**4 Days before Confessing**

"Has everyone packed their bags?" our teacher announces and we all chorus a loud yes.

I can't help the excitement coursing through my veins that's making me all 'sugar rushed'. I've tried my best to contain it but you can't blame me since this is the first time I'm going to leave this island.

I live on an island in the middle of somewhere that gives off this laid back vibe, well to call it an island would make it seem small when in truth it is as large as an average country and as rich as a world power country.

Danzel Island, which is the name of the island is completely independent and doesn't answer to any authority but that of those in power on the island and hence most people hardly leave the island and when they do there're sometimes a fifty percent probability that they don't come back because well who wouldn't get tired of living on an island.

We get a lot of tourists and some people even move here to live permanently and I honestly don't know why because I know that I'd sell my kidneys to afford a plane ticket out of here and into what I like to call the real world which is millions of miles away from here.

Danzel Island is extremely rich and hence, to be known as poor means you have only a million dollars in assets and all and I fall under that poor category because I have only up to ten million.

I heard from a tourist that if I leave the island I'd be considered as stinking rich, just that piece of information has made my goal and dream of leaving Danzel Island even bigger and now that our school has organized a school trip to Mexico I can finally get to see what the real world looks like so my excitement can definitely be justified.

"Alright everyone load up" Our teacher announces and we all do as we're told and drag our bags with us into our various buses.

I struggle past the mass of bodies on the coaster bus and finally a find a spot for my bags and sigh in relief when the bus lurches forward and I miss my footing and land on someone's lap.

I instinctively grab the headrest at the back of the persons head to steady myself and ensure that I don't fall further backwards and maybe even end up on the floor or worse in an embarrassing position.

The bus steadies immediately and the person pushes me off roughly and I land on all fours like a dog and my face scrunches up and I already have a few choice words in store.

I whip my head around with a glare in place when my eyes widen in shock and then fear when I realize I landed on Aaron, the only son of biggest Mafia family in all of Danzel Island.

I duck my head meekly immediately and mumble apologies and he makes a sound of disgust before facing forward and plugging in his ear buds. My lips twitch up and I just want to smack him across the face but I value my fingers and my life.

"If you're done practicing how to be a dog then get out of my way" a girl says and roughly shoves me out of the way with her leg and then takes the seat beside Aaron and cozies up to him and he looks severely pissed but doesn't say a thing.

I stand up and my knees and palms are already sore and it makes me itch even more to smack someone across the face just to let out the pent up frustration I'm feeling inside me.

I dust my palms on my 2000 dollar jean and tsk at how dirty they are beginning to look after being associated with such dirty and blood soaked people.

"Would you like to seat beside me?" An angelic voice asks and I feel my heart skip a beat and I beg my cheeks not to turn red or else I will die from embarrassment before I die from the heart attack that just the sound of his voice is about to give me.

I smile slowly and nod my head as he gets up from his seat and makes way for me to sit by the window and I whisper a thank you as I scoot in. "Ariel isn't it?" he asks and I wince at the sound of my own name.

My mom thought that naming me after a fairytale mermaid princess would bring me some sort of luck or blessing since we live on an island surrounded by water and so much more water but unfortunately all it brought me was a truck load of teasing and embarrassment.

"Yeah, Ariel" I mutter and press my head against the window, he smiles and his beautiful gold eyes twinkle and the sun reflecting on his gold colored hair makes it shine even more and I swear that for a second there I saw a halo hanging over his head.

How God could create this man to look so beautiful and made me look like well, the opposite of Ariel. I swear that I even look like the villainess who gave Ariel her legs....... Okay, maybe that was a slight overstretch of the truth.

I look like those normal girls you'd pass on the street and wouldn't notice because there ain't anything special to look at. My dull brown hair falls straight to my waist and my eyes are big but not the "Oh my goodness your eyes are adorable" kind of big but just big like they're existing on my face kind of big and my eye color is a dull brown just like my hair and I have freckles on my nose plus my chest isn't as big as I want it to be and I have hips and a little bit of ass but that's all.

"I'm sorry but I don't really remember your name" I say and he smiles again and I am about to be blinded by the bright light his angelic face is emitting. I obviously lied about not knowing his name because I'd be living under a rock to not know the most popular guy in school.

"I'm Erik" he says and stretches his hand for me to shake and I know it's unbelievable but I can swear that I saw gold dust coating his skin. I take his hand eagerly and immediately I retract my hand I realize that they now smell like peaches and I'm betting that is his scent. I sound like a pervert but I'm not.

I face forward before I can say something stupid because my mouth sometimes doesn't have a lock and when it opens it doesn't also have a filter so it just spills out whatever comes to mind and I bet one day it's what's going to get me killed.

"I've been meaning to meet you for a while" he says and I turn my head to look at him because I like being able to read people's expressions because words don't really reflect how people really feel.

"You have?" I ask and I can't think of a reason why he would want to meet me, "why though?"

"I've always wanted to meet the captain of the Red Cross who's always helping the sick"

One of the many reasons why I'm poor is because I give a lot of donations out of the little that I have, "I didn't think I'd achieved enough for the son of the mayor to notice me"

"Let's just say I always pay attention to people I find very interesting and peculiar" he says and when he smiles the dimples in his cheeks deepen and so does my heart rate, I've got to say this boy is bad for my health.

"Well I'm honored" I reply and place my hand on my chest to prove how much I value his words. He laughs and I do the same before we settle into comfortable silence.

I dig into my pockets for the sleeping pills I brought along with me because I get road sick a lot and this journey is at least thirteen hours long and I'm not ready to throw up and make everyone disgusted and annoyed.

"What are those pills for?" he asks and I pass him the bottle so that he can see for himself. He collects it and begins to read every detail written on it and I take the time to study his features even more.

I suddenly become aware of the fact that there are a lot of glares being thrown in my direction from a lot of girls who are probably jealous that I get to sit next to someone of his glorious caliber.

I smirk and their glares deepen and I smirk even more because I don't really care at all. It's not like I'm scared of them since they can't hurt me because I've already befriended Erik. It's only someone whose family is on a higher social status that can and thankfully they are not on this bus and hence I live to see another day.

"Why do you need sleeping pills of this level?" he asks as he hands the bottle back to me.

"I get road sick and I'm pretty sure no one would appreciate it if I threw up in here" I reply as I pop two into my mouth.

He nods his head and I take it as my cue to pop my headphones in and allow the meds to kick in, "I'll wake you up when we get to the airport" he says and I smile gratefully at him before resting my head on the headrest and allowing the pills to take effect.

*

I feel a hand tapping my shoulder and I wake up and Erik's face is so close to mine that I gulp as I am suddenly reminded of the weird dream I had where he was holding my hand and we were running on the beach towards the sunset with dumb grins on our faces like how those Americans do in their movies.

My face must be red by now and I can't believe I had such a weird dream while the real deal was sitting beside me, what if I murmured his name in my sleep, oh God I pray I didn't do that because if that's so then I just want to crawl under this bus and let the incoming bus drive over me.

"You okay?" he asks and I nod my head frantically and stretch the muscles in my arm. Erik stands up and looks back to make sure I'm fully awake before walking down from the bus.

I sink back in my seat when I'm sure that everyone sitting behind me has disembarked. I cover my face with my palms before squealing loudly into them and kicking the back of the chair in front of me.

I heard a loud thud like someone kicked something with force and I jump in my seat and look at the direction of the sound and Aaron stands up from his seat with a pissed off expression on his face.

"Should I just cut off that tongue of yours?" he asks with displeasure all over his face.

AN

It's the moment we've all been waiting for, when I your darling author makes a comeback with another banging story.