Abandoned Girl

Chapter 10: Old Oak Tree

Once Mr. Trevor reached their door, he knocked three times.
"Come in!" One of the girls yelled from inside of the room.
"Hello girls." He greeted.
"Hi." The two responded in unison.
"So, girls...the detective has no clue how that poison got there, but he has no theory."
"What is it?" Ella asked.
"Well, Ella, he believes that you are hiding something due to your weird behavior in the kitchen."
"What?!?" The girls exclaimed.
"That's what I said too. Unless you really are hiding something, Ella?" Mr. Trevor asked.
"No! Of course not!" Ella protested. But right when she did, Owen showed up.
"Yeah! Of course not! Why would sweet little Ella ever hide something?" Owen stated sarcastically.
"You promise?" Mr. Trevor asked.
"Promise." Ella stated.
"She's lying!" Owen uttered.
"Good. Now it's getting late. You two should get to bed." He concluded.
"We will." They replied as he walk back out of the room.
"Ella, I'm going to go take a shower. I will be back in 15 minutes." Rachel responded as she grabbed her things and walked out the door.
"Ok." Ella replied. Once Ella knew that she was gone, she spoke to Owen.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She yelled.
"Whatever do you mean, Ella?" Owen stated in a sarcastic tone.
"You know perfectly well what I mean. Why did you make me look like I'm crazy?" Ella shouted.
"Hey, I didn't make you talk back to me now did I? You chose to do that, remember?"
"It doesn't matter! The point is that now they suspect me of doing the crime and..." Ella babbled on about the topic. But, little did she know, that Carter came by to tease her. Instead, he just stood in the doorway listening to Ella talk to this "Owen" character.
"...and if they absolutely believe that I did it, then I am in huge trouble! It will go on my record and I may never be adopted!" Ella exclaimed.
"Like you would ever be adopted." Owen said under his breath.
"Owen! There is no time to make side comments to yourself. Heck, I look like I am just having a conversation with myself." Ella stated, clearly not hearing what Owen had said.
Then Carter heard the bathroom door open at the end of the hall, and ran. He ran back to Mason and Lucas to tell them what he just saw.
"Mason! Lucas! You guys are not going to believe what I just saw!" He yelled down the hall as he ran back to them.
Once he left the hall, Rachel came back into the room.
"Hey. Are you going to take a shower or just going to go to bed?" Rachel asked.
"I'm just going to go to bed." Ella replied.
Then the three got into their beds and went to sleep.
The next morning, Ella was up before Rachel, so she decided to let her sleep and go down to the bathroom to get ready. When she was done, she came back to their room to find her awake.
"Hey Rachel!" Ella greeted.
"Hey! Do you want to head down to the cafeteria for breakfast?" Rachel asked.
"Sure!" Ella replied.
"Weird. I wonder where Owen has gone off to?" Ella asked herself as she noticed he wasn't in his bed.
The two left the room and walked down the hall. As they reached the open cafeteria doors. They spotted the boys laughing in their direction. Ella and Rachel decided to ignore them and walk in the room. The boys, however, decided to strike up a conversation.
"Hey, Ella!" Carter announced.
Ella ignored him.
"Awe! 'Widdle Ella' doesn't want to talk!" Lucas mocked.
Ella still ignored them and continued to walk towards the food.
"Why don't you want to talk, Ella? I mean, you were certainly talking up a storm last night." Mason joined in.
Ella froze in her tracks. For she just realized that either one of them or all of them had seen her talk to Owen.
"Oh knock it off you three!" Rachel yelled.
"What was it's name again?" Lucas teased.
"I believe it was 'Owen'." Carter concluded. "But that's so strange! Last I remember, there isn't an 'Owen' at this orphanage, now is there, Ella?" He added.
"Ella? What are they talking about?" Rachel asked, suddenly concerned for her friend's behalf.
"Nothing, Rachel!" Ella defended.
"Oh, I believe he is something!" Mason added.
"Is he here, Ella? I mean, after all, you can see him." Lucas asked.
"I don't know..." Ella whispered under her breath.
"What was that, Ms. Crazy?" Carter teased.
"Hey! You three are way out of line!" Rachel shouted at them, with her hands in fists.
"Why are defending her? She 14! She is way old enough to defend herself." Mason yelled back.
"Let's just go get some food and go back to our room." Ella stated, changing the subject.
"Don't forget to get something for Owen!" Lucas shouted as they walked away. In less than a millisecond, Rachel spun around and punched Lucas in the face. She turned back around and walked away, leaving Lucas with watery eyes and a bloody nose. Then the three boys left the cafeteria.
"You know, you could say thank you." Rachel stated to Ella.
"Thank you I guess. I can take care of myself." Ella said in an irritated tone.
"Hey! You don't need to be rude about it! I was just protecting you...anyways, do you know what that was about?"
"I am pretty sure they are just making fun of me for that stuff animal I told Mr. Trevor about." Ella stated.
"Ok. I guess that makes sense." Rachel replied. But she didn't mean what she said. She knew that Ella was hiding something because it doesn't all add up. Rachel decided she would investigate later, so the two both grabbed a muffin and headed back towards their room.
On their way, they passed the courtyard. All of a sudden, Ella dropped her muffin and ran outside, with her eyes full of tears.
"What is going on?" Ella yelled. She wanted to know the explanation of why the old oak tree was getting cut down right before her eyes.
"Ella, I know how much you like this tree..." Mr. Trevor calmly stated.
"You can't cut down this tree! When I was last here, my key necklace had fallen off, and I never found it."
"Ella! Listen! When the next bad storm would have came, it would have knocked this tree down in 2 seconds! This tree is a hazard to the orphanage and the kids. Do you understand?"
"No! I am not going to let you do this!" Ella yelled.
"Ella! There is absolutely no reason to act like this! Go back to your room at once!" Mr. Trevor commanded.
Ella stormed out of the courtyard and back to her room. While Rachel just stood in the hallway, watching the scene unfold.
A few seconds later, the boys ran into the courtyard.
"Mr. Trevor! Mr. Trevor!" The three shouted.
"Hello boys! What seems to be the problem?" He asked.
"This is the problem." Lucas stated and then removed he hand from his face to reveal his bruised nose.
"Who did this?" He asked now infuriated.
"Rachel!" The three said in unison as they pointed to the doorway of the courtyard where Rachel stood.
"Rachel?" Mr. Trevor shouted as he put his hands on his hips.
Then Rachel dropped her muffin too, and ran back to her room.