The Girl in the Hoodie is Mine

Max’s POV 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

I knew I had once said Ella on cramps was terrifying, but this? This was a whole new level of scary. If looks could kill, I’d already be six feet under. Her eyes alone could send a man jumping off a bridge, and the worst part? She was 100%—no, 1000%—furious.

Me and Dylan, like the good friends we were (or at least, we were trying to be), had promised Jason that we would come and try to talk to her. You know, help fix this whole disaster. We figured if all three of us talked to her, maybe we could calm her down.

Yeah... big mistake.

We arrived at the villa, feeling confident—maybe a little too confident. Jason, on the other hand, looked like he had aged ten years overnight. He was sprawled on the couch, staring at the ceiling like it held the answers to all his problems. His face screamed "I’m a broken man."

The second he saw us, I expected at least a little enthusiasm. After all, we were his best friends, his brothers in crime. We came to support him, to save him. But nope. Instead, Jason just looked at us, dead inside, and said in the flattest voice possible:

"You should turn back now."

Dylan snickered. "Damn, marriage life’s really gotten to you, huh?"

I joined in, nudging Jason’s leg. "Dude, it hasn’t even been 24 hours. Are you seriously telling me the honeymoon phase is already over?"

Jason sighed dramatically and rubbed his temples. "You guys don’t get it. If you knew what was good for you, you’d leave right now and pretend you were never here."

Dylan and I exchanged glances. Then, at the same time, we both burst out laughing.

"Oh, come on, man," I said, slapping his shoulder. "Ella’s mad, yeah, but she’s still Ella. How bad could it be?"

Jason’s eyes darkened. "The Ella you knew is gone." He sat up and looked between us. "She’s not just mad, guys. She’s out for blood."

Dylan snorted. "Oh please, what’s she gonna do? Kill us?"

Jason didn’t say anything. He just stared at us. The kind of stare that sent shivers down your spine and made you rethink your entire existence.

I swallowed. "You’re exaggerating."

Jason slowly shook his head. "I beg you. Turn around. Go home. Save yourselves."

Now, logically speaking, any sane man would have listened to the defeated look on Jason’s face and taken his ass home.

But me? Oh, no. I’m an idiot.

Wanting to lighten the mood, I did what I always did before a big game—I started chanting our warm-up song. You know, the one we used to sing before football matches to hype ourselves up.

"🎵 Who are we? Boys for life! 🎵 Who’s the best? Boys for life! 🎵 Who’s gonna win? WE ARE! 🎵"

Dylan, being the fool he is, joined in immediately.

And finally, finally, Jason cracked a smile.

We were idiots, but at least we were his idiots.

"Alright," Dylan said, throwing an arm over Jason’s shoulder. "Let’s do this. We’ll talk to Ella, smooth things over, and by tonight, she’ll be back to being her normal self."

Jason winced but said nothing. In hindsight, that was a warning. One we should have listened to.

The Showdown

So there we were, three brave men, sitting in the living room, hyping ourselves up like we were about to enter a war zone.

We weren’t that wrong.

Just as we were mentally preparing for battle, in walks Ella.

She didn’t even look at us. Not once. She simply walked into the kitchen like we were nothing but dust in the wind.

Dylan nudged me. "Dude, did she just ignore us?"

I nodded. "Like we don’t exist."

Jason sighed. "I told you guys."

Ella came back, glass of orange juice in hand, and once again, pretended we weren’t even there. She was about to walk past us, again, when Me, because I have a death wish, called out to her.

"Ella."

She paused.

It was slow, calculated, terrifying.

She turned to face us, her eyes unreadable, arms crossed over her chest. The temperature in the room dropped.

Dylan suddenly looked very nervous. "Uh, hey, Ella."

She said nothing.

I cleared my throat and shifted uncomfortably. "We just... we just wanted to say we’re sorry. About the bet." I scratched the back of my head, my confidence wavering. "We were idiots, okay? It was a long time ago, and we ended it—"

Mistake.

Big, big mistake.

Ella’s lips curled into a humorless smile. She tilted her head, slowly, like a predator studying its prey.

"Save it, Max."

That was not a request. That was an order.

Dylan, the brave dumbass, tried again. "We really didn’t mean to hurt you. We just... we got caught up in it. It was stupid, and we know it."

Silence.

Then, Ella laughed.

Not a normal laugh.

A dark, spine-chilling, ’I’m about to ruin your life’ kind of laugh.

"Oh, how sweet," she cooed, her voice venomous. "You’re sorry? That makes it all better, doesn’t it? A little ’sorry’ to wipe away the mess you made?"

I gulped. Dylan gulped.

Jason sighed, looking like a man who had already accepted his fate.

"Let me get this straight," Ella said slowly, stepping forward. We stepped back. "You made a bet. On me. To get me involved with one of you guys so you can dump like trash. For what? Fun? A stupid yacht?" She raised an eyebrow. "And now, after all that, you’re here thinking I’ll just forgive you?"

Dylan looked like he was going to cry.

"Ella, come on—" I started, big mistake.

"No," she snapped, cutting me off immediately. "Don’t you ’come on’ me. You’re all going to regret ever thinking this was a good idea. And trust me, you’ll regret it even more when you realize what you’ve unleashed."

Dylan physically flinched.

My’s hands were suddenly very sweaty.

Jason? He was completely silent, watching us crash and burn.

"Now," Ella continued, taking a sip of her juice as if this wasn’t the most terrifying moment of our lives, "do yourselves a favor and get out before I make your lives a living hell."

I turned to Jason for help, but he just shook his head as if to say "I told you."

Dylan grabbed my arm. "We should go."

I nodded furiously.

Without another word, we bolted out of there like our asses were on fire.

Jason, poor bastard, was left to deal with his demon wife alone.

I never ran so fast in my life.

And to think... that was just the daughter we were dealing with.

After our near-death experience with Ella, I did what any sane man would do. I went home, locked my doors, and did some serious research on Mr. Kingsley- Ella’s father

And let me tell you—the man was a legend.

Not in the cool, wise old Trillionaire kind of way.

No.

In the "cross me, and I’ll erase your entire existence from the planet" kind of way.

The guy worshipped his daughter. I mean, seriously. Ella was his entire world. More important than his empire, his money, probably even his own health. The man would burn down cities if it meant keeping her happy.

And guess what we did?

Oh yeah. We ruined her happiness. Actually more than that.

We were so dead.

A story kept popping up during my research. A terrifying urban legend whispered in elite circles. Apparently, when Ella was in kindergarten, some kid had pushed her during P.E. class. Just a tiny shove. She fell and scraped her knee—big deal, right?

Wrong.

The next day, Mr. Kingsley shut down the entire school.

A whole freaking school for prestigious families

And the kid who pushed her? Gone.

Not just expelled. GONE. His entire family—who, by the way, were one of the most influential families in the state—vanished.

No one heard from them again. No one.

And that was just for a scraped knee.

We got involved with her to get her dirty pics and a yacht off in a bet.

I felt lightheaded.

Dylan sat beside me, scrolling through the same information, his face pale. His breathing had visibly slowed.

"Max," he whispered.

I swallowed. "Yeah?"

He turned his screen to me.

It was a picture of Mr. Kingsley at some corporate event. He looked charming. Smiling. Shaking hands with politicians and billionaires like he wasn’t a walking nuclear bomb.

I saw what Dylan was pointing at.

On his label was a tiny information. A golden one.

"Mr. Kingsley is looking into Elite university to see how his daughter’s life in Campus when undercover was".

We locked eyes, the unspoken words hanging in the air.

We were walking dead men.

A ticking bomb was hanging over our head.

The moment Mr. Kingsley found out about the bet, our names wouldn’t just be wiped from the business world.

We’d be wiped off the planet.

And Jason?...Well lets just say the kings weren’t powerful enough to shield him from the Mr. Kingsley furry.