What is family?

Chapter 28

Arianna

"You can talk to whomever you want to.", Ash said in a calm tone.

Huh?

What's that supposed to mean?

I, of course, am speaking to whomever I want. Vince told I can make friends of my choice. So, then what is Ash trying to imply?

Before I could ponder more upon what Ash said, a car horn startled me. It was Dylan.

"Get going, kid. Don't want to be late to school, now do you?", he asked, a little annoyed.

I turned around and started walking. I thought they will drive away. But the car didn't pass by me. What are they doing?

I walked a little more, thinking maybe they were fixing something in the car. But after five minutes, I grew restless and turned around, only to find that the car hasn't moved from the place where they dropped me.

What are they doing? Will they not go to school? Did the car break down?

I frowned thinking what went wrong all of a sudden. Everything was fine until now. Should I go and check? But again what would I do if the car really broke down or something. So, it's better to go to school. They'll anyway call someone if something happened to the car.

I turned around and continued walking to the school. After another five minutes, I reached the school gates. At that moment Dylan's car went speeding to the parking lot, passing by me.

Okay.

What was that!

How did the car start again in a span of five minutes?

Maybe they waited till I reached the school gate and came speeding to the school themselves. But, again why would they do that? Yesterday, Ash left me all alone on the same spot.

Ugh.

I should just stop overthinking!

"Hey, Arianna!", a girl's cheerful voice broke me out of my thoughts. 

I turned around and it was Leah. She smiled and waved at me and I waved back. She came running towards me. As soon as she reached me, she took a deep breath and smiled. I chuckled at her.

"Hey!", I greeted.

"Hey!", she greeted back.

"By the way, how do you come to school?", Leah asked.

Oh no!

I can't tell her about the Marinos being my siblings right now. It would be like I'm telling her because she asked. Rather I should tell them voluntarily. 

What should I do now?

I started getting tensed. What answer should I give? 

"Oh, I saw a driver yesterday. Of course, you come by car. What am I even asking? This school is exclusively for the rich, unless you are a genius and ended up winning a scholarship.", Leah said smiling.

"No I didn't win a scholarship.", I said.

"Oh, then you might have come by car.", she said.

I nodded and relaxed. That was a close escape. I will tell them the truth in the lunch break. Then, I'll have time to explain them about it and convince them that I've not lied or tricked them.

"We should go in.", I said, gesturing towards the building.

"No, wait. Mae is coming. Look over there.", she said pointing at a car.

I looked in that direction and saw Mae getting out of an expensive black sedan. She closed the door of the car and started walking inside the gate.

"Hey, Mae!", Leah called her, a bit too loudly, earning us a few stares from the passer by students. I just gave them an awkward smile. Leah can be noisy sometimes.