Chapter 2

This was exactly the sort of attention that I didn’t want. I was prepared to ignore Leia's rudeness towards me, but she took my silence as disrespect towards her. Her hand extended, ready to slap me. I immediately caught her hand in mid-air. "Listen, I have no interest in your personal belongings .If they can actually listen to you, I hope you'll pass my words to your 'pets'. It's 'Stay away from me'." I'm a loner, a freak, but that doesn't mean I can tolerate bullying for no reason without fighting back. Leia angrily shook off my hand. "You better not act like a hypocritical bitch. If I find out you're getting close to the twins again, I'll cut off your pinky fingers." After saying that, Leia's shoulder bumped into me again, hitting my previously injured elbow against the lockers. I cried out in pain, that bitch. Leia flashed a victorious smile and walked away with her claws. The onlooking students felt sorry for my fate, but I knew they were glad to see me being bullied. I swore I would stay away from the twins. "Ella, we can't stay away from the twins," Eva popped out. "Why?" I frowned. They'd brought me enough disasters. Although being close to them wasn't unpleasant. In fact, their body heat felt like winter sunshine, wrapping around me, so comfortable... "Right, you can feel the attraction they bring us," Eva sensed my thoughts. I had to admit Eva was right. The twins' appeal to me was undeniable. They were popular at school, football stars, almost ruling the school - the complete opposite of me. I'd been seen as a freak, a nerd, never invited to parties since I was little. But if I wanted to stay away from student politics as much as possible, I had to stay away from them. Plus, they were Leia's possessions, and they seemed very close to Leia. That meant their character was as bad as Leia's, a jerk. And it wasn't just me who thought so. The boss of the restaurant I worked at had also warned me to stay away from the twins, as they were playboys who would sleep with any girl. I guess the only reason they seemed to want me was because I was new. And I acted like I didn't want them. Their competitive nature was provoked, but I refused to become a piece of sauce on their p plate. I just wanted to get through my last year quietly. I would move back to Seattle after graduation, leaving this place. “Hell no. We’re not going anywhere now. We’re staying right here.” Ava yelled in my head. And I put my head down at her sudden outburst. "Why? Why do you always act like we can't be away from them?" I asked with a puzzled look on my face. "We're not abandoning those hunks," she growled, and then she chose to disappear. When I finished school that day I went to the diner to start work and the owner looked at me strangely as I walked closer to him. He nodded his head behind me so I turned around and the twins had followed me into the diner, with their little lapdog, Leia. The owner looked at me sympathetically because he knew that I had been wanting to separate myself from the twins, but that just wasn’t happening. I was hoping again that they would ignore me. But I knew that it was all in vain. I took another deep breath to try and calm myself and hopefully keep my anxiety under control while they were here. I was hoping they wouldn’t be here for too long. “Hey Ella. Why don’t you take that section and I’ll take this section over here with the twins.” Alice, another waitress, said to me. “Thank you so much.” I said as I grabbed the order book and pen. “Don’t mention it.” She said. So I walked over to a middle aged looking man who had his back to me, but when I got up beside him, my stomach almost dropped when I saw him. He wasn’t a stranger. In fact, I knew him a little too well. He’s a friend of Jack’s and just as disgusting. “Hi Tony.” I greeted, trying to seem neutral. “Ella. What a pleasant surprise.” He smirked at me. “What can I get you?” I asked. “Well, that really depends on what this diner has to offer.” He smirked and winked at me. I had to try and hold in my emotions and stop from shuddering at the thought of his implication. Ava was starting to get really uncomfortable and fidgeting around in my head as well. “Come on, what do you say? How about we go back to my place and I can see why Jack is so interested in you.” He continued as he grabbed my ass. Out of pure disgust, I slapped him across the face and pushed his hand off of me when he started going really red in the face from anger. He stood up to look at me and pointed his finger in my face. “You dirty little tramp. How dare you slap me like that? I ought to teach you a lesson for that, you little slut.” He began yelling. Before I even really had a time to react the twins were already between myself and Tony and they had him pinned to the table where he had been sitting with some sort of speed that I had never seen before. There was one on either side of him, holding his arms back while pushing him forward on the table. “You better watch who you talk to like that. We wouldn’t want to find you face down in the river now, would we?” Tristan threatened through gritted teeth. I could tell that he was really trying to control his temper here. They released him and as he stood up, he tried to straighten his dirty clothes and he looked at the twins while they were staring him down. He just smirked at them before he spat at me and the twins went to make another move towards him before he started moving towards the door. “You just wait until your stepfather hears about this. Jack is going to hear just what a pathetic stepdaughter he really has.” Tony yelled as he left the diner. I was scared. I knew that he was going to run straight to Jack to tell him everything. The twins were going to go after him again, but I pulled on their arms and stopped them from going. "Little one, are you okay?" Nathan asked. I nodded that I was fine. "Do you need help?" Nathan rubbed my arm, asking. But as soon as he rubbed my arm, I started feeling cold, so I moved away from him. "Hey, little one, we saved you. And you're just walking away?" Tristan immediately pulled me back, a warning flashing in his eyes. "Is this how you show courtesy in Seattle?" Tristan continued, dissatisfied. I stared at them. Their features were flawless, but like others, they looked down on me as a freak. A man who didn't put me on an equal footing with them, how could he have pure affection for me? I started to think the boss was right. They were just trying to get close to me, paying so much attention because they wanted to treat me like a prostitute. Just like the other girls in town. I immediately shook off their hands. "I didn't ask you to do that!" I felt their hands slip off mine, and I don't know if it was my illusion, but I felt their pain in their eyes. Their pain even affected me, my heart felt weighed down by a heavy stone, and I had a hard time breathing. Ella, you did the right thing, you just didn't want to get into too much trouble, you were destined to be alone. Your father abandoned you, your mother didn't want you. How could you expect two strange men to be your salvation? Never, before my tears fell, I immediately slipped into the bathroom. "Hey, Ella, are you..." The boss and Alice tried to help me, but I waved my hand, and they immediately respected my wish to not disturb me. I turned on the faucet, constantly splashing cold water on my cheeks. "Ella! Pull yourself together. In one more year, you can truly live alone." In front of the mirror, after making sure my tears wouldn't fall again, I walked out of the bathroom. For the remainder of my shift, I only served people entering my area. Not even looking at the twin brothers, and of course, they didn't look at me either. I got my paycheck that night as I finished work and I had to walk the whole way home again, in the dark, without any street lights because hardly anyone came out to where we were. And we were in the middle of nowhere. Which is saying something for this little town. I walked up the rickety steps of the house and I opened the front door just as a beer bottle flew at me and hit me in the head. I stumbled back a bit and I put my hand over my forehead, feeling the blood oozing through my fingers. Marilyn was standing there, obviously being the one who threw the bottle with Jack standing beside her smiling as I leaned against the wall next to the door.