Their stolen princess

3. A Twist of Fate

As the three girls entered the canteen, a sense of dread settled in Elenas stomach. If her parents knew where she was right now, she would be dead. Elio spotted her and waved them all over to his table.

Steph and Brittany joined the cue and told Elena to wait on them by the door, but just after they left Elio went over to her.

"Hey, thanks for coming, I wasn't sure if you were going to ditch or not but I'm happy you're here." He said, with a light smile.

Elena didn't want to talk to her sisters crush so just gave him a tight smile and nod. He couldn't deny that he was attracted to Elena, she was pretty and seemed sweet but timid. He just had to bring her out of her shell a bit.

"Dont you want to get some food? It looks pretty bad, but I've only got food poisoning twice." He joked, while attempting to create a less tense atmosphere.

"Oh she cant eat sorry," a high pitched voice said behind her. "She suffered from obesity last year so we had to stop sending her to school with money so she couldn't repeat her cycle. The poor thing has no self-control. But keep an eye on her, she has a tendency to steal food, and other things." Her sister said, while pretending to get concerned. This news didn't sit right with Elios, the tiny girl in front of him looked way too skinny to have been obese last year and he couldn't imagine her stealing something. He let it slide though, I guess he didn't know her too well

"Anyways, let's go sit. My ankle is staring to hurt" And with that, her sister fake limped over to the table, with the rest not far behind.

For the duration of lunch, Steph and Brittany talked about other girls that they had noticed. Making fun of practically every girl who wasn't like them, that included Emilia.

"Emilia, why did you stop wearing contacts?"

"Emilia, would you ever consider getting braces? I know a great orthodontist who could fix all that up in no time"

"Emilia, other than the sun what would you say your biggest fear is?"

The constant abuse got to her, but she had learned to take it. One of the other girls at the table stood up for Elena, her name was Maddison . She told her that she would kill to have eyes like Elena and that her hair was so pretty. Maddison was gorgeous, so it was really nice to hear that coming from her.

While they were talking about another girl, Elio tapped her leg. She looked down and saw him holding an apple. She was unsure of what to do, should she take it or would he tell Steph what she had done.

After he gave a supporting nod, she went against all instincts and took it, slipping it into her hoodie pocket. Elena then subtly asked for her sisters permission to go to the bathroom, who agreed so she could get more time with Elios to herself.

The second Elena go to the bathroom, she started eating the apple but had to remember to pace herself. It had been 2 days since she last ate an actual healthy bit of food and savoured the sweet taste of the apple. She tried to avoid looking at the mirror in front of her, she would regularly avoid her reflection, she just couldn't bring herself to love the freak who stared back.

Suddenly, the bathroom door was flung wide open and in stormed her sister and Brittany. Steph was looking frantic, she had crazy eyes and had rubbed at her mascara. She didn't even acknowledge the apple in Elenas hand at first but she still looked furious.

"You horrible, two-faced, back-stabbling little slut!" Her sister screamed. "What did you say to him! Why does he like you! You are nothing! You are trying to steal him from me you jealous bitch!" Elena had no idea what she was talking about but knew to keep her head down.