PROLOGUE
Ten years earlier.
GABRIELLA.
I've always known Elle hated me but knowing just how far she'd go just to hurt me really scares the hell out of me. After what happened a few weeks ago, I've constantly lived in fear, wondering what kind of stunt she'd try to pull next just to hurt me. I've tried avoiding any conflicts with her but strangely, she seems to find our fights somewhat amusing and she even goes as far as instigating them just to have a reason to insult and bully me.
Flashback (two weeks earlier)
"I should really get you a puppy so you don't always feel so alone at home," Martin, my best friend and only friend says in a sorry tone and I frown.
"I already told you I can't have a puppy. Mom would kill me if I got one. She hates having pets around and Elle also happens to hate them and you already know that they practically rule the entire house," I reminded him and I could hear him sigh on the other end of the phone.
"You come from a family of very shitty people, except your dad though. Isn't he home?" he asks.
"He had something to do so he went out. I also can't keep bothering dad every time I'm bored at home, he has loads of work to take care of and it would be unfair of me to interrupt him just because I'm bored," I reply and he sighs again.
"You need to try to make friends with other people Ella, you can't keep avoiding people for the rest of your life," he repeats the same thing he always says whenever I call him to complain about being bored and alone.
"Correction Martin, I don't avoid people, they avoid me. Nobody wants to be friends with the girl whose twin sister is widely known for her nasty personality and her wickedness," I remind him yet again and I can already imagine him rolling his eyes right this moment.
"Then try to stand up for yourself and let people know it's not fair of them to avoid you just because they fear that stupid sister of yours," he replies, I sigh. He definitely made it sound like it was the easiest thing in the world when in actuality, it isn't.
Gabrielle hates me and she wants everyone to feel the exact same way so anyone that actually dares to make friends with me, gets on her bad side and no one wants that.
"Can we just…," I'm about to reply but I'm interrupted when my bedroom door suddenly flies open.
"We need to talk," Elle's voice boomed in her usual annoyingly rude tone and a sigh of frustration unknowingly escaped my lips.
"I'll call you back," I quickly tell Martin before hanging up.
"What do you want, Elle?" I ask tiredly.
"You don't have to make it so obvious that you don't want me in here and trust me, I too don't want to be here but I was preparing to go for a friend's birthday party and mom had asked me to invite you," she says, I frown.
"Why would mom ever ask you to invite me to one of your parties?" I retort in obvious disbelief, earning an eye roll from her.
"She claims you need to go out more and since I obviously have a more vibrant social life compared to yours, she wants me to unfortunately, take you with me," she responded but I wasn't buying it.
"I don't believe you Elle and the Elle I know would have adamantly refused so do me a favor and leave me out of whatever it is you're up to," I warn her tiredly, hoping she'd just leave but she doesn't.
"Listen you fool, I don't plan on begging you to come with me cause I don't even want you coming but mom actually threatened to ground me and I can't get grounded just because of you. If you don't believe me, go ask mom but you have an hour to get ready, okay?" she threatens furiously before storming out of my room.
I had actually confirmed from mom that Gabrielle wasn't lying and when I tried telling mom I wasn't interested in going to any party, she completely went off about how I should stop depriving myself of having a social life by staying home all day.
I told Martin about it and he surprisingly agreed with my mom but did not forget to add that I should be careful since my twin isn't exactly the most trustworthy person in the world.
So I'm currently standing right in front of Kerrie Jones's humongous mansion, where she's throwing her sixteenth birthday and judging from the loud music, flashy lights and the horrible stench of whatever it was these kids are smoking, this party is definitely not going to end well for me. I could already tell that more than half of the people in there won't fit my criteria of possible friends and frankly, I'm not too excited about being here.
"Listen carefully to me Ella, when we go in there, you're on your fucking own and whatever happens to you is solely your responsibility, not mine, understood?" Elle warns and I reluctantly nod positive before watching her head in whilst tailing right behind her from a distance.
Unsurprisingly, she's immediately swamped by her friends, who didn't even notice when I passed right beside them.
The extremely loud music hits me hard and I could already imagine myself throwing up anytime soon. I watched as girls about my age shamelessly sway their bodies to the music seductively, whilst some were too focused on flirting with the boys.
I find a quiet place to sit, which happens to be the kitchen and since I normally don't trust any of the drinks offered in parties like this, I refrain from taking in anything.
I pull out my phone and randomly start to text my dear bestie Martin, who immediately replies to me.
M: You good?
G: Yh, just bored!
M: Have you even tried having any fun or did you already condemn the possibility?
G: ...
M: ?
G: I'm just bored.
M: sighs You'll be fine, just don't drink anything that has alcohol.
Just when I'm about to reply to Martin, I'm interrupted by the familiar figure of Lucas Galloway, who not only happens to be one of the most popular dudes in school, he's also the guy I've had a huge crush on for a while now. I know it's foolish of me but oh well.
"Hi, you're Gabriella, am I right?" He asks and I deadpan.
"Uhm, y... yeah, hi, I'm Gabriella." I stutter a reply nervously.
"Nice to meet you Gaby, the name's Lucas and I'm sorry to bother you like this but I was just about to get something to drink and you kinda caught my attention so I just wanted to say hello," he replies and as usual, my tongue suddenly freezes and I don't know what to say next.
"Would you like something to drink?" he asks, breaking the awkward silence.
"Uhm, not really." I reply, still visibly shy.
"How about water? I don't just think it's proper that I'm having something to drink and you don't have anything," he says and I reluctantly agree to get water although I didn't actually want to take anything.
He and I talk about the most random things for a few minutes. He tells me about his love for football, what it's like being the star player of the club and he also went on about his likes, dislikes and interests and since I had nothing fun to share, I decided to focus on just being a listener.
I suddenly start to feel tired and dizzy and I could not help but yawn tiredly every two seconds.
"Are you bored? Am I talking too much?" Lucas asks with a weird expression on his face.
"No, not really. I just feel really tired, that's all," I replied and I could have sworn I saw him smirk lightly in an unusual manner.
"Are you sleepy? Should I get you a room?" he asks but before I could reply to him, I could already feel his hands around my neck as he helped me get up and led me upstairs to God knows where.
I could barely see or hear anything aside from the extremely loud music that made my headache even more. I could not even keep my eyes open and all of a sudden, I start to feel masculine hands which I'm assuming belong to Lucas, place me on a soft surface which I believe is a bed.
"Where am I?" I drawl tiredly but he shushes me up and urges me to go to sleep and as much as I tried fighting off my urge to close my eyes and drift off, I couldn't help the suddenly feeling of tiredness and last thing I remember is seeing Lucas's face briefly before everything suddenly went pitch black and I black out.
An hour later...
My eyes fly open as soon as I realize that my body was laying in an unfamiliar environment. I tried recalling everything that happened and how I got into this room and when I do, my heart drops.
I tried checking myself to see if I'd notice anything different about my body but when I realized that my clothes and underwear were still intact, I heaved a sigh of relief.
The room door flies and a tired looking Lucas walks into the room, immediately locking the door behind.
"W... what did y...you do to me?" I stutter in fear, hoping and praying that whatever it is that happened has a very sensible explanation.
"Does it look like I did anything to you?" he retorts.
"Then why am I here?" I question furiously.
"Listen girl, I'm honestly thankful you're awake and I'm going to keep this simple for you. I actually just saved your life whether or not you believe me. Your sister had asked me to drug you up and then mess with you while you're passed out but since that's not how I work, I didn't touch you. I figured it'd be better if I agreed to do it so she doesn't find someone else who'd actually be willing to. So in other words, I just saved you from getting raped," he explains and I completely deadpan.
"R...rape me? S... She asked you to actually do that to me?" I ask, finding it hard to believe and when he reconfirms his explanations, my heart drops even lower.
"Here's my advice, you better act like we actually had something happen between us so she doesn't get someone else to come after you cause that sister of yours is determined to watch you walk out here with tears in your eyes. Stay safe," he adds quickly, leaving the room before I could even get a chance to thank him for his help and I'm left to ponder on just how horrible my own sister really is.