His puzzlement conveyed itself to Ella. Ella said quietly, "I did return to school for a few days to do the mock exams." Ella chewed on her lower lip as she reviewed the incident in her mind. "But I didn't return to school to finish that year."
"Because?" He got the feeling that he had missed something.
She mumbled dejectedly, "Because they thought it might be best for the school, the other students and, of course, me."
"Remember I am terrible at linking dots! Why?" He said quietly but firmly when he asked for information. "Exactly."
"Because my out-curriculum activities did not suit their principles." She couldn't keep the sting from her voice.
He put his hand lightly on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. "Someone spread a rumour?" He studied her profile. His statement came out as a question. "Your school threw you out?"
"No, no." She corrected and David scowled. "They didn't." She smiled, a rueful smile. "They just made a suggestion."
David continued maintaining eye contact with her. "Why didn't you return to finish your schooling?" David gently beseeched, "Gabriella, why?"
"It is very hard to deal with sniggering every second of your schooling." Her words were flat, just recapping facts. He was furious that people mocked her at school. His lips settled into a thin line as he acknowledged her comment and he banked his fury, because he knew she would stop. She hesitated then continued, "Parents who dropped their children at the gate were not happy that I was still at the school." She muttered gloomily, "Apparently, I had tarnished the school's reputation!" She took a deep breath and murmured under her breath, "But the students were very happy that I was still at school!" She looked over at David and shrugged. "They could snigger at me!" She pinned a forced replica of a smile on her lips. "And they enjoyed it."
"Gabriella, I am so sorry." He dropped an arm on her shoulder and intended to draw her towards him. But she ducked, assumed an air of calmness, but her heart was thundering. She took a step towards the guardrail, braced her forearms on the rail. David copied her position. He settled beside her. "So you left school because they bullied you."
She snorted. Her stomach was somersaulting again and her palms were clammy. "Actually, the school offered advice."
"Advice?" David frowned in thoughtful consideration.
"Yes, advice." She nodded. "And my dad agreed." She presented a calm outer façade. "They suggested that I stay at home." She replied quietly, wrapping her arms around herself as the school's words surfaced in her mind, "The school said they would see if they could find a home-tutor." He could tell that she was furious by the way she stood, rigid, but her eyes conveyed none of that anger. David was impressed by her degree of control but he was troubled. "Unfortunately they couldn't find anyone available at short notice." She continued, as if she was just recapping facts. "Dad did advertise for a home-tutor," A forlorn smile displaced her impulse to cry, "but given the newspapers' articles were on the web, the people who replied were, well, not exactly suitable."
"Not exactly suitable?"
"Yes." She nodded. "Unfortunately, our radar wasn't working when we engaged a reporter masquerading as a tutor!" Her cheeks lost colour and her tear glazed eyes mirrored pain.
David closed his eyes, and muttered beneath his breath, "Fuck."
Ella swallowed a painful lump in her throat and worked hard to regain her composure, "She provided references, qualifications, and she seemed to have suitable experience. She started well. We hit it off."
He knew her resilience was disintegrating. "What happened, Gabriella?" He watched a play of emotions flit across her, now expressive, eyes.
She forced herself to raise tear glazed eyes to meet his concerned gaze. "Two days later, she brought up the situation." She used her thumb to wipe away an errant tear. "She phrased it as if she was interested in my welfare. That she heard about the rumours, but that it wouldn't affect her behaviour towards me, because we all make mistakes." She shook her head, folded her arms across her chest as if she was trying desperately to hold herself together. "She said, it would be better if she knew all the facts." It was like a rerun of a scene she had long buried. She fought down her embarrassment and said, "She said she could help me, to deal with it." What a fool, she thought. Who ever invented hind-sight had no empathy!
"And you told her?" He looked troubled.
She schooled her features not to show the embarrassment she felt. "No." She shook her head. She held on to her hard won self-esteem.
"No?" David threw a questioning look at Ella. Though he could feel her trying very hard to cover her embarrassment, in her eyes he saw glimpses of mortification, and something he couldn't quite label. "Gabriella?"
"I didn't tell her anything." Ella hesitated briefly, "That was the problem."
David didn't know what to make of that statement. His brain began to sift through the statements again, and said, "What do you mean?"
"Because I didn't tell her, she made it up, well, basically mashed up what she knew."
"Meaning?"
"She heard the result of your tribunal, and made up a conclusion to suit her newspaper."
"Libel?" His eyes widened in shock.
She snorted. "It isn't libel if you use facts!" He narrowed his eyes. Ella repeated the statement, "It isn't libel if you only use 'facts', she shrugged, "and leave it to the reader!" She looked over at David, "That a player and the manager's daughter, kissed, and the player was taken to a tribunal for harassing the manager's daughter, but he wasn't suspended, and the manager stood up for the player!" David groaned. She tipped her head to the side and saw his face. She shrugged and whispered, "She went on to say that the manager's daughter was not welcomed at her old school," she brushed aside tendrils of her hair and bought herself some time, "that parents had complained," she rattled on "that students had issues with the fact she was still at school when the player was taken to a tribunal when he couldn't have lost his career." She knew she was rambling, but carried on, "She went on to report that she was now home schooled but her father and the school couldn't find a tutor, given her reputation!"
If that reporter was around, David was sure he would strangle the reporter.
Ella said calmly "She wrote a piece about women who accused men! Women who fabricated things. She included my name."
"You should have take her to court."
"It was all just insinuation." She looked over at David, "As Dad said, it would be better to just to ride out the storm. If we took her to court, during the lead up to the court, she would have more fuel for this story."
"So what happened?" He looked directly into her eyes.
She looked straight back. "So I didn't go to school." She murmured in a gloomy whisper. "I didn't have a tutor." Her body language conveyed dejection. " I failed my exams!" She felt her eyes smart.
"You failed your exams. What? All of them?"
"Yes." She was not going to cry. "Don't worry. As my dad quoted, when one door closes another opens!"
"Really."
"Yes. That is how I became an interior designer." She looked over at him, "I already told you, I did evening classes and people asked me to do their flat, and I was soon inundated with work. I have a career. So don't worry about me. I have done well." She looked over David's shoulder, "I think Amelia is signalling."
David looked over his shoulder, "Yeah, I guess we are close to docking."
Ella couldn't believe that they had spend all this time out here. Ella turned around to make her way to the lounge, but David dropped a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Gabriella, I am so sorry."
"It is not your fault." She shrugged. She offered him a small smile, "We should return to Jack and Amelia, otherwise she will worry about us." She moved on.
David's eyes narrowed but he forced himself to remain silent. When she was a few metres away, David muttered beneath his breath, "I'm a bastard." He ran his fingers through his hair in agitation, what he really wanted to do was to scream: How could he have done that to her? Ten years ago, he was so busy wallowing in self-pity and he had not considered how the incident would affect her. Why did he listen to his teammates while he ignored her? He gripped the guardrail and looked out, unseeingly, at the land in front of him. A few minutes later, he retraced his steps and returned to the lounge. Time for a new plan.