51. Ella
51
***Ella***
I kept my head lowered as I walked away from my last class of the day. What I’d learned about the college campus since things went to hell with the guys was that everyone on it really, really supported the football team. I felt like I was in middle school again with a bunch of kids whose biggest goal in life was to make me cry. Thankfully, spending three years of my adolescents with Vaughn had toughened me up. I cried a lot but it wasn’t going to be over a bunch of people I didn’t know hating me. Much, anyway.
I still had Natalie on my side. And Chris. Even though Natalie was still refusing to acknowledge that she liked him, he refused to go away. I was thankful. A few times I’d been heckled, Chris was there to call it off. Other times, it was Natalie going rabid on whoever happened to make a nasty comment at me. When I was alone, I did exactly what I was then. I walked with my head down and moved fast. It was harder to catch a moving target.
My apartment was calling to me and all I wanted to do was curl up in my bed and count the days until I could transfer back to Penn. I had to work that night, though. I’d taken on more shifts at the coffee shop to cover the costs of everything I still needed to replace. Paul covered a lot of things, like my books and a new laptop. Mom covered clothes and toiletries. It was the stuff I didn’t even realize I needed until I went to grab it that I was left to replace. Then there was the search for a new Connie. I didn’t want anyone to know how devastated I was over a stuffed animal so I’d tried to play Connie’s loss off as just another frustrating thing that’d happened. In secret, I’d found an exact match to Connie online but the seller was asking a ridiculous price since Connie had been some special edition toy.
I didn’t even know why I was trying so hard to replace Connie when the new Connie wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t have the same smells, the same thin spot in the middle where I squeezed it. Not having anything left me feeling so at odds, though. I’d found myself waking up in the middle of the night, trying to find Connie.
Mom had gone back home that morning and Paul had left shortly after Mom arrived so I was officially without parents again. It seemed silly but being so hurt had made me feel like a kid again, like I wasn’t sure I was okay on my own.
Lost in thought, I didn’t notice two guys walk past me and then turn around to follow me. At least, not at first. Until they decided to make their presence known. Unfortunately, by that time, we were away from the quad and I’d let my guard down since there were fewer people around. My shoulders were just finally starting to sink down from where they’d been up around my ears when the two of them fell into step on either side of me.
“Well, hello there, Ella Daughton.”
I hadn’t seen them coming so I flinched and tried to step away from him, just to bump into the other one. I glanced nervously from one to the other and started to walk faster. I didn’t know either of them and I could tell by their jeering smirks that they weren’t there to be kind to me.
“What? Feeling shy?” The one to my left casually put his arm over my shoulders. When I shrugged it off, he laughed. “Aw, come on, Ella. Don’t be that way. We’re just here to be your friends. You need a friend right now, don’t you?”
I shook my head and walked even faster. My heart was hammering away, fear tingling all along my spine. “Just leave me alone.”
The one on my right caught my wrist and pulled me to a stop. “Look, we know the kind of kinky shit you’re into. We’re not family, but we can role play, babe. I’ll be your stepbrother and Eric can be your step daddy.”
I yanked my hand away and glared up at him. “Fuck you.”
“Yeah, that’s the plan, honey.” Eric grabbed my waist and brushed against my ass. “We know you’re a freak. We just want to see it in action. Let me and Brian have a viewing party, huh?”
“Don’t touch me!” I screamed at them and backed away. “What the hell is wrong with you? Leave me alone!”
“Don’t be a bitch, Ella. We just want some of what you were giving your stepbrother. Just a sample, even.” Brian leered at me and grabbed himself through his pants. “I’d be happy with that dirty mouth.”
One second they were in front of me, the next they weren’t. I blinked and screamed as something large flew across my vision. Stumbling backwards, I watched in with the slow realization that the fast moving blur had been Booth. He was on top of both Eric and Brian, pummeling them with his huge fists.
When one of them got a punch in, Booth growled like an animal and went at them even harder. Fisher ran up to the mess and jumped right in, landing an elbow in someone’s side like he thought he was a professional wrestler. I would’ve laughed if the circumstances weren’t what they were.
I turned to look for help to break up the fight and ran straight into Vaughn. He caught me in his arms and looked me over before glancing behind me at the fight still going strong on the ground. I heard someone shout that campus security was coming and Vaughn winced. I could tell he wanted to get his friends away from trouble and I used it to my advantage.
He held up a finger to me. “Wait right here. Don’t move, Ella Rae.”
As soon as he slipped around me to grab Fisher and Booth I ran. I didn’t stop running until I was at my car and I only felt like I could breathe again when I’d been at work for nearly an hour. I’d gone through that whole first hour like a zombie as I replayed the whole thing in my head. I felt violated and dirty. I was glad those two assholes had taken a beating. I just felt wrong that Booth, Fisher, and Vaughn had come to my rescue. They caused the problems. They couldn’t be the problem and the solution. They just couldn’t.
The next day I saw Eric on campus. With two black eyes and tape across his nose, he looked like someone Booth had taken out with a flying tackle. He glanced up, spotted me, and nearly tripped over himself as he raced to go the other way. I noticed more of the same the rest of the day. I didn’t hear any mean comments and I was left alone, even if I was still stared at like a science experiment.
When I had lunch with Natalie off campus, I found out why everyone had backed off. She was eager to share the gossip with me even though we’d instituted a no talking about the guys rule.
“After they beat the shit out of those guys, they did this whole Braveheart thing and announced to the quad that anyone caught harassing you would meet the same fate. It was epic, apparently. I know they’re assholes and we still hate them, but that softens the hate a bit. Right?”
My face burned red with embarrassment as I thought of the spectacle they’d probably created. I didn’t care that what they’d done had seemingly helped. It wouldn’t always. Then people would have even more evidence to use against me somehow. And sure, the guys were taking up for me in that moment. But what about the next? What happened when they decided they hated me again?
“I don’t hate them. I just don’t want anything to do with them.” I could see she had more to say but I just shook my head. “I don’t want to hear anything else about them, Nat. Please.”
She sighed but she nodded. “Sure, Ella.”