Ͼ Ella Castillo Ͽ
I glanced at Ash, worried. His face was smooth, but the way he was staring out of the window told me that he clearly didn’t want to be disturbed.
What had his Father said? I wondered, staring down at my crutches which were resting on my lap. Could it have been that bad? Maybe he was demanding I repay the money, or to waive the contract. Surely if it was something like that, Ash would tell me. I stared out of the window too.
“Who do you think did this?” I asked, in a small voice. Ash didn’t look at me, his jaw set. I wondered if he’d even heard me. Maybe he was wondering the same question. No one else knew, apart from myself, Ash and his Dad. Oh, wait. There was one other person.
“Will,” I breathed. Could it be? I thought about the way he acted yesterday, crazy and jealous. It was definitely possible. But was he capable of doing something like that?
Ash glanced at me, our eyes meeting for a moment. He clearly thought so.
When the car pulled to a stop, I let out a small gasp.
All of a sudden, we were surrounded by all sides, paparazzi cameras flashing at us so violently that even though the tinted windows, I was blinded. Ash had called for a special team to get us safely out of the penthouse, but he clearly hadn’t anticipated such a large crowd outside the school. Though we were only a few feet away from the school gates, I could barely see them through the hoard of excited cameramen.
“Smile for us, Ella,” I heard one call.
“How does it feel to be New York’s highest earning escort?”
Anger rose up inside me, hot and flowing. Will had done this. He’d betrayed my secret and turned the whole world against me, turned me into some kind of joke, just as I’d starting fitting into Ash’s society. My hands shook. I might actually kill him.
“Hey,” Ash said softly, taking my hand in his. The shaking stopped. “If something like this had happened maybe a week before, it might have broken us up. But now I think we’re stronger than that. Together, I think we can handle it.”
The anger lasted for maybe a moment more, before subsiding. I returned Ash’s smile, and before he could reacted I gave him a quick kiss on the edge of his mouth.
“You’re right,” I smiled. “The only question is…how are we meant to get into school?”
“We could call another security team,” he suggested.
“We could do that. Or we could race,” I said, grinning.
A slow smile spread across his face.
“On the count of three,” Ash said. “Three.”
Then he opened the car door and started pushing his way through the crowd.
Laughing, I grabbed my crutches before following him, shoving and poking at the journalists bustling around me, trying to catch up with him. Shouts and curses erupted around me, the flashing lights ten times brighter now that I was out of the car. I hopped my way through them. Maybe racing was a bad idea while my leg was still injured. I stumbled, but a warm hand reached out through the thick crowd, steading me. I looked up, and saw Ash, his blue eyes glinting.
“Together?”
I smiled.
“Together.”
***
ῼ Ash Castillo ῼ
I insisted on walking Ella to her homeroom, claiming I was being chivalrous, though I think she suspected the real reason I was walking her. Will might visit her. He was also in her Biology class, and even if I called the Dean now and insisted that Will moved classes, they would still have to spend at least first period together.
Though I knew I was being over-protective, I couldn’t help it. Will had hurt her and I didn’t want it to happen again. I felt responsible for all the pain that had been inflicted upon her since meeting me, and was trying to make up for it now.
I wondered if Ella noticed that everyone went quiet as we passed them, and started whispering loudly about the article as soon as they thought we were out of earshot. How could she not? It was so obvious. She was grinding her teeth angrily, clearly trying to ignore the comments.
We reached her homeroom. I was prepared to make up some excuse so I could stay with her, but Ella stopped walking, standing in the doorway.
“What’s wrong –?”
The question was immediately answered when I saw him, standing next to Ella’s desk, clearly waiting for her. He waved. The girls surrounding him went quiet when they saw me and Ella.
I was going to kill him.
Though apparently, there was already a waiting list.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Ella yelled, her expression furious.
Despite the serious atmosphere, I felt like cracking up. Just the sight of Ella hopping towards Will on her crutches, her face screwed up in a way she clearly thought terrifying, was just hilarious. It was as if she thought she was being threatening. It was possibly the most adorable thing I’d ever seen.
It was a lot less funny when Will smiled at her, clearly thinking the same thing.
“I was waiting for you,” he replied casually, lolling back in his chair. “Hey, Ash.”
“Get out!” Ella snarled. “Get out, right now!”
“Calm down,” Will sighed, looking pained. “I don’t understand why you’re so mad.”
Just then, I realized what he was doing. He was trying to make Ella look unstable in front of her classmates. I’d never hated anybody more.
I stepped in front of Ella, who looked like she was about to pounce.
“I told you to never appear in front of her again,” I said, struggling to keep my voice even and sound detached.
Though my hands were balled into fists, I was reluctant to hit Will as I didn’t want to make this a bigger deal than it already was. I could see phones out already, and I was prepared to bet that this argument would end up on the internet in less than three minutes. Will already knew this, which was the only reason he was taunting me and Ella.
“I came here to apologize,” Will said, to Ella now. I recognized his voice from when we were kids and got caught stealing chocolate from the chef’s pantry. “What happened yesterday, that was wrong of me. The way I acted was most ungentlemanly. I didn’t mean to treat you that way. I was…emotional. I wasn’t thinking straight. Please believe me.”
“And what about the article?” Ella snapped. “How could you betray me like that?”
“The article?” Will said, blinking like he was surprised. “You think that was me?”
“Well, who else could it be?”
“I would never do that to you and Ash, I swear to God!” Will blasphemed. “It wasn’t me who phoned in the story! Did you even ask the newspaper who submitted the story? Because I heard it was one of Castillo Corp’s lawyers.”
He leaned in and grabbed Ella’s hand.
“Trust me, Ella,” Will continued, his eyes staring straight into hers. “I care too much about both of you to do that.”
I held my breath, waiting for Ella to explode and beat him to within an inch of his life. Nothing happened.
I gaped at him. Surely she didn’t believe it? Even Ella couldn’t be that naïve?
“It’s alright. I believe you,” Ella said, her voice soft. “And I forgive you for yesterday.”
His face broke into a smile that so heartbreakingly sincere he had to be faking.
“Thank you.”
And then he pulled her into his arms.
“Enough of this charade,” I snapped, pushing Ella away from him.
I grabbed the front of his shirt. I was still an inch or so taller. I used this to my advantage, glaring down at him. His eyes were disturbingly like my Uncle’s.
“I told you I would kill you if I ever saw you with her again,” I yelled. I ignored Ella, who was tugging at my sleeve. “Did you think I was joking?”
“Calm down, cousin,” Will whispered back, quietly. “You’re causing a scene.”
He was right, but I didn’t let go of his shirt.
“Let’s take this outside,” I hissed.
“Ash –” Ella started, but I shot her a look and she fell silent.
Will gave a most convincing look of shock.
“Why do you do this to me, Ash?” he asked, sounding serious. “We’re family. That has to count for something. What happened between me and Ella yesterday was a mistake, I admit it. I apologized. It shouldn’t affect our relationship.”
There was quiet muttering around us. Will was making it sound like something happened between him and Ella, and he knew it. A quick glance at Ella told me she hadn’t realized yet.
“Shut up.” My fists clenched tighter.
“Ash…” Ella tried again, trying to prize my fingers from Will’s shirt. “Please stop this. Will’s apologized. What happened between me and him is our business. Please don’t fight over this.”
She was making it even worse, and she didn’t even realize it. Will’s eyes were glinting victoriously.
“Ella’s right,” Her name rolled of his tongue, coming out in a long drawl. My blood crawled.
“Don’t say her name,” I said through gritted teeth.
He leaned in, and whispered in my ear so only I could hear him.
“What’s wrong, Ash?” he breathed. “Are you afraid she’ll leave you for me? Just like your mother left you and your pathetic father and begged my dad to take her?”
Ella’s cries were drowned out by the sound of blood thudding in my ears. There was chaos around me, around all three of us, but I ignored it, concentrating on pummeling Will into a bloody mess. By the time a teacher showed up to pull us apart, Will had a black eye, a broken nose and jaw, and three fractured ribs.
***
Ͼ Ella Castillo Ͽ
“Are you okay?” Zack asked, looking concerned.
“I’m fine,” I sighed, dumping my bag onto the lunch table.
I assumed Ash was either still being yelled at by the principal or already suspended and at home. I didn’t feel sorry for him. After all, Will was in hospital – I’d escorted him to the school gates myself, apologizing profusely about Ash. He would need surgery and a few weeks recuperation to get his strength back fully, but even then he refused to press charges. Ash was lucky.
But other than that, the morning had been uneventful. Sure, the space Will usually occupied in class was empty. Other than that, Biology today was like any other. Apart from the staring and whispering, I guess. It didn’t help that I had blood on my shirt that wasn’t even mine.
“I guess you heard, huh?” I took a bite out of my apple.
“Everybody heard. It’s all over the school. I knew you couldn’t have wanted to marry Ash, but I would never have guessed it was because of a contract. I didn’t believe the rest of the article, but everyone seems to unanimously agree that at least that part of it was true.”
It took me a while to remember what he was talking about. The excitement over the fight had made me completely forget about the article that had been released this morning.
“Look, my mom was pregnant,” I sighed, explaining though I wanted to do nothing but put my head in my hands, fall asleep and wake up in Ash’s arms to find out this was all a dream. But Zack deserved the truth. I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation, however. I’d already had it with my parents, trying to explain away the terrible lies that had been appeared in the New York Times. “And you know my Dad doesn’t earn much. And the school fee at Charlotte’s was costing a fortune. I had no choice. I had to help my family.”
“You could have done something else. Anything else.”
“It was a billion dollars, Zack,” I tried. “I know it goes against my principles, but I had to. My parents begged me. What would you have done? It was only going to be for three months. But anyway, everything’s changed. I’m not leaving him.”
“What? You signed another contract?” he said, disbelievingly.
“No.” I shook my head. “I’m staying with him because…well…I love him.” I smiled as I said it. It felt good to get the words out, even if I couldn’t do it in front of Ash.
Zack just stared.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No. Why would I be?”
“Because he tried to buy you!” he snapped. “He took you away from your family! He made you move school! He did all those to you and you still don’t hate him? Why did he even do it? Was he bored or something!”
“He had to get married!” I defended. “His Dad was going to make him marry someone he didn’t love so he made a plan and was married me. We were going to divorce so he could pretend his heart was broken so he wouldn’t have to get married again.”
“That was his reason? What kind of selfish dick would do that to a girl?”
“Zack, I’m agreeing with you,” I said, desperately, trying to get him to quiet down. “He was an idiot when he asked me to marry him. But he’s changed, he really has. We’re having the contract annulled. He loves me.”
Zack didn’t reply.
“And you’re sure about that?”
“Yes,” I said, though hesitantly. Though he’d confessed to me in Paris, I still had a hard time believing someone like him could fall in love with someone like me.
He looked straight into my eyes.
“Ella. There’s something I have to tell you.”
But before he could say anything else, a girl came up to me. She was about five-ten, skinny, and blond. I recognized her as one of the seniors. She glared down at me, tottering on her high heels, holding her food tray in a way that made me think she was going to tip the contents of it over my head.
“What do you want?” I demanded, rudely.
“I just wanted to say,” she said, loudly and confidently. A few people looked around. “That I think what you did to Ash Castillo was terrible. You’re a real skank and if you had any human decency you would leave school right now.”
I was amused, though Zack was glaring threatening at the poor bimbo.
“That’s what you think, is it?” I asked, equally as loudly. I was fed up of people either whispering about me behind my back or confronting me about the crimes I’d never committed. “You never considered that the newspapers might be wrong? He blackmailed me! I’m the victim here. Why else would I marry a guy like Ash?”
She snorted.
“Like anyone would believe that. Look at you and look at him.”
And she stalked away before I could pour yoghurt over her stupid dip-dyed head.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said to Zack, who looked like he was going to say something. I spooned the yoghurt into my mouth instead. “It’s been happening all day.”
“You get your story out there,” he said, still looking shocked. “Make sure people know the truth. That was…brutal.”
I shrugged.
“I don’t really care that much. I’m used to it.”
“You should still do something.”
Zack had clearly never been bullied. When you’re bullied, you’re meant to lie there and take it. Otherwise, if you retort, defend yourself, they’ll only come back the next day with bigger guns. It was just easier this way.
“Where’s Ash, anyway? He got you into this – he should at least be here to protect you.”
“Suspended,” I said, finishing the yoghurt. “He had a fight with Will and put him in hospital.”
Zack grunted.
“Good. I never liked him, anyway.”
I couldn’t help but smile at Zack. So much had changed in my life, but Zack was always constant, a pillar of support. I wondered if he knew how grateful I was for him. I was about to open my mouth and say something jokingly about his blatant disregard for human life, when the fire alarm went off.
“Is this is a drill?” I said to Zack, confused.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said shortly, abandoning his lunch and grabbing his bag and mine. “Come on, let’s go.”
***
Author's Note: Hey :) x Had a nice week?
I never really know what to write in author's notes. Should I talk about the chapter or about my life? I try to do a mix of both, depending on my mood.
So here is a bit about my life: Well, my week has been epically average. Though, it is freezing cold in London, despite it being early September. I'm wearing my bloody winter coat already. I actually look like an eskimo. True story. I also watched the last season of House. Can I just say, WTF?? Won't spoil anything, but still. Cute bromance <3
And a bit on the chapter: Uh. Nothing to say. But my friend who reads this (cringe cringe cringe. It's fine if random strangers read your stuff, but if someone I KNOW reads it, it just makes me really embarrassed) is firmly TEAM WILL. WHY.
P.S. Another adorable banner :) Loving it! @1happygolucky
P.P.S. VOMMENT.