I honestly thought things would remain civil with Will. I mean, we are both adults who know better and are aware that the best way to deal with someone you don't like is avoiding that person. Easy, right?
Yeah, not so much when you live under the same roof.
No matter what, we have to share the table for every meal because I won't skip anything for him, and I can't ask him to eat somewhere else because that's not fair, although I would like that very much. It's not like all we do is fight when we are in the same room, but it's tense and everyone is a bit uncomfortable, and that same tension makes me grumpy, and I'm sure it also has a similar effect on him because we start getting snappy by the end of the meal.
That's the main problem with Will. I try to be the better person and let it all go, but I can't. I end up arguing back when he makes some of his sardonic comments. I'm not a pushover that won't do anything while he keeps throwing indirect remarks in my direction.
He might have apologised for the first time we properly talked to each other and for having hurt me, he might have signed the confidentiality agreement, but he never said he had changed his mind. He never told me he thought differently now and considered me an actual person. And I didn't expect different from him. I'm his enemy, the personification of what he is fighting against, regardless of my current situation.
William Stone, twenty-one years old, is an immature boy and he drags me down with him.
I kind of hate him more for that.
And you'd think I wouldn't run much into him. The Dream House is huge, I mean, it has a farm and all, and it's not like I can move much, so I'm basically just in the house for as long as I'm healing, with the kids, helping them with the homework and with Clarisse, understanding better how the Dream House works and trying to give her some advice to improve their finances. Yet, I still run into him a lot. Not only during meals but when I'm heading somewhere else, or when I want to be outside to make use of the chill air and clear my head, but he's there.
"Is the princess bored already?" he asks one day when I'm just patting the head and playing with the ears of a huge german shepherd they have in the house.
I sigh deeply when I hear his voice, hating how he's always calling me princess just to annoy me.
Will helps a lot, like with heavy workload but mostly the animals. I've learnt he's studying to become a vet, although he took some time off, but he still helps with all the animals in the orphanage, making sure they are healthy and securing the best conditions for them. He is mostly outside, either working or just spending time with the animals.
Every time I get out of the house and run into him I remember why I shouldn't bother to set foot outside, it always gives me a headache.
"Why you ask? Are you going to apply to become my royal buffoon?" I retort, squaring my shoulders and giving him a defiant look.
"Oh, I'm sure it'd be an easy job. Just letting you see my lowly lifestyle would make you burst out laughing."
I do my best to control my temper and not shout at him every time he suggests I'm this horrible kind of person, but I'm not that almighty and he gets under my skin too easily.
"I'm not that easily amused. Unless I don't see you crawling, begging for help and crying I won't even smile." His smirk turns into a grimace as I say that. "It has to be utmost misery to make me happy."
"Are you also a sadist, perhaps?" he asks, and although he tries to say it mockingly, I think some part of him is seriously asking me this.
"Why you asking? Does it surprise you I'm like this? I thought you already had me figured out. Don't you know me better than I know myself?" My sarcasm isn't subtle, at all.
"Do you have to be so patronising?"
He is getting annoyed and I try to hide how much that amuses me, the satisfaction I feel knowing that joke is on him. He wanted to mock me and laugh at me, but he has to learn I'm not one to be messed with.
"Oh, does my tone bother you? But I'm just using your same language. I thought it'd help us to communicate," I continue, motioning between us to make it even more clear for him, and because I just can't talk without moving my hands. "As you can see, I'm fluent in five languages: Spanish, English, Chinese, Korean and Sarcasm. I'm even getting better at Annoying for you. Am I doing well?"
I see his fists balling, the knuckles going white and the veins on his forearms bulking. I try to act nonchalant, examining my nails, as if these had an intrinsic design but in fact they don't even have a normal transparent top coat.
Give it up for imagination, folks!
"How is that every time I talk to you I end up so annoyed?" he mutters out loud, clearly a rhetoric question.
What can be more annoying that having that question you didn't mean to get answered actually answered?
"I wonder the same every time. Perhaps the fact I don't let you laugh at me and I just throw everything back at you?" If he were a dog, I'm sure he'd be baring his fangs at me right now. As he is a human, he just glares daggers at me. "Maybe you should just give up on talking to me. Or maybe we should try a different language to communicate, what do you think? What about Spanish?" He doesn't say anything, the glaring continues. "It could help you broaden your horizons and stop being so judgemental, Guillermo."
He blinks at the way I call him, completely ignoring the other part.
"What did you call me?" he questions. I'm not sure but I think his eye is twitching.
"Uh? You mean Guillermo? That's your name in Spanish. You didn't know that?"
Okay, perhaps I'm going too far with the teasing, he looks positively murderous right now, but he is always talking about the bad people he is fighting, giving me side looks as if I didn't understand he is actually talking about me, so I have a lot of resentment to take out.
"Maybe I should call you that from now on." I actually like that, my way to get back at him for calling me princess. "Your nickname and the modal verb get confused in my mind. You know, non-native struggles... oh wait, you just speak one language only, you can't possibly understand."
Yes, I'm going too far, I should stop now but it's like a snowball that keeps growing, out of my control.
"I don't understand how the kids can like you. You're despicable."
"Ditto," I mutter, holding his gaze even if he's glaring at me so fiercely.
I won't let him intimidate me and even if he thinks so ill of me, I won't let that break me. I won't cry or feel hurt because of him, I'll fight him back every time he tries to harm me.
Will doesn't say anything, just rolls his eyes and walks away, to wherever he was heading before he tried to annoy me. I smirk, happy to know I won this one. I merrily wave my hand at him, singing out loud, "Bye-bye, Guillermo!"
I see him stopping for a second, almost hesitating on his step and I wonder, briefly, if he'll turn around to fight me back or something, but he just clenches his fists and continues. I chuckle to myself, watching him leave and then focusing on Bill, the dog next to me, smiling sheepishly at him.
"Blanca: one; Guillermo: zero," I announce the score. "It starts from now on, the ones before don't count," I clarify next, because if they did then it probably would be on his favour. "You have to be on my side, got it? Don't you dare side with the future vet."
Bill gives me this side, sheepish smile, so dog-like that makes me wonder if he really understands what I'm saying, but I don't really care whether he does or not. I lean forward and press our foreheads together, running my hand through his fur and delighting myself in the touch.
There's something so soothing about this dog. I never had a pet before, because my dad was allergic to dog fur and I just accepted that was a whim I could give up on for my father's sake. But now that I get to interact with the animals in the orphanage, specially the dogs because I can't venture just yet to where the others are, I can understand why people want pets. Their company, that silent reassurance they are there for you, they won't judge you or think differently of you based of what you have, they just see you as a human and love you back if you love them right.
After a month in the Dream House, I can honestly say I like it in here. Aside from my problems with Will the past two weeks, everyone else is nice and loving. Even if I don't interact with all of them, we get on well enough. I am comfortable in here, and that is allowing me to heal properly.
In the month since the accident, most of the rumours have faded away as new gossips, new accidents, new tragedies take place for the media to keep them speculating and destroying lives. The police are still supposedly investigating, but there isn't enough evidence to point anyone and I don't really think they are actively looking for me, they are just saying they are but in fact they are just expecting I magically show up.
I will, but just not yet.
"Wanna walk me inside the house?" I ask Bill then. "The kids are about to arrive and I have to help them with their homework."
Bill only barks, a loud and deep sound that makes me happy. When I stand straight, so does he, looking excited for some movement, even if it's slow with me still in casts. I'm trying my luck without the crutch. Luckily, my ribs are healing properly, which allows me to walk and breath at the same time without feeling my torso burning with pain.
I'm heading to the house when I hear desperate panting. I barely get to take a look at my right when I see the other two dogs running after a ball that's gone pass me in the blink of an eye.
I'm too slow to get out of their way. If I had all my limbs properly working, I'd be able to avoid them, but with a foot and an arm still in casts, it's hard. Besides, Bill is behind me so I kind of trip of him. I try not to land on him, which makes the fall even more awkward.
The result: I land on my bum, in the mud, getting soaked and dirty all at the same time. Oh joy.
"Woah," someone says and when I look up I see Will running after the dogs but stopping in front of me. "Did you decide to play pig?"
I grimace, hating that he's the one to see me like this.
"It's good for my skin," I mutter, trying to stand up but it's hard as I try to keep my casts from getting muddied as well.
"It suits you, although I normally see you more like a shark. Pig still works," he continues and I can't help myself, I grab some mud with my good hand and throw it at him.
Of course, William is cast-free and can dock and avoid my childish throw.
"Woah, Princess, that's not nice. You can't go throwing mud at others because you decided to swim in it." I want to throw more mud at him, but with a rock in it.
I hate him, but I hate even more that he's the one helping me to stand up, picking me from the mud and putting back on my foot. He's smirking, too pleased with himself.
"You threw that ball, right? On purpose, so they dogs would throw me off balance," I venture and his shocked expression is just too fake.
"Me? I would never do that to you, Princess. It's too mean. I was indeed playing, but I didn't aim to cause you to fall," he explains. "I know you're recovering and it's dangerous."
"But you're happy it happened," I correct and his smirk and lack of reply are confirmation enough. "You arse."
"Now if you excuse me, I need to keep the dogs exercising. I'm taking Bill with me, too. You should shower, Princess," he advises, giving me a look from head to toe with that annoying smirk still on his lips.
He turns around and walks away, following the dogs after the ball and taking Bill with him. I just stare after him, hating him so much, even more so because now that score is even.
Blanca: one; Will: one.
Stupid Guillermo.
❅ ❅ ❅
Hi there! I almost don't make it with this chapter. I have a bad headache :( so I'll probably go to bed now ''cos pain. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please, leave a comment with your thoughts! I'm still doing my best to reply to most of them.
Dedication to AllHeart26 for loving this story so much.
Bel, xx
~updates every Monday and Friday~