The Maniac Son of A Mafia.

"Dad, come on. I ain't like that. Why are you being so adamant? I have always been an obedient child."

Ashley went ahead to convince her father. She adjusted her hair which was packed into a ponytail as she blinked her eyes cutely at her father.

"Go and meet your mother." Her father, Brown, said as he drank his cup of coffee for the morning. One could see the great resemblance between the two of them - the father & daughter pair were of the same height, they had the same eye color and she even took after her father's hair color. They were indeed splitting images of each other. If Ashley had been a guy then things would have been more interesting than it was.

"But she was the one who told me to come and meet you. Why are you two driving me crazy? Can you not at least choose an option for your daughter?"

Ashley had been invited to the school's party that night. The truth was that she had never attended any before but because she would be done with high school soon, she didn't want to miss a single fun and educative mingling with others anymore but her parents were being so strict and stubborn to convince.

"And the option that we have chosen for you is that you should stay at home, relax and have some family time with us this evening. You can watch one of our shows." Ariana, her mother replied cheekily. Ashley was a bit annoyed and mimicked her mother right inside her head because saying that would be bad. She was taught how to respect her elders no matter the situation and she was not going to lose that respect at this point when she needs their permission.

The father and daughter came to the dining table for breakfast.

"Jennie! Come downstairs for breakfast. We are waiting for you." Ariana called on her first daughter while the others were already salivating at the meal.

"I am almost down, please. Just a minute." Jennie shouted pleadingly. Within a few minutes, she was down as exactly as she said. A young beautiful lady in her late twenties appeared wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and a pencil skirt. Her heels were clicking against the tiled floor with pride as her doctor's coat was hung across her left arm while her right hand was holding her Gucci bag.

Her black hair was braided to the side and she looked extremely beautiful to look at.

"Hi, everyone. Good morning." She smiled, her dimples showing while doing so. She kissed everyone's cheeks and settled down to eat.

"Wow, sister. You are looking so glamorous. I tap from your sexiness and beauty." Ashley praised her.

Jennie rolled her eyes as she picked up her cutlery, "What do you want, Ashley?"

"Now that you have asked, Sis, can you please convince Mum and Dad to allow me to go out to the party? It's a school party and by nine pm the party will come to an end. I won't be the only one going anyway. Josh and Sammie will be there. Moreover, Sammie's elder brother promised to come and pick us up so even if I don't come home, I can stay over at Sammie's. Don't you think that it's high time I started going out?" She gave a long explanation.

"That should be when you are eighteen," Brown answered and put his fork into his mouth. He chewed his meal carefully while staring at his daughter. Ashley frowned and angrily began to pierce her fried eggs violently. Seeing how stubborn she was, Brown gave in.

"Fine, you are allowed to go."

"Really?" Ashley's eyes popped up excitedly as she looked at her father.

"Yes but only with a condition."

"Which is?"

" You should call me at every interval, do you understand?"

"Yes, Dad. Thank you very much, Detective Brown." She saluted him and everyone at the table laughed at her cheekiness. Jennie finished eating and waved goodbye to her family before heading to her car. She was late for work already but she needed not to miss family time such as breakfast.

Ashley jumped up to her room to give her friend a call regarding the good news.

★★★★★

Around 7 in the evening, inside Angelou High School, crowds filled the area partying under the shiny lights both outside and inside the school building with security officers watching them carefully.

Each girl was holding onto a guy who was either her friend [ AKA bestie] or her date or her real boyfriend. They considered it such a wonderful time to spend together. There was a dress code as students were instructed to dress beautifully, handsomely, modestly, and decently and the students rocked out their respective dresses.

"I will pick you guys up by 8:50 pm, is that okay with you?" Sammie's brother yelled as he parked the car beside the school's gate.

"You don't need to yell that much. We are right beside you." Sammie yelled back at her brother before bouncing out of the car.

"Thank you for the ride, Willy."

"You are welcome, Ashley. See you by 8:50. Have a nice time and don't drink alcohol, remember your promises."

"Byeeeeee." His sister yelled and rushed ahead to stop Williams from talking further. They all walked in after showing their students' ID cards.

"Wow, this place is beautiful," Josh said as he struck his palms in amazement. He looked pleased and his eyes were dancing up and down the venue

"I bet it is. Let us have fun, y'all. Don't let us divert from each other because we need to stay close, okay?" Ashley advised them.

"Yes, ma'am. We won't. But I think you will be the one to change that rule because your crush is standing right in front of you." Sammie whistled before pulling Josh along with her.

Ashley's heart raced faster after she heard that and she turned to confirm if that was true. Indeed, Daniel, the school's most famous basketball player was standing right in front of her with a smile on his face. They were both in the same class and were just as brilliant as she was. She always had this secret crush on him but tried to hide it because she wasn't sure if Daniel would be interested in a girl just like her.

"Hi, Daniel." She waved at him. Her cheeks turned pink as she avoided eye contact with him.

"Hi. It's such a wonderful thing to see you here. You rarely attend events such as this." Daniel mentioned.

"Uhm...yeah, my family finally let me out of the cage. I was permitted to come here." She answered and chuckled to cover her embarrassment after blurting that out.

"I..."

"Hey, Daniel. What are you doing over there? Come here." His friend called him.

"I am sorry but I have to excuse myself. Thank you for the little conversation." He smiled at her and walked away. Ashley felt like fainting. He smiled at her...his smiles were warm and she was beginning to fall deep or that was what she thought. She chuckled and immediately walked to mix with the rest of the party members.

~~~~~~~~~

"Heyyyyyy."

"That's wrong. I didn't say that."

"Oh yes, you did. It's a truth or dare, babe. So, you should just follow the rules."

The fun had been going on for the past one hour with the students either enjoying or rejecting the ordeal. Even though Ashley made sure not to step in, she enjoyed the horror and amusement on their faces. This was also because Daniel was sitting there with his friends. She suddenly felt the need to go to the toilet and immediately excused herself.

As soon as she got to the ladies' toilet, she could hear moans coming from inside the place, and that made her stop. She blinked her eyes and looked around the bright yet silent hall. What were they doing and why were the moans so deep? How could students be portraying such an indisciplined behavior in public? Didn't they care about their future and reputation?

Just staying around the area wanted to make a puke so she decided to leave but then her phone rang out loudly and her heart dropped literally. The next thing was that the door was swung open and two guys came out of the toilet. They were displeased when they saw her and her face turned sour too.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" They asked her. Ashley tried to calm her racing heart. She was totally alone at this point so it would not be nice of her to be dumb.

She cleared her throat, "I wanted to use the toilet but after I came here, I saw that the place was being used earlier by the two of you..." She stopped talking when a tiny head sneaked out of the toilet. That caught her attention. The person came out in full and took to her feet after that.

"I mean three of you...I don't know and I am sorry for disrupting your moments. Please go ahead." She turned around.

"How do you expect us to continue the moment when the lamb is gone? You have to make yourself sacrificial after all." One of the boys answered and quickly got a hold of her before she could escape.

She started screaming as high as she could maybe someone would be able to help her but to her disappointment, no one came.

She used all her strength to fight against them but it was futile. Just when she thought all hope was lost, someone barged into the toilet dressed in all black with his hands inside his pockets. His hoodie was covering half of his face, making it hard for people to be able to get a glimpse of what he looked like.

"Hey, who are you? What are you doing here?" This happened to be the last question that the boys asked before things got out of control.

"Ashley! Ashley, get yourself up from the bed! You have been sleeping too much quite lately." Ariana yelled from outside Ashley's room. It was already past six in the morning which was quite unusual for a student who was interested in punctuality and making A's in her studies.

"Who knows? She could be pregnant." Jennie added to the fire.

"Pregnant? That's impossible. Ashley..."

"I am not pregnant, Mum!" Ashley interrupted with a loud tone and slowly mumbled threatening words at her sister after she heard her laugh. Ashley was just too tired to stand up from her bed. Actually, she had been watching a lot of Netflix series nowadays but with maturity. It was just that last night which was Sunday, she watched the series till 2 in the morning on her laptop before going to bed and now, she was not enjoying the result of her action.

Her door was knocked upon but this time it was her dad.

"Do you need me to drop you off or you are going to walk on foot?" He asked from outside the door. That seemed to have resurrected her dead brain as she immediately jumped to her feet, she staggered a little bit backward before she regained get posture.

"I will be down in a minute."

"Now you're gonna skip bathing?" Brown teased and left her alone to prepare.

Ashley arranged her bed neatly and replaced whatever cover was needed. She offered some words of prayers to the creator of the universe before heading to the bathroom.

Her family was not religious but her parents had input in them that no matter what situation they were in, they should always pray because up above, there was a supernatural being watching the affairs of the world and he deserved honor.

As she was bathing, her mind went to the school party that she attended two days ago. She blinked her eyes to prevent the flowing water to enter them while standing in front of a mirror. Ashley loved her mirror to be in the bathroom so she would be able to get a view of herself while bathing. She had been practicing this since she was young.

Surprisingly, the one she wasn't expecting to come to rescue her was the one who made the top chart in her mind - the guy in the black hoodie. He didn't say a word to her even after beating the two guys almost to death all on his own. He just left her standing inside the toilet speechless and void of strength. By the time she recovered her thinking, he was already gone. So Ashley decided that at least, today she would have to speak to him and appreciate him for his help.

She quickly turned off the shower and bounced out of her room fully naked. She went for a simple blue gown and a jacket to go with it before pulling out her neat pair of sneakers from under her bed. [ Don't ask why it's there, lol.]

After checking her simple look in the mirror, she made her way out of the room and went downstairs to join the family for breakfast.

"Aren't you going to work today, Jennie?" Ashley asked her elder sister. The latter looked up from her phone and shook her head.

"Nah, I am off work today. However, if there is an emergency, I will be right there." She answered. Ashley nodded and continued eating.

"Alright, let's move it." Drown fixed his work badge on his shirt and quickly pecked his wife on her cheeks before leaving hurriedly. Ashley followed after him too and within a few seconds, they were both on their way.

Brown dropped her off at the school's gate.

"Remember to make us proud, okay?"

"I have always made you and the family proud. I love you."

"I love you too, Cutie Pie."

"Eww, cheesy, Dad." Ashley laughed. Her dad gave her a thumbs-up before driving off. Just as she was about to enter the school, she saw her two friends, Josh and Sammie standing side by side. As usual, it seemed as if Sammie was giving Josh one of her authentic yet not required lectures.

"Hello, guys." She waved at them.

"Ah, Cutie Pie, you finally came to my rescue. Can you please tell her to stop lecturing?" Josh pleaded.

"Why couldn't you say that to my face?" Sammie snorted.

"And allow my teeth to get removed by you? Never!" Josh huffed before turning to Ashley. The latter grabbed the two of them by their necks and they started heading towards the entrance of the building.

"The two of you are very annoying but regardless of that, I have something wonderful and interesting to tell you about." She whispered.

"More like a gossip or a gist?" Sammie asked her. Ashley frowned and removed the strands that were blocking her hair, she tucked them behind her ear as she prepared her replies.

"You should know that gossiping is something I detest quite a lot." She answered.

The three of them have been friends since childhood however Sammie and Josh's parents moved to their respective houses many years ago thereby limiting their closeness as neighbors but they still met in school and they had outings alongside sleepovers.

~~~~~~~~

The last teacher for the first half of the class finally finished teaching and the students prepared to go and hang out. Ashley had been waiting for this opportunity to speak to the 'guy in a black hoodie.'

After the other students were out, she finally made her way to his seat which was at the back of the class and beside the window. In front of him were books of all kinds and as usual he was wearing his hoodie with his head on the desk. His name was Alex as many people called him that.

He was the quietest person Ashley had ever seen. From the first time he started schooling here, he just made himself invisible as wind to the audience. Nobody cared about him nor did he care about anybody. He had no friends and he never changed his hoodie to another color, it was always black and it would cover his face to prevent anyone from seeing him clearly.

Because of his mysterious look and behavior, some people just assumed that he could be a cultist, a gangster, or a bad boy that came out of those web novel high school bad boy series. Ashley didn't place any attention on him since they had no business together but since two days ago, she had been thinking about it.

"Uhm...hi, excuse me. Can I...Uhm...you know, speak with you for a few minutes?" She asked him politely but he didn't respond nor did he make any movement.

"Hi, can I please speak with you?" Ashley repeated herself and Alex lifted his upper body from his desk before relaxing against the wall with his hands folded. Ashley was a bit anxious after seeing his reaction but she tried to be confident about it.

"I don't know if you recognize me but I was the girl you rescued on Saturday in the bathroom from those rapists. I just want to appreciate you for considering helping me because if it weren't for you, I would have probably committed suicide." She said and pulled a smile on to show her sincerity but what she got back was baffling. Alex placed his head back on the table and even put his earpiece into his ears just to block her out and that was what made her mad. How dare he?!

~~~~~~~~~

"He shunned you just like that?" Sammie asked with interest as she sipped her finished orange juice with a lot of noise. Josh grabbed it from her table with frustration and threw it into the trash.

"Hey?" Sammie was a bit offended.

"You were making too much noise with it," Josh answered and continued eating his burger.

"I am sorry. Anyway, continue Ashley."

"I just don't get it. What's so hard about responding with an 'okay' or 'you are welcome'? I mean I saw him fight as if he was practicing karate, Judo, or Taekwondo."

"Pick one." Josh interrupted

"Well, I am not sure which is which but they are all means of self-defense." She answered and ate her meal grudgingly. She looked towards where he was sitting...it was his usual lonely spot with just his phone.

"Maybe he doesn't need your appreciation. That's his clue for you to let him be." Sammie shrugged and picked up a fried sliced potato.

Let him be? Ha, as if she would. At this point, she was more interested in him than anything else. She watched him dump his remains into the trash not far from home and he stood up to leave.

Ashley sighed and faced her talkative friends. Now that she remembered, she needed to do something this evening, or else, she might just be sliced into pieces and buried six feet below the Earth.

"Is she coming?" Ariana asked eagerly as she placed a birthday cake on the dining table. Her daughter was beside the window, stretching her neck to get a good view ahead of the buildings to check if her sister, Jennie, was coming. She then shook her head.

"She is yet to arrive." She answered.

Ariana sighed, placed two hands on her waist, and then looked at her husband.

"Did she forget that it's her birthday?"

Brown chuckled and wrapped his arms around her shoulders to calm her down.

"Don't worry. She must be with Louis or maybe an emergency came up."

"If she happens to be with Louis, I will make sure to cut off her legs. Louis wasn't there when I was struggling to push her out and even sent her to school so now he is delaying her when today is her birthday? Who does that? They are not even married yet." Ariana fumed.

"She has arrived!!" Ashley yelled and flew over the couch with all her strength and everyone else got into position. Her parents quickly hid the cake and pretended as if everything was normal.

The door was opened by Louis, a young and handsome-looking man in his late twenties. His hair was stylishly packed to a side and he seemed to have dyed his hair black again as that wasn't his natural color. Gauging his height to that of Jennie, the latter was taller than him but loved him either way.

"We are home," Louis announces with a smile as his girlfriend took off her heels and placed them side by side at the entrance.

"Happy birthday," Ashley screamed with all her might as if she had been possessed and then pressed a button on a well-built little machine that made quite loud a noise, and then glitters from nowhere gracing the happy event.

"Oh my world, Ashley..." Jennie was surprised.

"Happy birthday, sis." She smiled and Jennie pulled her in for a hug. Although she always did this every year with her family, she was at least grateful that they were all alive to witness this which was such a great privilege. Her family hugged her one after the other with happiness.

"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs Brown." Louis finally had the time to greet them.

"I thought that you already caged my daughter with you. I was about to call and give you a piece of my mind." Ariana eyed him before walking away. Brown laughed when he saw the terrified look on Louis' face.

The two of them had not been on a good term ever since Jennie and Louis started dating but slowly, Ariana started opening up to him and accepted him fully. However, Louis was still scared of her because when they were still teenagers in high school [ that was when they started dating], Ariana accidentally discovered that they were dating and almost killed him not to talk about the fact that Jennie's father was a cop/Detective.

"Ashley, you are cleaning up the mess you created after this whole thing comes to an end." Brown pointed at the glitters on the floor.

"Like come on!"

"No one sent you to do it. It wasn't part of the plan." Ariana supported her husband. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Are we expecting any guests?" Ariana asked them.

"Yeah. The usual." Ashley replied and hopped towards the door. She opened it and her two friends walked in.

"Happy birthday." Josh blew her a small trumpet. Ashley rolled her eyes.

"The birthday girl is right there." She pointed at bed sister. They glanced at her.

"Happy birthday, Jennie."

"Thank you."

The celebration started among them, the underage were given milk to drink while the adults went with a little alcoholic drinks. It was so much fun for them and memorable as well.

~~~~~~

"Ah." Ashley fell on a bed with a deep sigh. She was tired from doing all the chores tonight. Her friends went home after they helped out. She was just too tired to even want to bathe or watch a series. She reached out for her diary and put down a few words. She smiled as she felt happiness.

"This is great."

Then she remembered him - the guy in a black hoodie. Her eyes kept moving from one part of her socket to another as she thought about him. She flipped the next page of her diary and wrote a few words about him.

Just when she was still thinking, she saw Daniel's name in her diary alongside a small picture of it. She instantly forget about Alex and smiled like a little girl as she fantasized about him for the night before going to sleep.

That night, she dreamt about being rescued by Alex again.

~~~~~~~

By the time Ashley got to school, the thought about Daniel was what was inside her head. She didn't have the boldness to confess her feelings to him but she was sure that one day, she would be able to tell him how she felt. Thankfully, he wasn't a promiscuous type so definitely, she would be able to get his attention.

However, what she heard next almost made her ears bleed. She had to take a few steps back just to eavesdrop.

"Listen, Amelia, my heart yearns for no one but you." She heard Daniel say. Ashley was in shock and her throat ran dry.

"Hmm...you never really focused on me whenever I looked at you so why are you begging me to accept you?" Amelia, the school-named Belle said as she toyed with Daniel's shirt.

"Listen, I needed to focus on some really important things but then when I thought about it again, I realized that if I don't be with you, I would be the loser and I don't want to be a loser. Well, if you don't want me...then let me leave." He turned around with a sad face but Amelia pulled him back.

"No...no, I was only joking. You don't need to go. We can be very close maybe not as boyfriend and girlfriend because I have someone in my mind now but I just can't let go of you."

Ashley couldn't believe her ears. She had to touch them to make sure that she wasn't bleeding because of how hot they were. She walked away from the premises with heavy legs as she imagined her precious heart getting shattered by Daniel with a hammer. How could he continue like that after what she just said? She was going to cheat!

~~~~~~~

Ashley was about to go to the Cafeteria with her friends when she saw Alex entering the class with his head bowed. After she saw him, her mood got better and she tried to speak to him but as usual, he just walked past her and went to his seat. Ashley stared at him in surprise till he placed his head on his desk.

Ashley got dragged out of the classroom by Josh afterward. She, later on, told her friends about the sudden heartbreak.

~~~~~

"So, right now, you have no crush?" Jennie teased her sister after she narrated her ordeal. The latter eyed her and puffed her cheeks.

"Awwn, my Cutie Pie got her heart broken for the first time." Brown laughed wholeheartedly.

"I can't believe that you guys are joking about my problem." She whispered and drank a glass of orange juice.

"Come off it, Cutie Pie. It's just a simple and not a good crush. You will get over it. There are more guys that you are going to meet later in the future so be patient. This guy just doesn't deserve you." Brown advised.

"I support your father." Ariana nodded.

Ashley pouted and tried to smile because Jennie threatened to take away her credit card. After she was done eating, she retired to her room and went to do her assignments.

She was considered to be one of the best students in class and school, this was something that she was proud of and showed clearly so her main school was to never leave the top no matter what. After she was done watching a few online classes for about two hours, she went to bed to sleep however before she did, she didn't forget to cancel Daniel out of her diary for betraying her heart and killing her trust in me. She saw Alex's name written boldly just about two days ago, she stared at it for a while, sighed, and closed her eyes.