AU/AH. This story is rated m for future references. I do not own anything. I am just simply writing for fun. Enjoy.
Here is the full summery.
Elena is a girl who lives in Luxe (a luxury apartment building in L.A). Her dad works as a maintenance guy in the apartment block, where the block management provides them a small home. Elena is smart; she gets accepted into a private university with a scholarship and quickly starts becoming the center of attention for the most popular people there, including Damon, who is a rich and handsome playboy! Caught up in the luxury she has never had, Elena finds herself living a double life.
I Named her Elena
Chapter 1
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock-
"Elena!"
"Yes." She jumped up from the couch staring at her mother.
"Stop looking at the clock. Time won't pass faster if you glue your eyes to that device, my daughter." Isobel said giving her a pointed look. "Come." She gestured with her hand. "I'm going to apartment 6. Mrs. Bennett just called, she wants me up there. Come, you can help me carry the cleaning products."
Elena just nodded her head. She stood up and followed her mother out the door. Isobel collected her cleaning products. She grabbed the bucket while Elena grabbed the mop and dusting cloth. They headed up to apartment number 6. Isobel rang the door bell with Elena beside her and Mrs. Abby Bennett answered. "Good, you're here. Bonnie and I are heading off to the boutique and we'll be back by 3, o'clock. Isobel, please finish by then, I have guests tonight and I need my cook to proper the food."
"Yes, yes of course, Mrs. Bennett." Isobel nodded her head. Abby Bennett was the owner of a very fashionable boutique. She is married to Rudy Bennett, an architect. They have a teenage daughter by the name of Bonnie Bennett. She was only one year younger then Elena. Abby was always dressed elegantly. Today she had chosen to wear a light blue blouse on one shoulder with a pair of skinny jeans and a pair of black pumps. She had a naturally dark skin tone that made her look even more beautiful. From behind the woman, Bonnie stepped out with Sugar in her arms. "Hey, Elena."
"Hi, Bonnie." Elena said politely as she stood next to her mother.
'Mum, I'm going to meet, Katherine. I'll drop off Sugar at the boutique." Sugar was Bonnie's dog. She was a Chihuahua, almost identical to the one Paris Hilton had.
"Okay, Bonnie, don't forget to tell Katherine to send my greetings to Gloria."
"You can tell her yourself, mum, she'll be coming to the boutique this afternoon."
"Good." When Bonnie made her way to the elevator, Abby turned to Isobel. "Oh and, Isobel, in the bathroom there is a stain, please try and get rid of it."
Isobel nodded her head.
"Oh, one more thing. Please tell John not to ring the doorbell when he comes to collecting rubbish tonight."
"I will, don't worry, Mrs. Bennett." Isobel smiled politely.
The woman then turned to Elena and smiled. "It's nice to see you, Elena. Are you helping your mother?
Before Elena could answer Isobel butted in. "No, she only helped me carry the cleaning stuff up. My daughter doesn't clean."
"Oh, okay then." Abby smiled feeling a little uncomfortable for asking since she could see that Isobel wasn't happy with the question. "It was nice seeing you, Elena."Elena just smiled muttering. "You too, Mrs. Bennett."
"I'll be off now." She smiled at them before grabbing her coat and handbag. With that she headed out of the apartment while Isobel and Elena walked in.
As soon as Isobel walked in she turned around to close the door with a frustrated look. She placed the bucket down and grabbed the mop and cloth from Elena's hand. "Give me that!" She muttered as she grabbed the cloth. "Are you helping your mother clean? Who does she think she is! My daughter will never be a maid! No, no, no! Never!" Isobel stomped angrily as she made her way over to the bedroom. Elena followed after her into the bedroom.
"I'm sure she didn't mean anything bad, mother." Elena said as she tried to calm Isobel down. "But you know, this would go a lot faster if you let me help out. You'll be-"
"No, you will not lift a finger, my child! I will not let anyone put you down like that!"
"Mum, I'm sure she didn't mean anything bad. Besides I don't really care what she says."
"I care! Who does she think she is? Just because I clean her house doesn't mean she can talk to you like that! You are gold my child! You deserve the best!" She came up to Elena and brushed her hand against the young girl's cheek. "You will get into that school, you will finish and you will show everyone that you are worth gold." Elena only nodded her head. Isobel smiled proudly. "My, baby girl. As long as I'm still kicking you will not lift a finger, you hear me?" Elena smiled nodding her head.
"I know mum."
"Good, never think that they are any better then you, my child."
"I promise, I won't." She nodded her head.
She smiled at her before turned around and grabbed the cloth. "Go look around the apartment, cheek the closet room, maybe Bonnie bought some new cloths. You always love looking at her clothes." Elena smiled happy and skipped over to Bonnie's room.
Isobel felt like a knife was being stabbed into her chest. She loved her daughter so much and it hurt like hell when she couldn't give her everything that she deserved. Isobel was pregnant with the twins when she first arrived in Los Angeles. She was 7 months along when she first arrived to this big city. Back then her biggest wish was that her kids wouldn't grow up in that village. Mystic Falls was her home, but she hated the place. She never had freedom in that place. Her youth was passed in fear and pain. She was no one there, just a woman who had to first obey her father and then her husband. She wasn't allowed to express her opinion, women were undermined. Mothers taught their daughters to always keep their heads down and obey. She was forced into marriage by her own father. She didn't want that life for her daughter. She didn't want to raise her in a village. People were traditional and gossiped like on one else. She wanted her kids to grow up in a big city. She wanted them to have a better life. Isobel wanted all of their dreams to come true. When she first arrived to Los Angeles she was stunned by the city. It was like a dream come true for her. She knew then and there that Jeremy and Elena would have a better future here. When John bought her to Luxe for the first time, she was shocked to see such a beautiful building. John, her husband was offered a job in the luxurious apartment building as a doorman and janitor in exchange for living in a small two bedroom apartment on the ground floor. Isobel worked as a housekeeper for most of the residence in the building. At first she didn't mind working here, she did her job and at the end of the day she had enough money to buy food for her kids. But then Elena and Jeremy started growing up, and even thought they didn't say it out loud she could see on their faces that they felt misery. They both had dreams but their dreams were unreachable. Isobel stared at her wrinkled hands every night and prayed that her kid's dreams would come true one day.
"MOM!" Elena yelled as she ran into the bedroom a huge smile on her face.
"Wh-what?" Isobel jumped when she heard Elena scream for her.
"They are here!" she squealed.
"Who?"
"The Walters mum! I'm going down stairs to tell dad that they are here!" She explained as she ran through the apartment.
Isobel shook her head smiling. This entire summer Elena had spent waiting for this day to come. The Walter's family was back from vacation which meant that Elena was finally going to find out how she did on the test. Elena had managed to get a scholarship and her biggest wish was to get accepted to the best private college in Los Angeles. University of southern California was the best private university in the state. It was hard convincing John to let her enroll. He was against it. He had rules and he barely ever broke them. Back in Mystic Falls women were barely allowed to finish high school, most of them were married by the age of 16, Isobel was one of them. Her husband was good man, but traditional. And when it came to letting Elena enroll to a private university he had a grate dilemma but at the end he gave in. Isobel could never forget the days she watched Elena study day and night when she was preparing for the test. She barely slept and only had one meal a day. She knew why Elena wanted this, even if her daughter had never told her directly she knew what she wanted. She wanted a better life, she wanted to have a house like Charlotte had and who could blame her? Just because she was born in a poor family didn't mean she had to die poor. She was going to work hard and achieve to get everything that she has ever dreamed of.
"Father, they're here! The Walters are here!" Elena ran through the door.
John was sitting on the sofa resting, Jeremy beside him. Jeremy rolled his eyes at his sister before saying. "Yuppie, your rich snobby friend is here."
"Shut up!" Elena snapped at him.
"Enough both of you." John said standing up. He turned to Elena and asked. "Have they already arrived?"
"I saw through the window in apartment 6 the car pulling up." Elena squealed.
"What were you doing in apartment 6?" Jeremy asked.
"I was with mum."
"I should go and bring their luggage up stairs." John said standing up.
"I'll help!" Elena followed after him.
John made his way over to the door before turning around to his son. "Come on, you should greet them."
"What?" Jeremy asked with a shocked and frustrated facial expression. "No way!"
"Jeremy!" John warned. "Do not be disrespectful. They are our neighbors. They should be greeted."
"Oh come on dad, they think we are trash!"
"Jeremy!" John gave him a hard facial expression and the young man stood up immediately. "No matter what think of us, we will be kind and polite to them."
Not wanting to make his father angry Jeremy stood up and walked outside with them to greet the Walter's family that was coming home from their summer vacation. As soon as they made their way to the front of the building Elena ran up to Charlotte. "Charlotte, welcome back!" She kissed her on the cheek.
"Thanks, Elena." The girl answered politely but Elena could tell that she wasn't in a good mood. Next to her was Meredith dressed in the latest fashion. She was wearing a white tuck in blouse with a black skirt that was sticking to her thighs. She had a pair of black stilettos that were at least 15 cm high. Her hair curled and her makeup perfect. As soon as Elena saw the woman she greeted her. "Welcome back, Mrs. Fell." She made a move to kiss her but Meredith placed her hands up in the air.
"Thank you honey but, no, I'm a little sick. I don't want you to get it from me."
"Oh, okay." Elena nodded a little embarrassed as she pulled back.
"Welcome back, Mrs. Fell." John greeted politely.
"Thank you, John. Can you please carry the bags up to the apartment?"
"Of course, Mrs. Fell."
"Thank you." She said to John before slamming the car door and turning to Charlotte. "Come on Charlotte, let's head inside."
"No, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me when dad's coming back!" Charlotte said angrily.
Meredith took in a sharp breath before saying. "Don't cause a scene. Your father will be here soon."
"When soon?"
"He has a business trip right now. He'll be back in a couple of days." She explained giving her a pointed look. "Now come on, you need to check your exam results."
Elena could tell that Charlotte was upset as soon as she arrived. It was probably because her father was working so much that he barely had time for her. "I'm coming." She said rolling her eyes as she dragged her feet.
"Hey, Charlotte do you need any help unpacking?" Elena called after them.
"Yes, Elena. She has a whole new wardrobe. Do you mind doing it for her?" Meredith said before Charlotte had a chance to answer.
"No, of course not. I can do it." Elena said with a huge grin.
"Grate, maybe then you can unpack mine?" She offered.
Elena nodded her head happily. She loved clothes and Meredith had great taste. Even though she was well aware that she might never get the chance to live a life of luxury but when she was given a chance to participate in helping someone simply unpack she would pretend that it was her life, her clothes and her house.
"He was half the trip with us. The rest was all about work. I barely even get to see him and I was looking forward to spending time with him this summer."
"I'm sure he'll be back soon."
"I hope so, because I can't stand her, Elena!" Charlotte said as she fell back onto her bed. Charlotte really hated her step mother Meredith. The more Meredith tried to act like her mother, the more Charlotte pushed her away.
The bedroom door swung open and Meredith walked in. She smiled at the girl's before handing Elena a small plastic box. "Here Elena, this is for you."
Elena took the gift from her smiling as she said. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Fell."
Meredith only nodded her head before walking over to the wardrobe and opening it. "Charlotte, you need to throughout all of this. You don't have room for your new clothes. She grabbed all of the hangers with the clothes on them and through them on the bed. "Elena, I'll get you a garbage bag for this stuff, you can start unpacking her suitcase."
Elena stared at the craft bracelet before looking up and nodding. She stood up immediately ready to start unpacking. Meredith headed out the room and Charlotte grabbed Elena's hand before she could make a move to open the suitcase. "Wait. Don't throw anything out. The stuff she bought I'm never going to wear. It's not my style so don't throw any of this stuff out okay?"
"Okay." She nodded. Elena knew that Charlotte had completely different taste in clothes compared to Meredith. Unlike Charlotte, Elena loved the way Meredith dressed. She always looked elegant and pretty.
Meredith came back into the room with a big black garbage bag in her hand. "Here." She handed it to Elena.
Elena took it from her and turned to Charlotte. She waited for Meredith to leave the room before asking. "Okay so where are we going to put the stuff she bought you."
"In that bag." She pointed before sitting up. "Just empty out the suit case into that bag."
Elena stared at her before asking. "Your seriously not going to just through this all out, are you?"
"What else am I supposed to do with it?" She rolled her eyes at Elena before saying. "Just do what I told you." Elena nodded her head and made a move towards her suit case.
"Elena." Charlotte called out. "You know if you like any of that stuff, or all of it, you can have it."
"Really?" Elena's doe eyes widened.
Charlotte nodded her head. "Really. It's not like I'm going to need it anyway."
She didn't take her time looking through the stuff, she just shoved everything into the black bag with a huge smile on her face. She couldn't believe this was happening. Honestly she had expected Charlotte to give her the old clothes, but this…it was a dream come true.
When she was done, she placed all of Charlotte's old clothes back into her wardrobe. Walking over to where Charlotte was sitting on the bed a browsing the internet Elena asked. "What are you doing?"
The girl smiled as she answered. "Learning about my prince of the night."
"Prince of the night?" Elena raised her eyebrow.
Charlotte rolled her eyes before answering."It's pointless explaining it to you, Elena, because you don't know who he is. Cliff notes version, he's every girls dream. He's perfect in every way, he only has one fault…he's a playboy." She smirked at Elena biting her lower lip.
Elena nodded her head and smiled. Growing up she always wondered what it would be like to date. What it was like to have a boyfriend? She wanted to know what it would be like to fall in love. She knew that she wasn't allowed to date. It would be a disgrace to her family. Her father had told her a long time ago that when the right time comes he would find her a nice man to marry. The thing is she didn't want her father to find her someone to marry. She wanted to choose her own husband. She wanted to have that chose. Anyway, if she had any chance of picking her own husband and life she needed to get into that university. The entire day she had been waiting to find if her dream was going to come true or not. She hesitated at first before asking. "Um…Charlotte, can you please check my exam results."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." Charlotte smiled rolling her eyes. "Let's see." She said before starting to type something on the computer. Elena waited beside her impatiently.
"Oh my god!" Charlotte creamed staring at the screen with shocked eyes.
"What is it? I didn't get?" Elena asked panicked.
"No, no! You…you got in!" Charlotte jumped up from the bed and hugged her. Elena felt like a ton of brisk was lifted off of her shoulders. This was what she had waited the entire summer to find out. It was happening. She had got accepted to her dream university.
The bedroom door opened and Meredith walked in. "What's all the fussing about, girl's?" She asked raising her eyebrow.
"Elena, got into USC!" Charlotte declared. "And with an excellent grade might I add. She had 98 points."
"Can graduations, Elena." Meredith smiled.
"Thank you." Elena smiled politely proud of herself.
Meredith turned to Charlotte and asked. "How did you do?"
"I haven't checked my results yet."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Meredith pushed.
Charlotte searched through the list until she can across her name. She stared at the computer screen. She started to breath heavily. Meredith came closer as she asked. "What does it say?"
The young girl became white and her breathing increased as she answered. "I…I didn't get in."
"WHAT?" Meredith yelled.
"I…I don't know how this happened!" Charlotte said as she grabbed her face in her hands.
Meredith took a deep breath before turning to Elena. "Elena, you might want to go and tell your parents the good news." Elena knew that that was code for get out. She nodded and quickly stood up. As she made her way over to the bedroom door Meredith added. "Oh and can you please take this bag of clothes down to the trash."
"Sure." Elena nodded grabbing the bag of clothes that Charlotte had given her. She made her way out of the room and closed the door. She dragged the bag behind her almost to the front door when she heard Meredith's voice.
"YOU DIDN'T GET IN! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU CHARLOTTE?"
"I…I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED!"
"OH MY GOD! WE ARRANGED YOU A PRIVATE TUTOR AND STILL YOU COULDN'T PASS! HOW HARD CAN IT BE? HUH?"
"I THOUGHT I DID GOOD! I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED!"
"WELL YOU DIDN'T DO GOOD! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CHARLOTTE, YOU DIDN'T EVEN GET 51 PERCENT! THE DOOR MAN'S DAUGHTER GOT IN! SHE GOT IN! WHO IS SHE TO GET IN AND NOT YOU! SHE'S A NOBODY AND YOU ARE BRIAN WALTERS DAUGHTER!"
The words were echoing in her head. THE DORMAN'S DAUGHTER! SHE'S A NOBODY! Elena felt tears in her eyes. A burning pain in her chest kept spreading as Meredith continued to talk. She whimpered placing her right hand over her mouth while pulling the garbage bag behind her. She ran down the stairs sobbing. As she entered the apartment she immediately ran to her room. Luckily here father or Jeremy weren't there otherwise she would have had to explain why she was crying. She threw the bag in the corner of the room and stood in front of her old mirror, the one she had gotten from Mrs. Victoria when she was redecorating. She could barely see her own face on it. It was cracked through the middle and it had small scratches all over it and smudges that wouldn't come off no matter how many times she tried cleaning it.
Sometimes it was unbearable living a life amongst these people. She just didn't fit in. Everybody knew who she was? Everybody knew that she was the daughter of the doorman. There was no room for a new start. People judged and there was no way around it. She ran her hands over her face as tears streamed down her cheeks. The bedroom door cracked open and Isobel ran in.
"Child, what's wrong? What is it my baby?" She asked as she whipped the tears from her daughter's cheeks. Elena didn't say a single word, she couldn't, she just continued to sob.
"Elena? Child, talk to me?" Isobel insisted as she took both of her hands.
"I…I…I am just Elena! I am not the doorman's daughter!" She cried out, her doe eyes full of pain and tears.
"Oh my child." Isobel said as she took her into a hug. She knew what this was all about. This has happened before. Living amongst the rich was difficult. They greet you politely and as soon as they turn their backs they think to themselves that you're nothing but waist of space. She hated knowing that her baby girl was going through that. She had tried to keep her daughters spirits up because she could see in her eyes how much she wanted to be like them. How much she wanted to have what they had. "Tell me what did she do now?"
Elena shook her head whimpering. "Nothing."
Isobel patted her back placing soft kisses on top of her head. "Remember what we talked about, Elena. You are worth gold child."
"Then why do I feel like I'm no better than a dirty piece of rock!"
Isobel shook her head. "No, no baby. You are Elena. Light, remember?"
She pulled away from her mother and sat down on her small couch. "None of that matters mum! I'm never going to gain their respect!"
"You don't have to gain their respect; you just need to follow your dream, my darling."
"I don't want to follow a dream that will never come true!" She cried.
"Dream's can't come true if you never dream about them." She came next to her and took a seat. "Come on baby, don't cry anymore. I don't want to have to lie to your father." She whipped the tears from her cheek with her fingers. "Come on, your father will be home soon and so will be Jeremy."
Elena nodded her head closing her eyes as she tried calming down. She was so happy when she found out that she was accepted at USC. It was all she had dream of, but this…this was like a someone was injecting venom into her heart.
"Elena, no more crying. Your father will be here soon and so will Jeremy, I don't want to lie to them again. Go wash your face and come help me proper for dinner." Elena took a deep breath and nodded her head before standing up.
Dinner was as usual quiet. Elena kept her head down as she picked her food. She didn't feel like eating, all she wanted to do was go to her room and sleep. She hated the suspicious look Jeremy kept giving her. He knew something was up and he was dying to find out.
"Elena, my daughter, have you checked the test results?" John asked.
"Yes, I got in."
John smiled. "Why didn't you tell us earlier? That's wonderful news!"
"Yeah, it's wonderful alright. Now she can become like our neighbors." Jeremy added.
"Jeremy!" John scolded. He turned back to his daughter and asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I…I was just distracted."
"You seem to be very distracted, is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She pretended to smile. Isobel looked from John to her daughter. "She's just excited." Isobel added.
"Did you know about this?" John asked his wife.
"Well…ummm….she mentioned it today."
Elena and Isobel watched as John nodded his head and knitted his eyebrows. "So now we are keeping secrets."
"No of course not. It just slipped my mind, John. I really had a lot of work today at the Walters apartment."
He nodded at his wife before standing up. "I should go and collect the rubbish."
"John, Mrs. Bennett told me to tell you not to ring the door bell, she has guests." Isobel explained and John nodded his head moving towards the coat hanger and taking his coat. He placed on his shoes before heading out.
At the table was left Elena, Jeremy and Isobel. Elena took a few more bites before standing up and taking her plate to the sink. She came back to the table as she said to her mother. "I'm going to my room."
Isobel nodded her head giving her a green light. Jeremy watched from his mother to his sister before saying. "I'm going out."
"Where?"
"For a walk."
"At this hour?"
"I'm not five, mum."
Isobel shook her head at before standing up. "Don't stay to long." He didn't say a word, he just stood up grabbed his jacket and headed out.
"Unbelievable." Isobel shook her head as she took Jeremy's, John's and her own plate to the sink. Knowing that she wouldn't get another chance to talk to her daughter privately she quickly walked over to Elena's room.
Elena heard the door open before her mother walked in. She was tucked in under the covers in the dark. Isobel turned on the light and closed the door. She came up to her baby girl and patted the top of her head. "Why didn't you tell me?"
At first she didn't answer, she honestly didn't know what to tell her mother. All of the emotions ran to the surface when she heard Meredith's words. It was like a needle that was pricking her heart. "I had achieved my goal but I still felt empty inside when I heard what she really thought about us."
"Oh, my baby girl." Isobel patted her head as her own heart wanted to break at the sight of her. "You are who you are, Elena. You are worth gold my baby and no matter what she says you know what you have to do."
She nodded her head trying to convince herself that this was all she needed. Isobel leaned down and placed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Sleep, my darling, tomorrow is a new day. And just remember that in a week you'll be starting university. Now sleep, my child." She placed one more kiss on top of her head before standing up and exiting the room.
As soon as Isobel walked out she felt her heart squeeze in her chest. The pain was sometimes unbearable and sometimes she would sit down and think about the life decision she made all those years ago. She was trying to escape her own destiny and build a new future for her kids but watching them suffer in this community made her rethink every decision she made up until now. Was it worth it was the biggest question she had.
Elena wasn't this unhappy always. Isobel had a friend who was the kind of woman worthy to be called human. Mrs. Victoria Walters was such a kind woman. She was the mother of Elena's close friend Charlotte. As kids the girls played together most of the time. Every time Isobel went to clean the Walter's apartment, she would bring Elena along so that she could play with Charlotte. Victoria was a kind woman. She would always collect clothes, toys and stuff that was still in good condition and give it to Isobel so that she could give it to Elena. Most of the clothes was very good quality and barely worn by Charlotte, so Isobel never had to worry about spending a penny on Elena. The girl had practically grown up in Charlotte's old clothes. Isobel was always grateful to the woman. Victoria had a good heart. Unfortunately she died from cancer 8 years ago. It was heartbreaking and her daughter was left with only a father. Isobel did everything she could to help her out but it was thought. No one could replace her mother. Charlotte had a hard time getting over her mother's death and as soon as she did, her father remarried which caused more problems. Mrs. Meredith Fell was a polite woman but also very proud. When she walks passed Isobel she barely manages to say a simple hello. She was the type of woman who chose friends based on popularity and wealth. Isobel didn't give it rats ass about the what the woman thought about them, all she cared about was Elena and Charlotte's friendship. The girls were inseparable as kids; she didn't want that to change now.
First of all I want to make one this clear about this story. I am rewriting a Turkish series that I have watched recently. I'm only changed the names of the characters. I do not own anything as I said I am writing this for fun. Please enjoy and review so I know that you want me to continue.
Love RedRose1864