Chapter 5: Is That Rich Enough?

The moment Khloe and the boys stepped into the sitting room, Khloe's mum sprang up from the couch where she had been filing her nails. She rushed over to the boys, trying to touch them.

"How are you, babies?" she cooed.

The guys ignored her completely, brushing past her and collapsing onto the couch. Khloe's mum smiled awkwardly before turning to Khloe.

"So, how many friends did you make today? How rich are they? Whose children are they?" She swarmed Khloe with questions, grabbing her hands.

Khloe stared at her in disbelief, her heart breaking all over again. She yanked her hands from her mother's, forcefully. "I made friends, Mum. Four of them hate me, and one even threw a welcome party for me. Is that rich enough?" she spat, before storming upstairs to her room and slamming the door so hard it shook the building.

Khloe's mother stood there for a second, then rolled her eyes, went back to the couch and picked up the nail file to continue where she had stopped.

"Why is she always locking herself in her room?" Eric asked, looking upstairs.

"Yeah, that's true. I also noticed she barely stays outside her room," Ryan added.

Leo didn't say a word. He just glanced upstairs for a few seconds before returning his gaze to the Zippo he was playing with.

"Probably some dumb act," Desmond replied.

The brothers didn't say anything more about it. They all stood up and headed to their own rooms on the second floor.

Khloe peeled off her clothes and headed into the bathroom. She stood still under the cold shower as the tears she had been holding back all day ran down her cheeks, mixing with the water.

As much as she had been trying to act like she didn't care, she still couldn't help wondering why her mum was this way towards her. She had never asked how Khloe was. She had never asked what she was feeling. It was always, "How rich are they?"

After about thirty minutes of not moving under the shower, Khloe finally turned off the water and stepped out. She dressed in her usual baggy clothes, went downstairs, grabbed a plate and dished some food for herself, then returned to her room and locked the door.

— TWO DAYS LATER —

Surprisingly, the boys hadn't driven off without her today, even though she was three minutes late. She had expected them to ditch her again, like the first day, but instead she found them waiting in the Mercedes S-Class outside, with Eric behind the wheel this time.

Maybe they were in a good mood today or whatever. She didn't care to think about it that much.

She opened the back door and found Ryan and Leo sitting there. She paused for a moment, staring at them, expecting Ryan to scoot over to Leo's side so she could sit by the edge. He didn't move.

"Aren't you getting in?" Desmond frowned from the front seat.

"Ohh..." Khloe climbed across Ryan and sat between him and Leo. She placed her backpack on her lap and tucked her elbows in, trying to take up as little space as she could. Her AirPods were already in her ears.

None of the brothers said a word after that, and Eric drove out of the estate.

Apart from this, nothing different had happened in her life. At school, the whispers never stopped. The pointing fingers never stopped. Even the bullying never stopped. She stayed quiet through it all, trying as hard as she could not to react, even when she wanted to.

When they got to school, the students had something new to talk about: Khloe sat between the brothers.

Khloe managed to slip away from the crowd, pulling her hoodie cap, which already covered half her face, lower over her head.

The day went by in a blur, class after class with barely five minutes of break between them, and before they knew it, they were done with their last lecture of the day. Khloe remained in the theater hall where it had been held. She sat at the far end of the hall, her lyric book on the desk in front of her, scribbling away, her AirPods plugged in.

Over the past two days, the lyric book had barely left her hands. Between classes, in the library, even in a bathroom stall at lunch, she had written line after line, filling pages with everything she couldn't say out loud. It was the only place her silence could go. The pages were crowded now, the ink pressed so hard it had dented the sheets beneath. A few times she had caught people glancing at the notebook, then at her, and she would close it and tuck it away. Nobody had asked about it, and she hoped no one would. It was the only thing in this house, this school, this life, that was still hers.

Suddenly, she felt a presence in front of her. She looked up, thinking it was the brothers, only to see Indigo standing there, arms crossed over her chest, with some students behind her. Khloe rolled her eyes slightly and returned her gaze to the lyric book to continue what she was writing.

"And why were you sitting between the brothers today in the car?" Indigo asked, completely pissed off. Khloe ignored her.

"I'm talking to you!" Indigo snapped, snatching the book off Khloe's desk.

Khloe looked up as calmly as she could and muttered, "Give it back."

"Oh, since this looks important to the freak," Indigo laughed. "Let's see what you have in here." She began reading out the lyrics, laughing after every line. "What the fuck is all this? Do you think writing some pathetic little sad lines will make the boys look at you differently?" she mocked.

"Give it back," Khloe repeated, her calm expression breaking slightly.

"Or what?" Indigo dared. "You know what, let's see what you can do." She raised the book so everyone in the room could see.

"Indigo, don't..."

Before Khloe could finish her sentence, Indigo ripped the book into shreds, flinging the pieces at Khloe's face.

Khloe stared down at the torn papers, her expression darkening. Slowly, she got up and walked towards Indigo.