~Malia~
After the incident with the arrogant piece of crap who looked so much like a muscular Greek God, the man in question stepped back quickly from me and I sat down at the table as far away from Robert and Louis as I possibly could, earning smirks and glares from almost all of the girls in the cafeteria.
I also noticed that all the guys were staring at me, too, but I was getting cat calls and winks more than death glares from them. I guessed there hadn't been any new meat in the school for a very long time, so they had to get their kicks from the new girl.
I just hoped all of the attention would die down. And it did-at least, from everyone else in the lunchroom. Louis was still staring at me like I'd grown a second head from my shoulders, like he was trying to figure me out.
I just stared down at my food and tried not to pay any attention to him, to ignore him and play him at his own game, but his stare became so intense that I found myself looking up at him and meeting him in his cerulean blue eyes that reached down to my core.
I blinked hard, taken aback that he would unabashedly stare at me for so long, so I did what any normal person would do in that situation: I had a staring contest with him.
He seemed amused that I was almost challenging him in a way, but I didn't find it amusing in the slightest. I let my eyes roam over his sculpted face and the dark mahogany color of his hair. His eyes stood out so starkly against the dark skin like he was in the sun all the time, as much sun as I supposed there could be in England.
Someone waved their hand in front of my face and I stiffened up, shocked by the sudden movement and I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment for being caught staring at him.
Thankfully, he looked away after that and the person who waved their hand in front of me was only Lizzy, so I didn't have much explaining to do like I would have had it been one of the other girls who'd caught me staring.
The rest of lunch went by without anything else happening-thank god-and I avoided the curious glances that Lizzy and the rest of the table kept throwing me.
Louis got up from the table before lunch was over and I let out a breath that I didn't know I'd been holding the second that he was out of sight...that is until he cornered me in the hallway as I was leaving, his arm reaching out and grabbing me reminding me of a terrible night when Robert had caught me off guard coming out of my room.
My entire body stiffened.
"What do you think you're doing?" I demanded from Louis, furious that he would think that what he was doing was actually okay.
"What is your angle? What do you want?"
His eyes were burning deep holes into my body as he glared at me, the hatred rolling off of him in waves. We were in a cordoned off section in a secluded corridor, so there was no one walking by to see us.
I gulped as I steadied my glare at him, not wanting him to think that he intimidated me even if I wanted to piss my pants right then and there.
The way he was looking at me was as if I were his prey and he was the predator in that situation, and he didn't want me to come out unscathed.
Regardless, I bit back my fear and swallowed my horror, wanting my life to start anew and to not let my fear run my life.
"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," I said back to him as sweetly as I could imagine without my voice shaking and showing my terror.
His eyes hardened even more if that were even possible, and if he wasn't so terrifying I would have been extremely turned on at that moment.
It was the heart palpitations going haywire in my chest coupled with the red heat rising up from my core and lighting up my cheeks that kept me from daydreaming and fulfilling my lust induced desires.
"I don't know what game you're playing at, but I'm going to figure it out. You're not as innocent as you seem, and I'm going to make sure everyone finds out who the real Malia Echols is."
"Good luck with that," I called out to him as he stormed away after slamming his palm against the wall beside me that he had slowly walked me up against.
Well, that was fun.
***
Three and a half hours later and school was finally letting out. I brusquely walked outside where the sun was peaking through charcoal colored clouds and sat down on a picnic bench that was perched in the slanted, fleeting sunlight.
Stretching my legs out across the unsurprisingly clean and beautifully crafted bench and placing my crutches to the side, I turned my attention to the book in my hands and started to read while I waited for my ride to arrive, my heart and mind still unnerved by what had happened with Louis earlier in the day in that hallway.
"Hey girl, what's up?" I heard Lizzy ask as she approached me, blonde locks tousled by the wind, and I was more than thankful that it wasn't Louis come to finish what he'd started.
That staring machine was a handful to be around; always making my heart jump and skip beats and making my face flush with heat even with a simple glance in my direction.
"Nothing, just waiting on my ride to get here," I told her, moving my legs carefully whilst trying not to flinch in pain so she would have room to sit down beside me on the bench.
"Cool, so how was your first day at Wilmington?" she asked me and I cringed, not really wanting to answer that question.
"Umm, it was interesting," I trailed off, my voice showing my displeasure at my first day of school.
She scrunched up her face in sympathy with what I'd told her.
"Damn, I'm sorry. It wasn't all bad though, was it?" she asked me, and I shook my head.
"No, not all of it. Meeting you was a definite plus, I thought I'd go all day without making a single friend," I ended with a slight laugh, putting my book mark back and turning towards her fully, giving her all of my attention.
"I never would have let that happen! So, what are you doing for the rest of the night?" she asked me and I pretended to think.
"Absolutely nothing. What did you have in mind?"
A slow, scheming smile worked its way onto her face.
"What's that look for?!"
"Come on, I have an idea. Call your driver and tell him to ditch you for a while," she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
I groaned.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you."
She looked at me very seriously for a second, and then we burst into laughter at the look she tried to keep on her face.
"Fine, fine. Let me give them a call and I'll see what I can do."
Fifteen minutes later and I was speeding in a car going at least thirty miles per hour over the speed limit in a sports car that I wasn't exactly sure was street legal.
"I thought you said you weren't going to kill me?!" I shouted at her over the noise of the engine and the accelerator, the tires dipping as we careened over potholes that had yet to be filled in, the country roads that we were passing becoming more and more obscure the further along we went.
"Oh would you just trust me?"
"Trust a complete stranger I met today? Pretty sure that's what my parents told me exactly what not to do on my first day of kindergarten," I told her, a slight smile painting my lips. If I was honest with myself, the exhilarating thrill of feeling like I could die at any moment, one wrong turn, one animal jumping out at me, sent a rush of adrenaline running through me.
We came up to a large house and she hit the brakes so quickly the air was almost knocked out of my lungs. Finally coming to a complete stop in what was probably her driveway, I gazed around at the sprawling property in awe. The greenery was extensive and the trees lining the home concealed most of it from the road view.
She got out of the car quickly and leaned up against the side of it with a strange look on her face, waiting for me to get my things.
"What?"
"For a person who got into a car wreck serious enough to wear crutches, you sure don't seem scared of driving super fast. So spill, how did you really get those bruises, and all those scars?"
I gulped down some air, the shaking in my body making me feel so powerless to what was going to happen next.
"Maybe we should sit down somewhere to talk. It's....it's a long story."
"Okay, follow me," she instructed and I did as she said and followed her into her nice quaint stone cottage.
"You don't have to worry about anyone showing up, my parents gave this place to me when I turned eighteen," she said and I scrunched my eyebrows at her.
"If you're eighteen, why are you still in high school?"
She laughed at me.
"I turned eighteen just a few weeks ago, and I'm actually a year above you and the rest of my friends."
"Oh, that makes sense I guess."
She laughed at my reaction and I hobbled along the stone path on my crutches and gimp legs, hoping that I didn't have to tell her everything that had happened to me. The pain that I felt in my chest just from thinking about telling her the whole truth made me want to vomit.
We walked inside and it was beautifully decorated: an open concept home with a clean white color palette, sleek appliances in the kitchen and comfortable looking furniture in the living room.
She walked to the refrigerator and pulled out something to drink and I followed her as she beckoned me to a room that was probably the master bedroom.
"So, spill," she demanded of me as she lounged across her spacious king sized bed while I perched myself on a desk chair watching her carefully.
"Well, I guess my story starts when I was fifteen and I met a guy. He was great and honestly I thought I loved him instantly. His name was Daniel, and he had enlisted in the military..." I trailed off, the memories bringing back a painful stab in my heart. I cleared my throat of the heavy thickness that threatened to silence me and I continued so I wouldn't lose my nerve.
"He was killed in action after we had been dating for nine months," I said and I heard her audible gasp but I continued anyway.
"It hurt so damn bad but at least I had my family to get through it. And then a year later my mom passed away in a car accident and I was left with my step father, Robert, who didn't take her passing well to say the least. I've never met my birth father and I didn't know I had any other family out there, my mom told me her family abandoned her so I didn't want to even know their names let alone go looking to them for help."
She urged me on with a look and a head nod, her mouth hanging half open in surprise of what I was really telling her.
"So, Robert. Not the name of an ex boyfriend then?"
I shook my head in response.
"So why did you have such a crazy reaction when you heard that name," she asked, her tone of voice making it seem like she already knew the answer but dreaded hearing it.
I sighed, not wanting to rehash the rest of the story with her, so I glossed over it as much as I could.
"Well, Robert lost himself in alcohol and gambling, and he needed money, so he took mine from the job I worked. He would get angry sometimes and yell at me, and he hit me a couple of times. This happened the night that the social workers found me."
I saw her eyes widen in surprise and empathy, scared for what had happened to me.
"They found him beating me up and took him away and charged him with a bunch of crimes so he won't be getting out of jail for at least another twenty five years and by then he'll be about seventy years old so I'm not too worried," I said in response to her terrified look.
"How did you go through all of that and still remain so strong? I wouldn't be standing if I was in your shoes," she told me, sliding off of her bed and coming over to where I sat to put a comforting hand on my knee.
When I didn't answer, she shook her head.
"I'm sorry, that was stupid of me to ask. It's because now that I know this, I know that you're the strongest person I've ever met. And to handle it all with such grace, it blows my mind. I definitely couldn't do it. I mean, hell, I couldn't stand up to the prince without having gone through even half of all that you've been through; I can't imagine how you did along with all that you've gone through!"
I didn't quite understand what she meant.
"What do you mean, stand up to the prince?"
She looked at me like I was absolutely stupid.
"Louis."
"What, he's the prince of Wilmington Prep? Is he like the Dean's son or something?"
She looked like she wanted to slap me then.
"Prince Louis. Of England."
My face paled.
"Oh. That Prince Louis..."