Jason's Issues, Ella's Problems
Jason had only wanted one thing. One stinking thing. He had thought that it was enormously obvious. A birdhouse.
Sure he knew how to make himself a birdhouse, but he had asked Shane to make him one because he thought that, while Shane was changing for the better, it would be nice. He thought that Shane would've made him one after he changed.
But nooo…Shane Gray can't take the time to make his fellow band mate and best friend a simple birdhouse. Just a simple one is all. It's not like he wanted a bird mansion, just a bird house.
And then Shane had fallen in love with Mitchie. Jason had brought up his birdhouse to her, since he recently found out that her dad owned a hardware store. He thought that both Shane and Mitchie could work on the house, since two hands are better than one, but Mitchie and Shane would sit in the canoe on Lake Rock, spinning in circles, whispering cute little things in each others' ears, giggling and laughing.
He told just about everyone he knew, anticipating his birthday. One of them was bound to give him a birdhouse then. Of course they would. He had dropped enough hints. He had left Bird Digest magazine copies in their suitcases, marking interesting topics about peacocks, finches, and eagles. He had done just about everything a rock star could do.
But it hadn't been enough.
Finally his birthday had arrived. Everybody was hanging out at Shane's loft. When Connect Three wasn't on the road, Shane owned a loft in New York City. He liked to get away from L.A. Shane had gotten Mitchie, Tess, Caitlin, Ella, Peggy, Barron, and Sander to fly out for a week. They were all laughing and having fun. Jason went to get his coat instead. He didn't feel like hanging out here. Too many painful memories about what they…could've given him.
"Hey buddy. Where you going?" Sander asked him as he headed for the front door. Jason looked over at them. They had all stopped talking and were now looking at him.
"Out. Anybody need anything? You know, never mind. I'm not going to be coming back anytime soon. So I get a giant pretzel from Central Park, and you don't! Ha!" he yelled at them before leaving, slamming the door behind him.
All the teens looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged. Jason was always going to be the weirdest of Connect Three.
But Ella felt differently about Jason. She always had. He kind of understood her. He had helped her finally chose the right shade of nail polish, and he had always been there for her to just talk to. She had actually read the issue of Bird's Digest that he had left in her suitcase on the plane ride home from camp last summer. He was right. Bird's were actually very interesting. Ella felt as if they were forgetting something. She thought for a moment, before picking up a bird magazine.
She flipped through a couple of pages, highly fascinated with everything she was reading about. After she had read the issue Jason had given her, she had subscribed to it. This was a brand new issue that he hadn't even read yet. She could tell, because all the pages were fresh, clean, and new.
That's when she realized that everyone was staring at her in, well, shock.
"What?" she asked simply as she turned the page and gawked as she saw an ostrich head butting a lion. It said in the article next to it that with a mere head but, an ostrich could shatter a lion's skull if done right.
They all looked at each other as Ella continued to read the article. None of them had known that she had read that magazine.
Suddenly, Ella let out a gasp.
"What? Did you find out that hummingbird's get very hyper if you feed them sugary drinks?" Barron snickered. Ella shook her head slowly. Then she looked up at them.
"You know that birdhouse Jason wanted? What if he was expecting to get one on his birthday?" she asked them.
Shane shook his head, his arm around Mitchie. "No. He only wanted one while I was at camp, but I didn't have time to make him one. He forgot all about it."
"Maybe that's what he was so upset about," Ella pointed out cleverly. They all thought about it.
"But still. We have plenty of time until his birthday," Nate pointed out. Ella shook her head.
"Look at your cell phones." They all did as she said. "Now look at the bottom of this page."
Again they did as she said. There, at the bottom of the page, was Jason's photo, and next to it were the letters "Happy Birthday, Jason!" in large, bubbly letters. Apparently, he had signed up for the ultimate package, and then you got your name in the magazine on your birthday. There were dozens of other birthdays for the rest of the month, but Bird's Digest was obviously very proud to have Jason of Connect Three featured in their magazine, considering his picture was bigger than everyone else's.
Today was his birthday. They looked up at Ella, and she nodded knowingly.
"It's too late to get him a present now, but if we can find something before…before…" she stammered on as she turned the page.
"Ella, what were you going to say?" Peggy asked her. Ella smiled broadly as she looked up at them.
"Guys. I've got the perfect present. Mitchie, we're going to need lots of stuff from your dad's hardware store. Barron, we're going to need your dad and the rest of his construction workers out here for the next couple months. Tess and Shane, we're going to need you guys to hook us up with a flock of birds. Lots and lots of birds…" Ella stated the commands. She was glad she was in charge.
………….
Jason was sitting in Central Park, eating a pretzel. He sighed as he looked at the beautiful birdhouse. It was red, with beige trim. It was beautiful. And there were also many different bird's around it. Most of them were, as he classified from all his years of bird watching, yellow finches; one of his favorite.
He sighed again and felt something on his shoulder. He turned his head, and there on his shoulder, was a yellow finch, looking down at his pretzel with beady eyes. The small bird looked up at him with pleading eyes. Jason let out a gentle chuckle as he tore off a small piece of the pretzel and gave it to the bird. The bird nodded a thank you, and flew off to a nest that was close to the birdhouse, but not too close. The nest looked peaceful. And as Jason watched longer, he could see a few tiny baby birds' heads pop out of the nest.
He sighed, now content. He had always found peace when he was around birds.
He sighed again, suddenly sad. That was why he had wanted a birdhouse from his friends. It would mean so much more to him than if he just made one himself.
Still. Maybe they weren't his real friends. It's not like they cared enough to make him a simple work of art such as a birdhouse. He didn't even care if it was totally deformed, just as long as it was a birdhouse. At this point, he was so desperate he wished that they would just buy one for him. Anything. He heard footsteps just then. He looked up and saw Ella.
She walked over to him shyly, timidly. She was holding her bag close to her. Jason had always thought that Ella was very pretty. With her long, black hair and her perfectly shaped nails; everything really. And she wasn't exactly the smartest person that ever walked the earth, but she knew things that some people didn't. She knew what it felt like to be the odd one out, and that was something Jason liked about her. She was always there to talk to.
"Hi Jason," she whispered as she sat down next to him. She was still a good foot away from him though. He wished that she would come a little bit closer. He didn't like distances. But he just nodded and continued looking at the birdhouse by the tree.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her after a few moments of silence. Jason hated silence. "How did you know I was here?"
"I came to say I was sorry," she whispered again. Jason had to lean closer to catch the last few words over the ruckus people in the park were causing. He could hear the fear in her voice. He didn't know what there was to be afraid of. Sure, he was angry, but he would never hurt Ella.
"Why? What do you have to be sorry for?" he asked her, truly wondering. Finally she looked up at him.
"I'm sorry I forgot your birthday," she told him quickly before looking down again. He froze, his hand in mid-air as he was about to reach out and grab her arm. He dropped in slowly. "And I brought you something."
Jason watched as she reached into her over-sized bag and pulled out a book of some sort. As she handed it to him, he realized that it was his latest edition of Bird's Digest. He hadn't read it yet. She smiled over at him before flipping open to a certain page and pointing at the top. When he looked, he saw his picture and next to it, in big letters "Happy Birthday Jason!" He smiled as he remembered that he ordered the super-package, honorable birthday mention included. He had been too upset to remember.
He smiled at Ella. "Thank you," he told her as he pulled her into a tight hug.
Ella smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder and breathed in his scent. He smelled like cheese and pretzel—which would make sense since he had just eaten one. But cheese and pretzel had never smelled so good…
……………..
Two or three weeks later, Ella and the gang were all working on Jason's present. She had ripped out the page with the idea on it. She knew that Jason was going to love this present.
Next week was Nate's birthday. Everybody knew exactly what he wanted. He had told them each a different thing. Jason, however, wasn't getting Nate what he wanted. Since Nate didn't have time to make him a birdhouse and instead gave him a pack of gum and a manly hug as birthday presents, Jason was making him a birdhouse in the shape of a guitar. Very artsy and crafty. He hoped that Nate hated it. He could consider it payback for not getting him a birdhouse.
Nate had gotten everything he wanted for his birthday. Jason had insisted that he open his present for him last, so he did. He opened Shane's and found a model of a Volkswagen bus in a collectible box. He needed that for his collection. As strange as it may sound, Nate loved collecting model cars. He had a special room for them and everything. He had been collecting him since he was little. His grandfather had left a bunch behind after he had died.
Finally Nate went to open Jason's present. Everybody was wondering what Jason got him. Even though he wasn't the smartest person to ever walk the earth, he knew when to pick up a hint. Nate hadn't even bothered telling Jason what he wanted, because Jason already knew.
Nate undid the wrapping paper only to reveal a large box. He threw the lid open, grinning from ear to ear. His smile faded. Everyone shot him a confused look.
"Uhhh…thank you?" Nate said. Jason smiled and nodded approvingly. Everybody looked into the box. There was the guitar-shaped birdhouse, lying on bubble wrap.
Everybody shot Jason a funny look before he shrugged, smiled once more, and left the loft.
They all turned to Ella. She shrugged and grinned.
"I think it's very thoughtful. I mean, who, other than Jason, could make a guitar-shaped birdhouse look so good?" she pointed out optimistically.
"No, no, she is very right," Tess said, her finger on her chin. She looked like an art critic. "If you don't want it, I can give it to my mom, and she can sell it for millions. Jason can make birdhouses for a living! After he's done being a rock star, of course."
She held her hand out to grab the birdhouse, but Nate pulled it backwards.
"No! It's mine!" he said greedily, stroking the side of it. Everybody knew that he was imitating Jack Sparrow. "Ow! Splinter!" He glared at the door and mumbled, "Jason didn't sand it enough…"
They rolled their eyes and laughed.
………
Jason made birdhouses for everybody's birthdays. All the girls appreciated them, but the guys were getting kind of annoyed. Why wouldn't they? Who, other than Jason would want a birdhouse for their birthday, a day that was supposed to be special in every way? Instead of getting something nice like a gift card to Best Buy or a couple of new CD's, he got them a house where an entourage of birds could sit around, eat, and take a dump. Yea, just what they always wanted. Still, they stayed happy.
Ella's was the last birthday to roll around. She hated her birthday. Every year, her parents would forget. She was adopted. Her mother and father had died in a tragic plane accident when she was young. She never said anything to her current parents because she knew that they were busy and that she was lucky to be with them at all. It's not as if they treated her badly. She had also never told her friends that she was adopted, either. And her adoptive parents would always make up forgetting. Ella was turning 16 this year. She had been dreading this day ever since she was young. Whenever it got close to her birthday, she would get quiet and hang around by herself more often. Around her birthday, all she wanted was to be alone. She thought about Jason. She almost wished that she was him. She never told anyone when her birthday was, until one day she was stuck.
Everybody was chatting happily. Ella's birthday was the very next day. She didn't know why she had agreed to go out with everyone. Luckily, nobody was paying attention to her anyways. They were all out on the dance floor of the teen club they were visiting. She sat off by the sidelines, watching longingly as Jason danced with a girl with beautiful red hair. She sighed. She wasn't jealous, but Jason was smiling and flirting with the girl. She closed her eyes. She just wanted to leave. She stood up from the stool and walked out onto the dance floor over to her friends. They smiled as she walked out to greet them.
"Hey, Ella! Finally you've come to dance with us! Come on! Help us beat the guys in a dance off!" Mitchie yelled over the music. All the friends had just been discussing a dance off, girls versus guys. But Ella didn't want to. She just wanted to leave.
She shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I'm not feeling so great. I think I'll just go back to the loft and relax!" she shouted over the music. A look of concern crossed over her friends' features. They all looked at each other in surprise. Ella was always up for a good dance off. But before they could say anything else on the subject, Ella was already weaving her way through the crowd and out the back door.
…………………
Ella flipped slowly through some old issues of Bird's Digest. She just wasn't tired. She wasn't paying attention to the magazine though. She was thinking about her birthday. She just wanted to stay in for her birthday. Locked in her room, that is. She had to stay isolated whenever it came to her birthday, or else she would get mad. And not just the type of mad she was when she was backstage at Final Jam telling Tess that her lip gloss wasn't glossy anymore, but a fiery goddess that you shouldn't mess with unless you wanted to end up in the emergency room. She had knocked a kid unconscious the year before on her 15th birthday when he had invaded her personal space. She didn't want that to happen again this year.
She didn't even hear all her friends come through the front door, even though they were laughing hysterically. Ella was off in another world, wishing she were flying with the toucans and the parakeets. She also didn't hear the knock on her door, which she had forgotten to lock.
"Ella?" Shane asked, still laughing as he cracked the door open, all his friends in tow. She jumped at his words, grabbed the bat next to her futon, and jumped into standing position, ready to attack.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm not gonna hurt you!" Shane said, laughing at her. Everybody else laughed along. Ella chewed her gum with her mouth wide open. She always did this when she was getting into a bad mood. It sounded like a cow clomping around in mud, but she couldn't hear it. Too many thoughts were running rampant around her head. Angry thoughts. They were laughing at her.
Everybody stopped as they heard a strange noise. They realized the sound was coming from Ella. She chomped her gum loudly, a look of anger across her petite features as she held the bat tightly, her knuckles turning white. They stared at her. She didn't slow down; she only sped up. She was chewing at the speed of light. They were amazed that it didn't just fall out of her mouth. Then she used a voice they had never heard her use before.
"Get out," she said slowly, her voice a low rumble. They all took a step back, but Shane took a step forward. Mitchie pulled on his arm. He yanked it out of her grasp and walked towards Ella. She tightened every muscle in her body, ready to strike if she had to. It didn't matter that Shane was a good friend of hers. She would throw that bat at her dog if it came too close to her close to her birthday.
"No. Ella, what's wrong?" he asked, his voice protective. Ella growled. Shane looked at her in surprise. "Did you just growl at me?"
Her jaw clenched. "Get…out…now. Nothing's wrong. And even if something, were, it's nothing you could help me with."
Everybody stared at her in amazement. Mitchie took a step towards Shane.
"Baby, leave her alone?" Her voice was quivering. The statement came out as a pure question. She didn't look at Ella. Shane turned his head to Mitchie and saw the look of fear on her face. He hated to see her scared like this. He'd talk to Ella tomorrow. Maybe she was just tired. He nodded.
"Okay. We'll check on you tomorrow. Just get some sleep, okay?" he asked her, extending his arm to her to help her down. She stared at it and chomped louder and harder. She grunted in response. He pulled his hand away slowly and walked backwards towards his friends, afraid to turn his back on Ella. Then another noise filled the room. Jason's guitar solo in Play My Music. They all jumped except Ella, who just turned her head to look at the phone sitting on her desk. She looked at them before jumping off the bed, bat still in hand, and answered her phone, accidentally putting it on loud speaker.
"Hello," she asked, her eyes still on her friends, who were huddled in a circle, hoding each other close.
"Happy Birthday!" her parents said through the phone. Ella stopped chewing and her head whipped to stare at the phone.
"We know that we're a day early, but we didn't want to forget…again. I can't believe you're 16!" her mother said. Ella began to shake.
"We sent you a present, that brand new phone you wanted. You should get it tomorrow, perfect timing!" her father said giddily. Ella shook even more violently, chomped her gum, and her nose began to twitch.
Her friends stared at her, surprised by her attitude and surprised that she hadn't mentioned her birthday to them.
"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear…" Ella didn't let her parents finish. She let out an angry scream and threw the phone against the wall. The phone cover smashed. Everybody jumped back, each of the girls cowering in a guys arms. The guys were scared too, and they weren't afraid to let it show. Their eyes went wide.
Ella let out an angry yell, walked over the phone, and began smashing it with the bat.
When she finished, she sighed and leaned against the wall. She slid down it slowly, closing her eyes. Her friends tried to process what they had just seen. This was a poseur, not Ella.
Ella realized her friends were still there. Her head snapped up.
"Get the hell out of here!" she screamed, causing them to scurry. She slammed the door behind them and turned around, ready to flop onto her bed. But she gasped as she came face to face with…