Chapter 1 Chapter 1

Cold is my most vivid impression of Alaska, and even though I moved to this town two months ago, I still cannot get used to its cold.

There were very few people in this town, and maybe that's one of the reasons why it's even colder. Seattle was much nicer, and I knew it because there were people there with whom I could relax.

Since I've been here, even though I was with my mom, she wished more than anyone that I wasn't her daughter. I tried every way I could to please her, but her eyes remained cold as a stranger's, and she thought I was to blame for her terrible life.

I knew from a young age that I was an unwanted existence. No one wanted me. My mother Marilyn told me I shouldn't have been born, but she couldn't afford an abortion. I tried my best to be useful, to get beaten less.

I didn't hate Marilyn. My father abandoned us, and her life had always been miserable. The men she met were all jerks who squeezed her dry of money before leaving her. Only my current stepfather, Jack, stayed.

Because he didn't want to work, he just wanted to drink, and Marilyn enjoyed having a man willing to be with her. She was willing to pay all of Jack's bills, but she hated me. No matter how much I told her Jack was a jerk, she would just yell at me, saying if I continued to disrespect Jack, she would kick me out.

I kept quiet, just praying for the day I turned 18 so I could leave them and live on my own.

"Ella! I don't want to be called to school, so you'd better *** come downstairs!" Mom's angry voice came from downstairs, and I quickly picked a sweater from the closet and slipped on me, which obviously didn't fit my size, it was too big.

It was a style a few years ago. My mom picked it up in the trash and she thought it would suit me.

I had to close my eyes tight and take a deep breath. As I went downstairs, my mother, Marilyn, was waiting in the kitchen.

"Is that what you're wearing for your first day of school?" Marilyn scoffed, looking me up and down. "Well, not everyone can afford new clothes like you." I shot back with a sneer.

I want to grab a sandwich from the fridge before school.But Marilyn barged over and slammed the door shut. I couldn't take my little finger back in time and it got red and swollen as the door was jammed shut on it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You know the rules. You want to eat, you buy your own food." She snapped at me.

"I haven't been paid yet." I held back the pain and said as calmly as I could.

"I don't care. Why don't you call Celie? I know that she loves to help you out? We haven't received a check from her since we moved here two months ago. She won't change her promise, right?" Marilyn said with a look of contempt in her eyes as I finally freed my finger from the fridge door.

I took a deep breath. Marilyn was my mom, but she acted like Celie was my mom, and I'd rather Celie was.

"Celie said that it could take a while since we moved. And it's not like this town gets a whole lot of mail on a regular basis." I gave up, I fingered the few coins in my pocket, I could find some food outside to eat.

"Don't be a smart ass to me." She glared in my eyes. Whew, I had to get out of here. But a body that smelled of alcohol stopped me and he tried to hug me.

"Going to school? Remember to stay away from those stupid high school kids, okay?" Disgusting! I quickly pushed him away, Jack, my stepfather always seized any gap where my mom wasn't around and tried to flirt with me.

For two months, I'd told Marilyn about the way Jack treated me, but every time she angrily told me to cut the bullshit. She despised my terribly flat figure, and how could Jack, whom she loved dearly, betray her? I couldn't handle the way Marilyn was treating me anymore, and in another year I'd be out of here and away from these assholes.

I walked out. I actually hated the cold.

I looked around at the woods that were surrounding our house with no neighbors in sight at all. I looked back at the dilapidated two-story bare wood house that I had to call home but should really be condemned and I let out a sigh as I heard Jack yelling inside before I started walking down the long driveway.

"It's okay, Ella. Just one more year, and you can kick those jerks' asses hard," Eva consoled me. I shook my head, I just wanted to get away. She was always in my head when I was alone and she knew that everyone around me didn't believe she existed.

When I tried to explain Ava's existence to Marilyn, she got me to a psychiatrist, that's Celie.

I had no expectations for this treatment. However Celie didn't treat me like I was insane, and for the first time, I looked a stranger straight in the eye.

She told me that Ava did exist and all I had to do was accept her and treat her as my closest friend. She gave me a wink and said that a voice existed in her head as well.

I joked about whether we were aliens, and Celie didn't give me a straight answer.

She wanted me to find out for myself when I turned18. And, she also promised me that she would provide me with the support I needed to live.

I refused, but she told me that a mysterious man had asked her to treat me that way. It was a secret between Celie and I. I never told Marilyn that the check was sponsored by the man behind Celie.

I tried several times to explore the man's information, but Celie said that the donor's only request was to keep his identity secret. I didn't go any further because I really needed the money, and I didn't think there was a situation that could be worse than the current one.

First at home, then at school, and although when I came to this town on my first day I foresaw that I would be the target of the people who thought they owned the town, I didn't expect it to be in the way that I would be tormented.

After about half an hour, I finally made it to my high school, which was in a far suburb away from town, and it was surrounded by tall trees.

The first time I saw the school, I thought someone was pulling my leg. It actually looked like a castle. An abandoned castle. There weren't even that many kids in this town so why would they need such a massive building to go to school.

When I finally got to the high school, I stood out the front for a moment and I looked up at the large building where kids were going inside with their friends and they were all laughing and carrying on.

I checked myself over one more time and I realized that the sleeve of my jacket had rolled up a little, revealing a bruise on my arm so I quickly pulled my sleeve down.

I didn't want anyone seeing it or asking questions about it. And I walked into the building and found my way to the office. I got my class schedule and everything that I would need and then I walked out and I started looking for where my first class was.

When I got to my first class almost everyone stopped talking so they could stare at the new girl. I don't know why I was surprised. This was a really small town. Of course they would know who I was.

But I wasn't expecting them to start mocking me. One of the guys in particular, wearing a letterman jacket, was at the front of it all.

"Oh. She is a beggar from Seattle." He said.

"How can she go out in that dress? She's like a tramp! She smells sour all over, "a girl said in disgust."A girl said.

"She looks like such a loser with those glasses." Another girl said. And I realized that I hadn't seen anyone in this town wearing glasses. I was the only one.

"It's alright Ella. Just one year." Ava said to me. So I exhaled deeply and Iwalked to the only spare seat and sat down with my bag next to me. The kids didn't stop until the teacher came into the room and I was happy when he did.They were all still whispering and staring at me,but at least they weren't saying anything out loud anymore. I took notes the whole way through class because school was too important to me to fail. I have to go to university.

But as soon as class was over, I dreaded the sound of that bell. It meant that I was on my own again. I stood up and started putting things into my backpack that had holes all over it.

"Look.She can't even afford a decent bag for her books. How pathetic can she be?"The jock laughed, with his friends joining in.

"I heard that her mother is a cleaner at some filthy old nursing home. No wonder she can't afford anything decent." A girl said.

I was hoping they would give it a rest after they got it out of their system, but I wasn't that lucky. Of course I wasn't. I left that class without saying anything to anyone and I got to my next class and I found a seat that no one was sitting in. But the bullying and teasing didn't stop because most of the same kids were in this class as well.

They were relentless but then I noticed it got really quiet as they stopped their laughing and whispering and their teasing of me. I looked up and I saw two incredibly gorgeous tall, extremely muscled twins walk into the room with black hair and clean shaven that had the attention of everyone in the room.

As soon as they walked into the room they were focused straight on me, walking towards me without blinking or hesitation.

I looked straight at them and my eyes narrowed as I saw that they were approaching me. I was pleading with my eyes that they wouldn't come to me, I just wanted them to leave me alone. I wasn't the girl that they wanted.

Tristan reached over and grabbed my hand in his hand and his twin Nathan pulled me straight into a hug against his solid chest.

I could feel his heart beating like it was going to explode. The look in his eye was enough to tell me that he was excited to see me.

"Remember Ella, we've already asked you not to run away from us," Nathan said in his magnetic voice, while Tristan gripped me tightly, causing me pain, as if claws had extended from his hands.

I could sense the shock in dozens of pairs of eyes in the classroom. They must have been wondering how I became connected to their campus stars. A beggar with a pair of celebrity twins?

When I thought about the bullying I was about to face, I immediately pushed them away. I had no time to entertain their pranks. After school, I needed to find a part-time job as soon as possible to buy food for myself.

"Ella, you can't escape," came the twins' mocking voices from behind me. My body still felt the warmth from their chests, but I didn't stop. I walked quickly to the lockers.

"It's okay, Eva. In just one more year, we can leave this place," I murmured to myself again as I closed my locker door. Then someone elbowed me in the ribs, and I stumbled against the wall lockers.

When I turned around, it was Leah, the head cheerleader. Unlike me, her figure was sexy and hot, with signature blonde hair! She was a loyal fan of the twin duo. I figured someone in the classroom must have seen the twins' connection with me and told Leah about it.

"Stay away from those twins. Do you understand me? They're mine! You beggar!"Leia approached me and stood in front of me, gritting her teeth as she threatened me.