Author's Note: Thanks JoJoJet and Promise-V. :D :D

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Linger
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Nine.
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Ellie beat her parents home Friday night, as she knew she would. And she ended up crashing on the couch -- crying herself to sleep. She was eventually woken up by her father, who half-carried, half-led her up to her bedroom, and she was surprised that he didn't ask questions -- she could still feel the tears on her face. Her last sleepy thought before she drifted off was that he probably thought she'd been crying about being grounded -- parents could be like that sometimes.

Saturday seemed to drag by -- she stayed in bed, moodily staring at the ceiling, or she'd occasionally go to her desk and attempt one question of her homework, before returning to Buttons. She couldn't stop thinking about him and his smug smirk, his naturally husky tone -- on one end of it, she was completely pissed at him, angry that he'd played with her, and she never wanted to see him again (or so God help him if she did, he would regret it), but on the other, she missed him more than imaginable.

As she took a shower that night, she noticed that her wrist had bruised -- he'd been holding her more roughly than she remembered, and she could make out where his fingers had been. She touched it gingerly, wincing slightly at the small pain that came with it, and then she had to smile. Was his face bruised? Did it hurt when he touched it?

She woke early on Sunday morning -- real early, around four. She'd fallen asleep close to midnight, and despite only getting about three and a half hours of sleep, she felt wide awake. She ended up getting up and going to the kitchen -- not really that hungry, but bored. As she started slicing up an apple, her mind once more drifted -- it'd been doing so a lot lately.

How was she going to tell Liz what'd happened? She was sure Ashley, since she went to Degrassi, would hear about it from Jay and his friends, but that didn't make her feel any better. Both girls had been right about him, but Ellie had blindly defended him. She shook her head angrily to herself -- she couldn't believe it, things just went from bad to good to completely horrible.

She suddenly gasped out as the blade she was using cut into her finger. She dropped the knife, walking to the sink to rinse out her cut, but before she could turn on the water, she'd glanced at it. It was somewhat deep -- as her mind had been off in LaLa Land -- and a bead of blood rose from it slowly, before sliding around the pad of her finger and dripping into the sink. It was hypnotizing -- the way it started to trickle out of her faster -- such a small line was producing more blood than she'd thought.

But the best thing about it -- it made her feel better. It was as if someone had taken scissors to her balloon of emotions -- they'd punctured it, and all her bad thoughts had coming zooming out. All her internal pain was momentarily forgotten as she watched the crimson drip out of the wound, making soft pitter-patter noises against the sink.

Ellie glanced back at the knife, which lay crooked on the counter, above her plate of apple slices. One of the street lights outside was the only light she'd been using -- along with the small one from the refrigerator -- and it seemed to create an unearthly glow on the silver blade, as if calling her to it.

"Ellie?"

The overhead light snapped on, and Ellie jumped, looking over to find her father.

"What are you doing this early?" He asked her sleepily.

Ellie quickly turned on the cold water and held her throbbing finger under it. "I couldn't sleep," she answered truthfully, "So I came down to get something to eat." She nodded at her plate of apples.

Mr. Nash neared her, glancing at her hand. "Cut your finger?" He asked.

She nodded, and he reached for the cabinet that they kept medicines in -- aspirin, sinus pills, NyQuil, Tums, et cetera -- and he pulled out a box of band-aids. As she dried her hands, he opened one up for her, and she let him put it on her, briefly feeling like she were eight-years-old again.

"Don't see why you had to use such a big knife," he said, somewhat scolding and somewhat playful.

She smirked. "You know how I like to live on the edge, Dad," she said.

He threw away the band-aid trash, and Ellie returned to her apples to finish cutting them up, after rinsing the knife. Mr. Nash leaned his hip against the counter and watched her for a moment, arms crossed over his chest.

"Is everything alright Ell?" He asked.

She glanced at him, trying to nod, but sure it looked more like she was having a seizure. She couldn't blame her father for noticing that something was wrong -- she'd tried not to mope around, but to no avail. She finally sighed, and set the knife in the sink.

"Uh...just some things...going on," she said slowly -- when she'd been younger, she used to talk to her dad about everything. Usually with kids, it was the mother who listened and gave advice, but with Ellie, it'd always been her dad.

"Want to talk about them?"

She side-glanced him again, before grabbing her plate and nearing the island counter. She pulled herself onto a stool, and busied herself with stacking her apple slices -- she had to play with her food before she could eat it.

"Could you...keep them secret?" She asked.

He sat in the stool across from her, not saying anything for a moment. He suddenly asked, "It's a boy, isn't it?"

She had to smile at his accuracy, and she nodded. "Yeah, Dad," she said, "It's a boy..."

And Jay Hogart was a secret to her father no more. She ended up telling him everything -- even about sneaking out to the ravine to spy on him -- for which she apologized profusely and begged him not to tell her mother. Surprisingly, Mr. Nash was really cool throughout it -- he promised to keep it a secret, and he didn't get mad at her for sneaking out. He got more angry at Jay -- said a few colorful curses about him, before saying that if this boy knew what was best for him, he'd stay far away from the Nash household.

"So...you're not gonna punish me?" Ellie asked, as outside the sky started to turn a light shade of blue -- the sun was on the rise already, and it was amazing how fast the time had flown.

Mr. Nash shook his head. "No," he answered, "I don't blame you for skipping school and whatnot -- it was your mother's idea to send you to that place. You're just doing what everyone else wants to do at your age." He pointed a finger at her, "However," he added, "I'm not giving you permission to do it again."

Ellie quickly nodded. "Wouldn't dream of it," she said.

He smiled, before sliding down from his stool. He walked around to her and slipped an arm over her shoulders, giving her a hug. "Finish your apples and go back to bed, Ell," he said, "And don't let this boy ruin your life -- from what I hear, he isn't worth it."

Ellie smiled and nodded, and he disappeared from the kitchen. Her smiled faded though, and she looked at the small window above the sink. She felt loads better after telling him everything, but she couldn't get Jay out of her head -- there was no way she could just walk away from him, as her father seemed to think was so easy. She shook her head, mostly at herself for being so pathetic when it came to him, and she stood up to throw away the rest of her snack.

Back in her bedroom, Ellie was laying on her side, staring at her bedside table. She stared so hard for so long that the red numbers of her clock had become blurred and distorted, but her main focus was what was next to the clock -- a pair of scissors, half open and gleaming in the ray of sunlight that had slipped through the crack in her curtains.

She kept thinking about the way her blood had dripped easily and steadily into the sink, they way that small pain had made her completely forget her problems -- at least for the moment. Her eyes drifted down to her left arm -- the purple bruise stood out harshly on her pale skin, and she was surprised her father hadn't seen it.

She suddenly reached over for the scissors, but as she grabbed them, she leaned over the side of her bed, and shoved them under the mattress and out of her sight. With a sigh of sorts, she rolled onto her stomach, and buried her head under her pillow.

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"What's wrong?"

Sometime before Ellie woke up, Mr. Nash had convinced his wife to give Ellie her phone back. She would have preferred to have the internet back, but beggars can't be choosers, she supposed. She also supposed that Liz had some sort of ESP, as she had called within an hour of Ellie getting her phone back, and against her better judgement, Ellie had answered it.

"What?" She asked.

"Come on," she said, "You think I can't tell when something's wrong with my best friend?"

"Uh...well," Ellie began slowly. She didn't want to say it, she'd admit. She didn't want to come out and say that Liz had been right all along. "Just some problems with my family, kind of. I can't really talk right now though -- can I call you later?"

The tone in Liz's voice made it clear that she knew Ellie was lying, but she said, "Yeah, sure. See you later, Ell."

Needless to say -- she didn't call Liz back.

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"Honey, just let her miss today."

Ellie could hear her parents talking outside her half-closed bedroom door. She was laying in her bed, moping around some more, and she'd just asked her mother if she could stay home today -- Monday. Of course, Mrs. Nash had been firmly against it, but Mr. Nash had come to save the day again.

"Just let her miss?" Her mother asked, sounding angry.

"She's having problems..." his voice faded slightly, as if he'd started whispering. "Please -- for me."

There was a silence, before Mrs. Nash said something unintelligible. Mr. Nash stuck his head in Ellie's room and gave her a half-smile, before disappearing. Her mother walked away without saying anything, and Ellie sighed in relief. She'd have to face Liz some time, but she just wasn't ready for that some time to be now.

Time seemed to go by in almost slow motion that day -- she dozed off a few times, watching soap operas, and she even had a dream about her life being just like one of those shows. She was a rich and classy girl in her dream, wearing a slinky red dress and diamond earrings, while Jay was the rugged, motorcycle-toting man of interest -- a liar, and a cheater that she was in love with. When she woke up, it was in time to see a man and woman fighting on the show.

"Soaps operas are weird," she said groggily, before changing to a cartoon.

It was around three when there was a knock at her door, and Ellie pushed herself off the couch, having to force her tired bones really. When she pulled open the door, she expected to see the mail man or something, a church-goer -- but instead, there was Ashley.

"Ashley?" Ellie asked, almost confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find out if it was true," Ashley said, smirking just slightly, "True that a St. Hilary's girl trashed Jason Hogart's car."

Minutes later, Ellie and Ashley were both sitting on her bed, and Ellie was telling her story. Ashley seemed to think it was hilarious that Jay's car had gotten ruined, but like a good friend, she expressed her sympathy when Ellie mentioned the fact that Jay was a liar. Ashley slipped an arm around Ellie's shoulders and gave her a little squeeze -- once more Ellie felt like they'd been best friends for ages.

"I'm sorry Ellie," she said, "I'd really hoped he had changed -- for your sake."

"Thanks," she said. "I just wish I'd listened to you and Liz."

Ashley shrugged. "Don't worry about it," she said, "I wouldn't have listened to me and Liz either -- you were just listening to your heart, as corny as that sounds."

Ellie nodded, grinning. "Yeah," she said.

A small silence blanketed them -- both girls seemed to be stuck in their own thoughts. Finally, Ashley sighed, and smiled.

"Say, you wanna go down to The Dot and get something to eat?" She asked.

Ellie shook her head. "No thanks," she said. "Besides, still grounded."

Ashley grinned. "Oh, right," she replied. Then she seemed to remember something. "Oh! I'm having a party this Saturday -- just a random get-your-friends-together type of thing, and I was hoping you could come." She stood up and searched through the pockets of her jeans, before producing an invitation. "Liz is gonna be there."

Ellie took the invite and glanced over it -- a black and red cat with a spiked collar decorated the front of it, while the back had all the information. She smiled -- she'd never really been invited to a party, minus the whole birthday party thing from elementary school. She looked back up at Ashley.

"Thanks," she said, "I'll definitely see if my parents can let me off the hook for this." She paused, "You don't think Jay would show up, do you?"

Ashley shrugged. "That's why I hope he hasn't heard about it," she said. "He'd come just for the sake of crashing it -- but don't worry," she grinned again, "I've got some friends that would have no problem chasing him off."

Ellie smiled again. "Thanks," she said once more. But she suddenly caught sight of the clock. "You should go -- if my parents came home and found I'd had a friend over, it'd be a total 'no' for your party."

Ashley laughed, giving her another hug, and moments later, Ellie was watching out her window as the brunette's car pulled away. Not five minutes after was her mother pulling into the driveway. Ellie quickly climbed back into bed -- wanting it to look like that's how she'd spent her whole day -- and she tried to think of a way to bring up the party.

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"So who's having this party?" Mrs. Nash asked, turning over the invitation again to look at the cartoony cat on it.

"Her name's Ashley...she doesn't go to St. Hilary's," Ellie added somewhat quietly.

As she knew it would, this made Mrs. Nash frown. The three of them were at the dinner table that night, and Ellie had said she'd found the invitation in the mail. Mr. Nash leaned over and took it from his wife, glancing down at it.

"I think it's a great idea," he said, "Especially because this girl doesn't go to Ellie's school." At Mrs. Nash's incredulous look, he explained, "It's great for Ell to be making friends outside of St. Hilary's."

Mrs. Nash raised her eyebrows, before nodding slightly. "That actually makes sense," she said. "What time is it?"

"Saturday," Mr. Nash read off of the invite, "Three o'clock to whenever you want to leave. Then there's a 'no later than eleven' in parenthesis."

Ellie bit back a laugh at the way he'd read that off, and he gave her a fatherly wink, catching the humor in it. Mrs. Nash seemed to not even notice. She paused for a long thoughtful moment before shrugging.

"I guess your punishment can end then," she smiled, "It's fine by me if you go."

And for the moment, Ellie had forgotten completely about Jay -- she hadn't realized how badly she'd wanted off punishment until now. She couldn't wait to tell Ashley that she could go.