"Of course! Ella read my diary!" Tess decided. She had found out that Ella knew all about her crush on Jason—even though Tess had been careful not to let a single person know. She replayed the events of the previous night in her mind. Ever since she met Jason, she thought that if she could kiss him, she would just be completely happy.
Tess had been so caught up in the moment. Of course, she had envisioned it a thousand times. She should have known that you can't rehearse something like that. She remembered how the moment that she put her arms around Jason, he pushed her back. Instead of backing away, she had pulled him into a kiss that barely lasted 3 seconds before Ella had seen them. These three seconds did not help Jason realize that he loved Tess. No, he realized that his relationship with Ella was now on the rocks. "If anything, he would never choose me over Ella. The only reason he would ever date me would be if Ella left. Forever." He surely hated Tess.
The sound of the someone pounding the screen of the cabin door awoke Tess from her thoughts. She got up and opened the door, afraid that it was Ella. Yet, somewhere deep within her heart, she was hoping that it was someone to rescue her. Preferably Jason.
It wasn't Jason. "Oh. It's you guys." Tess said dryly. "What do you want?"
"We were looking for Ella, is she back yet?" Nate said. Shane yawned as if he was bored. Tess took in Shane's good looks. He would be her second choice. "No, she's not."
"Stupid Jason. Imagine if the two got lost," Shane said in a concerned tone. Tess was taken by surprise. "Why does everyone care so much about Ella?"
"Why does Ella care so much about Jason?" Shane mumbled bitterly. "It's not like he cares about her."
Her eyes began to well up. She glared angrily at the two boys. Standing there, she waited for them to say something. Instead, Nate stared at her blankly and Shane was rolling his eyes. She scoffed, wondering why they weren't leaving."Just go away." She took a deep breath and gave a dissatisfied grunt. "Nobody cares about me. Only Ella. Ella this. Ella that!" She threw her hands up in an exasperated manner. She slammed the door, but Nate stopped it from closing.
"You have no right to dislike Ella," Shane responded out of nowhere. He was staring in Tess' direction, but was not really even looking at her.
"No right?" Tess snapped. "Everyone thinks that she's perfect! So I kissed Jason. And he pushed me away. I manage not to be swayed, and for three seconds I am happy. Then, everyone sees us kissing and Ella crying. All of the sudden, I'm the bad guy." She said, her voice trailing off.
"You are the bad guy. Did you see her face? It's pretty desperate that you planned a kiss with your best friend's boyfriend," Shane said with raised eyebrows. He began snickering.
"Well, So what?! What's done is done. I know Jason doesn't like me. You don't have to rub it in." She stopped and took another deep breath. "If it means that you'll leave me alone, okay, I'll say it. I threw myself at him."
She twisted a lock of her hair and ignored the two boys. "Let's go," Nate mumbled, pulling Shane away.
Shane followed Nate and did not say a work. He kicked rocks in his path. "Tess is really pretty," Shane commented, waiting for Nate to respond. "What's your point?" He asked suspiciously. "You don't...like Tess do you?" He asked, with his eyes wide. Glancing around, he began to ramble. "Of course. You've been acting pretty weird lately."
"I don't like Tess." Shane said in disgust.
"Well, that's right. Because you love Mitchie," Nate said, relieved. Shane stared at the ground, his footsteps matching Nate's. The two walked in silence.
"But. Hey," Shane said, giving Nate a light slap on the elbow. "Why doesn't Jason like Tess? I mean, she's pretty."
"And kind of a bitch." Nate added. He laughed a little and shrugged. Shane narrowed his eyes and stared at the ground. "Jason loves Ella." Nate said quietly, staring ahead of him and thinking. Shane stopped walking. Noticing this, Nate turned around and gave Shane a look. Something was wrong.
"Yes?" Nate asked, gesturing for Shane to spit it out. "Nate," Shane said looking up. "I think. No, I know, that I love Ella." He stood there, staring at Shane with a stricken face. "No, you don't."
"Yes, I do. I LOVE ELLA." Shane said, feeling full of life as he got it off his chest.
"You what?"
The two looked up, recognizing Mitchie's voice. They turned around and faced her. Shane gave her a helpless look. She stood there, holding two little cups of ice cream. Her face held mixed expressions. Her eyes grew large and glassy, but she was angry. "Mitchie, I'm so sorry," Shane said, not knowing if those were the right words.
Mitchie looked down at the ice cream in her hands. She debated whether or not to put it down and slap him. "You jerk," she finally said, hurling the ice cream in her left hand at the left side of his face. The cub smacked against his cheek and ice cream went in his ear, on his hair, and crept down his shirt.
"You deserve it," Nate said, watching as Mitchie stormed away.
Shane gave Nate a cold look and tried his best to shake the ice cream off his hair. It dripped, and his locks swept back and forth.
"Shane," Nate said seriously. "If you love Ella, then you need to forget about her."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Shane replied, reaching for the ice cream on the back of his neck and swiping it off. "I love her, and I'm going to tell her."
"No, you're not."
"Shut up, Nate. You're not going to tell me what I'm going to do," he said, glancing sideways at his friend. "But she loves Jason. And you can't change that. It would be best if she didn't know."
"So I just don't tell her about my feelings?"
"Because she'll never like you back. No matter how much you love her. It doesn't work that way, Shane."
"Yeah, right." Shane said laughing darkly. He wiped off his sleeves. "I'm not just going to sit here and let my heart break over Ella and let her stay with Jason."
"Why not? It's what she wants." Nate said. He took a deep breath and began walking again. "Besides." He started, "I did."
...
Ella looked at Jason's car with wide eyes. It was a shiny red and sparkled even in the dark. "No." she said at last, her voice hollow. "I'm not letting you drive me back. Not in that."
"What's wrong?" Jason said. There was a soft hum of other cars driving past them.
"Nothing," she insisted. She closed her eyes. The car looked exactly the same as Trent's. She recognized the headlights and the shiny finish. She remembered the loud sound it made as the windows crashed. How scary the bright red color turned when ambulance lights flashed upon it.
"Ella, you're trembling." He reached over, but she jumped back, realizing for the first time that she had tears running down her face. She quickly wiped them away despite the fact that she couldn't stop crying. He reached over and gave her a hug. She leaned against him, closing her eyes and trying to forget.
...
"You're safe." Jason said. She opened her eyes. They were in a coffee shop, she gripped her beverage tightly in her hand, feeling numb. Sighing, she looked over at his confused face. "You want to know what's wrong?" She gently asked.
"You can tell me anything." He insisted, and she tried her best to smile.
"Well, I went to therapy today." He nodded. "You probably don't know why I go to therapy."
She explained to him slowly. Retelling the stories of that night.
Ella sat silently as the rest of the party started getting wild. She coughed, knowing that she shouldn't have come to the party when she was sick. Stumbling over the crowd of people, she drowsily tried to find Trent. Seeing a flash of his hair in the montage of people, she quickly walked over to him, dodging drinks and snacks in her neighbors' hands. "Trent," she coughed.
He looked up like a deer caught in headlights. Everyone got quiet. She looked around confused, smiling because the silence was getting pretty awkward. "Trent. Can you please drive me home.?" He smiled weakly, and began leading Ella to the door. Some guys started hooting as they left.
"Wait," she pulled his arm back. "You haven't been drinking have you?"
"No way. Have you?" She raised one eyebrow a vigorously shook her head, feeling another cough coming on. He lead her to the car and opened the door for her, closing it after she got in.
"Who's Trent?" She looked at him uneasily. "My ex." she said at last. He nodded.
"Trent, you're driving really fast. Too fast." He shrugged like he couldn't understand her. Besides, the sound of the wind rushing by made it hard to hear anyway. She coughed, feeling her seat jerk forward. All of a sudden, she couldn't see, she screamed. The glass crackled and made a high pitched sound as they broke. She could feel the breath knocked out of her. Staying still, she did not want to move.
The first thing she saw as a wall. Why she was so close to one, she was not sure. There were lights. Everywhere, there was glass. The aching in her arm would not leave her alone. "Trent." she called. Where was he? Was he hurt? She couldn't remember what just happened.
"Tell me what happened," she pleaded to the closest hospital worker in white. The lights soon grew brighter, they were inside now. "Honey," the lady said with a deep accent. "We need to know your phone number. Can you give us that?"
She weakly recited it. "What happened to Trent?" She demanded. "The boy with you in the car?" the lady asked uneasily. "He's over there."
With all her effort, Ella turned, hoping he was okay. Of course he was, unscathed. He sat in the hospital lobby making out with her best friend. "Sweetheart. Please, lean back. The car crashed into a wall. Did you know that your friend over there was under the influence of alcohol?" From there, she closed her eyes and did not remember much about the rest of the night, except for the heartbreak, and the tears as she got stitches and x-rays.
Jason studied Ella as she finished the story. Sniffling, she took a sip of her drink. "He got us into an accident, and he left me there." She said, terrified. "You guys. Have the same car."
His knuckles turned white. He held Ella close, but was burning with fury. "It's okay, Ella."
She stared at him, her eyes threatening to tear. "No, it's not. Don't you see Jason? This is a sign. An omen, even. You two have the same car."
"No, it's not," Jason said, shaking his head, pleading with his eyes. They could not end it like this. "Ella, we love each other."
"I used to love Trent," she said, her mouth quivering.
"But I love you." This was when she started crying, her tears dripping into her beverage.
"Jason, I'll always love you. And you'll love me. But I don't know if we should go out."
"Ella, please." He put his hands over hers.
She gave him a weak smile. "Let's be friends. Jason, you're my best friend." The words seemed to burn. "No, please, Ella." She wiped away a last tear.
"Jason," she said. "We can walk away now, and never talk to each other again. But I don't want to let it happen." She stood up helplessly. "Please, don't go."
"I'll never desert you, Ella." he said, his heart aching. "And I'll be your best friend," he couldn't meet her gaze. "But I'll never stop loving you. And I want you to know that. If you can stand knowing that your best friend is in love with you..." he cringed. "Then, okay."
She grinned for the first time and threw her arms around him. "I really want to kiss you," she said, "but best friends don't do that." He nodded sadly. "I love you, Ella," he whispered.
AN: So. Jason & Ella break up. Shane & Mitchie break up. & what is this with Nate? Hmm. Please review for faster updates. (: