Chapter 14: Let the Good Times Roll
Ellie's POV
Wow. That's all I thought when I woke up the next morning. Not even
the incessant noise of my alarm annoyed me like it usually did. I daintily
turned it off and stretched my arms up over my head. Smiling. Actually
smiling the entire time. Granted, it was a sleepy smile, but that still
counts. I remembered the kiss Sean had given me right before I left his
place the night before... or should I say early this morning... and how I
couldn't sleep because I was just so happy. I had ended up playing hours of
J.T. Blocks. Now I was fully functioning on about one hour of sleep, but I
loved it.
I hopped out of bed and skipped to the shower. Never had I been so
excited to get to school. I just wanted to give Marco and Ashley a great
big hug. When had I become such, like, a teenybopper? Actually wanting to
dish out hugs in public? I lathered my hair with shampoo and whistled a
little tune in the shower. Too bad that all I ever whistled was "Up On the
Housetop". Even when it wasn't Christmas!
I was in such a good mood I added extra black eyeliner and a dash of
hot pink sparkle to my eyes. I decided to pin my hair in a messy low bun
and wear these funky earrings Marco had bought me for my birthday last
year. They were vintage and so gaudy even I was almost embarrassed. But I
liked gaudy stuff. I looked out onto my balcony and noticed that it looked
super cold outside. Grrr. I had wanted to wear my new skirt today. I
decided to wear it anyway and just added a pair of jeans on underneath. In
a sudden case of nostalgia, I threw my old Rookwood blazer on over my shirt
and arm warmers. It was perfectly worn in after three years.
My phone rang startled me from staring at myself in front of my
mirror. I jumped onto my bed and grabbed it on the fourth ring. "Hello?"
"Hey Ellie. It's Marco."
"Marco! What's up?"
"Well, Dylan's giving me a ride this morning. Do you want one?"
I thought for a second. Ride in Dylan's car with Marco and... gross...
Paige or walk to school freezing. Hmmm... tough choice. "I'll walk. I can
tough it out."
"You know. Paige isn't that bad. You and her could be really good
friends if you'd give her a-"
"I appreciate it Marco, but, seriously, I could use the exercise."
Okay, that a lie. I walked to school every morning. It was a five miles
just to Marco's house. Maybe that's why I was always bordering on being
late.
"Whatever you say, ice princess. I'll bring some hot chocolate to
school for you."
Okay, Marco was the coolest guy in the world. "I love you, Marco. See
you."
"Ciao."
Sure enough, when I got to school, Marco was waiting by our lockers
with a thermos of hot chocolate in his hand. "You're brilliant, Marco!" I
grabbed the thermos and took a sip. Yum. He had added marshmallows to it.
Just what I like. I gave him a thumbs up as I swallowed.
"You're welcome, Elle. Okay, first off, before the bell rings, I need
a sugar fix. Not a huge one, but just enough to get me through history.
You'd think that after six years of learning the exact same things about
the civil war, we could move on to like, something more modern."
I flung my locker open and threw my books into my bag, "I feel your
pain. I think I know every single battle, the date it happened, where it
happened, and the outcome by heart. Actually, I know I know this. Here, try
a Snickers. It's good for you."
Marco grabbed the candy bar greedily and tore into it. "God, this is
heaven. Sweet, savory chocolate with gooey, gooey caramel and salty little
peanuts all with a little fluffy nugent. Whoever thought of this should be
made king of the whole world."
I laughed and grabbed a Sparkle Jerry Cherry tangy taffy from the top
shelf of my locker. "Now this is what I call ecstasy. Tangy Taffy is like a
multiple orgasm times 547. It gets bonus points because it has sparkles."
"Hey, they match your eyes. Way to go there, princess."
"Yeah, I'm pretty talented. God, I have this song in my head and I
can't get it out."
"What is it? MmmBop?" Marco jabbed me lightly in the ribs.
"I wish. No, it's... I don't even know the name of it. But it goes: 'I
know I can. I know I can. Be what I wanna be. Be what I wanna be.' Pure
torture."
Marco laughed and we ducked into history as the bell rang. I took my
spot near Ashley and flashed her a friendly smile. She smiled back and
whispered, "Sean looked pretty happy this morning."
"You saw him?"
"Yeah, he was fighting to stop grinning, but he couldn't help it."
I wiggled my eyebrows and turned my attention towards the
announcements. Liberty's voice droned on and on until Manny came on the
screen. Ashley groaned and said a few things along the lines of slut and
whore. I flinched at how bitchy she could still be after how long ago the
whole mess had happened. It was so in the past. Plus, I kind of felt bad
for Manny. I knew what she went through. "So I hope everyone buys a ticket
for the dance and has an awesome time! Go Panthers!"
I looked at Ashley, "Dance?"
Ashley rolled her eyes, "Yeah. Some stupid homecoming dance."
"Oh... cool..."
"What?!"
"It's just a dance. It's not like you have to go so why are you
getting all bent out of shape about it?"
"Because dances are so stupid. I mean, you just go there, vote for
whoever is the most popular, they get the royal treatment, and you usually
end up leaving without your date. Or worse, he'll leave with a grade nine."
"Okay, you're starting to scare me. Lighten up."
Ashley let out a laugh and covered her mouth. She looked around the
room before whispering back, "You're telling me to lighten up? You're the
queen of uptight."
I lifted my eyebrows and gave her a mean look, "Get over it. It's a
dance. Don't go."
Paige leaned over from the other side of Ashley, "Aw, is Ellie going
to get all dressed up and go to the dance? Isn't that against like the cult
rules or something? Or are your other friends going to join you and suck
everyone's blood. Wait, you don't have friends."
Paige could be so stupid sometimes. How could Marco stand her?
"Paige, shut up or I'll shut you up."
She gave me a haughty look before flipping her hair behind her
shoulder and turning her attention to Spinner. Or should I say, her
honeybee? Okay, so dances weren't my thing. But I'm with Sean now and we
had a pretty good time at the Bollywood dance. Maybe he'd ask me officially
this time. And maybe I'd actually go shopping for a new dress. And maybe
we'd get voted for... Ohmigod. I'm the biggest loser on the earth. Who wants
to be homecoming king and queen anyway?
Sean's POV
I couldn't believe it. Everyone in class had just gone completely
crazy over the homecoming dance. All this for a dance? I figured it I was
still on the basketball team I'd be just as excited, but I wasn't. I had
flunked off. Off of the basketball team and the wrestling team. Imagine
that- the star wrestler kicked off for grades. Whatever, I suppose if I had
cared enough for it I would have tried harder. Still, it killed me to see
guys like Greg Bennington and Walter Krum take over the team.
I looked as Manny Santos walked back into the room and over to JT
Yorke. I never imagined them two together. I snuck a glance at Emma and
Chris. Yeah, those two also. They seemed like complete opposites with Emma
being so uptight and Chris being all laid-back and a go-with-the-flow type
of guy. Whatever... they deserved each other. They both were nosy.
"Yeah, and so now we have like nine kittens! My mom only wants us to
keep three. So I have to find people to take the other ones."
"I'll take one, Manny," Liberty van Zandt piped in. I could only
imagine what sort of experiments Liberty did with her pets. Just the
thought of it made me shudder.
"Do you want one, Sean?" Manny asked me. I guess she had noticed me
paying attention to their conversation.
I laughed, "I'm not really a kitten person."
"Well, I'm giving mine to my boyfriend," Liberty replied. Aww. How
sweet. She was giving a furry little kitten to Towerz. I'm sure he'd love
that. On second thought, Towerz was going out with Liberty. There must have
been something wrong with his head.
"Yeah, give one to Ellie. I'm sure even someone like her likes
something like a kitten," JT told me. I squinted my eyes at him. What did
he mean by "someone like her"? He was so stupid. Then again... maybe I should
get Ellie something. She was always giving me stuff. It's not like I had
the money to buy her anything. The kittens were free. But did she even like
kittens?
"No joke," Toby laughed. "She was over every day when our cat had
kittens. She didn't come over for Ashley's company, just to play with the
kittens. Come to think of it, it started to get annoying. She does this
baby talk thing, and..."
Ellie? Baby talk? "Hey Toby, if you don't mind, stop talking about my
girlfriend."
"I was just saying that she was kind of... well obsessed with them."
I thought of what her face would look like when I handed her a little
kitten. I'd probably score major points. "Okay, Manny. I'll take one." Then
I remembered that Ellie usually came over to my house all night. What if
the cat got lonely? She'd hate that. "Actually, make it two."
Manny smiled. "All right! Only three more kittens to go!"
By lunchtime, I still hadn't seen Ellie. I wanted to tell her about
the kittens now, but I knew I'd just have to give them to her tonight after
I picked them up. I saw Marco over at his usual table. Yep, right next to
him was Ellie. That's weird. She was actually sitting at a table with
Paige. Of course, they were on opposite ends, but still.
"Sean!" Ellie stood up and called me over. "Sit with me... Please!"
She pointed at Paige with her head and made a face. Okay, I'd put up
with all her friends this once. I grabbed a nearby chair and sat in it
backwards. As soon as I sat down, though, every other word out of someone's
mouth was dance, homecoming, or court. I cringed at every word.
"Everyone's really getting into this homecoming thing, huh?" I asked.
Ellie didn't say anything but waved her hand around in a response. I didn't
really know what it meant, but I went along with it.
Marco pushed half of his sandwich to her and she fingered at it. I
didn't blame her. It looked so gross. I noticed Ashley staring intently at
Ellie and then Ellie quickly took a bite of the sandwich. I almost gagged.
"So Sean. Who are you going to the dance with?" Spinner asked from a
few seats down. I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he really that dim?
"I'm not going to the dance, Mason."
"Why not?"
"It's not really our thing," I put an arm around Ellie's shoulders
and pulled her towards me a bit. "We're not big on social events."
Ellie remained quiet and I wondered if I had said something wrong.
Hazel laughed, "Speak for yourself. I caught Ellie looking up dresses
during Media Immersions. Caught her red handed!"
I looked incredulously at Ellie. Did she really want to go to the
dance? I noticed her cheeks were a little red, but she stole a glance at me
and shook her head no. That was enough evidence for me to know that Hazel
was just making shit up. I squeezed Ellie's shoulder, "I'm going to get
some food. Wanna come?"
She got up out of her seat and followed me to the lunch line. "You
know, Hazel was just kidding back there. She's making fun of me because
earlier I told her I wouldn't be caught dead at that dance."
"Yeah, I figured that. You don't seem like a "dance" girl."
"Yeah," Ellie replied. "If I even go it'll just be to take pictures
of yearbook. Otherwise, I wouldn't even bother."
"Yeah, I understand." I stole a glance at her from the corner of the
eye and noticed she looked a little out of sorts. "Are you okay? You're
acting weird."
She flashed me a quick smile. "I'm great. I'm just, you know, ready
for the weekend."
"Yeah, I definitely know. Do you want something from the line?" I
gestured towards the different ale carte items.
"I'll take a Dr. Pepper. Thanks."
I paid for my lunch and her drink and handed it to her. I quickly
looked over at the table we had just left and saw everyone laughing and
talking. I turned to Ellie, "Let's go eat outside."
"In the rain?"
"Yeah... in the rain. Come on." I grabbed her arm with my free hand and
we maneuvered our way through the throngs of people to reach the door that
led outside to the courtyard. It wasn't raining that bad, just a light
sprinkle. I didn't want to sit with Paige and them or be seen by Jay and
Towerz. They'd get pissed that I, once again, dissed them to hang out with
my girlfriend. Ellie shrieked as we ran out into the rain. Damn. I forgot
about my lunch. It was all watery now. Oh well. Chips were still good. A
guy like me can pretty much live off chips.
"You realize my makeup is probably going to run, right?" Ellie
squinted at me as raindrops started to bead on her eyelashes.
"You don't need to wear all that makeup anyway. You're gorgeous," I
wrapped my arms around her as she worked on getting her drink open. She
sent me a glare at my compliment and I let go of her shaking my head. This
girl did not like compliments whatsoever. "So... would you get totally pissed
if I pushed you down in that water puddle right behind you?"
"Uh... the answer to that would be yes. Do it and die."
I grabbed her around the waist anyway and pulled her down on the
grass with me. She squealed as we hit the grass and tried to claw herself
away from me, but I'm way too strong for her. Finally, after a few minutes
of wrestling, she gave up. "Sean, I hate you."
"Don't hate me because I'm irresistible, Ellie."
"No, I'll hate you because you are the biggest dork ever. Now I'm
going to have to go the rest of the day in wet, muddy clothes. I really
loathe you right now."
"So you're not going to kiss me?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Um, yeah..."
"How about now."
"Okay."
"What is going on here?" Ellie and I ended our make-out session and
quickly looked up. Great. Mr.Radditch.
Ashley's POV
"So Mr.Radditch broke you two apart and made you come to his office?
Yelled at you for PDA-"
"When in all actuality, no one else was around. Except him of
course."
"Yeah, but anyway, then gave you guys gym uniforms to wear the rest
of the day because your other clothes were wet?"
"Yeah. Can you imagine? I was ready to die. He said he couldn't allow
us to wear wet clothes the rest of the day."
"That skirt you were wearing today plus rain equals see-through,
Ellie. No wonder he made you change. Nice shirt by the way." I tugged at
the t-shirt she was wearing.
Ellie struck a model pose in the middle of the hallway. "Don't you
just love how it practically falls off? Nothing like an oversized t-shirt
that touches my knees. Very fashionable."
A few kids looked at Ellie in surprise. No wonder. This was the most
action she had shown in... well... years. She fingered the hem of the t-shirt
and decided to tie it in the knot. "Nice homage to the 80's."
Ellie looked up at me, "Oh yes. My parents would be proud. Whatever.
The 80's ruled. As do these nice polyester shorts. I like the fact that
they ride completely up my ass."
"I'm pretty sure those are kid's shorts. Not kidding." I lifted her
shirt in the back to get a better look at the shorts. Ellie shrieked as I
looked at the tag. "Yeah. They're definitely for little kids."
Ellie shrugged and continued walking to our next class- looking like
a total idiot I might add. "Ellie, stop walking like you have a fork stuck
up your ass."
"I can't help it. You know, Mr.Radditch is a total killjoy. We were
just playing in the rain!"
"Getting it on in the rain, more like it."
She flicked me off playfully before entering English. I smiled as I
remembered the poem I had written the night before. For once, it wasn't a
poem about an experience I had gone through. When Ms. Kwan told me I could
begin the poetry reading, I stood up eagerly and started, "This poem is
about a girl with an eating disorder. I was looking up some information on
the internet last night to help me write about it:
I watch her everyday.
Walking through life
Down the hall
Slowly, gliding
Light as a feather
Lighter than a feather
Remaining unattached
Fighting silently against
Herself.
She grows weary
She grows thin
Soon she becomes childlike
Angry, hostile, tortured
I watch her everyday
But it's not her.
I paused before sitting down, making sure to see everyone's
reactions. A lot of people just stared at me with their mouths open. It was
a pretty heavy topic. Nothing that was every discussed in class. Paige sent
me smile and mouthed "good job". I glanced at Ellie. Stone cold. She didn't
even tell me if it was good or not. I frowned and took a seat.
"Wow. That was great, Ashley," Ms.Kwan commented. She smiled at me
before looking back around the room. "Ellie? How about you? We haven't
heard from you yet."
Ellie's head shot up nervously, "Well... How about not?"
"Ellie, everyone has to read their poetry sometime. Might as well do
it today."
I shot Ellie a sympathetic glance as she walked to the front of the
room shakily. I knew she hated reading anything personal out loud. I was
glad that I was confident enough in my writing to be able to share it with
everyone.
"Um. Mine's not really a poem. It's kind of a short story, sort of
deal," I could barely hear her she was almost whispering. Ellie cleared her
throat and switched her weight to one leg, the other one twitching back and
forth.
"She used to be happy. She was taken care of, shown affection, loved.
She had everything. One day, everything that made her happy disappeared.
She didn't know where it went. And no matter how hard and long she searched
for it, she never found it. What made her happy was working, or traveling,
or overseas on a mission. It didn't greet her at the door anymore. It
didn't hold her in its arms every night. It didn't eat dinner with her. It
didn't play dolls with her. Instead, it made her grow up. It forced her to
walk home by herself. It forced her to have a key to the house with her at
all times. It forced her to depend on herself and no one else. It liked to
tease her. It would come back and make her believe it was staying and then
suddenly leave. It was like the floor was ripped out underneath her every
time. It made her paranoid. It caused her to never trust anyone. She
learned to be numb. Soon she started to believe she was better than
everyone else. She was so much more mature. She was cultured. She was
spoiled. She was sent presents from distant lands. She formed a special
relationship with the mailbox. She got everything she wanted. To everyone
else her life looked perfect. She preferred it to stay that way. She didn't
want anyone to know how she felt. How much pain she went through every day.
How jealous she was of everyone else. How she never felt fulfilled. How she
couldn't hold on to anything. How everything just slipped from her. And now
she's left just grasping at false hopes and an altered reality. She's
close... But never quite there."
I sat back in my chair shocked at Ellie's work. Where had this come
from? I searched her face for any emotion or clues to what she was feeling,
but she just stayed composed and calm. Suddenly Ms.Kwan started clapping
and the rest of the class joined in.
"That was beautiful, Ellie. I really enjoyed it. Any comments?"
Why hadn't she asked if there were any comments for my writing? I
mean, I had actually done the assignment like she asked. She had asked for
a poem, not whatever Ellie had written. I realized how vicious I was being.
I was just jealous. Usually Ms. Kwan liked my work more than anyone's. All
of a sudden it seemed like Ellie was becoming her new pet.
"It was different. I liked that," Jimmy called out from the back of
the room.
Ms. Kwan nodded and smiled before calling on Heather Sinclaire. "Was
that a personal story, Ellie?" Heather asked nosily.
Ellie shook her head hard, "No. I just wrote it. It just sort of came
out. But no, not personal at all." She closed her notebook and walked back
to her seat, looking relieved that it was finally over.
Ellie turned to me, "How the hell do you do that every day?"
Ellie's POV
"Okay! My eyes are closed. What is it?" I called out to Sean. He had
told me he had a surprise for me and to close my eyes. But that seemed like
ages ago.
"Keep them shut! Okay... wait... okay, open them!"
I waited a few seconds longer before opening my eyes. "Ohmigod!
They're so cute!" I shrieked. Right in front of me were two of the most
adorable kittens I had ever seen in my life. One was pure white and the
other was white with a few grey hairs here and there. I ran my hands over
each one and gave Sean a quick kiss on the lips. "They're for me, right?"
"Of course. Manny was giving them away, and I decided to be
spontaneous and give you two. Do you like them?"
"I love them! They're precious! Okay... what am I going to name them?"
"Well, Mrs. Santos said they're both boys."
"Yep. They're all boy. That's for sure. They're so tiny. I think I"ll
call them..."
"Sean and Sean Jr.?"
Ellie swatted at my shoulder before resting her head on it. "No way.
The white one will be Dolce and the other one will be Gabbana."
"Ugh. Come again?"
"Dolce and Gabbana. Like the shoes. My one brown slouch boots- those
are Dolce and Gabbana."
"You're naming your kittens after shoes? Whatever happened to fluffy
and blackie?"
I stuck my tongue out at him, "You're so normal. I can't wait to get
them collars."
"Are they going to have rhinestones all over them?"
"I'm thinking diamonds. I'm going to spoil these little guys soooo
much! Thank you, pookie."
"No problem, cookie."
We kissed for a second before playing more with the kittens. As Sean
was dangling string in front of them, the phone started to ring. I jumped
up from my position on the floor and ran for the phone before whoever hung
up. "Hello?" I asked.
"Hey pumpkin!"
"Daddy!" I squeezed the phone and smiled.
"How are you?"
"I'm great. Dad, guess what?"
"What?"
"Sean just gave me two kittens! Isn't that sweet?"
"Who's Sean?"
"Oh yeah... Well, I'll tell you later."
"Okay, is your mom there?"
"Mom? Um, no. She's out of town on business. Some designing project.
I don't know."
"Oh, okay. Well, I have good news!"
I squeezed the phone harder. Good news? My dad never had good news
when he was on duty. I shut my eyes. Please, please, please let him be
coming home.
"I'm coming home!"
I dropped the phone in excitement. Seriously. I jumped up and down a
bit before picking the phone back up off of the floor and screaming into
it. "Really?"
"Yes! I have a two-week leave. So I'm only coming home for a visit. I
can't wait to see you."
"Me too! You have to meet Sean."
"Well, I definitely do! Okay, well I have to go. Tell your mom the
great news!"
We said our goodbyes and hung up. I couldn't believe it. My dad was
actually coming home for two weeks. Could life seriously get any better?
"What was that?" Sean came up behind me with Dolce and Gabbana in his
hands. I sighed happily and wrapped my arms around his waist.
"My dad is coming home!"
"Wow. That's great. When?"
"Next weekend, I guess. I can't wait for you to meet him. He's going
to adore you."
Sean coughed and nodded in agreement. Sort of. "Yeah, he's really
going to love his daughter's boyfriend who lives by himself and has no job.
I'll be sure to tell him that I'm sleeping over this weekend, too."
"Don't be stupid. You are going to make quite the impression. Of
course, we'll work on finding you a job tomorrow. And maybe we won't tell
him that you're living all by yourself. He doesn't really need to know
that..."
I felt like I was floating. Seriously. Every night I had hoped that
my dad would come home soon. And he finally was! I looked at Sean as he
started to play with the kittens again. Things were definitely starting to
look up.
Ellie's POV
Wow. That's all I thought when I woke up the next morning. Not even
the incessant noise of my alarm annoyed me like it usually did. I daintily
turned it off and stretched my arms up over my head. Smiling. Actually
smiling the entire time. Granted, it was a sleepy smile, but that still
counts. I remembered the kiss Sean had given me right before I left his
place the night before... or should I say early this morning... and how I
couldn't sleep because I was just so happy. I had ended up playing hours of
J.T. Blocks. Now I was fully functioning on about one hour of sleep, but I
loved it.
I hopped out of bed and skipped to the shower. Never had I been so
excited to get to school. I just wanted to give Marco and Ashley a great
big hug. When had I become such, like, a teenybopper? Actually wanting to
dish out hugs in public? I lathered my hair with shampoo and whistled a
little tune in the shower. Too bad that all I ever whistled was "Up On the
Housetop". Even when it wasn't Christmas!
I was in such a good mood I added extra black eyeliner and a dash of
hot pink sparkle to my eyes. I decided to pin my hair in a messy low bun
and wear these funky earrings Marco had bought me for my birthday last
year. They were vintage and so gaudy even I was almost embarrassed. But I
liked gaudy stuff. I looked out onto my balcony and noticed that it looked
super cold outside. Grrr. I had wanted to wear my new skirt today. I
decided to wear it anyway and just added a pair of jeans on underneath. In
a sudden case of nostalgia, I threw my old Rookwood blazer on over my shirt
and arm warmers. It was perfectly worn in after three years.
My phone rang startled me from staring at myself in front of my
mirror. I jumped onto my bed and grabbed it on the fourth ring. "Hello?"
"Hey Ellie. It's Marco."
"Marco! What's up?"
"Well, Dylan's giving me a ride this morning. Do you want one?"
I thought for a second. Ride in Dylan's car with Marco and... gross...
Paige or walk to school freezing. Hmmm... tough choice. "I'll walk. I can
tough it out."
"You know. Paige isn't that bad. You and her could be really good
friends if you'd give her a-"
"I appreciate it Marco, but, seriously, I could use the exercise."
Okay, that a lie. I walked to school every morning. It was a five miles
just to Marco's house. Maybe that's why I was always bordering on being
late.
"Whatever you say, ice princess. I'll bring some hot chocolate to
school for you."
Okay, Marco was the coolest guy in the world. "I love you, Marco. See
you."
"Ciao."
Sure enough, when I got to school, Marco was waiting by our lockers
with a thermos of hot chocolate in his hand. "You're brilliant, Marco!" I
grabbed the thermos and took a sip. Yum. He had added marshmallows to it.
Just what I like. I gave him a thumbs up as I swallowed.
"You're welcome, Elle. Okay, first off, before the bell rings, I need
a sugar fix. Not a huge one, but just enough to get me through history.
You'd think that after six years of learning the exact same things about
the civil war, we could move on to like, something more modern."
I flung my locker open and threw my books into my bag, "I feel your
pain. I think I know every single battle, the date it happened, where it
happened, and the outcome by heart. Actually, I know I know this. Here, try
a Snickers. It's good for you."
Marco grabbed the candy bar greedily and tore into it. "God, this is
heaven. Sweet, savory chocolate with gooey, gooey caramel and salty little
peanuts all with a little fluffy nugent. Whoever thought of this should be
made king of the whole world."
I laughed and grabbed a Sparkle Jerry Cherry tangy taffy from the top
shelf of my locker. "Now this is what I call ecstasy. Tangy Taffy is like a
multiple orgasm times 547. It gets bonus points because it has sparkles."
"Hey, they match your eyes. Way to go there, princess."
"Yeah, I'm pretty talented. God, I have this song in my head and I
can't get it out."
"What is it? MmmBop?" Marco jabbed me lightly in the ribs.
"I wish. No, it's... I don't even know the name of it. But it goes: 'I
know I can. I know I can. Be what I wanna be. Be what I wanna be.' Pure
torture."
Marco laughed and we ducked into history as the bell rang. I took my
spot near Ashley and flashed her a friendly smile. She smiled back and
whispered, "Sean looked pretty happy this morning."
"You saw him?"
"Yeah, he was fighting to stop grinning, but he couldn't help it."
I wiggled my eyebrows and turned my attention towards the
announcements. Liberty's voice droned on and on until Manny came on the
screen. Ashley groaned and said a few things along the lines of slut and
whore. I flinched at how bitchy she could still be after how long ago the
whole mess had happened. It was so in the past. Plus, I kind of felt bad
for Manny. I knew what she went through. "So I hope everyone buys a ticket
for the dance and has an awesome time! Go Panthers!"
I looked at Ashley, "Dance?"
Ashley rolled her eyes, "Yeah. Some stupid homecoming dance."
"Oh... cool..."
"What?!"
"It's just a dance. It's not like you have to go so why are you
getting all bent out of shape about it?"
"Because dances are so stupid. I mean, you just go there, vote for
whoever is the most popular, they get the royal treatment, and you usually
end up leaving without your date. Or worse, he'll leave with a grade nine."
"Okay, you're starting to scare me. Lighten up."
Ashley let out a laugh and covered her mouth. She looked around the
room before whispering back, "You're telling me to lighten up? You're the
queen of uptight."
I lifted my eyebrows and gave her a mean look, "Get over it. It's a
dance. Don't go."
Paige leaned over from the other side of Ashley, "Aw, is Ellie going
to get all dressed up and go to the dance? Isn't that against like the cult
rules or something? Or are your other friends going to join you and suck
everyone's blood. Wait, you don't have friends."
Paige could be so stupid sometimes. How could Marco stand her?
"Paige, shut up or I'll shut you up."
She gave me a haughty look before flipping her hair behind her
shoulder and turning her attention to Spinner. Or should I say, her
honeybee? Okay, so dances weren't my thing. But I'm with Sean now and we
had a pretty good time at the Bollywood dance. Maybe he'd ask me officially
this time. And maybe I'd actually go shopping for a new dress. And maybe
we'd get voted for... Ohmigod. I'm the biggest loser on the earth. Who wants
to be homecoming king and queen anyway?
Sean's POV
I couldn't believe it. Everyone in class had just gone completely
crazy over the homecoming dance. All this for a dance? I figured it I was
still on the basketball team I'd be just as excited, but I wasn't. I had
flunked off. Off of the basketball team and the wrestling team. Imagine
that- the star wrestler kicked off for grades. Whatever, I suppose if I had
cared enough for it I would have tried harder. Still, it killed me to see
guys like Greg Bennington and Walter Krum take over the team.
I looked as Manny Santos walked back into the room and over to JT
Yorke. I never imagined them two together. I snuck a glance at Emma and
Chris. Yeah, those two also. They seemed like complete opposites with Emma
being so uptight and Chris being all laid-back and a go-with-the-flow type
of guy. Whatever... they deserved each other. They both were nosy.
"Yeah, and so now we have like nine kittens! My mom only wants us to
keep three. So I have to find people to take the other ones."
"I'll take one, Manny," Liberty van Zandt piped in. I could only
imagine what sort of experiments Liberty did with her pets. Just the
thought of it made me shudder.
"Do you want one, Sean?" Manny asked me. I guess she had noticed me
paying attention to their conversation.
I laughed, "I'm not really a kitten person."
"Well, I'm giving mine to my boyfriend," Liberty replied. Aww. How
sweet. She was giving a furry little kitten to Towerz. I'm sure he'd love
that. On second thought, Towerz was going out with Liberty. There must have
been something wrong with his head.
"Yeah, give one to Ellie. I'm sure even someone like her likes
something like a kitten," JT told me. I squinted my eyes at him. What did
he mean by "someone like her"? He was so stupid. Then again... maybe I should
get Ellie something. She was always giving me stuff. It's not like I had
the money to buy her anything. The kittens were free. But did she even like
kittens?
"No joke," Toby laughed. "She was over every day when our cat had
kittens. She didn't come over for Ashley's company, just to play with the
kittens. Come to think of it, it started to get annoying. She does this
baby talk thing, and..."
Ellie? Baby talk? "Hey Toby, if you don't mind, stop talking about my
girlfriend."
"I was just saying that she was kind of... well obsessed with them."
I thought of what her face would look like when I handed her a little
kitten. I'd probably score major points. "Okay, Manny. I'll take one." Then
I remembered that Ellie usually came over to my house all night. What if
the cat got lonely? She'd hate that. "Actually, make it two."
Manny smiled. "All right! Only three more kittens to go!"
By lunchtime, I still hadn't seen Ellie. I wanted to tell her about
the kittens now, but I knew I'd just have to give them to her tonight after
I picked them up. I saw Marco over at his usual table. Yep, right next to
him was Ellie. That's weird. She was actually sitting at a table with
Paige. Of course, they were on opposite ends, but still.
"Sean!" Ellie stood up and called me over. "Sit with me... Please!"
She pointed at Paige with her head and made a face. Okay, I'd put up
with all her friends this once. I grabbed a nearby chair and sat in it
backwards. As soon as I sat down, though, every other word out of someone's
mouth was dance, homecoming, or court. I cringed at every word.
"Everyone's really getting into this homecoming thing, huh?" I asked.
Ellie didn't say anything but waved her hand around in a response. I didn't
really know what it meant, but I went along with it.
Marco pushed half of his sandwich to her and she fingered at it. I
didn't blame her. It looked so gross. I noticed Ashley staring intently at
Ellie and then Ellie quickly took a bite of the sandwich. I almost gagged.
"So Sean. Who are you going to the dance with?" Spinner asked from a
few seats down. I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he really that dim?
"I'm not going to the dance, Mason."
"Why not?"
"It's not really our thing," I put an arm around Ellie's shoulders
and pulled her towards me a bit. "We're not big on social events."
Ellie remained quiet and I wondered if I had said something wrong.
Hazel laughed, "Speak for yourself. I caught Ellie looking up dresses
during Media Immersions. Caught her red handed!"
I looked incredulously at Ellie. Did she really want to go to the
dance? I noticed her cheeks were a little red, but she stole a glance at me
and shook her head no. That was enough evidence for me to know that Hazel
was just making shit up. I squeezed Ellie's shoulder, "I'm going to get
some food. Wanna come?"
She got up out of her seat and followed me to the lunch line. "You
know, Hazel was just kidding back there. She's making fun of me because
earlier I told her I wouldn't be caught dead at that dance."
"Yeah, I figured that. You don't seem like a "dance" girl."
"Yeah," Ellie replied. "If I even go it'll just be to take pictures
of yearbook. Otherwise, I wouldn't even bother."
"Yeah, I understand." I stole a glance at her from the corner of the
eye and noticed she looked a little out of sorts. "Are you okay? You're
acting weird."
She flashed me a quick smile. "I'm great. I'm just, you know, ready
for the weekend."
"Yeah, I definitely know. Do you want something from the line?" I
gestured towards the different ale carte items.
"I'll take a Dr. Pepper. Thanks."
I paid for my lunch and her drink and handed it to her. I quickly
looked over at the table we had just left and saw everyone laughing and
talking. I turned to Ellie, "Let's go eat outside."
"In the rain?"
"Yeah... in the rain. Come on." I grabbed her arm with my free hand and
we maneuvered our way through the throngs of people to reach the door that
led outside to the courtyard. It wasn't raining that bad, just a light
sprinkle. I didn't want to sit with Paige and them or be seen by Jay and
Towerz. They'd get pissed that I, once again, dissed them to hang out with
my girlfriend. Ellie shrieked as we ran out into the rain. Damn. I forgot
about my lunch. It was all watery now. Oh well. Chips were still good. A
guy like me can pretty much live off chips.
"You realize my makeup is probably going to run, right?" Ellie
squinted at me as raindrops started to bead on her eyelashes.
"You don't need to wear all that makeup anyway. You're gorgeous," I
wrapped my arms around her as she worked on getting her drink open. She
sent me a glare at my compliment and I let go of her shaking my head. This
girl did not like compliments whatsoever. "So... would you get totally pissed
if I pushed you down in that water puddle right behind you?"
"Uh... the answer to that would be yes. Do it and die."
I grabbed her around the waist anyway and pulled her down on the
grass with me. She squealed as we hit the grass and tried to claw herself
away from me, but I'm way too strong for her. Finally, after a few minutes
of wrestling, she gave up. "Sean, I hate you."
"Don't hate me because I'm irresistible, Ellie."
"No, I'll hate you because you are the biggest dork ever. Now I'm
going to have to go the rest of the day in wet, muddy clothes. I really
loathe you right now."
"So you're not going to kiss me?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Um, yeah..."
"How about now."
"Okay."
"What is going on here?" Ellie and I ended our make-out session and
quickly looked up. Great. Mr.Radditch.
Ashley's POV
"So Mr.Radditch broke you two apart and made you come to his office?
Yelled at you for PDA-"
"When in all actuality, no one else was around. Except him of
course."
"Yeah, but anyway, then gave you guys gym uniforms to wear the rest
of the day because your other clothes were wet?"
"Yeah. Can you imagine? I was ready to die. He said he couldn't allow
us to wear wet clothes the rest of the day."
"That skirt you were wearing today plus rain equals see-through,
Ellie. No wonder he made you change. Nice shirt by the way." I tugged at
the t-shirt she was wearing.
Ellie struck a model pose in the middle of the hallway. "Don't you
just love how it practically falls off? Nothing like an oversized t-shirt
that touches my knees. Very fashionable."
A few kids looked at Ellie in surprise. No wonder. This was the most
action she had shown in... well... years. She fingered the hem of the t-shirt
and decided to tie it in the knot. "Nice homage to the 80's."
Ellie looked up at me, "Oh yes. My parents would be proud. Whatever.
The 80's ruled. As do these nice polyester shorts. I like the fact that
they ride completely up my ass."
"I'm pretty sure those are kid's shorts. Not kidding." I lifted her
shirt in the back to get a better look at the shorts. Ellie shrieked as I
looked at the tag. "Yeah. They're definitely for little kids."
Ellie shrugged and continued walking to our next class- looking like
a total idiot I might add. "Ellie, stop walking like you have a fork stuck
up your ass."
"I can't help it. You know, Mr.Radditch is a total killjoy. We were
just playing in the rain!"
"Getting it on in the rain, more like it."
She flicked me off playfully before entering English. I smiled as I
remembered the poem I had written the night before. For once, it wasn't a
poem about an experience I had gone through. When Ms. Kwan told me I could
begin the poetry reading, I stood up eagerly and started, "This poem is
about a girl with an eating disorder. I was looking up some information on
the internet last night to help me write about it:
I watch her everyday.
Walking through life
Down the hall
Slowly, gliding
Light as a feather
Lighter than a feather
Remaining unattached
Fighting silently against
Herself.
She grows weary
She grows thin
Soon she becomes childlike
Angry, hostile, tortured
I watch her everyday
But it's not her.
I paused before sitting down, making sure to see everyone's
reactions. A lot of people just stared at me with their mouths open. It was
a pretty heavy topic. Nothing that was every discussed in class. Paige sent
me smile and mouthed "good job". I glanced at Ellie. Stone cold. She didn't
even tell me if it was good or not. I frowned and took a seat.
"Wow. That was great, Ashley," Ms.Kwan commented. She smiled at me
before looking back around the room. "Ellie? How about you? We haven't
heard from you yet."
Ellie's head shot up nervously, "Well... How about not?"
"Ellie, everyone has to read their poetry sometime. Might as well do
it today."
I shot Ellie a sympathetic glance as she walked to the front of the
room shakily. I knew she hated reading anything personal out loud. I was
glad that I was confident enough in my writing to be able to share it with
everyone.
"Um. Mine's not really a poem. It's kind of a short story, sort of
deal," I could barely hear her she was almost whispering. Ellie cleared her
throat and switched her weight to one leg, the other one twitching back and
forth.
"She used to be happy. She was taken care of, shown affection, loved.
She had everything. One day, everything that made her happy disappeared.
She didn't know where it went. And no matter how hard and long she searched
for it, she never found it. What made her happy was working, or traveling,
or overseas on a mission. It didn't greet her at the door anymore. It
didn't hold her in its arms every night. It didn't eat dinner with her. It
didn't play dolls with her. Instead, it made her grow up. It forced her to
walk home by herself. It forced her to have a key to the house with her at
all times. It forced her to depend on herself and no one else. It liked to
tease her. It would come back and make her believe it was staying and then
suddenly leave. It was like the floor was ripped out underneath her every
time. It made her paranoid. It caused her to never trust anyone. She
learned to be numb. Soon she started to believe she was better than
everyone else. She was so much more mature. She was cultured. She was
spoiled. She was sent presents from distant lands. She formed a special
relationship with the mailbox. She got everything she wanted. To everyone
else her life looked perfect. She preferred it to stay that way. She didn't
want anyone to know how she felt. How much pain she went through every day.
How jealous she was of everyone else. How she never felt fulfilled. How she
couldn't hold on to anything. How everything just slipped from her. And now
she's left just grasping at false hopes and an altered reality. She's
close... But never quite there."
I sat back in my chair shocked at Ellie's work. Where had this come
from? I searched her face for any emotion or clues to what she was feeling,
but she just stayed composed and calm. Suddenly Ms.Kwan started clapping
and the rest of the class joined in.
"That was beautiful, Ellie. I really enjoyed it. Any comments?"
Why hadn't she asked if there were any comments for my writing? I
mean, I had actually done the assignment like she asked. She had asked for
a poem, not whatever Ellie had written. I realized how vicious I was being.
I was just jealous. Usually Ms. Kwan liked my work more than anyone's. All
of a sudden it seemed like Ellie was becoming her new pet.
"It was different. I liked that," Jimmy called out from the back of
the room.
Ms. Kwan nodded and smiled before calling on Heather Sinclaire. "Was
that a personal story, Ellie?" Heather asked nosily.
Ellie shook her head hard, "No. I just wrote it. It just sort of came
out. But no, not personal at all." She closed her notebook and walked back
to her seat, looking relieved that it was finally over.
Ellie turned to me, "How the hell do you do that every day?"
Ellie's POV
"Okay! My eyes are closed. What is it?" I called out to Sean. He had
told me he had a surprise for me and to close my eyes. But that seemed like
ages ago.
"Keep them shut! Okay... wait... okay, open them!"
I waited a few seconds longer before opening my eyes. "Ohmigod!
They're so cute!" I shrieked. Right in front of me were two of the most
adorable kittens I had ever seen in my life. One was pure white and the
other was white with a few grey hairs here and there. I ran my hands over
each one and gave Sean a quick kiss on the lips. "They're for me, right?"
"Of course. Manny was giving them away, and I decided to be
spontaneous and give you two. Do you like them?"
"I love them! They're precious! Okay... what am I going to name them?"
"Well, Mrs. Santos said they're both boys."
"Yep. They're all boy. That's for sure. They're so tiny. I think I"ll
call them..."
"Sean and Sean Jr.?"
Ellie swatted at my shoulder before resting her head on it. "No way.
The white one will be Dolce and the other one will be Gabbana."
"Ugh. Come again?"
"Dolce and Gabbana. Like the shoes. My one brown slouch boots- those
are Dolce and Gabbana."
"You're naming your kittens after shoes? Whatever happened to fluffy
and blackie?"
I stuck my tongue out at him, "You're so normal. I can't wait to get
them collars."
"Are they going to have rhinestones all over them?"
"I'm thinking diamonds. I'm going to spoil these little guys soooo
much! Thank you, pookie."
"No problem, cookie."
We kissed for a second before playing more with the kittens. As Sean
was dangling string in front of them, the phone started to ring. I jumped
up from my position on the floor and ran for the phone before whoever hung
up. "Hello?" I asked.
"Hey pumpkin!"
"Daddy!" I squeezed the phone and smiled.
"How are you?"
"I'm great. Dad, guess what?"
"What?"
"Sean just gave me two kittens! Isn't that sweet?"
"Who's Sean?"
"Oh yeah... Well, I'll tell you later."
"Okay, is your mom there?"
"Mom? Um, no. She's out of town on business. Some designing project.
I don't know."
"Oh, okay. Well, I have good news!"
I squeezed the phone harder. Good news? My dad never had good news
when he was on duty. I shut my eyes. Please, please, please let him be
coming home.
"I'm coming home!"
I dropped the phone in excitement. Seriously. I jumped up and down a
bit before picking the phone back up off of the floor and screaming into
it. "Really?"
"Yes! I have a two-week leave. So I'm only coming home for a visit. I
can't wait to see you."
"Me too! You have to meet Sean."
"Well, I definitely do! Okay, well I have to go. Tell your mom the
great news!"
We said our goodbyes and hung up. I couldn't believe it. My dad was
actually coming home for two weeks. Could life seriously get any better?
"What was that?" Sean came up behind me with Dolce and Gabbana in his
hands. I sighed happily and wrapped my arms around his waist.
"My dad is coming home!"
"Wow. That's great. When?"
"Next weekend, I guess. I can't wait for you to meet him. He's going
to adore you."
Sean coughed and nodded in agreement. Sort of. "Yeah, he's really
going to love his daughter's boyfriend who lives by himself and has no job.
I'll be sure to tell him that I'm sleeping over this weekend, too."
"Don't be stupid. You are going to make quite the impression. Of
course, we'll work on finding you a job tomorrow. And maybe we won't tell
him that you're living all by yourself. He doesn't really need to know
that..."
I felt like I was floating. Seriously. Every night I had hoped that
my dad would come home soon. And he finally was! I looked at Sean as he
started to play with the kittens again. Things were definitely starting to
look up.