CHAPTER II
A few weeks later, Ella was showering in the trailer park's communal showers. It was a small shack on the campgrounds that only had a little bit of hot water and only some used at a time, located near the camp charcoal pit. It wasn't the nicest shower in the world, but in Ella's opinion, just about any place on Earth was more hygienic than inside her stepsisters' trailer.
As she finished showering, she felt heat from outside. She stuck her head outside the door to see a young, blonde woman was started a charcoal fire.
"Uh, hi," Ella awkwardly said.
The blonde woman turned around.
"Oh, hi. Sorry, I didn't realize someone was in there. I was just checking the charcoal pit."
"No one ever uses that thing."
"Well, I was hoping to change that. My parents own this trailer park. Anyway, they just promoted me to manager and I was thinking it would be nice to spruce this place up. Especially now in the summer. Maybe we can have some campfire nights and really build a community. Uh-I'm guessing you're a resident here?"
"Yes."
"I should get to know all the residents, now that I'm managing the place. My name's Kitty."
"Ella."
"Good to meet you, Ella. Wanna come out here and give me a hand?"
"Well, I'm kinda naked."
Kitty laughed.
"Whoops. Sorry, I should've realized. I mean duh, people tend to be naked when they shower."
Ella smiled; Kitty was a bit on the ditzy side, but it was endearing.
"Look away for a minute, Kitty, and I'll join you."
Kitty did so as Ella reached for her towel, dried up, then got dressed before exiting the shack.
"Okay, you can turn around now."
Kitty smiled at her and taught her a bit about the charcoal pit. The two got to work getting a fire going, and soon Kitty began laughing.
"What's so funny?" Ella asked.
"You've gotten cinders on your face," Kitty said, and Ella realized she had.
"Well, you can't have someone standing in front of a charcoal pit on a windy day and really be surprised, can you?"
"No," Kitty said, laughing, "The cinders looks good on you, Ella."
The two shared a few more stories.
"I wanna do a real good job running this place," Kitty said, "Prove to my parents I can be a manager. One day this glorious park will be mine."
"I know what you mean," Ella said, "One day, I'm going to go back to school, finish my one year left, and do more with my life."
"I guess I would lose you as a resident then."
"You'd have me as a friend."
"Well, if I do end up making these campfire nights a thing, you'd definitely be invited."
Finally, they said goodbye, and Ella walked back to the trailer. She kept thinking how pretty Kitty was, and how genuine she had been. Maybe a little on the scatterbrained side, but it was cute.
As she sat in the trailer that night, she kept thinking about how much she really liked Kitty a lot. Maybe she's go by the manager's office, when she looked a lot nicer and didn't have cinders all over her face.
Right at that moment, the trailer door slammed and Carly and Driz walked in.
"Ella! We're home. We did a lot of hiking today and our socks are really sweaty. Come, take our shoes off."
"I'm a bit tired, guys," Ella said, trying to be friendly. But Carly picked up her tone right away.
"Ella's in love!"
"Uh, no-"
"Yes, she is! I know the face of someone in love when I see it. Not that anyone would love you back."
Meanwhile, Driz wasn't in a good mood.
"Will you take my shoes off already? Ella, didn't we agree you would do anything we'd ask?"
"C'mon, guys, let's treat each other like adults. I've been here for a few weeks now. My stuff is all here. You aren't seriously going to throw me out over something as silly as not taking your shoes off for you."
Driz did not like being talked back to. So she took her shoe-
-and then shoved it in Ella's face.
"Smell that, Ella! Smell it!"
Ella gagged for air. There really were no words in the English language that could describe the smell of Driz's shoe; suffice to say, it was stinky.
"Driz, please-I-can't-breathe-"
"Now, Ella. All this talk about 'treating each other like adults' is going to stop. You're not our real sister. You're a stranger that we've allowed into our humble trailer out of the goodness of our hearts. You really think we would ever give a second thought about kicking you out with nowhere to go? Now, no more debate. Get to work."
And Ella got down on her knees. She took off Carly and Driz's shoes, followed by their nasty socks, and endured the smell.
"Get a good whiff!" Driz said, sadistically wiggling her toes right in Ella's face.
That night, the sisters slept in their bed while Ella slept as she normally did, on the pile of their dirty socks that had amassed on the floor. But even though she suffered, Ella kept thinking of Kitty and smiling, realizing that she was indeed in love. And with that, she drifted off to slumber.