Sean shuffled nervously. "Hi, Ellie."
Ellie stood silently, having no idea what she should say. Luckily, Paige had recovered from her surprise and decided to let loose. "What the hell are you doing here? You think you can just drop in whenever you want after what you did to Ellie?"
Sean lost his nervous posture and stood up straight. "Excuse me? This is none of your business. Why don't you get lost?"
"None of my business? Ellie's my friend. Which is more than you can say. Where have you been these last few months, huh? You sure weren't around here." Paige got right in his face.
"Back off, Princess. You don't know anything about this."
"I know more than you think, you immature punk. I've been here."
"You need to get out of here. I wouldn't want to have to pop you one."
Paige sneered. "I'd like to see you try."
Ellie regained her composure and stepped between the two of them. "You both need to shut up." Paige and Sean moved away, both glaring at one another. Ellie sighed in relief. "Okay, you're both calm now."
Sean nodded in Paige's direction. "What is she doing here?"
Paige rolled her eyes. "You know what? I don't need-"
"That's enough!" Ellie interrupted them again and waited until they were silent. "Thank you. Paige, I think you'd better go. I need to talk to Sean alone."
Paige looked at her with concern. "Are you sure, hon?"
Ellie nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure."
"Okay. Call me if you need anything." Paige glared at Sean one last time before leaving. Sean slammed the door after her.
"Good. She's gone. Now, we can talk. Why is she even here to begin with?"
"That's none of your concern. You don't live here anymore, I do. And I'm allowed to have friends over."
Sean snorted. "Paige isn't a friend to anyone. Not unless she can get something out of it."
"Paige isn't important," Ellie said, shaking her head. "Why are you here? You haven't called in months and now you show up? Why?"
"I'm back, Ellie. I'm coming back. Living with my parents isn't working anymore."
"What? Are they drinking again? Or, did your girlfriend dump you and you decided to come back to poor, pathetic, waiting for you Ellie?"
Sean stopped short. "What girlfriend?"
"Don't play stupid with me. I went to Wasaga to see you and I saw you kissing some girl with brown hair."
"Kelsey? That- She's not my girlfriend."
"Whatever. It doesn't matter. You know why? Because it's been months since I've seen you. Hell, it's been months since I've gotten a letter or a phone call."
"I called!" Sean interjected. "Or, at least, I tried to. But I couldn't say anything."
"What? You called, but didn't say anything? During the last couple weeks?"
"Yeah, exactly."
"Oh, my god. You're so stupid!
"What?"
"Those stupid calls freaked me out. Hell, Ashley was convinced I was being stalked."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know what to say."
"It doesn't matter. It's too little, too late. I don't care. You could've called long ago. But you didn't. And, I'm done. It's over. I've got too much stuff to deal with in my life. I don't need you jerking me around."
"Ellie-"
"No. It's over. I want you to leave."
Sean shook his head. "No."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not leaving. This is my house. My brother's name is on the lease. You can't make me leave."
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me."
"No, I'm not."
"You don't seriously think-"
"What I think is that my brother signed the lease. I have the right to be here. And I'll talk to the landlord if I have to."
Ellie laughed. "You do that. He's been getting the checks from me for the past few months. I guarantee the lease doesn't mean anything to him."
Sean sighed in frustration. "What the hell am I supposed to do? I've got to live some place."
"Why don't you go ask Jay for a place to live? Aren't you guys best buddies?"
"I know all about Jay so shut up."
"Oh, did I touch a sore spot?"
"What is with you? Why do you have such an attitude? Is Paige rubbing off on you?"
"This has nothing to do with Paige. I'm just not going to let anyone mess with me anymore."
"Damn it, Ellie. You have to give me a break. What am I going to do? I'll be back at Degrassi tomorrow. I don't have time to look for a new place."
Ellie sighed. "I'm too nice."
"You're gonna let me stay?" Sean asked hopefully.
"This is not a permanent situation. Only for a little while."
"Yeah, sure, whatever."
"And you sleep on the couch."
"Of course."
Ellie groaned and walked out of the room, leaning against a wall. "What the hell are you doing, Ellie?"
-------------------------
The next morning at school, Ellie stood at her locker, shoving books in. "You seem happy. Anything exciting happen?" Marco stood next to her, grinning.
"Paige has a big mouth."
"Yeah, she does. So, Sean's back."
Ellie slammed her locker shut. "Yeah. And I'm the idiot who's letting him stay with me."
"What? Why?" Marco asked.
"Because he doesn't have anywhere else to go. I don't want him sleeping on the streets."
"Aw, you still love him," Marco teased.
Ellie slapped him on the head. "Yeah, you're funny. Go to class."
"See you, Ellie."
"Bye, Marco." Just as Marco walked away from her, Paige and Ashley came up on either side of her.
"Hi, guys."
"So, Ellie. What happened yesterday?" Paige asked.
Ashley rolled her eyes. "You don't have to tell us."
"Don't listen to her. You absolutely have to tell us."
"Paige! You totally don't. Not if you don't want to."
"It's fine, Ash. I know she's not going to drop it until I tell you anyway."
"Excellent. So, start spilling."
Ellie sighed dramatically as the three girls start walking to class. "Nothing really. He just- he said he's come back to stay."
"What?! He splits and hooks up with another girl, then thinks he can come back and everything will be the same? What an idiot."
"Yeah, no kidding. But I'm the one who told him he could stay for a while."
Both Paige and Ashley stared at her in surprise. "I know, it's stupid. But he just got back and doesn't have anywhere else to go."
"Let him sleep on the streets."
"Paige!"
"I should have. But anyway, I don't want to talk about it right now. School's the one place I can avoid him since we're in different grades. So, let's drop it, okay?"
"Okay." Ashley said, but Paige was silent.
"Paige?"
"Fine, fine. I'll drop it, too."
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