Ellie could feel the band-aid under her shirt. She had started carrying them in her backpack after the first time she had bled through her shirt at school. She was ashamed for what she had done. Since she had been talking with Ms. Suave, the feeling of regret overwhelmed her each time she cut.
Ellie entered Ms. Hatzilakos' class as she gripped her left arm. She didn't see Ms. Hatzilakos in the room, so she quietly took a seat. *I wonder if I should just tell her the truth.* Ellie unconsciously was scratching one of the cuts that was starting to heal through her shirt. *She won't believe me. It'll just sound like I'm trying to save my own skin.* Ellie began to rub the cuts more roughly as her anxiety built. *I wonder what she's going to say. I wonder what she's going to do! I can't believe I got myself into this!* She felt herself break the skin on one of her scabs, and immediately was brought back to reality. * Crap.* She looked around to make sure nobody was in the class, before grabbing another band-aid out of her bag, and quickly pulling up her sleeve. After she had put it on, she rolled her sleeve back down, and took a deep breath.
"Hello," Ellie was startled by Ms. Hatzilakos' voice.
"Hi Ms. Hatzilakos," Ellie stared down at her hands folded in her lap.
"Well, I don't know where exactly to start," Ms. Hatzilakos began as she sta down behind her desk, "But I found out that you've been seeing the school counselor."
Ellie straightened up. *I thought there was some sort of privacy policy.* Ellie waited for Ms. Hatzilakos to continue, but when she didn't Ellie asked, "Did she tell you anything?"
Ms. Hatzilakos shook her head, "No, I didn't ask. I just was wondering if you were suffering from stress."
*Is she trying to be one of those caring teachers?* Elie was unsure of how to react to the way Ms. Hatzilakos was acting, "Just the ususal teenage problems," Ellie shrugged.
Ms. Hatzilakos slowly nodded her head. *I don't think she would do something like this. I don't think she would steal from anybody. She definitely wouldn't break into my house.* Ms. Hatzilakos could tell Ellie was covering for somebody. She began, "So, Ellie, where did you find my bracelet?"
*Crap. Does she know or something? Where would Sean have gotten it? She knew it was missing today, so it must've been in her classroom. Maybe he didn't get it from the classroom, though.* Ellie closed her eyes as she let out a worried sigh, "Does it really matter?"
*She's covering.*Ms. Hatzilakos could tell that Ellie was lying. She just wasn't sure why. Ms. Hatzilakos watched as Ellie squirmed in her chair., "Ellie, are you sure you don't have something to tell me?"
"Could you just tell me what my punishment is?" Ellie almost pleaded. *I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to go home either. I just want this to be over. I can't tell her the truth now, and I don't think I want to. Sean's screwed up a lot, and I know that if his social worker found out about this, he would be gone. Tracker may not be the most reliable person in the world, but Sean needs him.*
"I'm going to tell you the truth, and Ellie, I hope you will do the same,"Ms. Hatzilakos tried to bargain, "This bracelet was stolen from my room. Not my classroom, but a room in my house. That would mean, to get this bracelet, you had to break into my house. Now, I know you were at all of your classes today, so I don't know when you would have found time to go to my house."
"I left at lunch, and came back before fifth period started," Ellie said evenly. *I really did leave at lunch and came back before fifth. At least I'm not lying about everything.*
Ms. Hatzilakos slowly nodded her head, "I know that there were ten students absent today. Three were in a grade ahead of you, two were in your grade, and three were in grade nine. I really don't want you to get in trouble for something you didn't do."
Ellie bit her lower lip, "Why does it even matter who did it? Just give me the punishment I deserve."
"Just tell me who did it, and I won't have to punish you; well, you do have a weeks detention for disrupting my class with profanity, but I won't have to tell the police that Ellie Nash stole from me."
Ellie covered her face with her hands, "Please Ms. Hatzilakos, just believe me! I did it! Nobody else!"
"Ellie, we're not leaving here until you tell me who stole from me!" Ms. Hatzilakos didn't mean to raise her voice, but she was getting angry that Ellie was lying to her.
"I don't want to ruin someone else's life," Ellie admitted. *She knows it wasn't me. I might as well just stop pretending.
"Then you will ruin your own life," Ms. Hatzilakos said quietly/. *It was probably those stupid kids that run around acting all bad.* She looked Ellie over, trying to find answers. *Who is in that gang . . .* Ms. Hatzilakos tried to think of the names. *Jay! That's one of them. Does Ellie know him? There has to be someone else in the same grade as Ellie that hangs out with Jay.* She cleared her throat, "Was it Jay? Ellie are you covering for Jay? Did you see something and he tried to bribe you to keep quiet?"
"No. It wasn't Jay," Ellie said truthfully. *I should just tell her.* Ellie sat up straighter, "What would you do to the person if I told you his name?"
*Well, now I know for sure that it's a guy. It must be someone who hangs out with Jay.* Ms. Hatzilakos tried to think of a punishment, "I guess it all depends on what he stole, Ellie. If he comes clean, and gives me back my things, then I might I just give him a short suspension for skipping school."
Ellie nodded her head. *Maybe he wasn't the only one. I don't think Sean would break into a house by himself. Jay and Towerz were probably involved. Ellie sighed, "Okay. You promise you won't report him to the police if he gives you back your stuff?" Ms. Hatzilakos nodded, "Well, I hope you keep your promise, because if you don't his social worker might take him away."
"Sean Cameron?" All the teachers knew about Sean's situation. At the mention of a social worker, she knew it was Sean, "Ellie? Was it Sean Cameron?"
Ellie looked at her feet as she slowly nodded her head, "I think others may have been involved."
*Sean has been hanging out with Jay and that gang.* Ms. Hatzilakos tried to look Ellie in the eye, "Do you think Sean was the one to break into the house?"
Ellie shook her head, "No, I don't think he would," *But then again, I have been wrong about Sean's principles.*
"Okay, well, I'm going to go call his house, and you can go home," Ms. Hatzilakos said as she stood up, "Remember, you have detention every day this week."
Ellie stood up as well, "Please don't report anything," she said as Ms. Hatzilakos walked out the door.
"Hopefully I won't have to," she replied as she turned back toward Ellie.
*Where the hell am I going?* Sean looked around. He hadn't been paying attention to where he had been going. He stopped walking as he came to an intersection. *Where the hell am I?* He had been walking through town, listening to his C.D. player, when all of a sudden, he looked up, and he was in the city. *Where am I going to go? I can't go home after telling Tracker off. I can't go to Emma's, cause, well . . . I can't go to Ellie's because I acted like a jerk. I could always go to Jay's . . .No, no I don't want to go there. I'll go to Craig's. That's it.* He turned around and began walking toward Craig's house.
Ashley smiled as she sat next to Craig on the livingroom couch, "I'm glad we can hang out like friends."
Craig turned his head away from the TV to look at Ashley, and he couldn't help but smile as well, "Yeah, I'm glad, too."
*I know I can tolerate being alone with him. And I think I have forgiven him for cheating on me. Maybe soon, we can actually get back together.* Ashley settled back against Craig's arm, which was stretched out along the back of the couch.
At first, Craig was surprised. *Did she do that on accident?* He couldn't believe how right it felt with Ashley leaning against his arm. *Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Ashley is the right one for me. I don't think that Manny and I could ever have a real relationship.*
Craig smiled at Ashley again, and she smiled back. *This feels perfect. Spending this time with him was definitely a good idea.*
Craig suddenly felt a strong urge to kiss Ashley. He stared into her eyes, and was almost certain that she wanted him to. He slowly leaned in, and suddenly the door flew open, "Hey man!"
Craig looked to see who had interrupted him, and saw a shocked expression Sean's face, "Oh, crap. I'll just go."
Sean turned to leave, when Craig sighed, "No, man, it's okay. What're you doing here, and have you ever learned to knock?"
Sean closed the door behind him, and sat down in a wooden chair, "Well, Tracker and I got into this huge fight, and I kinda walked out."
Craig's eyes opened in astonishment, "You ran away?"
Ashley quietly slid further away from Craig on the couch. Sean saw, and felt the guilt of intruding on them return, "Are you sure you don't want me to go right now?"
Craig looked back at Ashley who gave him a small smile, "It's okay, Craig, I should probably be going home now anyway."
"Ash . . ." Craig didn't know what to say. He wanted her to stay, but he knew that she probably shouldn't hear whatever Sean was going to tell him, "I'll call you later, okay?"
Ashley nodded her head as she walked out the door. Craig sighed as she closed the door, and he turned back to Sean, "So, what's going on?"
"I skipped school today, and Tracker lost it," Sean summed it up.
"That's it? Tracker let you walk out the door, just because you ditched school?" Craig was shocked. *I shouldn't have let Ashley leave. He can go back home. It's not like Tracker kicked him out.*
"Well, not exactly. I may have been a little drunk at the time. He said if I screwed up again he'd kick me out," Sean admitted.
"He gave you another chance?"Craig asked. Sean slowly nodded his head, "And you left?" Sean nodded his head again, "So, you're not even going to try? You just walked out?"
"I'm just going to mess up again. What's the point in even trying? I figured I'd just save everyone some time and leave now," Sean said.
"Where are you going to go?" Craig was concerned.
"I don't know yet. Do you think I could stay here for a while?" Sean anticipated Craig's answer.
Craig ran one hand through his curly hair, "I know you can stay one night. After that though, I don't know. If Joey found out you ran away, he's going to make you at least talk to Tracker. He can be very nosy."
Sean rolled his eyes, "Man, maybe I should just go home."
"That's a good idea," Craig smiled as Sean stood up and began to walk toward the door.
"See you later. If I'm not at school tomorrow, call 911, Tracker probably killed me."
Sean tried to think of what to say to Tracker as he walked home. He finally decided just to tell him about some of the things going on in his life, and hope for the best.
He opened the door to his house with his key. He walked inside, and noticed all the lights were off. Tracker must be gone. He sat his bag down by the door, and noticed the red light on the answering machine blinking. He pressed the button as he walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water.
He almost spit the water out, when he heard Ms. Hatzilakos' voice, "I'm calling to talk to Mr. Cameron regarding his brother Sean. If he could call me back at . . ."
He didn't hear the rest of the message, for at that moment, the front door swung open, and inside stepped two people, probably in their forties.
Sean felt like throwing up, "Hi Mom. Hi Dad."
Ellie entered Ms. Hatzilakos' class as she gripped her left arm. She didn't see Ms. Hatzilakos in the room, so she quietly took a seat. *I wonder if I should just tell her the truth.* Ellie unconsciously was scratching one of the cuts that was starting to heal through her shirt. *She won't believe me. It'll just sound like I'm trying to save my own skin.* Ellie began to rub the cuts more roughly as her anxiety built. *I wonder what she's going to say. I wonder what she's going to do! I can't believe I got myself into this!* She felt herself break the skin on one of her scabs, and immediately was brought back to reality. * Crap.* She looked around to make sure nobody was in the class, before grabbing another band-aid out of her bag, and quickly pulling up her sleeve. After she had put it on, she rolled her sleeve back down, and took a deep breath.
"Hello," Ellie was startled by Ms. Hatzilakos' voice.
"Hi Ms. Hatzilakos," Ellie stared down at her hands folded in her lap.
"Well, I don't know where exactly to start," Ms. Hatzilakos began as she sta down behind her desk, "But I found out that you've been seeing the school counselor."
Ellie straightened up. *I thought there was some sort of privacy policy.* Ellie waited for Ms. Hatzilakos to continue, but when she didn't Ellie asked, "Did she tell you anything?"
Ms. Hatzilakos shook her head, "No, I didn't ask. I just was wondering if you were suffering from stress."
*Is she trying to be one of those caring teachers?* Elie was unsure of how to react to the way Ms. Hatzilakos was acting, "Just the ususal teenage problems," Ellie shrugged.
Ms. Hatzilakos slowly nodded her head. *I don't think she would do something like this. I don't think she would steal from anybody. She definitely wouldn't break into my house.* Ms. Hatzilakos could tell Ellie was covering for somebody. She began, "So, Ellie, where did you find my bracelet?"
*Crap. Does she know or something? Where would Sean have gotten it? She knew it was missing today, so it must've been in her classroom. Maybe he didn't get it from the classroom, though.* Ellie closed her eyes as she let out a worried sigh, "Does it really matter?"
*She's covering.*Ms. Hatzilakos could tell that Ellie was lying. She just wasn't sure why. Ms. Hatzilakos watched as Ellie squirmed in her chair., "Ellie, are you sure you don't have something to tell me?"
"Could you just tell me what my punishment is?" Ellie almost pleaded. *I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to go home either. I just want this to be over. I can't tell her the truth now, and I don't think I want to. Sean's screwed up a lot, and I know that if his social worker found out about this, he would be gone. Tracker may not be the most reliable person in the world, but Sean needs him.*
"I'm going to tell you the truth, and Ellie, I hope you will do the same,"Ms. Hatzilakos tried to bargain, "This bracelet was stolen from my room. Not my classroom, but a room in my house. That would mean, to get this bracelet, you had to break into my house. Now, I know you were at all of your classes today, so I don't know when you would have found time to go to my house."
"I left at lunch, and came back before fifth period started," Ellie said evenly. *I really did leave at lunch and came back before fifth. At least I'm not lying about everything.*
Ms. Hatzilakos slowly nodded her head, "I know that there were ten students absent today. Three were in a grade ahead of you, two were in your grade, and three were in grade nine. I really don't want you to get in trouble for something you didn't do."
Ellie bit her lower lip, "Why does it even matter who did it? Just give me the punishment I deserve."
"Just tell me who did it, and I won't have to punish you; well, you do have a weeks detention for disrupting my class with profanity, but I won't have to tell the police that Ellie Nash stole from me."
Ellie covered her face with her hands, "Please Ms. Hatzilakos, just believe me! I did it! Nobody else!"
"Ellie, we're not leaving here until you tell me who stole from me!" Ms. Hatzilakos didn't mean to raise her voice, but she was getting angry that Ellie was lying to her.
"I don't want to ruin someone else's life," Ellie admitted. *She knows it wasn't me. I might as well just stop pretending.
"Then you will ruin your own life," Ms. Hatzilakos said quietly/. *It was probably those stupid kids that run around acting all bad.* She looked Ellie over, trying to find answers. *Who is in that gang . . .* Ms. Hatzilakos tried to think of the names. *Jay! That's one of them. Does Ellie know him? There has to be someone else in the same grade as Ellie that hangs out with Jay.* She cleared her throat, "Was it Jay? Ellie are you covering for Jay? Did you see something and he tried to bribe you to keep quiet?"
"No. It wasn't Jay," Ellie said truthfully. *I should just tell her.* Ellie sat up straighter, "What would you do to the person if I told you his name?"
*Well, now I know for sure that it's a guy. It must be someone who hangs out with Jay.* Ms. Hatzilakos tried to think of a punishment, "I guess it all depends on what he stole, Ellie. If he comes clean, and gives me back my things, then I might I just give him a short suspension for skipping school."
Ellie nodded her head. *Maybe he wasn't the only one. I don't think Sean would break into a house by himself. Jay and Towerz were probably involved. Ellie sighed, "Okay. You promise you won't report him to the police if he gives you back your stuff?" Ms. Hatzilakos nodded, "Well, I hope you keep your promise, because if you don't his social worker might take him away."
"Sean Cameron?" All the teachers knew about Sean's situation. At the mention of a social worker, she knew it was Sean, "Ellie? Was it Sean Cameron?"
Ellie looked at her feet as she slowly nodded her head, "I think others may have been involved."
*Sean has been hanging out with Jay and that gang.* Ms. Hatzilakos tried to look Ellie in the eye, "Do you think Sean was the one to break into the house?"
Ellie shook her head, "No, I don't think he would," *But then again, I have been wrong about Sean's principles.*
"Okay, well, I'm going to go call his house, and you can go home," Ms. Hatzilakos said as she stood up, "Remember, you have detention every day this week."
Ellie stood up as well, "Please don't report anything," she said as Ms. Hatzilakos walked out the door.
"Hopefully I won't have to," she replied as she turned back toward Ellie.
*Where the hell am I going?* Sean looked around. He hadn't been paying attention to where he had been going. He stopped walking as he came to an intersection. *Where the hell am I?* He had been walking through town, listening to his C.D. player, when all of a sudden, he looked up, and he was in the city. *Where am I going to go? I can't go home after telling Tracker off. I can't go to Emma's, cause, well . . . I can't go to Ellie's because I acted like a jerk. I could always go to Jay's . . .No, no I don't want to go there. I'll go to Craig's. That's it.* He turned around and began walking toward Craig's house.
Ashley smiled as she sat next to Craig on the livingroom couch, "I'm glad we can hang out like friends."
Craig turned his head away from the TV to look at Ashley, and he couldn't help but smile as well, "Yeah, I'm glad, too."
*I know I can tolerate being alone with him. And I think I have forgiven him for cheating on me. Maybe soon, we can actually get back together.* Ashley settled back against Craig's arm, which was stretched out along the back of the couch.
At first, Craig was surprised. *Did she do that on accident?* He couldn't believe how right it felt with Ashley leaning against his arm. *Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Ashley is the right one for me. I don't think that Manny and I could ever have a real relationship.*
Craig smiled at Ashley again, and she smiled back. *This feels perfect. Spending this time with him was definitely a good idea.*
Craig suddenly felt a strong urge to kiss Ashley. He stared into her eyes, and was almost certain that she wanted him to. He slowly leaned in, and suddenly the door flew open, "Hey man!"
Craig looked to see who had interrupted him, and saw a shocked expression Sean's face, "Oh, crap. I'll just go."
Sean turned to leave, when Craig sighed, "No, man, it's okay. What're you doing here, and have you ever learned to knock?"
Sean closed the door behind him, and sat down in a wooden chair, "Well, Tracker and I got into this huge fight, and I kinda walked out."
Craig's eyes opened in astonishment, "You ran away?"
Ashley quietly slid further away from Craig on the couch. Sean saw, and felt the guilt of intruding on them return, "Are you sure you don't want me to go right now?"
Craig looked back at Ashley who gave him a small smile, "It's okay, Craig, I should probably be going home now anyway."
"Ash . . ." Craig didn't know what to say. He wanted her to stay, but he knew that she probably shouldn't hear whatever Sean was going to tell him, "I'll call you later, okay?"
Ashley nodded her head as she walked out the door. Craig sighed as she closed the door, and he turned back to Sean, "So, what's going on?"
"I skipped school today, and Tracker lost it," Sean summed it up.
"That's it? Tracker let you walk out the door, just because you ditched school?" Craig was shocked. *I shouldn't have let Ashley leave. He can go back home. It's not like Tracker kicked him out.*
"Well, not exactly. I may have been a little drunk at the time. He said if I screwed up again he'd kick me out," Sean admitted.
"He gave you another chance?"Craig asked. Sean slowly nodded his head, "And you left?" Sean nodded his head again, "So, you're not even going to try? You just walked out?"
"I'm just going to mess up again. What's the point in even trying? I figured I'd just save everyone some time and leave now," Sean said.
"Where are you going to go?" Craig was concerned.
"I don't know yet. Do you think I could stay here for a while?" Sean anticipated Craig's answer.
Craig ran one hand through his curly hair, "I know you can stay one night. After that though, I don't know. If Joey found out you ran away, he's going to make you at least talk to Tracker. He can be very nosy."
Sean rolled his eyes, "Man, maybe I should just go home."
"That's a good idea," Craig smiled as Sean stood up and began to walk toward the door.
"See you later. If I'm not at school tomorrow, call 911, Tracker probably killed me."
Sean tried to think of what to say to Tracker as he walked home. He finally decided just to tell him about some of the things going on in his life, and hope for the best.
He opened the door to his house with his key. He walked inside, and noticed all the lights were off. Tracker must be gone. He sat his bag down by the door, and noticed the red light on the answering machine blinking. He pressed the button as he walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water.
He almost spit the water out, when he heard Ms. Hatzilakos' voice, "I'm calling to talk to Mr. Cameron regarding his brother Sean. If he could call me back at . . ."
He didn't hear the rest of the message, for at that moment, the front door swung open, and inside stepped two people, probably in their forties.
Sean felt like throwing up, "Hi Mom. Hi Dad."