Ashlyn

With all that was happening to me right now, I had trouble separating reality from fantasy. It was driving me insane.

The moment I woke up and took a look around me, the last thing I remembered was being drugged by Mike and passing out in his butler's car. Instinctively, I was enraged and woke up with the intentions of putting Mike six feet under the dirt, but the next moment I remembered crashing his car.

I don't know what the heck I was thinking.

All that I remember before crashing Mike's car was sitting in the passenger's side, wondering what it would be like to sit in the white leather seat of a million dollar car. Having my fantasy come true a little too soon, I was driving off in it screaming my head off as I crossed a red light intersection.

Most of the blame goes to my ADHD, but I wish that I could have a little more control- a little voice to hold me back before I did something stupid. Something or someone to help me think before I act. Why did I have to be so difficult? Why couldn't I be more simple and normal like everyone else? Why can't I think before I act?

I rolled my eyes once my mother's voice popped into my head to respond to my complaints.'Because you have ADHD, that's why!'

Then she would go on to say that there was nothing I could do about it but stuff my mouth with pills to the point where my head overfills with it and my brains oozes out of my ears.

Well, that wasn't exactly what she said word for word. I threw some of my own phrases and thoughts in there, but that was practically what she meant.

But I guess this is what I get for not taking my medicine. I punched a dude in the face instead of pushing him off and crash his car. It wasn't like I could get medicine for it anyways though. My parents didn't have enough money for it.

Although I was beyond furious with him, I feel terribly guilty as well.

He may be the biggest douche in the world, but that gave me no right to crash his car. Sure, I couldn't help it because of my ADHD, but that doesn't change the million dollars that flew right out the window.

Freaking Oreos, what am I supposed to do!

"What am I doing." I muttered to myself as I stopped in the middle of dark hallway and pressed my back against the wall. "Why am I even here!"

The white marble flower vase that stood next to me softly glowed and illuminated a mellow gold from the bright kitchen lights that beamed from down the hall to the right of me. A shadow shuffled from one side to the other- my guess being Mike.

 Mike's brother said he was there waiting to talk to me, but I didn't want to go.

Taking another look at the dark hall behind me and taking another glimpse at the kitchen, a starting realization dropped down on me like a bomb and threw me into a deeper pit.

I've been too busy being mad at Mike as a person, that I haven't really took into consideration that I was being mad at Mike Nor- a freaking celebrity. It's nearly impossible to run into celebrity, let alone talking to one for five minutes.

But what I have managed to do was punch one, crash their car, and stay in their house.

Was I dreaming! This was crazy!

Looking down at my hand, I pinched myself just to make sure.

A sharp prick of pain tingled up my arm the instant I felt my nails dig into my skin and clasp onto the little sliver of skin. "Fu--- ouch!" I hissed as I held my hand close to my face.

Holy crap, I am in a celebrities house. I am with a celebrity! I got to punch a celebrity! Oh my god, what's life!  Hold up. This is only Mike Nor that we are talking about here. But still, he is super famous and I some how managed to- I really need to calm down.

After my panic attack and excitement seceded, I couldn't help but roll my eyes sarcastically and self mock myself for my extremely late response to this all.

I had to take baby steps here and look at the truth. Mike's an over reactive jerk and it is a creepy thing that I am in his house. I need to apologize and get out of here as soon as possible.

Crash! Cling! The sound of pots and pans falling out from the pantry door resonated down the hallway and blasted through my ear drums, causing me to bend down and cover my ears from the noise.

How was that so loud! The kitchen was far off in that corner!

Although my hands were pressed tightly onto my ears, I could still hear Mike hiss and scream out a stream of curse words. Something like, 'Holy shit', 'Fuck', 'Why the hell would you put pots up there, fucking Dane', and a whole bunch of other things that I dare not repeat.

Naturally, a sarcastic remark about how he doesn't even know anything about his own house since it was so big, was on the tip of my tongue. But I decided against it because I was too far away.

Why am I pushing this off? The sooner I get this over with the sooner I get home.

Slowly walking over to the kitchen, I peered inside and squinted my eyes from the sudden blinding of light, only coming down to see that Mike was scattered all over the floor along with many pots and pans he managed to spill.

"What the heck happened to you?" I muttered as I bent down a little and curved around the corner of the wall, so I didn't have to leave my place but manage to catch a good glimpse of the catastrophe.

For some reason, the pillar by that kitchen that I was hiding behind gave me some sort of security, and I didn't want to leave it. I could have gone closer and helped him up, but for some reason I couldn't move.

Maybe it was because I wanted to put some distance between us and not face confrontation about Mike's damaged- more like obliterated- car.

Mike grumbled and curved his lip into a disapproved frown as he struggled to get up. "Nice to know that you think I'm okay. I'm also glad that you had so much fun wrecking my car. Having fun yet?"

His sarcasm slightly ticked me off, but once he mentioned his car it was like he pierced an arrow through my stomach that went straight out my back. Did he honestly think that I had no regret about crashing his car?

He must think I'm a psychopath.

Sure, I made a lame excuse for my actions, but I was angry at him for taking me along with him and pushing himself into my business.

Does he not understand how embarassing it is for someone else to see how screwed up you family really is- expecially to someone like him who has it all perfect?

I didn't want to tell him that I was sorry to his face the day I crashed his car! An apology would just make his huge egotistical head grow even larger.

I sucked in a bit of air and pulled my head back so I could rest it against the pillar. This is the very reason why I hated apologies so freaking much. The moment you go up to apologize to them, they spit it right back out to your face and don't take the time to acknowledge all the fighting you had to go through to say it.

Why couldn't I just die in a hole right now?

"Mike?" I started, still unwilling to spit it all out.

Raising a suspicious eyebrow in my direction, he narrowed his green eyes on me like a cat ready to kill and lifted his chin up at a sharp angle to look me up and down. "What?" He spat.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach but not for the reasons that people usually associate this feeling with. It was more of a nauseated feeling- the feeling you get when you look at road-kill on the side of the street.

Swallowing hard and containing myself before I spat something back to match his nasty attitude, I sighed and slumped my shoulders to release some tension.

"I wanted to say sorry." I held my other arm and bit my lip, crossing my fingers that my apology was enough. I didn't want to say anything more.

Any signs of forgiveness would do, but Mike only flicked his eyebrow up to acknowledge my apology and went back to his hardened look.

After a few minutes of silence, he scoffed, rolled his eyes, and slowly shook his head side to side while biting his tongue. Mike was pissed and had every reason to be.

"Yeah," Mike mocked as he looked back at me, "I'm sure you're sorry, but that doesn't give me back my million dollars, now does it? I know I'm rich, but I'm not that fucking rich."

Nodding my head and biting my lip, I looked down at my feet and bared the silence as best as I could. What else was there to say? I hated to admit it, but he did have a point. An apology does nothing.

I wished that I could control my temper because I would cause it to flare at this very moment. It would be a lot better than feeling this guilt, but I can't be angry when Mike is entirely right.

I guess I could just stare at the floor until one of us blurts out something- holy crap! Was that real gold, thinly bordering the bottom of the pillar spiraling up to the top? How rich was he!

It was not the right time to ask him if the lining was really gold, but you know what they say. Curiosity kills the cat but it has the possibility of leading to somewhere better. Who knows, it might break the ice between us and make things better or worse.

But how could get anything get worse between us? I had nothing to lose.

"So," I began, pulling away from the pillar and tracing my fingers along the golden linings, "is this real gold or something?"

His mouth hung wide open- the anger immediately being wiped off his face and replaced with complete judgement.  "You really are something else." he breathed out jarringly "You know, usually normal people would-"

Before he continued, I shook my hands and butted in.

"I'm sorry. I really am. Well, about both things, crashing your car and for asking that question. Things were really awkward and-"

Mike crossed his arms. "Hell yeah it was."

"-and I just wanted to bring the conversation back up." I continued, so I could move past his snarky comment, "Really, I feel really bad for crashing your car, and I had no intentions of doing that. Honestly. Things just got out of hand because-"

I stopped. If I told him about my ADHD, he would think that I was seriously mental now. I couldn't do that.

Swallowing hard, I squeezed my fingers together and could feel the heat rising to my forehead. I didn't have to look at Mike to feel his eyes digging a hole into my skull.

Thankfully, he had enough patience to let me continue, so clearing my throat I continued my apology. "Never mind that. So yeah, I'm sorry. I'll do anything to help you repay it. Obviously, I don't have the money with me right now so I'll do anything else."

"Anything?" Mike mused.

Okay, I did not like the way he said that.

"Anything reasonable, nothing stupid or weird." I blurted out before he could get any wrong ideas.

Eventually pulling himself up off the floor and leaning himself of the counter, he scowled at me.

"What do you think I am, a creep?" He angrily retorted. "No, there are several things that you could do."

I held my breath as I waited for the options. For a moment, I felt so pathetic because there wasn't much I could for someone like him. The only thing I could do was get good grades.

"For one, get the fuck out of my life. I thought I could handle this, but this is too much. I will keep my half of the deal and pay off your families debt. So only for that, we will meet every Saturday so you can give me the details on it. I'm not helping you out for the sake of helping you. Once this is over, helping a family out of debt will get me good press. You have to agree to anonymously testify and make up a sob story along with it."

Alright, I could deal with this. It doesn't sound all that bad.

"My second request is for you to pretend to be my girlfriend for about a month or however long it takes to heal my reputation at school. We talk, do our thing, and act everything out but once our audience is gone we do not talk at all. Deal?"

Okay. Now I don't like where this is going, but I guess I do owe him. At least I don't have to talk to him afterwords.

"It's a deal-"

"Mike!"

Frantically running up behind me, Mike's brother dashed into the kitchen like Flash and slid across the white granite floors- catching himself on the counter in the middle of the kitchen last minute.

"Mike!" He breathed out, bending over to catch his breath. "I thought you were supposed to be cleaning up but- never mind that. Dad's here!"

Bighead's jaw dropped low enough to pick up the pans while shear panic flashed over his eyes. "Dane," Mike hesitated so he could retain himself, "this is not the time to be fucking with me. You're joking, right?"

The blonde warily shook his head, his fingers doing an odd combination of wildly tapping the table and gripping the edge of the counter- making his knuckles white. 

"What makes you think I'm joking!" He scolded. "I told you it was a stupid idea to let her stay here!" Dane violently gestured over to me with his other hand.

Mike's face immediately fumed into a dark red and his knuckles seemed to pop out of his fist. "Oh, well how was I supposed to know? He was supposed to come here tomorrow, at twelve! Stop being a dickhead and help me!"

Maybe I should let these two talk and go back to the room they put me in. I don't know what I had to do with their father, but I wasn't going to stay here long enough to find out.

Before I could back out, Mike snapped his head towards my direction and angrily threw down his finger to the ground as a signal to stay put. "Where the fuck are you going? Stay here until we get this figured out."

You know those awkward moments where your friend gets busted by their parents right in front of your face and they ask you whose right or wrong?

Multiply the awkwardness by one hundred and you should be able to have a glimpse of what I'm experiencing right now. Absolute mayhem and havoc.

I didn't have to stick around here long enough to get that these two couldn't ever get along.

At least this gives me a moment to appreciate what I have with my own brother. We aren't the best of friends, but it's something stable compared to this.

Dane shook his head. "Oh no no no. There is no we. This is all you. How did you not hear the doorbell? You know, I try to be nice to you, but do you have any idea how hard it is when you are constantly making stupid decisions? Dad is waiting for me to let him in!"

Mike groaned and rolled his eyes, "Alright, you let him in and I'll hide her somewhere."

Wait, what? Hide me? How the heck did all of this involve me?

Grabbing my arm, Mike pulled me out of the kitchen and down the hall where the couch plagued room was at. I couldn't get control of myself since he was so quick and random about it, but I eventually swung my right foot in front of me and prevented him from whisking me away any further.

I wasn't going to move until I had some information about this business that I am apparently involved in.

Why was it necessary for me to hide? For the love of Oreos, I didn't look that shabby or poor to get a rich person upset.

Mike angrily tugged on me with all his strength, but my feet remained stable and didn't budge. "Come on!" He grunted.

"Not until you tell me everything." I stated. "Why am I supposed to be hiding right now?"

He shook his head and avoided eye contact. "Let's talk about it in the room, please?"

"No! Just spill it out now!"

"Oh come on," Mike pleaded his voice growing a whole lot more desperate, "I said please. Please, I'll tell you everything once we're in that room!"

I gave in a little on the resistance and curved my eyebrows from the confusion. Wow, I never seen that side of him before.

This problem or business with his dad must be serious, but why does this involve me hiding from him? If he didn't want any strangers in the house, I could understand because my parents are the same way.

But it wouldn't break havoc among the place in the way Mike and his brother are treating it if he finds out, right?

Taking advantage of the moment where I paused to think, Mike tugged on my arm again but this time causing my torso to fly forwards and almost crash into the white flower vase on the side. Thankfully, my feet were still grounded, so I sprung right back to my original position.

Oh my god, that was close.

Adrenaline pumped through my body and every nerve in my body was on edge. 

"Dane," a throaty voice chuckled, "what took you so long to answer the door?"

Mike's eyes shot wide open and he tugged my arm again- the way a little kid would tug his mom's leg when he was shy or scared. "Please, Ashley." He whimpered.

There he goes with Ashley again. For Pete's sakes, my name is Ashlyn. Is my name that hard to remember?

"It's going to be fine. What's the big deal?" I whispered back, shaking my head at the nonsense that he was giving me.

In my life, I haven't seen anyone look so desperate or pathetic. If he was a dog, his tail would have have been so far between his legs that it curled all the way up to his stomach. How bad will his dad get after him?

Lowering his eyes, he looked around me and his face turned pale as a ghost. "If you screw this up for me, there will be a third thing on our contract, and that is you carrying my ass to the hospital!"

"Alright-"

The nervous jitters must have gotten the best of Mike because he pulled on me again, causing me to fall over and knock the vase off it's pedestal. An ear shattering clash echoed down the hall and Mike's father and Dane stopped their chatter, and Mike and I were stiff as statues.

"What was that?"

All of this seemed to be happening in slow motion- right before my very eyes- but there was nothing I could do to fix it. The irony of it all made me want to cringe with regret because a few moments ago I felt stupid for not following him right away. 

I was about to follow him that very moment, but I was too late and Mike picked the wrong moment to pull me. 

Dane panicked, and I could hear feet shuffling around like Dane was trying to turn his father around and lead him somewhere else. "It's nothing, dad. Come on, I need to show you something."

We were both like deer staring into headlights. Neither of us could move if we wanted to.

"Mike, who the hell is that?"

Now I see why I have to drag his butt to the hospital. I should have been listened to him the first time he told us to hide. Man, I know karma does it's job well, but I think it's using me to punish Mike a little too much.

For the record, I beat him up twice, ruined his reputation at school, crashed his car, and now got himself a ticket to be skinned alive by his father.

Beating Mike up twice was good enough to satisfy what he did to me, but with everything that I did to Mike I'm punishing him for what wrongs he did to everybody!

I don't approve, but there is nothing that I can do to interfere with karma and her wonders.

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A/N: And HOLY CRAP it's been a long time since I last updated! Well I was in Europe for 20 days and it was crazy and freaking amazing! I had no time to update, but here I am now with one so hope all of you enjoy :D <3

I can't believe I got 2000 views on this thing along with 200 votes :0!! Like... you guys enjoy this? xD!!! Thank you so much for the support <3 I'm at awe right now and OMG YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING HAHAH <3 xoxoxo

There really is no question for this chapter since it was kind of a filler xD! So yeah, it's the ride up the hill of a roller coaster if you know what I mean ;)

Anyway, leave a comment telling me what you think and don't forget to vote if you enjoyed the chapter :D!

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