....

"SO," ELLA SAID," WHAT am I supposed to do now?"

She was standing in front of Clarkson, the overworked man's cheeks flushed. He had been shouting at the chaotic crowd until now, but it hadn't helped at all. Somehow they had gotten even louder and he seemed to have given up, leaning with his back against the house now.

When she had told her story, he looked mortified.

"Let me get this straight," he said slowly," you're in a group with guys?"

Ella stared at him and he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Can't believe this," he muttered under his breath as he cursed, before looking back at her again," what's your name?"

"Eleanora Martinez."

Clarkson choked when he heard the name, bursting in a fit of coughs as he leaned over.

"Martinez?" he gasped," you can't be that demon's sister, right?"

"No, I am," Ella said as she inspected her nails.

She was already too used to this reaction. Sebastian's notoriety preceeded him by far, his brutal matches and personality earning him admiring and fearful glances everywhere he went. For her, it had meant a life growing up in the shadow of an overprotective, widely feared brother. Meaning no one even dared to get close to her until Sebastian moved out of the house.

"When he was here he raised hell," Clarkson said, shuddering as he thought back on it," that demon has traumatized me."

Ella's eyes lit up with recognition.

"Are you that army dude he knocked out?" she said, amusement dripping from her voice," the one who dared him to a fight because Seb was being so loud and lost?"

Clarkson glared at her.

"I gave him that win," he gritted out.

"Whatever makes you sleep at night," Ella smiled.

"Jesus, you Martinezes are always such a piece of work," he said, though his tone was surprisingly soft.

For a moment he was lost in thought, his gaze focused on the forest, as if the trees were carved with memories, but then he glanced back at her again. He stared at her intensely, searching for whatever he wanted to find, before frowning.

"It couldn't be," he muttered," you two -" He shook his head then. "It's just a coincidence."

"You know another Martinez?" Ella said.

"No, never mind," he said," ignore me. It's a common name, I was just reminded of someone."

He shook the thought out of his head then, before taking some papers out of his pocket and unfolding them.

"They probably thought you were Sebastian," he said as he stared at the people listed on it," mixed the names up. We need a new system."

"Okay, and now?" Ella said, before correcting herself," I mean, oh, gosh. How horrible."

Clarkson gave her a weird look and she bit her lip to keep other sarcastic retorts in.

Be a model student.

"Don't worry," she said," I won't cause any trouble."

"You're his sister," Clarkson said as he eyed her suspiciously," I'm not sure if I can believe that. He probably sucked you in that criminal fighting world of his as well."

"Seb fights professionally," Ella bit out, before correcting her tone," but no, I don't fight. The thought alone terrifies me."

It was a lie, but it was one that was guaranteed to keep her off the radar. Fighting in places like this would be an one way ticket to a nunnery for her and one she definitely didn't want to get.

After a pause, Clarkson replied.

"Fine," he said," I can see you're different from your brother. Still somewhat of a smart-ass, but you seem more level-headed at least."

Ella smiled sweetly.

"I've got my eye on you though," Clarkson warned, before shouting at a group to stop smoking.

"What about my group?" Ella said as she impatiently tapped her fingers on her folded arms.

"Oh yeah," Clarkson said as he tore his threatening glare away from a teenager," we'll do something about that later. I don't have time for that now."

She raised her eyebrows, but Clarkson was already off to scream at someone.

Well, whatever.

Alright then, at least she had tried. Staying in a tent with three boys would give her mother a heart attack, but she could pin the blame on Clarkson. Let him suffer her mother's wrath.

Because once her mother heard about this - oh, Clarkson would have been better off having been knocked out by Seb.

Besides, it wasn't like she actually cared about sleeping in one tent with them. Growing up with her brother had meant being around boys all the time. This wouldn't be any different. She would just need to keep under the radar and everything would be fine.

All the groups had been split up now and Ella headed off in the direction she had seen Levi and the rest leave before she had walked off to Clarkson. When she reached them, two backpacks of supplies sitting on the abandoned space between some trees, none of them had started with the tent yet.

Nor did any of them seem to have an idea of what to do.

"So," Alex said as he crouched down in front of the two backpacks they had gotten," are our tents in this or are we supposed to sleep outside and hope for the best?"

"Sleeping outside isn't that bad," Will commented as he leaned against a tree," remember that time I went knock out somewhere in a forest? I survived that."

"Barely," Alex said," and I'm still pretty sure that damaged something in your head."

Will grinned, but before he and Alex could speak any more they noticed her. Levi's bored eyes flickered to her for a second before he walked towards the middle of the clearing, not bothering to say hello. Ella bit back a comment, his attitude getting extremely on her nerves.

"There you are," Alex said," I almost thought our important fourth member just decided to ditch us."

"I tried," Ella said," but apparently Clarkson doesn't care enough to put me in another group right away, so here I am."

"You didn't want to be in our group?" Will said, his eyes big.

Ella blinked in surprise. She had expected the people at the camp to be violent, crass, well - like her. Will seemed so out of place with his sweet and bubbly demeanor. He was summer rain in between these thunderstorms; gentle and warm, his tousled hair colored like honey and his eyes brown sugar.

"Well, I don't really care which group I'm in," she said honestly," I just wanted to spare myself a lecture in case they find out."

More specifically, she wanted to spare herself from her certain death at her mother's hands.

"They give out lectures any chance they get," Alex said," trust me, Clarkson doesn't need an excuse to complain about us." He grinned then. "He knows he loves us though."

"Besides," Will piped up," I'm looking forward to getting to know you."

Okay, so she would definitely become friends with Will. Staying in their group was seeming more and more like it would be pleasant instead of just a chore. Ella gave him a brief smile then, before nodding at the supplies.

"I'm assuming you all have never done this before?"

"No," Will said," last year we went to a farm in the middle of nowhere. Each group got an animal to take care of, it was actually a lot of fun."

"No, it wasn't," Levi hissed as he ran his hand over his elbow, a faint scar visible in the light streaming from above.

"You got bitten?" Ella said, barely suppressing her laughter.

"The damn sheep was violent," Levi bit out.

"Louis the Fourth actually really liked me," Will said," Levi's just not that good with animals."

"Why the fourth?" Ella said," what happened to the other three?"

"Nothing you can prove," Will said.

"What do you even mean -" Ella began, before blinking when she realized something," wait, you said last year. This is your second year here?"

"Yeah," Will said," we've been enrolled here since middle school, so we get to go on these trips each year."

"They're such great fun," Alex muttered darkly," oh, I always have the time of my life here."

Ella almost whistled. Normally enrolling at St Joseph was a feat in itself, never mind if it had been for so many years already. Most of the times the direction took it easier on the younger students, granting them second chances at other schools as soon as they could. These three didn't even seem that bad, though she supposed she was hiding a lot underneath the surface as well.

"So," Alex said, as if he could read her mind," what about you?"

"What?" she said, trying to feign innocence.

He cocked his head to the right, his eyes gleaming curiously.

"Why are you at St Joseph's?"

For a moment she was about to tell them the truth, but then her mother's face flashed in front of her eyes. What use would the truth have if she was just planning to survive this whole trip as quietly as possible? Her reputation never had done her much good anyway. She doubted it would make her stay here more pleasant, especially when she just wanted to stay under the radar.

"I skipped school a couple of times," she said," and accidentally damaged some property."

Well, it wasn't a complete lie. She had skipped school, although it wasn't just a couple of times, and damaging property had been completely intentional almost all of the time. But revealing her long list of crimes would only make this situation worse, so she kept her mouth shut.

"That's not enough to get into St Joseph, right?" Alex asked.

Shit. She hadn't thought of that.

"My mother values school a lot," she said quickly," she was petrified I'd completely stop going, I guess, so she practically forced St Joseph to accept me for this camp."

"Is that all?" Levi said, his bored gaze growing a bit colder," so you're just a spoiled girl?"

She would show him exactly how spoiled she was by punching him right in the face.

"What have you all done then?" she said," can't imagine Will here do something too bad."

Will gave her a sweet smile, but before they could answer, a low voice cut through the air.

"I found the tent."

Levi had held the backpack upside down, it's contents now littering on the grass. A heap of cloth and some poles were scattered on the grass, his bored gaze flicking back to them.

"Nice, Levi," Will said as he walked towards his friend.

Ella dropped the suitcase she had been wheeling over here on the ground as she resigned herself to her fate. Although they didn't seem to be that bad, Levi still got on her nerves, Will seemed to be no help at all and Alex seemed more interested in flirting than building a tent.

How was she even going to build a tent, let alone survive the night?