Chapter 9

All day I float around like a ghost. By float I mean, just walk around with a blank look on my face staring straight in front of me. I'm so tired, I only got about three hours of sleep. I fell asleep at three in the morning. I woke up at six. I couldn't stop shifting and turning. Sleep just didn't come.

I was exhausted, a little bit mad, upset and most of all, I was scared. I was scared that Amelia wouldn't forgive me. I didn't even do anything. I needed to find her. I needed to explain. I hated Mason so much right now. Why couldn't the world just leave me alone?

I know, I know that I sound so dumb right now. That if I told someone, they would just tell me to call her. It's not that easy, I tried calling her. But after hearing her voice telling me to leave a message one too many times, I gave up. I searched the whole school for her, but she's in half of my classes. She wasn't in any of them. So, I gave up and just stared out the window, the teacher's voice drifting in through one ear and flowing out of the other. Mason and Evan were in all my classes and Evan tried to talk to me, seeing that the both of them sat directly behind me. But Mason only smirked at me a few times when I was actually paying attention. By paying attention I mean when I was glaring at him, and when I turned around in my seat and told Evan to 'fuck off'.

It was after lunch that I decided I would go to her house afterwards. If people tuned into my thoughts they would already be running towards and over the hills after the first sentence but I bet you'd be a lot like me if I took away one of the only constant person from you other than your family.

My English teacher asked me what I was doing today, in the period before lunch. I was sitting there in front of her bouncing my knee, and tapping my fingernails on the table. Mason was beside me, Evan was in front of me and I looked Miss Lee straight into the eye and said, "I'm just planning ways to get away with murder." She left me alone after that, though from the corner of my eye, I saw Mason smirk and Evan stiffen.

I was really having murderous thoughts, not only about Mason but also about Evan, Megan, this girl in my Calculus class who asked me what was wrong, the school secretary, the principal, Miss Lee, the... okay, I was having murderous thoughts about everyone in school, me included. Everyone but Amelia. I'm so pathetic.

I was walking the hallways, back to my locker since the last bell had already rung, like a normal student in this god forsaken school would. This meant that I was not cussing out everyone standing around and pointing at me and talking in hushed whispers, in my head. But instead, kept my head down and eyes trained on the tiled floor.

It had been like this the whole day. Everyone was pointing at me and talking in hushed whispers with their friends. I hadn't really understood the reason why until I saw Mason leaning against the locker beside mine. How he knew where my locker was, I had no idea. I came to the conclusion that some of my beloved schoolmates had been at the party last night and that news travelled fast. Hence everyone knew that Mason had kissed me.

When I saw Mason leaning against the locker, I just ignored him, so that he would go away. Turns out that I didn't need to. As soon as he saw me, he just smirked and then walked away. I swear, he pissed me off so much. Who the hell comes to your locker just to smirk at you and then walk away? Mason Butler that's who.

The asshole.

The world really hated me today. I knew that because as I was walking in a straight line, following the gaps between the tiles, I crashed into my school's Queen B.

My books fell from my hands. I sighed and knelt down to pick them up but a certain person kept kicking them away from me and I could hear the snickers of the student population around me. I just rolled my eyes and straightened up. I wasn't in the mood for this. Usually, I would be a little scared of Stacey and would have apologized as soon as I realized who it was but I couldn't do this right now. I was really mad, and I was going to kill someone before the end of the day.

I glared at Stacey, "What the hell do you want?" I asked her.

"Is that how you talk to your elders?" she asks me.

"Fine," I courtesy, yes I courtesy and in a fake British accent, I say, "your majesty whatever could I have done to be graced with your oh-so wonderful presence?"

She just stands there, glaring at me. I in turn smile at her and continue, "because, you know, you're that specie called Bitch and I really don't like you. You're not as high and mighty as you think you are. You treat people like shit and order them around, and then you dispose of them after you're done like garbage. People may not have told you yet because they are scared to, and because of the way you belittle them. Or maybe it's because of your money? Whatever, but you should know this; you're not going to be able to live like a queen, like this," I say, waving my hand around.

"for long. Someday, you are going to have to go out in the real world and stop bossing people around. You're going to have to fend for yourself, with no one to do your dirty work for you. You're going to have to work because no matter how rich your father or mother or both are, they work, and they work hard to get where they are today. Oh and before you say anything else or comment on a loophole in what I just said, you can't bribe people with your body either. Because one day, your body is going to start rotting. Bullying is a major act of cowardice, you have to stop being a coward.

You think you're so beautiful? You're not. Not really, it's not only the outside that counts but the inside too. Can you do anything yourself? Honestly by yourself? No. because you get others to do it. You need to start now, and look out for yourself. You can't always depend on others. Not all the time anyway, but you have to fend for yourself too. Trust me because I know a thing or two about that" I finish off in my normal voice, and looking at Evan, who has gathered along with the rest of the school behind Stacey, for a few seconds. Mason is standing beside him with a smirk on his face.

"Show me that you're not just a pretty face." I whisper the last part so that only Stacey can hear me.

The silence in hall is deafening. And that's crazy because it's silence, right? Stacey is staring at me with a blank expression and the brown haired bimbo that came with her is staring at me, her mouth open in shock. I bend down to pick up my books and I get all of them but the last one before it is kicked away from me. I grit my teeth as a wave of rage washes over me. I drop my books and stand up straight to face a smirking Stacey White. I cross my arms over my chest as I glare at her, "Pick them up." I say and nod towards my books.

"Why should I?" is her answer as she kicks a book away again.

"Okay." I shrug, I know what's coming. When I'm going to pick up my books again, she's going to kick it away again. She's predictable like that.

Except, she doesn't do that, instead she pours water over my book. Where the hell did she get a water bottle? I've had enough. I drop my bag and straighten up, for the third time and scream at her, "you bitch!" I move forward to punch her in that pretty little face but someone pulls me back.

"Stop, breathe take a deep breath and relax." The voice that soothed me in my younger years, whispers softly. It always calms me, Evan's voice always calms me but today, right this second? No, it doesn't calm me. Instead a blinding rage takes over me. I'm so tired but am only being fueled by adrenaline. I wriggle and kick in his gentle yet strong grasp. But an idea hits me and I pretend to give up. I slowly relax in his arms glaring at a smirking Stacey. Oh she won't be smirking for long. I turn around in Evan's arms and his grip relaxes a little bit.

"Come on, I'll drive you ba-" he is cut off as my knee hits him in, in the thing that goes inside someone's vagina almost every day. "Fuck." He groans while writhing on the floor holding his crowned jewels in pain. I turn back to Stacey. "Now for you." I sneer. And I might be wrong but I think I see a flash of fear in her dull brown eyes. I jump forward but someone holds me back. Again.

But this time, I know it isn't Evan's gentle touch. I know because, his touch doesn't calm me the way Mason's does. It doesn't send slight shivers through me like Mason's does nor does it infuriate me like this. Evan's grip is gentle, but strong. Mason's grip is strong and firm, gentle but pleasant. But I keep thrashing around in his arms. He doesn't let go.

"Evan, go put Hailey's stuff in my car and go home." Mason says, nodding to Evan. I look over at Evan and see him glaring at me, he winces a little as he bends down to pick up my stuff. He limps past me muttering something about hangovers and bitch kicks under his breath. I almost feel sorry for him, almost. I look over at Stacey and glare as Mason grabs my arm and drags me away from the bitch.

He drags me while I'm still thrashing in his arms outside. He all but throws me into his car and walks to the other side.

"Your seatbelt Hailey."

I stubbornly cross my arms in front of me. Sighing, Mason undoes his own belt and leans across his seat to fasten mine. His face is inches away from mine and even though I'm still mad at him for not letting me fight Stacey, I can't help it when my breathe hitches. I can't help it when my eyes drift to his full pink lips nor can I help it when I drown a little in the blue depths that he calls his eyes. He's staring at me too. Or maybe he's looking at my lips like I'm looking at his? He leans in a little closer and I press my head back away from him. That seems to snap him out of his daze. He smirks at me and leans back in his own seat. He starts the cart and looks over at me, with a small little smile on his face. A genuine one, I've seen it before. Once. And it took my breath away before, it doesn't have quite the same charm as it used to. What can I say? I'm still mad at him.

"Is maith liom do shúile." He says. I look at him with a confused look on my face. He chuckles, "I just said that I fastened your seatbelt for you."

"Oh." He smirks, "Yeah oh. Why did you expect me to say something else?"

I shake my head slowly and scoff. "What language was that?" I ask curiously.

"Irish."

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you were a Irish bastard." His smirk doesn't falter, instead it grows bigger.

"Where are we going?" I ask looking out of the window and trying to guess. Unlike other girls, I don't fear that he is bringing me somewhere to kill me. I'm not stupid, Mason isn't that smart to execute a murder, unlike me. We stop outside the same mansion that we had stopped at when Amelia had drove the two of them. It's really hard to believe that that happened yesterday, around the same time as now. Mason backs into the driveway and climbs out of the car. He starts to walk towards the garage. I think that's what it is anyway, I mean, it is huge. He turns around when he senses that I'm not following him and asks, "Aren't you coming?" I nod and follow him towards the garage.

He types in a code and the door, panel, whatever it is slides up and disappears somewhere. I look up and try to find it, figuring that there was a whole in the wall. I can be so stupid sometimes. It didn't help that I hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before.

"Come on." Mason calls. I follow him and see him getting onto a bike and he holds a helmet out towards me.

"Really? A bike?" I giggle. This is so cliché. This is why bad boys are labelled as 'bad boys' because of bikes.

He grins wide, showing me his pearly whites. "Yes a bike. Put this on." He says, shoving the helmet into my hands. I hold it away from me. Who knows who had put this on?

"No one has put that on before, Hailey. Neither have I. I don't need it." I rolled my eyes and strap it on. I'm going to have helmet hair later. I get onto the bike and am debating where to put my hands when he zooms out of the garage. Startling me and causing my hands to go around his waist and hold on for dear life. He laughed out loud at my squeal of surprise and the way I pressed myself closer to him.

Jerk

"Are you having fun?" He calls over the wind after a minute. I thought about it. If I forgot about the fact that we could crash any second, because I still didn't trust him yet, then yes I was. "Yes!" I shouted.

"Yes! Oh my god Mason! I'm fucking having fun. This is awesome!" I shouted in his ear. He chuckles and speeds up. I let out a yelp. "Mason slow down. Doesn't mean when I say I'm having fun that you can speed up!" I scream. I was no longer having fun. I was scared for my life. I tried to distract myself from the road and the speed. "Where are we going anyway?" I ask, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"My apartment."

"What?"

"My apartment."

"Your apartment."

"Yes."

"Then what was that palace?" He laughs out loud, but doesn't reply. "We're here. Come on." He says. I didn't even realize that he had stopped the bike. "What are your parents' names?" I ask. He looks at me sideways. "They're incognito." I stop in my tracks and cross my hands over my chest. "Seriously?"

"Yes." He answers.

"Fine. Why do you have an apartment anyway? Can't you just stay at that palace?" I huff. We enter the elevator, he presses the button with 'PENTHOUSE' on it and enters a code. Of course by apartment he meant penthouse.

I roll my eyes. This building looked pretty small from the outside and there were very few buildings with penthouses in East Haven. This must have been one of the few, and who else better to own it than the young Butler. Butler, oh. Oh. Oh! I snap my fingers and look at Mason with a glint in my eye. He's looking at me warily.

"Butler! Andrew Butler and Susan Butler. I'm so stupid sometimes." I say smacking my forehead. He quirks his eyebrow at me.

"Yes. Yes, you are." He says and steps out of the elevator, I step out to and move to follow behind me but I halt. But it's not because of the beautiful house in front of me. No it's because I didn't know what I was doing here. Mason turns around and looks at me with an impatient gaze. "Are you coming?"

"No. Mason, why did you bring me here and not back home?" I asked him. He sighed.

"I have a proposition for you." I looked at him skeptically.

"Mason. What the hell? I'm tired and hungry and I have to go to Amelia's house."

"Sorry, I didn't realize you're hungry. Come on let's get you something to eat."

"Mason, no. I want to go home. As in where I live, eat and sleep. Did I say live?"

"You'll be living here part time soon. Learn to call this place home too." He answers and motions for me to follow him down the hallway. I finally take a good look around. It's wonderfully decorated. "Who decorated this place?" I ask him.

"Oh, some woman called Anne Williams, it's nice right?" He calls over his shoulder. I follow him into the huge kitchen designed by this Anne Williams and smirk. "So what do you know about this Anne Williams?" I ask. He bend opens the fridge door and bends down slightly to take out a Tupperware container. He closes the fridge door and walk over to the microwave. He peels the cover off and puts it inside. Setting the timer, he turns to me. "She was a nice woman, married and she was hot." I scrunched up my nose in disgust. "She talked a lot about her family. Apparently, she has two kids, a girl and a boy. She had her first kid at age seventeen and her second at nineteen. She got married when she was about sixteens and was homeschooled. She went to college in New York. Sh-"

"So what you're saying is that you're very close to her?" I interrupt.

"Yeah, she's a lot like my mom. Apparently, they're close friends. Why?"

"Mason," I ask with a straight face, "Do you know my last name?"

"Uh, no? Why? As I was saying, she-"

"Mason, that's my mom." I say casually. He blinks at me in shock.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." I say. He squints his eyes at me.

"You look a lot like her." I blush. Yes, I blush, that is by far the nicest thing that anyone has said to me. Even Amelia hasn't said anything like that to me, but she used to say that she was jealous of my mom. My father has once or twice. "Except for your eyes, hers are grey, yours are blue. And your hair is blonder, darker kind of."

I open my mouth to say something but the microwave beeps. He puts on a thin muff and takes the container out. The smell is delicious. "Oh my god, is that spaghetti?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I uh... made it?" it comes at as more of a question than a statement. I smile at him, and grab the plate he is holding out to me greedily. I moan once I take the first forkful, my eyes scrunched close. Then, my face turns red. "This is great! You cook even better than me." I say, with my mouth half-full. He smirks at me. I ignore him completely and continue devouring the food. After I've finished, I place it in the sink and start to wash it.

"You don't have t-"

"It's alright Mason, my mom always told me to do this. Unless it was a family dinner at somebody else's house." I say.

I wash my hands after I'm done and turn to him. "Now you can drop me home." I say.

"As I was saying before, I have a proposition for you," he holds his hand up to stop me from talking over him, "it has to do with Amelia. Okay, that caught my attention and I look at him expectantly. He smirks.

"Be my girlfriend." He states confidently.

I stare at him in shock, my mouth hanging open. "What? I whisper.

"I said-"

"I heard you the first time, but why?"

"Because I said so." He says.

"Oh you think that just cause you said so, that I'll do it?" I sneer. Who the hell does he think he is?

"Why won't you then?" he asks.

"Mason, you can't just come up to a girl and ask her to be your girlfriend. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"If you date me, I'll help you get Amelia back. I'll be the one to say that I kissed you."

"No. What would benefit me from this?

"I just told you Hailey."

"Mason, yesterday, you were the one insulting me. Basically telling me that I'm ugly. Why did you change your mind?" I asked him.

He stares at me dumbfounded, "I didn't mean that." He said slowly. I scoff. "You're an asshole. What the hell do you mean that you didn't mean that. It's all your fault. This is all your fault. You planned this, didn't you? You fucking planned it. You pretended that your car had a flat tire, so that you could hitch a ride with me. You stood there beside my car and listened to my and Amelia's conversation. You knew she liked you and you knew that she had my car keys. You told Evan to ask Amelia whether we were going to the party or not. I fucking hate you. You've lived a perfect life so far," I say, pacing across the room and back, running my fingers through my hair.

"You kissed me! Against my will. In front of Amelia!" I shout at him. "Why! Why the fuck do I always get tied with bad boys. What the hell do you want from me Mason. Is Evan making you do this for revenge? Did... did he tell you anything about us?" I look at him hesitantly. He stares at me with a blank look on his face.

"What do you mean," he starts carefully, "by why do you always get tied with bad boys?" I roll my eyes. "That doesn't matter Mason. I'm asking you now. Why. Do. You. Want. Me. To. Be. Your. Doll?"

He sighs and gestures for me to follow him. I follow him into what I think is the living room. "My mom did a really good job." I say, pride laced in my voice. "Yes. She's passionate about what she does, like someone else I know." I looks at me, and I flush.

"I'm not going to lie to you, because even if this relationship is going to be fake-if you agree- I don't want to start it off a lie. I need money, my elder brother is successful and he knows the situation that I am in. I have to pay my dad back on the money that he used to buy me this apartment. I've already paid him majority of it. I just need two more grands. My elder brother said that if I could survive in a relationship even if it's for one month, then he would give me the money, not lend me but give me. I'm planning to return it him after I leave high school though."

"So this was all a bet?" I asked him.

"Yeah, it was kinda I guess."

I released a puff of air from my mouth.

"Okay, okay. But you're going to help me win back Amelia, since it was your fault. And I have conditions"

He smiles sheepishly at me. "Can I ask you something?" Caleb says.

I nod my head. "Why is she so important to you?"

I purse my lips. "She helped me when no one was there."

"What did you need help with?"

"I... I can't tell you that, I haven't told anybody. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, we all have our secrets. I'll bring you home."

"Wait, my books and stuff are still inside that car, whose is it anyway?" I ask him curiously.

"Yeah, we'll pick up your stuff up, I have to drop off the bike. That car is mine. The bike is my brother's."

I smile at him, "He sounds a lot like you." I laugh.

"Ew, why would you think that?" He asks as we enter the elevator.

This just makes me laugh harder. "Did you just say ew?" I say while giggling. He glares at me playfully.

"So you're my girlfriend now." Mason asks suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows.

I stop laughing and smirk at him, "Uh-uh, not so fast. You need to work to get me. I'm sure your brother meant for you to do it properly."

"Really?" We exit the elevator.

I nod my head and sashay to where his bike is parked.

"Fine then."

He climbs the bike and hands the helmet to me. "Get on."

"Huh, you actually thought that I'd give in that easily?" I glare at him.

"What?" he asked, clueless.

"I'm not getting on that deathtrap." I say.

He laughs, "Babe, come on, I promise I'll go slow this time." He promises.

I shrug and get on, clutching his jacket. The engine roars to life.

"By the way, that was some great spaghetti." I say, he laughs and speeds off faster than before. I clutch at him tighter.

So much for going slow then.


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this was my new year 2016 chPTER GUYS

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