Deception

One

Arabella David

I feel suspicious of myself right now. Why am I getting this much sleep? My alarm should be ringing in my ears making them almost bleed right now. Yet here I am, in my bed, (not so) peacefully relaxing.

10 minutes pass and I'm sure my alarm is showing me some mercy or worse, bringing a loud unmerciful voice to fill in my dead room.

"Arabella!" I hear my father call or who I call my 'dad' in front of everyone else to portray how happy and healthy of a father-daughter relation we have.

"Coming!" I say and run out of my blue led light-covered room.

As soon as I step out I am faced with the sun shining above in the sky on our house and directly kissing me through the window on the top of the stairs. Fangirl behaviour I see.

I see my father standing at the end of the stairs in his black suit and black sunglasses. Guess he's ready to leave for his day. He's a famous and successful director and also owns a few side businesses. He pushes his brown hair back, and looks at me, ragingly. His tall figure stands far away at the end of the stairs from me while I'm at the top of the stairs. But still, he looks so intimidating.

"I am so sorry my alar-" I start.

He cuts me off and says "I don't care.", "You are not going to school today. Stay home and help your mother" he gives me a stern look before storming out of the house with Claire running behind him and telling him to drop her off since she's late too, I guess.

I stand there blinking and thinking what the fuck just happened. Confused, I run back to my room and bury my head in my pillow to sleep this all off.

I live in New York. I go to this high school where all the celebrities, rich people and children of celebrities usually go. A normal person can't study in it. If by any chance they do, everyone will despise them and do anything to get them out of school.

I hate school. Especially mine. I hate to wake up at 8 am just to see all those spoiled faces. Except for my best friends, Jules and Lydia. When we moved here I didn't fit in at all. Or someone didn't let me fit in. My half-sister Claire, wouldn't let me join the school and made me rot in hell, aka my house. Until mom convinced father that I needed to join the same school as Claire because if not, what would people say? No one knows father is not my biological father or that Claire is my half-sister. It is a secret between us.

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I am sitting in the front yard of my house fidgeting with my fingers and observing the peaceful, deserted street. Everyone is probably at their jobs or school or whatever since it's 10:30 am. Suddenly I see a black car entering the street with music blasting. Who blasts music this early in the morning, I think

They get close to our house and stop their car. My heart is beating so fast because of how curios I am. Who could it be?

The person who's driving rolls down the window revealing a guy with brown hair in loose curls and tattoos, smoking a cigarette. He's wearing black sunglasses so I can't see him properly but I can tell he's staring at me. I was gonna flip him off but thank God I didn't because they move their car to the next door.

Our neighbor. The realisation hits me. The house is empty since the moment we moved here. He is our new neighbour.

He walks out of the car wearing a formal black suit. His tall figure stands on the ground. He drops the cigarette and put his foot on it, removing his glasses and looking at the house in front of him. He then looks back at the car and nods... Is there more than one dude? Yes, I was right. Three more dudes get out of the car wearing black T-shirts and jeans. Not so formal.

The first one gets out of the car using his phone. He has dark hair. The other one is a blonde. And the last one is a brunette, just shorter than the others. Four. They seem familiar though. I feel like I have seen them before. Are they famous?

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I am sitting on the gaming chair in my room playing video games. "Miss Bella." our maid knocks on my door. Bella is my nickname. I don't like it. I prefer people to call me Arabella. It's a pretty name. Most people don't like their names. But I love mine. Well, I used to like it but I love it since the moment my favourite band Arctic Monkeys released their song named after my name, Arabella.

"Yes, Alice?" I say, annoyed cuz I was in the middle of a match.

"Miss Ivy is calling you." she says and I hear her leaving. Her footsteps fade down the stairs.

I end the game and put down my controller. I run downstairs and see mom sitting on the couch.

"You called me?" I asked.

She hums in response while talking to someone on the call. "Okay, David I'll tell her," she cuts the call and pats on the couch signalling me to sit beside her.

I go sit down and wait for her to talk.

"Your dad was on the call telling me a well-known boyband uh...one direction? They moved to our neighbourhood and he's gonna invite them over for dinner today so I need you to make the dinner and organise everything."

One direction. I knew they were familiar. Well, I am not a fan of them but Claire is. Though I doubt she listens to them. She's just obsessed with them. More like their looks. Especially the tall brunette one. Barry, I suppose?

"Why me? The workers can cook and organise." I ask my mom.

"I don't know sweetie. That's what your dad said." She says sweetly yet sternly.

I don't feel good about this.

//

this was a warm-up chapter ig. I hope yall liked it :)