Rivals to Lovers

14. Black Mail

“Alright well, I should get going before someone sees us under here” I said. Ashton smiled “Yeah you’re right, hey would you maybe want to come over after school? Talk about the party and stuff?” He asked.

This is so weird, I’d never go to a party before so why all of a sudden am I now going.. “How much do we need to talk about?” I asked. He gave me a look. “El, I know you have no idea how parties work so I need to make sure you know what you’re doing.” He said. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes “Alright let me ask you this then, if the party starts at 10 what time should you get there?” He asked. “Duh that’s easy 9:30 so you can be early” I said. He laughed “See, this is why you need my help” He said.

I crossed my arms “How was I wrong!” I asked. “Ella, it’s a high school party. If the party starts at 10 it actually starts at 11” He said. I raised my brow and rolled my eyes. “That doesn’t even make sense, see this is why i’ve never cared” I said. He laughed “We have some work to do if you wanna make the last year of high school one you’ll never forget” He said as he crawled out from under the bleachers. “Hey get back here” I said as I crawled out. He started walking away “7 pm Jensen” He said with his back turned. “7pm what?” I asked. “Be ready i’m picking you up” He stopped and turned to look at me “Oh and wear something nice” He smiled before turning away and exiting the gym. I stood there dumb founded. Wear something nice, do I not dress nice? I thought back to my mother saying the same thing. I exited the gym on the opposite side so nobody would be suspicious. As soon as I stepped foot outside the door I felt someone grab my hair and pull me back. “What the f**k get off of me!” I yelled. I was thrown to the ground as a hand covered my mouth. I opened my eyes and noticed Braxton standing over me with Chloe’s hand covering my mouth. “Oh Ella, are you stupid or do you just not listen?” She asked. I raised a brow and lifted my hand slapping Chloe’s hand away from my mouth. I got off of the floor and stared at Braxton. “What the hell are you talking about? Why can’t you just leave me the hell alone. You got what you wanted.” I said. She smiled and quickly glanced at Chloe. Chloe giggled and Brax looked back at me. “Oh but I didn’t el, not everything I wanted.” She said. “What else could you possibly want? You made it on the cheer squad, you’re popular now and you’re making my life miserble. So what else do you need?” I said. She slowly walked around me as if she was circling prey. She put her lips close to my ear and whispered “Ashton.” She moved away and stood in front of me again crossing her arms. “Look, I don’t know what you think is going on between me and Ashton but I literally hate him remember? And so did you at least I thought. wait Is this because the dinner party was at his house?” I asked. She laughed “Of course i’ve always acted like I hated him but I didn’t i’ve always wanted Ash.” She sighed “Listen El, you can pretend to hate him all you want but I have the proof that’s a lie.” She smiled. My eyes widened “Pft okay what proof?” I laughed her off. She pulled up a picture on her phone of Ashton and I under the bleachers. “How did you?” I asked before I was cut off. She smiled “I told you, I’m not stupid. And if you don’t want Brianna and the whole school to know about you and Ashton hooking up then you’ll back off.” She said triumphantly. “Are you seriously black mailing me right now? We aren’t even hooking up” I said flatly.

If Brianna lies to the whole school and this gets out then I’m screwed.. I have no choice but to stay away from him.. I thought. “Yes I am, and even if you guys aren’t, once Brianna says something everyone will think you guys are and you know that for a fact.” She laughed. “Fine, you win Brax.” I said defeated as I shrugged “You happy now?” “That’s what I like to hear” She smiled. She booped my nose “Know your place” She said before she walked away with Chloe following her.

I felt like my whole life was falling apart, What just happened actually feels like a fever dream.. I walked down the hallway toward my locker. I wanted to leave school as fast as I could. My mind was racing and I couldn’t stop thinking about that picture getting out. I just want to enjoy my senior year, but instead I’m dealing with this childish bullshit. I bumped into someone without realizing I looked up and noticed it was Liam. “Hey i’ve been looking everywhere for you- Wait what’s wrong?” he asked. “Sorry I was talking to Miss. Chester about an English assignment, nothing’s wrong i’m fine” I smiled. He looked at me like he didn’t believe me but shook it off. “Whatever you say” He said. “Oh el have you seen this?” He handed me a neon pink piece of paper. It looked like the exact paper that Brianna handed to Ash. I grabbed it and looked it over. At the top it read “Bri’s senior Halloween Bash” in bold. I rolled my eyes and crumpled it up. I threw it on the floor. “It’s trash Liam” I said. Now that I have to stay away from Ashton I can’t even go to it if I wanted to. “I think we should go el” Liam said. My eyes widened in shock.