I eventually managed to quit crying, but I still sniffled all the way home. It was the only sound made in the car the entire drive. When we pulled up into my driveway, Anastasia was out of the car and slamming the front door shut before the rest of us even had our seat belts off. I hadn’t heard her say a word since Rob told her off. I wasn’t sure if she was still mad about that, or just really hated Brian’s don’t-leave-me-we-belong-together speech. I assumed it was all of the above and doubted she’d ever speak to me again.
Before either Vivian or Juliette could hand me my walking staff from the trunk, Rob scooped me up into his arms and carried me up the front walk. I was so heartbroken and exhausted that I didn’t argue. By the time we got to the front door, my dad and Jennifer were standing there, clinging to one another in a worried embrace.
“What happened?” Jennifer gasped.
I didn’t have it in me to explain.
Rob looked at Juliette. “Why don’t you two tell them. I’m going to take Ella to her room.”
Rob nudged the door shut behind him as he carried me into my room and set me on my bed—which I thought was breaking a house rule, but I didn’t mention it. He sat down next to me and didn’t say anything. The silence was comfortable, but I still broke it. “Thank you.”
Rob reached for my hand. He hesitated a second when he realized the closest one was my scarred hand, but then he picked it up anyway. “Are you okay?” he asked as he started running his fingertips over the back of my hand and then my palm, exploring the feel of my skin.
For some reason, I was relieved by his actions. There was no repulsion from him, and now there was no more fear of him touching me. It was as if we’d reached a new level of trust and acceptance. If we could share this moment with no awkwardness between us, then he was truly my friend.
I sat there a minute, watching his fingers on my skin and enjoying the peace in the atmosphere. “You’re a good friend to me, Rob. I don’t deserve it.”
Rob laced his fingers in mine and smiled. “Yes, you do.”
His answer came so easily and was so sincere it hurt my heart. “Rob…I really appreciate you trying to help me move past Cinder, and maybe someday I’ll be ready to do that, but I don’t think I can date you right now. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Rob sighed, but he still smiled at me. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t get it, Ella. I thought you just had some infatuation with the guy because the mystery was exciting. I thought you’d eventually decide that a real flesh-and-blood boyfriend was better than a phone buddy, but what I saw today was not infatuation. Not for either of you.”
Rob placed his other hand over the top of our intertwined fingers. “It won’t matter how long I wait for you. I could wait forever and it wouldn’t do me any good. You belong to him.”
I blushed and choked out another apology. He chuckled this time. “It’s okay, Ella. I can be just your friend. And as a friend, I think I have to tell you not to give him up.”
I looked up, startled, and he smiled at me. “You guys are in love. Don’t give that up because you’re scared. It’ll be hard, but anything worth it always is, and you’ll have your friends to help you.”
“He’s right, you know.” Vivian smiled from the entrance to my bedroom. I hadn’t heard the door open. “You’ll always have us.”
Juliette stood next to her, face beaming with a bright smile. “You’ll have your family, too.” She grabbed the remote for the TV, and she and Vivian climbed up on the bed. “Come on; we’ll all check out the damage together.”
It took ten minutes of watching the news before the story came up. An anchorman and woman sat behind a desk and the picture displayed on the screen behind them was one of Brian and me kissing. Besides making me blush in front of my friends, seeing that picture hurt. It teased me with the memory of Brian’s kiss. It made me remember how wonderful everything had been for a moment, and at the same time reminded me that I could never have him.
“In entertainment news,” the young, sharp-looking woman said, “The Druid Prince star Brian Oliver caused a bit of an uproar at FantasyCon this evening when he was seen kissing a woman who was not his fiancée, The Druid Prince co-star Kaylee Summers.”
As if a picture weren’t bad enough, the screen cut to someone’s video footage of my kiss with Brian. Beside me on the bed, both Juliette and Vivian sighed. Rob sighed in response to their sighs.
On the TV, Brian and I snapped apart. My panicked face blinked up into the camera, like a frightened child. I seemed so young and pathetic, freaking out while Brian tried to comfort me. The image became even sadder when I scrambled to cover my scars with my cloak and then started sobbing into Brian’s chest.
The image on the screen changed to one of us leaving the restaurant—me in Brian’s arms—under the protection of our hulking security guards.
“The lovebirds had no comment for the cameras,” the anchorwoman said, “but later Brian’s management team issued a statement saying, ‘It wasn’t what it seemed. Brian was working with a charity organization that grants wishes. The girl was a fan who’d nearly burned to death in a terrible accident and had been granted a wish—a kiss from Brian Oliver. Miss Summers was aware of the situation and fully supportive. The two, though they still have not set a date for their wedding, are as happy as ever and excited for the upcoming premiere of The Druid Prince next month.’”
All the air left my lungs, and my eyes burned. They told people I was a charity case?
“What?” Juliette gasped.
She stared at the TV with wide eyes. Vivian was gaping at the screen too, shaking her head in disbelief. “There has to be an explanation.”
“There is,” I muttered. “Damage control.”
“But we saw you guys together. Ella, the way he looked at you… I don’t think he would have—”
I cut her off before she could defend him. “I’m sure he didn’t want to, but he does whatever he’s told. He was only dating Kaylee in the first place because his management team made him. His people obviously thought leaving Kaylee for an ugly nobody was bad for his career.”
“Ella.” Rob frowned.
I shook my head, not wanting to let Rob contradict me. “Just turn it off.”
Juliette reached for the remote, but paused when the anchorwoman said, “Brian may have been a little camera shy, but we managed to catch up with Kaylee and she had plenty to say on the subject.”
“I’m sure she did,” the older man next to her joked with a chuckle that set my blood boiling.
“This can’t be good,” Vivian muttered.
The screen changed to a picture of a woman holding a microphone out to Kaylee. Kaylee stood poised and perfect for the cameras. “Oh, please,” she said when asked about Brian kissing me. “Do you really think Brian would cheat on me for some little girl like that?” She waved a dismissive hand. “He met her for one of those make-a-wish-come-true charity things. The girl’s a really big fan of his. He agreed to it because she has some blog he likes. He spent the whole day Friday tweeting about it.”
“So you were okay with him kissing her?” the reporter asked.
Kaylee’s responding glare made the reporter take a step back. As soon as she could bury her annoyance, she plastered a smile on her face. “Obviously I wasn’t very happy about that,” she said, “but I forgive him. I’m sure he just felt sorry for her. I mean, you saw what she looked like, with all those scars. And she can’t even walk. That’s why he had to carry her out of there. Trust me, I’m not worried.”
“She did not!” Vivian shouted, outraged.
“She’s evil!” Juliette agreed.
Rob’s fingers slipped into mine as Kaylee Summers’ face flashed on the screen with a smug smile. I squeezed the offered hand for all it was worth.
On screen, Kaylee continued her phony gush-fest. “Brian’s just such a nice guy. He has a hard time saying no, especially to his fans. He’s always trying to please everyone.” She sighed as if she thought Brian were a silly boy. “He’s always trying to be the hero.”
“It sounds as if he was the perfect choice to play the heroic Price Cinder, then,” the reporter said.
“It’s true,” Kaylee agreed. Then, suddenly, the easy smile slipped from her face and she stared hard at the reporter. “And if that stalker ever tries to come anywhere near my fiancé again, she’ll learn why I was the perfect woman to play the fierce warrior princess Ratana. Brian is mine.”
Juliette finally turned the TV off.
Rob, Vivian, and Juliette immersed me in a group hug. I was grateful to them, but when they tried to console me with words I asked them to leave. I’d had a long day, and I just wanted it to be over.
. . . . .
Brian’s lie may have saved his reputation, but it destroyed my life. I woke up the next morning to an e-mail inbox full of hate mail. Brian and Kaylee fans alike didn’t take kindly to the psycho stalker who almost broke up the “perfect” couple. My blog, Twitter, and Facebook were littered with profane, hurtful comments.
At school it was worse because I wasn’t just a stalker. To my classmates, I was a pathetic liar. Everyone accused me of lying about being friends with him. Never mind the fact that I never claimed to know him at all.
Rob and Vivian were both waiting for Juliette and me in the parking lot when we got to school. Their grim faces told me everything I needed to know about how this day was going to go—not that I hadn’t guessed. All three of them walked with me through the breezeway, glaring and yelling at anyone who approached me. Their presence didn’t stop the bravest people from laughing and shouting horrible things, but at least they kept their distance.
Juliette was the first to reach my locker and, with a startled gasp, she whirled around and threw her back against it, covering the front from my view. “Why don’t we just go to class? Who needs books?”
“I appreciate the gesture, Juliette, but I have to get in there, so I’m going to see whatever it is, anyway.”
Juliette shook her head.
“Jules, whatever it is I’m going to hear about it sometime today.”
When Juliette finally stepped aside, Vivian echoed her gasp and Rob made a noise that sounded an awful lot like a growl. My lovely classmates had been so kind as to decorate my locker permanent marker-style with words like psycho, stalker, whore, loser, ugly, freak, and cripple.
I told myself they were just words and that they weren’t true. I told myself my classmates were jealous and that they didn’t know the truth. I told myself that I had three friends standing with me who supported me, and that was all that really mattered. Still, no matter what I told myself, seeing my locker like that hurt.
When I closed my eyes against the sting of tears and sucked in a deep breath through my nose, a hand came down on my shoulder. “Let’s call Mom and Dad,” Juliette said. “They’ll let you go home today.”
“What would be the point?” I asked. My voice shook as I fought to keep control of my emotions. I opened my locker and swapped out the books I needed for my first class. “If I’m not here today, they’ll just wait until tomorrow to harass me, or the next day, or the day after that.”
As I slammed the locker closed, Rob’s arm came around me. I leaned into him, letting his presence comfort me. He kissed my forehead and then began escorting me to my first class. “We’re here with you, Ella.”
I squeezed him back and took another breath. “Thanks.”
If only the three of them could have been with me the entire day. Juliette was in my second class, but none of them were in my first class. I was on my own for the walk from first to second period.
I kept my head down to avoid the nasty looks as I walked down the hall. I didn’t see the group of guys trailing me with trouble in their intent until it was too late. “Hey, freak,” one of them greeted me. That was the only warning I got before he kicked my cane out from under me.
I crashed to the ground amidst a roar of laughter. Luckily, I broke my fall with my good arm, managing at least not to do any more damage to my skin grafts. My reconstructed hip that caused most of my limp slammed against the floor, sending a shooting pain through me so intense that my eyes welled up with tears.
A girl from my first hour class who’d been particularly mean all year draped herself against the guy who’d just kicked my cane and laughed. “Where’s Brian Oliver to carry you to safety now, Ella? Oh, that’s right—he’s with his real girlfriend, because he doesn’t really care about you. You’re just a pathetic stalker.”
I reached for my cane so I could pull myself up and some other jerk kicked it across the walkway out of my reach. “Oops, sorry!”
I couldn’t get to my feet from the ground without something to pull myself up on, so I was literally stuck there until someone decided to take pity on me. It was completely degrading, and the meanest thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.
With the exception of when Jason tore my skin graft, I never cried in school and I didn’t want to start now. That’s what these people wanted—to reduce me to tears. I didn’t want to give them the pleasure, but I was so humiliated that I couldn’t stop my eyes from welling up.
“Oh, no,” Mean Girl taunted. “Is poor little Ella going to cry again like she did on TV last night?”
Unable to take it any longer, I finally gave them what they were waiting for. I buried my face in my hands and began to sob.
A girl standing by who’d witnessed the scene picked up my cane and tried to hand it to me, but some other random jerk plucked it out of her hands and began to play keep-away. “You guys, cut it out!” The girl bent down, and after asking if I was okay, informed me that her friend went to get the principal. It was nice of her to stand up for me, but I still couldn’t stop crying.
“What the hell is going on?”
Relief washed over me at the sound of Rob’s voice. He dropped to the ground and wrapped his arms around me. “Ella, what happened?”
“I don’t know why you’re bothering with her, Rob.” I didn’t look to see which guy was talking. I figured it was better if I didn’t know. “Did you see her scars, dude? Nasty. I heard they cover her whole body. Do you seriously want to hit that?”
The arms around me disappeared and seconds later there was a loud crack and a ton of shouting. The commotion only lasted thirty seconds at best before several teachers broke up the fight, but it was long enough for Rob to bloody the nose and lip of the guy who’d kicked my cane out from under me.
Instead of trying to figure out what happened right there, the teachers sent everyone present—eleven of us in all—to the principal’s office.
The girl who stood up for me and two other people tried to help me up, but Rob shooed them away and wouldn’t let anyone near me. He helped me to my feet and handed me my cane, but my hip hurt so badly I couldn’t put any weight on my leg. For the second time in as many days, I had to be carried away.
. . . . .
The four guys involved in playing keep-away with my cane and the three girls who egged them on, laughed, and said rude things were all suspended for three days. Rob and the guy who’d kicked my cane out from under me both got a week’s suspension for fighting, and they were discussing the possibility of expulsion for my “assailant,” since his intentions had been malicious and resulted in me getting hurt. My fate had yet to be determined.
When my father showed up in the office—Jennifer, Daniel, Cody, and Dr. Parish in tow—I threw myself into his arms and soaked his shirt with tears. “Dad, take me out of this school. I don’t even care if I ever graduate. I’m done.”
My dad hugged me tightly and ran a hand over my head. “Okay, kiddo. We’ll find another way for you to finish.”
He barked at someone over my head, probably Principal Johnson. “I’m removing my daughter from this school. I expect a full refund for her tuition, and I’m having this place put under review.”
“Mr. Coleman, what happened today was inexcusable,” Principal Johnson said, “but don’t you think that is a little extreme?”
My dad let go of me and whirled on the man. “Extreme? This is the second time my daughter has been assaulted on this campus during school hours! Where the hell was your staff, and why can’t you keep your students under control?”
Principal Johnson sputtered and stepped toward Dad with red cheeks. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Coleman, but this is an excellent school and my staff is extremely capable. Until your daughter came here, our track record for student altercations was almost spotless.”
“Are you saying this was Ella’s fault?”
“I’m saying trouble seems to find your daughter. You can’t blame that on this institution.”
“The hell I can’t! You are responsible for what happens here, and I’m going to make sure you’re held accountable for this.”
While the two of them continued to argue about this, Cody and Daniel bombarded me with questions and made me do all kinds of movements and stretches. After their brief examination, they decided I had a bruised hipbone and would have some extra stiffness that I’d have to work out with Daniel in physical therapy. Otherwise, I was okay.
Physically, anyway. Mentally, I was broken, and it didn’t take Dr. Parish much effort to get that bit of truth from me. “Ella, talk to me. How are you feeling right now?”
That one simple question made me explode into another round of sobs. “How am I supposed to feel right now? How can people be so cruel? And why? Why would anyone treat me this way? What have I done to any of these people to deserve this?”
“Nothing, Ella. You didn’t deserve this. No one would deserve this.”
Dr. Reassurance didn’t help. I felt as if my chest had burst open and spilled all the pieces of my broken heart on the floor. “Things were getting better here but the second they had some new material to tease me with, the torture started all over again—only worse! Is this going to be my life from now on? Am I always going to be tortured because I’m different?”
My question quieted the entire room. Everyone watched in silence as I broke down. And I didn’t just fall apart a little: I broke completely. Whatever was left of me—of my heart, my mind, my soul—shattered. I was swallowed by an ocean of hopelessness.
“I can’t do this anymore,” I sobbed. “Why even keep trying when there’s no point? I’m so tired of hurting. I’m tired of fighting. Tired of trying. None of it ever does any good. I wish I died in that accident with Mama.”
My father was at my side again, and pulled me back into his arms. “Ella, don’t say that.”
“But it’s the truth.”
The room fell quiet again, with nothing but the sound of my sobs to break the silence. When Dr. Parish recommended I be hospitalized a few minutes later, I was so heartbroken I didn’t put up a fight. Anything had to be better than this.