Starting Over: rewrite

Taking Charge

I want to thank you all for the support. I never thought I would write one GG book let alone a rewrite. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Ella's POV

"I know you don't like Dan but why have your secret organization strip him naked in the middle of school grounds? He annoys you but..."

"He was writing a story on our family." Chuck blurts out.

"What?"

"Your so-called friend was writing a story on us. Specifically me."

"Dan wouldn't do that. He...he's my friend and he wouldn't do that." I defend Dan.

"Well, he did. And..." Chuck looks to the ground and I see the true pain in his eyes.

"You read his story." He looks up at me.

"He wanted to know my secrets. What makes me tick and...he was going to exploit my life in order to start his failed career."

"What did you tell him?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, it does. What did you tell him?"

"About our mother." I glare at my brother.

"And why would you do a thing like that?" I demand from him.

"I was drinking."

"And you're drunk 75% of the time and that doesn't stop you from keeping personal things secret. Now, why would you tell something like that to Dan?"

"I had just gotten off the phone with father." Chuck and I share a look. "And as you can expect he was not pleased to talk to me."

"Did he think you were calling to bail you out?" I ask and Chuck nods his head.

"He always thinks there is something wrong with us. That we're always up to no good."

"He's right most of the time." I mutter feeling defeated by our father's lack of trust in us.

"He's wrong about you." I look at my brother. "You are the best of us in every way."

"I'm about to be a teen mom Chuck. How does that make me the best of us?"

"Because you're going to be the mom we deserved." He holds my hand and squeezes it.

"The Dean's parlor game."

"The one Blair was so obsessed with." I nod my head.

"I left before I could explain my answer but the person I would most want to have dinner with living or dead was mom." I feel Chuck staring at me. "We know nothing about her. Dad won't say anything and...no one we ask can tell us anything about her. My child will already be brought into a broken family."

"Broken by some people's standards but by mine I know my niece will be loved by all who meets her. I love her. And I know you will be the best mother because you are full of compassion. You're going to be a great mother Ella." He reassures me.

"I have no guide on how to be a good mother."

"Loving your child is a good start because no one else has a real answer. Our lack of parental figure in our lives and I think we turned out pretty okay."

"That's because we had each other." I remind him.

"And your daughter will have us. Her whole family who loves her. And we haven't even met her yet."

"I don't want her to grow up as we did. I want her life to be different."

"And it will be I'll make sure of it."