Stepsisters

Chapter Eleven

Chloe was stressed out. It seemed like only some people believed her when she tweeted that the rumor about Ashton and Ella wasn't true.

When she heard a knock, she was happy to go open the door. It gave her an excuse to stop scanning celebrity gossip websites on her laptop. She was the only person home besides Ella, as everyone else had wanted to go to the movies together.

She opened the door and screamed. "Ashton!"

Ashton came inside and hugged her. His parents followed behind him and came into the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?!" Chloe laughed.

"I came to visit you before you left for your tour. Also, I didn't want you to be worried because of all the rumors circling around," Ashton said, looking at his feet. She didn't trust him, and he wanted to change that.

"Well, I'm glad you're here," Chloe smiled.

Chloe, Ashton, and his parents went out onto the deck to chat. It was then that Jenny drove into the driveway. Ella saw her and ran downstairs. Jenny asked what was going on.

"It all started three days ago when my dad came to visit," Ella explained to her. She told her about everything that had happened--from Chloe being her stepsister to the fake rumors about her and Ashton.

"Well, I came over because I heard you were dating Ashton Richards, your stepsister Chloe Haywood's boyfriend," Jenny said. "It seemed totally bizarre. But then more articles and pictures about you, Ashton, and Chloe came out...and I figured I'd talk to you about it. Who do you think started the rumor?"

"I don't know," Ella said. "It may be the girl who wrote the article for the original rumor was the interviewer for Chloe and I's Seventeen interview."

"So she started the rumor? We need to find her!" Jenny said.

"No need to look far," Ella said, looking out the window. Teen Celebrity Insider was here. And so was a van that said Seventeen on the side.

A reporter knocked on the door. Ella sighed and opened the door.

"Hello, Ella, I'm here to ask you to confirm the rumor concerning you and Ashton Richards," she said.

"It's not true," Ella said.

Another reporter came up to the door, with Rachel following close behind. "If it's not true, then why was Ashton Richards spotted it New York half an hour ago?"

Ella looked at the reporter confused. "Ashton is not here!" she shouted.

"Yes, I am," Ashton said, coming up behind Ella. All the reporters gasped. "I came here today to visit my girlfriend, Chloe, because she was upset about the rumors going around. I'd like to know who started this, because I just came to New York one hour ago, and the article with the rumor was published hours ago."

One of the reporters looked at Rachel. "It was her," she said. "Rachel was the one who put there original rumor out."

At this point, Channel 13 News was in Ella's driveway, filming the whole thing.

"No," Rachel said. "It was my sister." She looked straight into the camera. "My sister, Hannah Simons, was the one who started the rumor. She took my laptop in the middle of the night and sent the article out. And you," she said, pointing a finger at the reporter next to her, "were the editor for that article. You tried to blame it all on me, but that rumor never would have got published if you had actually read it."

Jenny and the editor gasped. Hannah Simons was the name of Jenny's friend, and Jenny knew that she had a sister named Rachel. And also she knew that her sister interned at Seventeen. It didn't seem like a coincidence. The editor was shocked. Did her intern just call her out for not editing correctly?

"Like you could edit any better," the editor snapped. "You're just an intern."

"Maybe she could," a woman said, coming up beside Rachel with ten other people. Rachel recognized them. They had jobs at Seventeen. "You haven't been a good editor lately. Articles have been coming out with major spelling and grammar mistakes, unstructured paragraphs, and pictures that don't even capture the context of the article. We've read some of Rachel's work, and she's an amazing journalist."

A man behind her spoke up. "We want you to be fired, and we want Rachel to be the new editor."

"We have eleven signatures so far," the woman said. "We need one more."

"Well, I'm not signing it!" the editor said. "You're making a huge mistake! Intern straight to editor? No!"

"I'll sign it," a voice behind everyone said. It was Hannah.

"Hannah?" Jenny whispered. At this point, she didn't know what to believe. Ella and Rachel both said that she was playing games and spreading rumors. But Hannah seemed so nice to her...

"I didn't write that rumor," Hannah said. "So I'll sign your contract if you don't tell anyone else that I wrote that rumor. Because that's a lie."

"Everything with you comes with a price, doesn't it?" Rachel asked. "I'm a journalist. I'm not having you sign this if it means I have to lie to the world. Journalists tell the truth. They don't play games like you."

"I don't--" Hannah started.

"You do," Jenny said. She realized that everything Ella had said was true, now that she thought about it. "You set the whole thing up with Tyler, you're mean to Ella, and now you're spreading rumors! I'll sign your contract, Rachel."

A woman handed Jenny a pen, and she signed the contract. Everyone cheered. They had twelve signatures, and now Rachel was the new editor for Seventeen.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you yesterday," Jenny said to Ella. "I just thought that Hannah was cool, and she wanted to be my friend, but all she really wanted was to make me feel bad so she could feel cooler."

"It's okay," Ella said. She forgave Jenny.

The reporters got bored. There was no celebrity drama, so they got in their vans and left.

"Can I meet Chloe now?" Jenny asked. "I'm practically her biggest fan, and she's my best friend's stepsister. I need to meet her."

"Yes!" Ella laughed. She brought Jenny out onto the deck.

"This is my friend Jenny," Ella said.

"Hi, Jenny," Chloe said. "I'm Chloe."

"I know," Jenny said.

Ella, Jenny, Chloe, Ashton, and his parents all sat on the deck and talked. Ella's mom and dad and Sydney came home from the movies and sat on the deck as well.

How great is this? Ella thought to herself. All of her family and friends were together, sitting and talking. Everyone was happy. This is perfect.