FIFTEEN

Waking up to the bright sun that shone through my blinds, I yawned aloud and tried to stretch out my crushed limbs. I tried to anyway.

I needed to go to the hospital to check out my ribs and arms, but how could I explain to them what had happened?

I couldn't just say, "Oh yeah, these guys who have been trying to find me for ages decided to murder my dad and beat me up." Like that would go down well. They would get the police involved, which would make everything so much worse.

Mr Redford really would kill me at school. I wondered what would be the best place to hide a body in school. Was it the canteen's fridge? Was it a hole in a wall behind an achievement's cabinet? You know, the cabinet where they put all of the trophies that they had won over the years.

I hobbled over to the shower and turned on the steaming hot water. I had missed hot showers. Especially, standing under it and relishing the warm feel of the water as it hitted my back. It was the best feeling in the world. Nothing could beat a good old hot steaming shower.

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I glimpsed at the text book with my glasses propped against my narrow nose as everyone around me chatted and conversed about the wonderful trip to the forests. Every classmate of mine was gushing about the trip, whilst I was stuck reading this gigantic text book on "How to write a good diary entry." And my 'favourite' "What's key to Travel Writing."

Mason wasn't even here to endure the pain with me. I hadn't seen him since the incident with Mr Redford. In fact, I hadn't seen Mr Redford either, which had me jumping for joy inside. This must have meant Redford had gone. I was hoping it meant for good, but I couldn't get my hopes up. After all, they still wanted money from me.

"Hey, Leia. Did you hear about what we saw on our trip?" A person beside me asked excitedly.

"Oh, no," I coughed, shifting my glasses back up my nose a little. "I kind of don't want to hear about the trip. It makes me sad that I didn't go."

The person blinked a few times and turned around to the person behind them, ignoring me completely after. That was why I had no friends. I wasn't very good at communicating with other life forms.

After what felt like a decade, the bell rang for lunchtime, bringing relief to me. I hated how everyone got to speak about their trip whilst the unfortunate ones had to sit and read a gigantic text book. It wasn't fair. What would happen next time if there was a trip? I had no guardian anymore. The school didn't know that only the people that killed him did.

What was I going to do? I couldn't exactly live without him because otherwise I would need to pay bills and deal with 'adult' stuff.

Then suddenly a thought sprang to my mind. I needed to get a job. It couldn't be full-time, but part-time could work out even though I would have to sacrifice my resting days. God, when did my life turn into such a mess? When that guy decided to ruin your life by killing your mother and your father.

"Yes, thank you subconscience," I muttered to myself.

"HEY!"

I jumped at the loud sound, which made the person burst into a fit of giggles. I spun around to see a very exhausted Sara on the floor, clutching her stomach.

"You s-should have seen the w-way you reacted," Sara gasped for breath, pointing at my very annoyed face.

"Wow," I deadpanned. "I forgot to laugh. Sorry."

"It's a-alright," she chuckled, still giggling like a maniac.

"Sara! What are you doing on the floor?" A baffled Ashley asked as she glared at her best friend on the dirty hallway floor.

"A-Ashley, you should have seen how Leia reacted when I m-made her jump two feet in the air," Sara managed to make out through her uncontrollable laughter.

"Sara, I'm not sure I jumped two feet in the air-"

I cut myself off as I saw the familiar brown floppy hair, that I hadn't seen in ages, appear around the corner. I smacked my hand around Sara's mouth as she began chattering again.

"Who's that?" Ashley, not so quitely, whispered.

"An incredibly annoying boy I know."

I watched as a piece of hair fell into his eyes. It fell as gracefully as a ballet dancer doing the plie. To my embarrassment, Mason turned his head towards my direction and grinned like he knew I was checking him out. Wonderful. Excellent. Spiffing.

Smiling back, I waved at him to make myself less creepy. And like luck was my enemy, Mason started to make his way over to us.

"Hey ladies," he greeted charmingly, winking at me.

"Hello, who are you?" Sara greeted back as she peered at him with suspicion in her coffee eyes.

"Mason Daniels," he grinned cheekily.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure, Mr Daniels?" I glared, gritting my teeth in irritation.

"You know, just visiting my best friend," he replied.

"I don't."

"Aw c'mon, Owens. I haven't seen you in ages," he pouted, staring at me with his wide forest eyes.

"Exactly, where've you been, Daniels?" I grumbled. I didn't even know why I was annoyed at him. I just was.

"Look, I was helping my dad out with his business, ok. No need to rip me to shreds," he answered in a calming turn, whilst he stared into my eyes.

"Your dad has a business?" I spoke in awe. "What for?"

"Oh you won't know it," he smiled.

"What are you trying to say? That I don't have a clue about business, is that it?" I exclaimed in outrage.

"No. Anyway, why so many questions?" He asked defensively.

"I don't know. Just curious I guess," I smiled briefly before my tummy began rumbling. "Let's go get lunch!"

Sara had managed to get off of the floor and even managed to speak out, "Last one to the canteen is a rotten egg."

Ashley gasped in horror, "Seriously, you're making us do exercise! You know I hate running."

With that, Ashley started running after her.

Mason, being Mason, winked at me before sprinting off down the hallway.

I guess I was a rotten egg then.

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Being in England had its perks and non-perks. Perks being free healthcare and non-perks being that it almost rained every flipping day. You would think us English people loved the rain or just got used to it, but no.

Unfortunately, we still have lives. That included, walking home after a long, tiring day of school when car was broken down and said car couldn't be driven to school.

Grumbling under my breath in the pouring rain, I rolled up my soggy sleeves. Soggy sleeves were just the worst. It stank of wet dog, which surprisingly wasn't my thing. Sorry dog lovers.

"Why didn't you just bring a handy coat along, Leia?" I whispered to myself as I threw my soaked hair back. "Preferably an anorak."

I began to cross the road when a loud beeping sound stopped me.

"What are you doing!?" A husky voice yelled from the car's window.

"Um crossing the road?" I replied with confusion laced in the tone.

"Leia?" The guy with the attractive voice said. Wait, he said my name?

Looking at the guy full on, I blinked to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

"Leia, where's your crap car?" Mason wondered, waving me over to him.

I sighed sadly when I thought about my second-handed car. It was stuffed in the back of my garage untouched.

"Leia?" He repeated, snapping his fingers at me which brought me out of my upsetting thoughts.

"It broke on me," I huffed out a breath, hugging my arms due to the cold wind that bashed against them.

"C'mon, I'll give you a ride home," he offered, opening the passenger seat's door.

I climbed in and slammed the door after thanking him. Instantly, my wet hands went to the heater to dry off. His car was very warm and toasty. It reminded me of sitting around a camp fire it was that warm.

"So, where do you live?" He asked driving forward a little.

Giving him my address, I proceeded to adjust my seat to get comfortable. For once, he was extra quiet and that worried me.

With a clench of his sharp jaw, Mason accelerated a bit faster.

"You okay?" I asked, watching as the vein in the side of his head began popping out.

He nodded firmly without making eye contact with me. It hurt, but I ignored the pang of pain because it was stupid.

It was silent the entire ride home.

Mason turned into my drive way and opened the door quickly. Too quickly. What did I do wrong?

"Mason?" I called out, ending the torturous silence.

I got no response so I grabbed onto the dash board to help myself out. Taking a few steps forward, I felt my arm get grabbed tightly, causing me to wince in pain.

Spinning around, my eyes widened in fear as I saw Mason stare at the dark bruises along my arm.

"Who did this?" He growled out angrily. "Tell me!"

"No-one, let go!" I flinched away.

Mason's eyes were flickering between anger and absolute rage. He looked like an angry bull, waiting to charge at any one who got in its way.

"You're lying to me," he yelled. "Tell me. I know something's wrong and seeing these bruises just proves it."

Thinking of these past few distressing weeks brought a betraying tear to my eye. It dripped down my cold flushed cheek, which definitely didn't go unnoticed by Mason. The tear showed weakness and I certainly didn't like it.

Immediately, Mason got out of the car and enveloped me in a comforting hug that I needed. The hug protected me from the wind and the light pitter patter of rain.

"Please don't be scared to tell me anything that's causing you stress," he breathed out, cupping my face with his gentle, calloused hand.

Savouring his delightful touch, I leaned into him even more.

"Why do you care?" I whispered out.

"I worry about you and I have no clue why," he explained honestly which did make my heart sink a little.

He soon noticed my crestfallen face and quickly added on, "But you give me a nice feeling, that's all I can say."

Happy and overjoyed, I snuggled into him with a huge grin on my face. I didn't know why that made me feel so happy, but all I knew was that that boy gave me hope and gave me security that I hadn't felt in a long time.

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How do you like that end scene with Mason and Leia there? I hope I get better at writing cute scenes because I felt like that one wasn't different to the other romance books. You may feel different, which would make me extremely happy. I can't believe that this was 1833 words. And I was counting the actual story not including this a/n.

Remember to VOTE and don't be shy to COMMENT. I will see you soon my lovelies <3

Gem Gems