Chapter 18

"How do you know Miss Williams?" He sat on the stool beside me. He ordered himself a drink, a scotch to be specific. "I knew her during the charity ball. She helped me with the outfit so I could get in to find you. He hummed." She doesn’t know anything about that night, does she?" "No. I’m not that stupid to blurt out information." I said almost insulted by what he meant. "Good." I sighed. "I’m going to the washroom." He nodded. As soon as I got out, I heard a fuss in the corridor. I follow where it was and saw Ashton and his fiancee fighting. "I didn’t agree with this marriage, Clarke. You don’t have the right to order me around. Now, get off of me." She shook off his grip on her arm. She then left. "Sierra! Sierra!" Ashton called her but the girl didn’t look back. I walked towards Ashton but someone stopped me by grabbing my arm. I looked to the owner of the arm. "I’ll talk to him." Stefano said. He then walked towards Ashton. I tried to follow where Sierra went. I ended up in the back of the mansion. The place was a huge garden and it looked magnificent with the pretty night lights. There was a bench a couple of meters away. To my surprise, Sierra was there sitting like she has the weight of the world on her back. "Hey." I sat down beside her. She looked at me, her eyebrows creased. "Who are you?" She asked coldly. "My name is Avery White. You must be Sierra Greene, the soon to be bride." She rolled her eyes. "What? You came here to lecture me about marriage? Give it up. I’m tired of people dictating me of what I ought to do." She chided. "I figured you want to listen to my secret." She frowned a bit more. Though this perked her interest obviously the way her eyes glint. "What makes you think a stranger would listen to you?" She asked with curiosity and sarcasm at the same time. "Because I don’t blame a stranger if she’ll judge me." She turned and faced me. I finally caught her attention. "Well what did you do? Have you gone to jail for it?" I laughed inwardly. The girl’s imagination was quite unexpected. Despite her cold and arrogant demeanour, I know this girl have a childish side too. And I’m quite sure of it. I didn’t answer. But my silence intrigued her more. Her eyes glint of pure interest. She fell into silence and just looked at me waiting for me to talk. "You know, I just got out of military school." Her brows creased when she thought wrong. Second later, it changed into look of admiration. "That’s... that’s cool." Her face almost showed a smile. "Not really. I was forced to go there because of my... recklessness.“ She faced me and ears seemingly ready to listen urging me to go on." I happen to ruin my family’s trust in me. High school was the peak of my life. You know there’s always this hot chick in school dating the most handsome quarterback, right? You know the typical high school you go to? " She nods cutely. " I was the hot chick. I had everything a girl could ever want. My life was perfect." "This sounds like there’s a but in it." Sierra intervened. "But I drowned myself with drugs." She gasped. I looked at her and I could tell she’s having second thoughts in believing me. "I don’t know what came inside my head but I took it. It was just a taste at first. My friends at some party wanted me to try so I did. I didn’t know I’ll get addicted to it. Somehow, I managed to take almost everything on what I have in my pocket. My friends would provide for me and it’s where my money usually went. One night, my brother caught me in my bed with faint pulse, unbreathing. Few days later, my father scolded me at the hospital. He said I was overdosed with drugs and I almost completely died. I did thought I died though. I swear I just saw the light."I cried out the last part. I inhaled and continued." The worst thing that I felt though was when I knew my little brother saw me. From then on, I regretted everything I’ve done. How I treated people, how I ruined my family and myself, how I... I ruined my brother’s trust in me. Just everything. It came crashing to me that day that I was the worst human being that possibly could ever lived. I should have died that day and I deserved it." Somehow Sierra’s face became a bit emotional but she was holding it back. She was patiently listening to my story. " That’s when my father decided to throw me to military school. My mom was against it at first. She said I was better off in rehab. My father said rehab was easy for me. He wanted me to suffer and learn proper discipline. Hell, I learned that the hard way in military school." I laughed forcefully. "What horrible things I did in high school came to me million times over. They were better than me in bullying. Imagine kids there trained everyday all muscly and sweaty. I was just a reckless stupid spoiled bitch with a bad rep with drugs." "How did you get through? You seem to be fine-" She looked at me and corrected herself. "better even." "I sucked it up and live through it. I wanted to change badly. I wanted to redeem myself. So I worked harder ten times than them. My goal was to defeat every one of them at training and sparring. I took revenge on my bullies the right way. I didn’t know it would pay off though. That I would graduate on top of the academy. " I smiled at her. Her mouth was slightly open and I’m sure it was from admiration. " That’s amazing. Really. You’re like Mulan. "She said with excitement. "I like Mulan." I chuckled. "Me too. You must be really skilled. You could be an awesome bodyguard." She suddenly became silent. "I’m sorry about what happened to you though. I don’t know what to do if I’m in that kind of situation." She said with sorrow. "Like I said... suck it up and live through it. You’ll never know, everything might be in your favor." I smiled at her. Her eyes sparkled with realization. She smiled at me. It was calm. Her sour face a while ago disappeared with no trace. For a second, I thought I saw an angel. Ashton sure is lucky to have a very beautiful woman to be her wife. "You’re beautiful, Avery." That caught me off guard. "Thanks." My answer came out to be a question instead. "Do you want to be my maid of honor?" My eyes widened. I fell into silence. The crickets were making the background music. The moon was making our spotlight. The night’s breeze was making me cold. That’s out of context. My eyes blink a couple of times before answering." I thought you’re against this marriage." She looked above the moon. It was bluish and shining so brightly. "I think I’m giving it a chance. I noticed that Ashton wants to give this marriage a try. Though I’m sure he’s just scared to be stripped off from his inheritance. Anyways, like I have any other choice." She then looked at me. "What you’ve gone through was way worse. And I’m here being fed with all the glamour and fame." "Life teaches you a lesson, Sierra. Just don’t ever think you’re alone. You have your family with you. Well despite forcing you with this." "How’d you know?" She inquired with much curiosity. "How’d you know what I’m feeling?" "Because I once felt the same. And you asked me to be your maid of honor." I chuckled. "I don’t really have friends. I don’t have siblings, too. I’m the only child. Cousins? They’re better off as bridesmaids and guests. We’re not that close. I just want to be with someone who’d understand me you know. Not because I’m rich but because I’m rude and my personality reeks." We laughed. " You’ll find one soon enough. Maybe your future husband. " I wiggled my eyebrows to tease her. She just laughed. " Nope. He’s a dork and a stupid playboy." She exclaimed. "And cute, right?" I teased. She then gave a look that showed she’s disgusted. "Sierra." We looked at the man who just called her. "Avery?" He looked confused. "Hey." I waved at Ashton with a grin.