassing."

His eyes widened. "It's a diamond? I proper one?"

"Yeah."

"So..." Zack said casually, turning to the heart we were meant to be dissecting. "Who did you marry? Someone rich?"

"Uh..." Oh God, I was going to have to explain everything. Zack deserved to know the truth, right? He was a friend. No, I'm sure Ash will be okay with it. Yeah. Totally fine. "What happened was -"

Behind Zack's head, I saw the door opening, and a tall boy with straight brown hair, in the school uniform came in. He was clutching several folders, and a book.

I gaped. Will! He came to this school? Why didn't Ash tell me?

"Sorry, Miss," Will said, biting his lip. "I couldn't find my way here, and I lost my map, so..."

He had a map? So he was new... It was weird that his first day seemed to coincide with mine.

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Castillo. Settle into your seat." The teacher seemed kind of flustered. Did she know who he was?

I just stared at Will. The whole class was silent, but soon whispers broke through.

"Did she just say Castillo? Is that...Will?"

"Is that Ash's infamous cousin? I thought he was studying abroad!"

"Does Ash even know?"

Will scanned the class, until his eyes met mine. His lips spread into a smile that was so similar to Ash's.

"Ella!" he said loudly, waving at me. I could feel everyone's eyes on my face as Will wove in and out of the rows, to the empty seat next to mine. I remained frozen, unable to look away from his face. I could feel my cheeks slowly warm with blood, as people's whispers grew more pronounced. What the hell was he doing? I'd been trying so hard not to draw attention to myself!

Zack leaned over, and whispered, "How do you know that guy?"

Will threw his bag onto the table, and climbed over it, smoothly settling into the seat next to mine.

"Hey, sister-in-law," he said, smirking. "How've you been?"

"Oh," Zack muttered. "You married Ash."

***

ῼ Ash Castillo ῼ

My phone buzzed, interrupting the tranquility of the study room. A teacher shot a glare in my direction, his mouth already open, about to give me detention or something. He wilted when he realized it was mine.