Chapter 4 - Eighteen

“You have to go,” Charlie insists and I roll my eyes as I take another bite of my sandwich.

After telling him about my encounter with the boybanders and how I broke Jenny’s heart —he laughed for three hours, I’m not lying—, we changed the topic.

I’m still seventeen, reason why Rhonda still can manage my life and shit. I can’t exactly take my money for Uni until I’m eighteen despite I finished high school already. However, I’m turning eighteen in a few days. Hooray! I’ve never been more excited for a birthday in my life.

I remember when I was a kid my birthdays were great. Mum and Dad would wake me up to my favourite breakfast and then we would go out to the park and have a picnic instead of lunch. We’d play and laugh and just enjoy the day. That’s one of the things I loved the most about having my birthday during summer.

After Mum died, Dad and I would spend the day together as well, but we would also visit her gravestone. It was our way to include her in the celebration and we would always take sunflowers, her favourites. And my favourites, too. And since Dad started the business, it was a tradition to have a ball the night of my birthday. We would invite people from other places, relatives, friends, everyone! Just to have fun. It was the day I could go to bed the latest in the year.

That tradition is still preserved until today but in other… circumstances. Yes, it’s the night of my birthday but it’s not because of my birthday anymore. I don’t think Rhonda remembers it’s my birthday, anyways. I stay up all night… cleaning after the mess the celebrities leave behind. I’m not even allowed to the ballroom where all the celebrities are having fun.

I don’t really mind, it’s not like I wanna celebrate my birthday with the very people Rhonda adores. To be honest, I just wanna be the farthest I can get from them. However, my dear friend Charles St. James thinks differently. He’s got stuck in his mind that this year I have to attend the party.

“No,” I reply for the twenty-eighth time. “I’ll be busy moping floors and avoiding celebrities.”

“C’mon, Ella! It’s your eighteenth birthday. You deserve to have fun,” he insists and I’m about to push him off.

We’re sitting on the fence that leads to the barns where all the horses are. We have many horses in the retreat centre, so celebrities can ride or play polo. It’s not high, but pushing Charlie off would give me satisfaction.

“Rhonda would kill me,” I tell him, who’s oblivious to this fact.

“If you don’t kill her first with the surprise of being there,” Olivia adds and I sigh.

Olivia has worked here since the beginning. She is a masseuse, probably the best in the whole complex. And she is also one of my dearest friends, someone who makes this place bearable. She has always looked after me, like an older sister. She is the closest I have to a sibling. Her and Charlie are my family. But she also is constantly telling me to flip Rhonda off, to leave and forget everything. She would leave with me if I’d take the chance. But I really wanna study medicine and for that I need the money. I can’t just send Rhonda to hell and forget that.

Olivia is twenty-seven only and she is what I look up to in a woman. She is gorgeous, she has a great body, although she does a lot of exercise for that; she has a fair complexion with brown hair and eyes. Her nose is just lovely, I wish I had a nose like hers. But Olivia is not only beautiful, she is amazing. So strong and witty and funny. She doesn’t have much luck in love, though. She’s had a few boyfriends, but they never ended up well and I’ve seen her crying so many times. But she is strong, she stands up, carries on and gets over them, coming out stronger out of it.

“Liv, I’m not going. That’s settled. I have work to do and you know I don’t like celebrities,” I tell her and it’s her turn to roll her eyes. Charlie and Olivia are plotting against me, I know it. “Plus, Rhonda can’t see me there or she’ll manage to keep all my money for Uni and I can’t afford that.”

“But she doesn’t have to know!” Liv chirps and it’s not only me who looks surprised. Charlie doesn’t know what she is talking about either and Olivia notices this. “This year is a masquerade bash. Isn’t that great?”

Every year Rhonda has a different theme for the party. Last year was Hawaiian, the year before that was Greek Mythology. “So?” I inquire because I don’t see how that changes things. Rhonda is still going to be there and I don’t think a mask can hide my identity. My life may sound like a bloody fairy tale, but this is reality and people are not that oblivious.

“So,” she starts. “I’ll make sure no one can recognise you. Your mask will be amazing and you can ever wear a wig. You’ll be the mysterious girl.”

“And you don’t even have to stay the whole night if you don’t want to,” Charlie adds and I look at him shocked at how fast he got on board. He smirks and shrugs.

“What? Do you expect me to run at midnight in my pumpkin chariot?” I snap sarcastically, defying them with my eyes.

Looking away and biting his sandwich, Charlie adds, “It doesn’t have to be pumpkin. It can be a watermelon chariot?”

And like that I burst out laughing at the mental image of me running away from the ballroom and getting in my watermelon chariot. Charlie could be my chauffeur.

“Come on, Ella. We’re gonna be there with you. Don’t you think you deserve this? Your father started this tradition to celebrate your birthday. It isn’t fair that you only work. Rhonda may’ve forgotten why this started, but we don’t,” Olivia supports and I take a deep sigh.

I know my dad wouldn’t like any of this. He would kick Rhonda if he saw her treating me like this; but he is not here and he can’t do anything about it. To be honest, I’m the only one who can do anything but I can’t bother. Why? Why would I try so hard just to celebrate with a bunch of celebrities I don’t like?

But this is my last year here. This is the time I turn eighteen, when I get my “freedom”, somehow. I still have to finish my work here this summer. Nevertheless, it’s my choice. I don’t have to celebrate the whole night, but I can attend, just in the memory of my parents. This is what they would’ve liked.

“Fine,” I agree and Charlie chokes on his sandwich.

“I thought we were gonna have to beg further,” he says still coughing, his eyes with tears and all his face red due to the effort.

“Nah. It’s what my parents would’ve liked, right?” Both of them nod. “But you’ll have to take care of everything, Liv, because I bet it was your idea.” Charlie’s chuckles indicate that I’m right. “You’ll have to take care of the dress and mask and all those things. I’ll have to plan how to manage so Rhonda doesn’t catch me.”

“Just leave it to me,” she agrees with a smirk.

Did I mention that besides the best masseuse Liv is also a fashion prodigy? She can make magic. Like Giselle in the Enchanted movie. I like that movie because it’s not only your typical fairy tale, it’s also a parody to this. And I have a crush for James since X-Men. I can’t help it. Anyways, I know that the dress is the least of my concerns now, Liv will do magic. I just have to sort the rest of the things out.

I hope this is a good idea and I won’t regret it later.

+ + + + +

What did I get myself into? I have this bad feeling that the whole party slash ball is going to end up horridly. Something wrong will happen and I’ll regret my whole existence. But I can’t chicken out now, Charlie would never let me forget about it.

I try to calm myself as I brush the hair of the horses in the barn; I try telling myself that’s just because I’m nervous and things will be fine. I will be an hour top at the ball and then I’ll go back to pretend I’ve been working the whole night so if Rhonda decided to check the security footage, she can see me. I still think this is stupid, but Liv and Charlie are right, this whole thing about the parties on July the first is because of my birthday, it started because of that. It’s only fair that I attend that party.

“Ares, tell me I’m doing the right thing,” I ask pressing my forehead to the side of the black horse I’m brushing.

I don’t know why, but horses have this calming thing about them. You don’t have to ride them or anything, but being near them makes you feel at ease. Maybe it’s something with their eyes or the solemnity in their postures. I don’t know, but I’m glad we have horses. They help me when I feel suffocated with all of Rhonda’s crap. I come here almost every day. Rhonda knows I love horses and that I could work here and I would be better than at cleaning rooms, but she won’t give me something I like. She gives me what I hate the most: toilets.

I’m about to keep a unilateral conversation with Ares, but I hear someone running into the barn. I try to hide behind Ares. Good thing he is so big. I don’t want to snoop, but I hear the person pacing from side to side, sounding quite frustrated. I take a little peek and I see blond hair belonging to a young guy. Three seconds later he turns around and I recognise him: Niall from One Direction. What the fuck is he doing here? And why on Earth does he look so stressed?

Ares moves too suddenly, startling me and revealing my location to the boybander. He frowns in my direction now that I’ve been discovered and I try to smile casually, like I’ve seen nothing. “Hi,” I say as offhandedly as I can.

“Ella? What are you doing here?” He asks and I cringe. He remembers my name.

“I was brushing Ares. I work here and sometimes I help with the horses. It’s not all about toilets, you know?” For a second he looks confused but then he smiles.

He has an exhausted expression, like my father had when he would stay up the whole night when the business was starting and he was making everything work. I don’t think Niall is having the same problem, but there’s something disturbing him.

“You know what? Brushing horses is a really good way to relax and clear your mind. For some reason, you look like you could use that,” I offer, extending my hand with the big brush in it.

He cocks his head to one side and thinks about it before taking a deep breath and approaching me. I know he is a celebrity and I shouldn’t care about him. He is only here to make Rhonda richer, but he really looks like he needs help and I know Ares wouldn’t mind if the boy brushes his fur.

Niall takes the brush from my hand and I bring Ares closer, so the blue-eyed boy can start brushing the horse. Ares seems pleased immediately as Niall gets the hang of it. None of us says a thing and he is really focused, but I start to see how his features loosen up a bit and a smile starts to play on his lips. Unconsciously, I smile too and when he meets my eyes, he catches me smiling.

“Thank you,” he says softly and I nod. “Really. This helped more than the spa, the pool and all the other things I tried today.” I nod because although those things are great to relax, there’s something special about horses. “We all came here because we needed to disconnect for a while. It was getting too crazy and we weren’t handling things properly. It was getting out of hands,” he starts and I look away. I didn’t ask him to tell me these things. “It was affecting even our personal life. Our relationships,” he carries on and I wanna tell him I don’t wanna know, but I’ve been rude enough for the day. “Me and Zoe have been fighting a lot just because of this. At the beginning she was okay with hiding, but now she isn’t and I’m not sure what to do.”

Well, now I know why he looked so distressed. “A time off will certainly help,” I say and he smiles at me, a cute and warm smile that gives me a weird feeling. “And now you know that coming here with the horses helps.”

“Thank you, Ella,” he replies and I nod, taking a step back.

“It’s my job,” I tell him and for a second he loses his smile and even stops brushing Ares. “I gotta go. I have things to do in the main building. Mark should be near if you wanna stay here a bit longer. Goodbye,” I add in a rush and before he says something else, I turn on my heels and leave.

I don’t want him to keep telling me about his personal life. I don’t care about celebrities and I was just being nice because he reminded me of my father for a second. But he is still what makes Rhonda happy, the reason why she destroyed Dad’s business to create this circus. There are limits and this is mine.

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Dedication to @MixedDreamz. Thank you, and when I'm sad, I'll think of you.

Bel, xx