"I love you, Ella," confessed the boy, his deep voice echoing in the silence of the locker room.
His brown eyes were piercing into the icy blue ones of the brunette standing before him. He took a step closer, while she stepped back, her back hitting against the lockers.
"I..." Her words were still in her mouth when he put his hands on the locker, cornering her.
"I've always liked you. You're different from other girls. Be my girlfriend," he whispered. His eyes showed nothing but forced innocence.
Ella could feel his breath hitting the skin of her face. Her heart was racing so fast that it could explode at any moment. He was standing way too close! Not giving in, she took a deep breath, gathered some strength and pushed him back with her hands, so there was a good distance between them.
"I… I'm sorry, Ethan. But I don't see you that way," she uttered, not meeting his gaze, her fists holding the hem of her skirt.
When he didn't say anything in return, she looked up at him to gauge his reaction. There was rage in his eyes. He was clearly furious. He ran a hand through his messy blond hair, probably in an attempt to calm himself down. The next moment, he grabbed Ella by her shoulders and harshly pushed her against the lockers. She winced in pain. It hurt.
"What's the problem? I'm good looking, popular, rich, have a luxury car. Any girl would die for that. Why not you?" he hissed at her face.
"A moment ago, you yourself said that… I'm different." Only after the words left her mouth, Ella realized that she'd actually said that.
The shock on Ethan's face was worth seeing, soon replaced by a cunning smirk. "That's why I want you to be mine, baby girl."
Ella silently swallowed, as his hands grabbed her waist and pulled her closer. He leaned in his face, closer and closer to her. She struggled against his iron grip, but his hold on her only tightened.
Her blue eyes were wide in horror. Their faces were only an inch apart, his lustful gaze fixed on her lips. He was about to kiss her without her consent, thinking that it'd make her melt?! Well, he couldn't be more wrong.
Ella couldn't come up with anything else and did the only thing that came to her mind. She broke his hold by smashing her knee between his legs. Ethan writhed in agony on the floor.
"I'm sorry, but I can't be yours," she said and sprinted out of the locker room.
Standing in the hallway were Ethan's two best friends, Alex and Leo, probably waiting for him. The three were popular in school for their good looks and wealth. They were the famous bad boy trio.
Ella's eyes briefly met a pair of green ones and her heart skipped a beat. She quickly lowered her gaze and walked away. As soon as she was out of their sight, she started running toward the spot where her best friend, Callie, was waiting for her.
She stopped only when she was standing in front of Callie, breathing heavily. Her mind was clouded. She was still trying to process what had just happened in the locker room.
"Ell? What's the matter?" her friend asked, worried at the look on her face.
"I.. he.. there." Ella tried to catch her breath.
"Relax. First calm down and then tell me clearly what exactly happened," Callie said, as she handed her a water bottle.
After Ella had calmed down, she explained the whole incident with Ethan to her friend.
"What? How dare he?" Callie fumed with anger. But it soon changed into concern, and she placed her hand over Ella's. "But Ell, he must be mad at you for rejecting him. I just hope that he doesn't do anything horrible to take his revenge. You know how he is." She frowned.
"Well, I tried to be as polite as possible. But it did affect his self-respect. He was really mad. But don't worry. He won't be able to do anything." Ella gave her an assuring smile, though a part of her knew that Ethan wasn't going to just let things go so easily.
These bad boys, their ego is a horrible thing. It is so easily wounded even with the tiniest prick of a needle, bringing out an overreaction to a situation. Handling rejection really isn't their cup of tea. They take it as an insult and as a challenge. And to regain control, they can go to extremes. Ella knew very well.
"I hope so." Callie heaved a sigh, as they made our way to the bus stop.
Meanwhile...
After Ella was gone, Ethan came out of the locker room, rage etched all over his face.
"Huh, did she really reject you?" Alex laughed at Ethan's expressions.
"Shut up!" the boy yelled aggressively. "I won't let her go so easily."
"Easy man. You've plenty of girls behind you," Leo said, patting Ethan's back.
"How dare she? How dare she!" Ethan clenched his fists, unable to digest the fact that he would ever hear 'no' from a girl, especially from a girl as demure as Ella was.
"She must be really courageous. I give her that," Alex commended, a smirk constantly on his lips.
"I doubt that," Leo added with a scoff. "She was on verge of tears when she passed by here."
"Whatever," Ethan growled, his furious eyes staring off into space, as if recalling the girl's face. "I'll take my revenge no matter what. Mark my words. She is going to pay for it."
…
…
The delicious aroma of food filled Ella's nostrils, as she entered her house, indicating that her mother was home early from office today, which was extremely rare. Usually she would come home after midnight, because she was doing an evening shift job in a company. She had to work to support them after Ella's father died in a traumatic car accident about seven years ago.
"I'm home!" Ella called out, locking the door behind her.
"Mom?" She went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Her mom wasn't there. As she guzzled down water, she took out a chocolate chip cookie from cookie jar and shoved it into her mouth. She was super hungry!
"Hi, sweetheart." Her mother entered the kitchen. "How was the day?" she asked, planting a kiss on Ella's temple, before she walked over to the stove to check on the dinner cooking inside a pot.
"Tiring," the girl responded after swallowing the cookie.
"Freshen up. I'll serve the dinner. It's almost done."
"Okay." Ella lazily walked upstairs to her bedroom. After taking a quick shower and changing into a fresh pair of comfortable clothes, she put her dark brown hair into a messy bun and went downstairs. Her mother served them dinner, and they started eating in comfortable silence. It wasn't everyday they had the chance to have food together at this table.
"So.." Her mother started, studying her carefully. "Did something interesting happen today? Something unusual?"
"What unusual?" Ella asked rather instantly, her eyes fixed on her food. This just raised her mother's suspicion even more.
"So something did happen." Her mother smirked.
Was it so clear on her face? That a boy proposed her today? And she rejected him? Ella wondered, feeling her mother's keenly waiting eyes on her. She need to put a stop to this conversation right here.
"No." Ella raised her head toward her mother.
"Nothing happened, seriously." She tried to sound as honest as possible.
"Are you sure?" Her mother arched her brow.
"Yes," Ella replied, looking directly into her eyes. This made her mother let out a long sigh.
"Well, missy, then do something. Your high school is going to end soon, and you haven't found yourself even one boyfriend yet. It's your age, young lady, when people fall in love and enjoy their youth. This time will pass before you know it. Have some fun, girl."
"There she goes again..." Ella mentally sighed. Her mother was always lecturing her about her boring life, that she should make more friends and go on hangouts. More importantly, that she should have a boyfriend now, it was spring time of her life, and all that stuff.
"Yeah I know…" she muttered and resumed eating her dinner, earning herself a concerned stare from her mother.
After dinner, Ella went to her room and dropped herself in her comfy bed. Their conversation at the dinner table was still in her mind.
She knew that her mother was only worried about her and her poor social life. It wasn't like no guy ever approached Ella, but the ones who ever did were all kind of ehh… like Ethan. But even if they were decent, she could never convince herself to go out with any of them. Maybe one of the many reasons was a tiny little fantasy that her stupid brain had made up.
To be honest, from the first day of their high-school, Ella had developed this big, unhealthy crush on one of the most popular bad boys of her grade… one of the boys from the famous bad boy trio, the one named Leo. He had straight, messy black hair and the most enticing green eyes.
She didn't know why she had always felt attracted toward him. There had been something different about him, something that set him apart from his other two friends.
There were a lot of girls always flirting with him. He used to flirt a lot too, but he hadn't had a single girlfriend during this whole time in high-school unlike his two friends. Alex and Ethan were one hell of play boys. Confessing to girls, using them, dumping them and then moving on to their next victim, that was what the two always did.
That's why Ella had rejected Ethan. She wasn't going to be trapped so easily like the other stupid girls who were captivated by their charming looks and couldn't see through their handsome faces.
But why did it have to be him?
A rebellious charming boy who had countless girls swooning over him. Why would he take interest in a girl like her? Even if the two had been in the same school for past six years, she didn't expect him to even know her name. They were in some classes together this year too, but she was guessing he probably had never noticed her, because she was that unconfident student on the middle bench who knew the answer but didn't say it out loud.
Why did it have to be him?
He rejected several confessions daily. It'd sometimes make her feel relaxed, but at the same time, it'd make her even more scared of him. He looked so unapproachable and so cold. Then again, she had never ever thought of confessing to him ever ever. She considered her crush her matter only and never considered taking it any further than this. It just never occurred to her.
Well, that was Ella with her thoughts, silently crushing on the bad boy who was tough, violent and feared.
She knew he was no good, but he was stuck in her mind.
But hey, you just can't help it. Right?