Secrets in her pocket

Part 39 : Burned dress

Ashley's POV

"Hey! Watch out!" Julie screamed.

And our car hitted a passing tree while the truck went on its own way. My head rammed into the headboard but luckily, I was saved by the seatbelt. I massaged my forehead a little to soothe the pain and looked at Kelly who was driving. She still looked shocked from my claim.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I screeched at her.

If I had been a second late at handling the steering wheel, we would have all ended up in a hospital because of a truck hitting us.

"Yo-you actually just had your first kiss with him! And you are telling this to us now!" Kelly screamed back at me.

"Oh, c-mon, its not that big of a deal!" I told her nonchalantly, although my heart was beating faster.

"Yeah, right! It's no big deal that you kissed Lucas Kingsley in a parking lot in front of anyone's prying eyes!" She retorted.

"Hmm, there would definitely be consequences of this if somebody saw you." Julie also chimed in.

"That's the point, nobody saw us, I guess." I said.

"You guess? Are you out of your mind or something?" Kelly again screamed.

"Stop screaming girl, you are going to burst my eardrums." I told her with a grimace. A headache is already coming to me.

"Yeah, okay, but mind my words. You are going to get in trouble if he or his people saw you." She reminded me, this time more calmly.

"She is right, you are not safe until your identity is revealed in the ball." Julie also said.

"I know, I know." I said, my hand going to my forehead.

I know that they both care about me but i have the right to make my choices about my own life. I mean I am 23, not a 13 year girl. And We all know who she is talking about but we don't want to take his disgraceful name. This time, I won't let him ruin my happiness. And i definitely won't let him hurt Lucas.
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We got out from my car while laughing at what happened earlier. Kelly's poor car will not be among us for a few days because It got a huge dent in the front and will be gone for repairing.

I am wearing a black T-shirt with white shorts and a red stripes shirt over it.

Kelly is in a blue top with denim shorts and a black shirt over it.

Julie is in a blue and white top with white shorts and light blue shirt over it.

We immediately spotted our group and went towards them. Lucas held a smile on his face as I pecked his lips. Everybody around us started cheering and i felt myself blush. I still have no idea why I still get butterflies in my stomach like a teenager.

I saw the sad look on Vanessa's face but she smiled at me anyway. I smiled back at her and we all went in.

During lunch, out of nowhere, Lucas asked me a question "Did you go to prom in highschool?"

I looked at him, unsure about the question but answered anyway"No, I didn't."

"Oh, and why didn't you......." His question lingered in the air as he stopped mid-sentence.

"Because I didn't have a dress." I replied. I know that he got confused by the way he was blinking at me. So I decided to explain.

"As you know, I lived with paige at that time. Her and her parents weren't exactly nice. When they found out that I was also going, Paige's mom, Freya burned my dress in front of me. It was soo pretty. They did it because they wanted Paige to win the Prom Queen title and thought that I would just be an obstacle in her way even when I wasn't participating." Lucas grew surprised by that.

"But I thought her parents were good people. They have always been nice, whenever we met." He replied, still a little surprised.

"Trust me, they are anything but good and nice." I said, disgusted by that thought.

"I am sorry" He then said gently.

"You have nothing to be sorry about." I told him, shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him.

"But I hope you will ask me to be your date in this year's farewell party." I teased him.

He rolled his eyes at that and said, "Isn't that obvious!"

I laughed at that but my laughter died down as his hand slipped to my waist, pulling me closer on the cafeteria table. My cheeks instantly went red and I slapped his hand away, making him chuckle.

I then saw that Kelly, Julie, Emily, Vanessa, Carter and Xavier have been watching us this whole time. There expression was one of pure amusement and joy and then they all started laughing. My cheeks went impossibly red and Lucas also started laughing at me.

"So, did she win the title?" Lucas asked me when he calmed down.

I then grinned "No, even then she didn't win."

He then again started laughing and I joined him this time.

It was totally insane that after all the trouble they went through, she still didn't win. But I remember what happened after that. Freya and Marcus, Paige's parents weren't home that night. Paige was really angry when she came back, she tricked me into going to the balcony and then locked me outside.

The temperature was freezing that night and I was so cold and shivering the entire night. I then got a fever for four days. Nobody listened to me after that and her parents blamed me for everything.

The servants there pitied me and gave me medicines and soup without telling anyone. I was really grateful for them at that time.

Paige and her parents had always been cruel when it came to me. Even I knew that they had taken me in only because of my trust fund. My time there had never been good.