"And stupid Ellie was all over him all night!" Haley complained. "You should have seen her! She was practically giving Ryan a lap dance right then and there."

"Ewww gross," I said. "now that's a picture I would like to burn."

"Please," Haley said rolling her eyes. "you didn't see it."

"Gaaaaaaaaaah! Now I will be scared forever!"

Haley rolled her eyes again. "As if, I have way more scaring memories that Ellie and Ryan."

"Why do you hate Ellie all of a sudden anyways?" I asked Haley looking up from my magazine.

"Last night she growled at me! She! Ellie! Growled at me!"

"Okay?"

"She was questioning my judgement! My loyalties!" Haley yelled pounding a fist on the cashier counter.

"Woah Haley," I said quickly. "calm down. You might break the table."

Haley lifted up her fist and sure enough, there was a small indent of her fist on the wooden counter. "How strong are you?" I asked amazed.

"Stronger than I look," Haley said. There was an edge to her voice.

I brushed it off as being mad with Ellie.

Truth be told I don't like Ellie much either. She's kind of mean, she doesn't pay attention to anything or anyone and her aura of arrogance is twice as big as anyone else's. I frankly did not know why Ellie hung out with Conall, Haley, Ryan, and everyone else; she always struck me as the type to hang out with Cindy Owens and Aurora Rose. From how Nick described the two of them, Ellie was a perfect fit. So it puzzled me when later in the day when Haley and I met up with everyone else that Ellie was in the seat next to Ryan.

We were now at Godmother's sitting in one of the tables in the back.

"So Red," Nick said. "what have you been up to with that idiot whats-his-face that came into the bookstore a couple days ago? Hope you're not cheating on me."

I rolled my eyes. "Just been hanging out with George, Marcus, and Kelsea since none of you guys seem to like me enough to hang out with me."

"You've been hanging out with Marcus and Kelsea?" Evan asked in disbelief.

"Let me guess," I said tiredly. "long time enemies, hate each others guts, and now are thinking up ways to stop me from hanging out with them."

"It's like she can read minds!" Evan said.

I smiled and took a sip of the lemonade in front of me.

They always knew what to say.

"Well at least your not cheating on me," Nick said wrapping his arm around my shoulders."

I gave him a smug look and took another sip of my lemonade. "oh no," I told him, "I'm cheating on you."

Nick looked at me in then shock and then turned to Conall. "Look at this! They're brain washing her!"

Conall rolled his eyes. "Lay off her," Conall said. "you guys aren't actually dating."

Nick smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. "But I know who want's to date her."

Smack!

Conall had thrown his wrapped up fork, knife, and napkin at Nick, which hit him straight n the face.

"I never said it was you!"

Nick removed his arm from around my shoulders.

"You don't live here," Haley whispered from the seat to my right. "you can stop being friends with them whenever you want."

I looked at both Nick and Conall. Nick had somehow found a bowl of peas and him and Matthew - who was to his left - were launching peas at Conall.

"I might have to do that," I whispered back to Haley.

We laughed and watched the war between Conall, Nick, and Matthew. It was actually becoming pretty decent. Conall had stolen the little thing of packaged salts and would rip the top of of them before launching it at Nick and Matthew. Or course, that just lead to a bigger mess on the table and I wondered if we would be kicked out for this. Probably.

And just as I was thinking that someone cleared there throat behind me.

I turned around to be face to stomach with a tall elderly woman with grey hair and a red shirt on.

"Are you dears ready to order?" She asked kindly. She didn't even ask about the mess.

"I would like a grilled cheese sandwich," Haley said.

"BLT," I said.

"Hamburger," Ryan said.

"Salad," Ellie said. She was sitting on Ryan's lap.

How she got there was a mystery.

"A french dip sandwich," Fred said.

"And three roast beef sandwiches," Conall said.

The waitress wrote all of our orders down on a pad and then left with a friendly smile. When I turned back the table was clear of salt and peas and Nick bowl of peas had mysteriously disappeared.

No one else acknowledged that something weird had happened so I decided to keep my mouth shut.

"So, have you talked to Kate lately?" Haley asked.

"Yah," I said, "she's doing good, holding up the fort in San Fransico. I think she said that she was going to send me a box of Ghirardelli chocolate. So now I have something to look foreword to."

"And share with a certain Haley?"

"Hmmmm," I said pretending to be thinking about it. "well, sharing is caring."

"Yes it is."

"So, I suppose I can share some of it with you."

Haley smiled. "Thank you."

"But you better not tell anyone else because I actually want to eat some of the chocolate Kate will send me."

"Nah," Haley said waving her hand. "you don't need any of that stuff."

"Then you don't get any either."

"Oh no, you need chocolate all the time. Chocolate makes the world go round and not all flat like Columbus and ancient people thought."

"Yah. And even if you did fall off the end of the world in a boat, couldn't you just like fly off into space and be like a space pirate," I said.

"That would be awesome!" Haley exclaimed. "Im-"

"Hey guess what!" Nick interrupted. Haley glared at him. "My favorite animal is a wolf!"

Haley and I just stared at him.

I turned his head away with my hand and then faced Haley once more. "You were saying," I said.

"Never mind," Haley said, "Nicks idiocy made me forget what I was about to say."

"Here comes the food," Evan announced.

And sure enough or elderly waitress came back and gave us all our lunches and left with a big smile. Ellie scowled down at her salad.

Was she really mad at her salad?

"What's wrong with your salad, Ellie?" Fred asked her.

"It's too leafy," Ellie said.

"Are you serious," Evan said rolling his eyes.

"You're worse than Cindy and Aurora," Fred said with a groan.

"Are you sure?" Nick asked. "I don't really know if anyone could be worse than stuck up Aurora Rose."

"What about Cindy's stepsisters?" Conall asked.

"Oh my Gosh! They're horrible. You guys win, someone can be worse than Aurora Rose," Nick said.

"Will Aurora Rose always be your example for a mean stuck up girl?" I asked Nick.

He nodded. "Pretty much, yah."

"That seems a bit harsh," I pointed out. "she could be a misunderstood sweet girl."

"She's just like Ellie, she's not misunderstood and she's bitter," Nick said quietly to me.

I turned away from Nick and looked at Ellie. Ellie was still on Nicks lap and eating her salad while Ryan was trying to find some way to eat his hamburger without it dripping on him and Ellie. I knew Ellie was bitter and not very friendly but as I looked at her, she seemed a bit sad. Maybe she was just misunderstood. Maybe this was all a cover and there was actually nothing wrong with Ellie at all.