Chapter 1
High school was hard on everyone, but moving during the middle of the first semester was definitely hard on Ella.
She wasn't exactly a straight A student, so transferring to Spencer Academy probably wouldn't do wonders for her grades, let alone her social life.
It was her sister's fault really. See, her older sister, Jessica, had been her legal gaurdian for about a year now, having gained custody from their less than capable parents.
Her father was abusive, and her mother was a bad drunk.
Ella had been sixteen then, and had not been able to walk out on her parents like Jessica had, being twenty one. It had been rough, but they had gotten through it.
Which is why Jessica decided a change was in order. A fresh start. So they moved, and Jessica had gotten a new job in the quiet town of Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Ella heaved her last box of bedroom stuff onto her bed, and stood next to her vanity. It's safe to say that the effort of moving had taken its toll on her.
She had puffy bags under her chocolate brown eyes, her wavy light auburn hair had been pulled back into a messy bun, and she was definitely working her baggy 'mom' jeans.
She sighed and sat back on her bed, scooting around the boxes and finding a small spot to curl up in.
"Ella!" she heard her sister distinct voice from down the hall. "Ella I need you to do me a favor!"
Ella groaned, pulling a blanket from a box and over her head. "No."
"Ella, I wasn't asking," Jessica said, entering her bedroom. "You have to go to the store and pick up some toiletries, and then to the pub to pick up our dinner,"
"No," she moaned, pulling her blanket tighter around her.
"Ella, sometimes you are just so fucking stubborn," Jessica said, tearing her blanket away. "Your my sister and I love you, but get up and get ready to go," she snapped.
Ella sighed and sat up. "Why do I have to go?" she demanded, pulling her hair from its bun and smoothing it down over her shoulders.
"Because the movers are bringing one more truck load over and I can't leave. Get going," Jessica said, tossing the car keys across the room. "And take it easy on my baby," she said, before leaving.
Her 'baby' was actually just her red 2010 Mazdaspeed3. Jessica had worked hard to obtain enough money to purchase her so called baby, so it was rare she gave Ella free rein over it.
"Here's a list of things you need to get, and some money," Jessica said as Ella was zipping a white hoody up over her tank top. "And your wearing a jacket. Its minus two and snowing," she said, as Ella began to protest.
"You know sometimes you act more like my mother, and less than the cool, hot older sister you should be," Ella muttered, reaching for her dark red wool blazer.
She pulled it on, quickly followed by a white toque, matching gloves and a pair of simple black boots.
She grabbed the keys and list, pocketed the money, grabbed her purse and headed out the door.
There was about eight inches of snow on the ground, but Ella managed to trudge through it just fine.
Ipswich wasn't exactly hard to navigate, so she made it to the drug store rather quickly.
Although Jessica's list went on forever.
Toothpaste, tampons, q-tips, make up remover, toilet paper, and the odd food items for the new house.
She found everything she could, paid for it and was back to the car in a flash.
She climbed in the car and pulled out her list again as she pulled onto the road. Her sister had written her directions to the pub.
The snow was making it impossibly slow to drive around further out of town, but she made it to the parking lot of the pub without incident. Well. Almost.
She was pulling in when some idiot in a black hummer decided to cut her off, and pull into the spot she was about to occupy.
She slammed on the breaks in a panic, but the packed snow and ice made stopping impossibly.
She was thrown sideways roughly as the the hummer grazed the nose of the Mazda, sending it in the opposit direction.
She jerked the emergency brake and was jolted to a stop. Instantly two tall figures were out of the hummer and rushing over to her car. She unbuckled her seat belt and climbed out of the car, her breathing rapid.
She hadn't been that scared since..well two years ago.
She turned to face two, incredibly handsome guys. The first, tall, and blonde, wore a black coat over jeans and vans, a black beanie jammed over his messy hair.
The second, a scrawnier brunette was more put together in dress pants and a winter jacket.
"Shit, are you okay?" the smaller one asked, his face a mixture of shock and disbelief. "Reid she's in shock," he said when she didn't answer.
"What the fuck. How did that happen. I never hit anyone," Reid said, ignoring his friend.
Ella turned away from them wordlessly and walked to the front of the car, loosing the ability to breathe when she saw the damage.
The front left side of the car was completley indented from the impact, most of the paint chipped away.
"Fuck. Fuck me. I'm fucking screwed," she said, leaning against the passenger's side door as tears picked the corners of her eyes.
"Are you okay?" the brunette asked again, putting a hand on her shoulder. She nodded stiffly.
"Good, she's fine, no damage done," the blonde, Reid said.
"Fine?" she said lowly, turning to face him. "No damage? What the fuck are you looking at, cause it's certainly not my sisters destroyed car. Fuck!" she cried, closing her eyes.
"You have a sister? Older?" the blonde asked, curiously.
"Reid, now is not the time,"
"Shut it Tyler," so the nice one was Tyler. "I bet your sister's pretty like you, she got legs like you?" Reid said eyeing her.
"Your a pig," Ella spat, crossing her arms.
"Reid, back off," Tyler warned, putting a warning hand on his buddy's arm.
"No, you back off, baby boy, go find Caleb or Pogue? I can handle this," he said, raising his eyebrow.
"No actually, I don't think you have the sense or maturity to handle this. But I don't really care, I just need to know whats going to be done about my fucking car," she snapped.
"What do you mean, babe? You tried to pull into my spot, you crashed into me," he said glancing toward the hummer. "But lucky for you, my ride wasn't damaged in the least," he said with a wink, and started walking about.
"Listen here you sleazy jackass. I'm not going to let either of you leave until something is done, you might not understand, but some people can't exactly afford to fix a busted car, let alone a hummer," she said, leaning against the car again.
"Hey now, that was uncalled for," he said, turning back.
"Fuck you," she said.
"Okay okay, both of you calm down. I'm Tyler," the brunette said extending his hand.
"Ella," she said shaking it.
"I'm Reid," the blonde said, coming to stand incredibly close to her. She shifted away in disgust.
"We'll get your car fixed, don't worry about it," Tyler said , bending down to acess the damage.
"Yeah baby girl, don't worry your pretty little self," Reid said, wrapping an arm around her waist and letting his thumb slide down her thigh.
She spun on her heel, bringing her fist up quickly and letting it snap forward into his perfect face.
"Don't ever fucking touch me again," she seethed, as he grabbed his cheek in shock.
"I can't belive you fucking hit me," he gaped, anger slowly creeping into his expression.
"Well belive it, 'babe'," she hissed.
Suddenly his blue eyes flashed black, and even more sudden Tyler was between them, pushing Reid away.
"Reid, hands to yourself, man," Tyler said, giving him a final nudge.
"She hit me, " The blonde said again. Ella guessed this wasn't a common occurance for him.
"With good reason!" she exclaimed, hand on her hip in a pose her sister would be proud of.
"Your lucky a guy like me even looked twice at a girl like you," he growled, crossing his arms across his chest.
Ella gaped. "Fuck you. I've barely been in Ipswich for a few hours and I'm already to move right back out," That was a lie. A huge lie. She would never wish she return to Boston.
"That's enough, look I won't be able to get your car fixed today, but if you give me your number I'll phone you sometime during the week to arrange something," Tyler said pulling out a sleek silver blackberry.
"I don't know if I can trust that, I want your number too incase you don't pay up," she said, pulling out her iPhone. She had work long and hard shifts at Mcdonalds back in Boston to be able to afford her precious iPhone.
"Make's sense. You can never be to careful these days," he said, passing her his backberry in turn for her phone.
She added her name and number, skipping the rest of the required information, and saved. She passed the phone back to Tyler, and tucked her own inside her pocket.
"Well I guess that's that, then," she said, moving to get back into the car.
"Wait, weren't you going inside?" Tyler asked, nodding at the door.
She shook her head. "Yeah, but now I kind of just want to get home," she said, climbing in the car, and pulling away without another word.
The drive homewas nerve racking. She knew Jessica would be furious. She pulled up to the new house, and gathered the bags from the store.
She entered the house quickly and shut the door. "Did you get everything?" Jessica called from the kitchen.
"Uh yeah, about that.." Ella mumbled, placing the bag on the sofa, the only part of the living room unoccupied by boxes.
"What happened, Ella?" her sister's voice turned suddenly stern as she entered the living room.
"Before you get mad, hear me out !" she said, holding up her hands in a 'wait' motion. "I was pulling into the parking lot of that pub you sent me to, I was about to pull into a space when a guy in a hummer cut me off, and because of the snow I had next to no traction, so the breaks didn't really work...and, yeah..." she finnished, glancing at Jessica, gauging her reaction.
Jessica's face softend momentarily. "Are you okay?" she asked, putting her hands on Ella's shoulders.
"Yeah, my neck's a little sore, but I'm good," she said, shaking her sisters hands off.
"And the car?"
"It's banged up, but I got the guys number, and he's going to pay for it," Ella said quickly, "His name is Tyler something," she added.
"I'm just glad your okay, El," Jessica said, wrapping her arms around her sister. "How banged up are we talking?"
"Uhh..does it really matter? At least the guy was courteous, and its going to get fixed,"Ella said with a shrug.
"Well I hope for your sake this guy comes through," Jessica said, narrowing her eyes and walking toward the kitchen area. "Lets go scrounge up something to eat, I see you didn't grab the food I ordered," she said.
Ella followed her sister in the kitchen wordlessly, and breathing easier now that she knew she wasn't in too much trouble.
After eating peanut butter and jelly sandwichs, a dinner of champions, Ella hurried down the hall to start unpacking her room.
It was only Friday night, and she hoped to be unpacked and settled by sunday. She started school at the ever prestigious Spencer Academy.
She wasn't exactly sure how Jessica manged to get her enrolled there, but she did. Pulled some major strings with friends in the district, was her guess.
She opened the door to her new bedroom, and smiled to herself. It was small, kind of, but much bigger than her bedroom at her parents house.
She started with her dresser, pulling her small wadrobe from the boxes and placing them in the drawers.
She realised, as she worked, she had less stuff than she had thought, and would be done way quicker than originally planned.
Jessica entered her room just before midnight, mug in hand. "Brought you some peppermint tea," she said, setting the mug on Ella's small bedside table. "It looks nice in here," she added, sitting on the bed.
"Thanks," Ella said, straightening the picture she had just hung on the wall. It was a picture of a lioness, her favorite animal. "Good tea," she said, taking a sip.
"Don't stay up too, late, or you'll be exhausted when we unpack the living room tomorrow," Jessica said, standing up again. "Night' Ella, sleep tight," she murmured, hugging her sister tightly. "Love you always,"
"Love you always," Ella repeated. It was a little saying their father had said to them when they were really little. Before he started hitting them.
Jessica left the room, closing the door behind her. Ella finnished her tea and changed into her pajama's.
With a content sigh she collapsed on her bed, falling asleep almost immidiatley.
So what did you think? Be brutally honest, please ! Reveiw !
As you read we delved into Ella's painful past a tad, and even met half of the sons of Ipswich.
Update will be soon !