Chapter 21: At Last

Ellie's POV

"Your father will be home early tomorrow morning."

I glanced at my mom from across the dinner table. "I kind of know that already," I replied harshly. I was still pissed at her for calling me while I was sleeping at Sean's and demanding I come home. Who did she think she was? She had no right to just waltz back into my life and start asking things of me.

She sighed and pulled at her bangs, a frequent habit of hers when she's annoyed. "I know you're upset with me, but I'm your mother. I don't want you staying out all night with that boy. Plus, I need help around here."

"You mean you need help making it look like you've been okay while dad was gone? It's Friday night mom. And I'm home at 10:00. I'm such a loser!" I burst out. I continued to shovel the spaghetti she had made me around in the bowl with my fork. Spaghetti at 10:00. How gross.

"Eat your spaghetti. You're the one who didn't want dad to know I'd gone to rehab. And I doubt anyone is too concerned with what time your home on a Saturday."

She was so annoying. What was with this perfect mom shit? "I'm concerned. Deeply concerned. It's a travesty."

"You've always been too dramatic for your own good. Eat your dinner." She got up and carried her plate to the sink. I made an unattractive face at her behind her back.

She turned around and leaned back against the kitchen sink. "Just be agreeable with me this once. You can stay out all night tomorrow for all I care."

I smiled thinking of the amazing time Sean and I would have. And afterwards… wow… yeah, I'd definitely be staying out all night. "Okay!" I watched as she turned back around to fill the sink with water and I walked over to her, tossing the spaghetti on my plate into the trash before she could see.

"Eleanor, put a new trash bag in the trash can, please." This was way too easy. I changed the trash bags and trudged on up to my room. I might as well busy myself for the remainder of the night.

I could call Sean, but he had looked pretty tired when I left. Plus, I didn't want to crowd him. I could call Ashley, but she'd probably be out with Craig. Lucky bitch. Not that she was out with Craig, but that she was out at all. I reached for the phone next to me on the bed. I'd just talk to Marco. He'd be happy to listen to me whine about my mom and her little mother hen act. But when I called his cell, it just rang and rang until I got his voicemail. I told him to call me back and promptly tried his house. No answer. I fell back against my pillows and frowned. I was disappointed and I had being disappointed.

I felt something furry against my hand and I smiled as I noticed Gabbana rubbing his little head against fingers. I rubbed his head for a little and he purred like crazy. "Where's Dolce?" I cooed at him. No answer. Nothing new.

Okay, enough of this lame-ass feeling sorry for myself crap. Why was I even doing this to myself? I knew I'd be having an amazing night tomorrow. Still, I felt lonely and depressed and utterly stressed out right now. And right now was all that mattered to me…er… right now. Not even Gabbana licking my wrist was doing it for me.

I slid off my bed and onto the floor where I had stayed up all night. My fingers perused over the dozen or so magazines I had spread around me, but none of them caught my interest. Not even the People magazine to quench my need for gossip. What was going on with me? Maybe I'd feel better if I put some music on. That usually did it for me. But as I looked over my collection nothing happy or cheerful popped out at me. I felt drawn to the songs that rated higher on the depressing and sad meter. I picked out The Get Up Kids and automatically turned it onto The Most Depressing Song Ever. God, I was pathetic.

Maybe I wasn't upset all over having to leave Sean's so early. It's not like we were doing anything, I was sleeping. Maybe it was more about all the surprises in my life. Getting the co-op when I least expected it, falling for the "bad" kid, Marco actually getting a boyfriend, my mom leaving, my mom coming home, my dad being so insensitive. And even though my life seemed peachy from everyone else's point of view, I was seriously starting to think that my life sucked.

Sean's POV

"Get a grip, Cameron," I thought to myself as I stood outside of Ellie's door. The doorbell loomed in front of me like an invite to an early death. Let's see- I could ring the doorbell, force myself to talk to Mr. Nash- I mean Christian- and pretend to be nice to Mrs. Nash, embarrass myself by getting tongue-tied and make the wrong impression, spend all my money on a dinner that probably won't even be worth it, go to the stupid dance and ruin my pride, be mocked my Jay and Towerz for the rest of my life, and… Be with Ellie. The last part pretty much beat out all the reasons not to ring the doorbell. I punched the tiny button with my finger and sat back on my heels expectantly.

I held my breath as I heard high-heels clicking across the floor. That must be Ellie. I smiled and waited for her to open the door. She did, but it wasn't Ellie. My smile dropped from my mouth for a split second before I remembered that I was here to make an impression. Mrs. Nash told me to come in and I gave her the look-over. She looked a lot better than when I last saw her passed out on the couch.

"Hi, Mrs.Nash," I forced myself to say politely. When really all I wanted to do was scream at her for hurting her daughter and telling her she wasn't good enough. I resisted the urge to spit at her feet.

"Hello Shane."

"Sean."

"Oh, that's right. Sean. Ellie will be down soon." She led me to the couch and I sat down, rubbing my sweaty palms against my pant legs. Why was I so freaking nervous? This was Ellie. The girl I basically spent every single minute of my day with.

"Hey Ron!"

Mr. Nash walked in, a huge smile on his face. "Sean," I corrected him.

He shook his head, "Oh, that's right. Sean."

This was going well… I racked my brain, trying to think of something to say to Ellie's parents. Nothing came to mind. Nothing I could actually say to them and still expect to see their daughter that was.

After fifteen minutes of meaningless small talk where I basically just nodded my head or muttered "yeah", I heard Ellie's bedroom door open and close. Thank you! I stood up and looked at the stairs expectantly, in anticipation. So this is what it felt like to take your girlfriend to a school dance. My stomach was so tied up I thought I was going to lurch all over the polished hardwood floor. Better not, though, or else Mrs. Nash would have an aneurysm.

Okay, there was one foot. Wow. Even her foot looked sexy. Another. Then her legs. Nice. Nice. Wow, yeah, I kept expecting to see her dress, but it must have been shorter than she led me to believe. Oh yeah… I watched as she came down the rest of the stairs and I, myself, almost had an aneurysm. She looked amazing. This was the most girly I'd ever seen her.

She had her patented bored look on her face, but as soon as she noticed how transfixed I was by her, her mouth broke out into a soft smile. "Hey, Sean," she said sweetly.

I looked from her face down to her dress. Her neckline was dangerous, her hemline was dangerous, basically all you saw was skin, but she still managed to look like the classiest girl in the world. She did a little turn when she reached me so I could see the rest. Woah. She had the sexiest back. I just wanted to run my hands over it, but I restrained myself since I was in front of the parentals.

"I like your hair," I commented. How stupid. I like your hair? What about I like your dress, I like your shoes, I like your smile. Hair? But she seemed pleased by the compliment. She lightly touched her hair, which was pulled back with soft curls pinned loosely at the base of her neck. She wasn't wearing any accessories except for the tight, silk arm warmers. I knew she wouldn't even be wearing those if it weren't for her scars. She wasn't ready for anyone to see them yet.

"Okay, be home by 11:00?" Mr. Nash asked.

"Dad!" Ellie whined. "Stop embarrassing me. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Woah, woah, woah. Wait up. You're taking one of my cars, right Sean?"

I glanced at Ellie, who nodded. "Yes, I guess so."

Mr. Nash sighed, "Just be careful, okay? Ellie, I'm serious. Don't let Ellie drive, Sean."

Ellie made a noise that I guess was supposed to mean something along the lines of "that's not fair". I smirked at her and watched as her dad grabbed a set of keys and handed them to me. "This one is to the Corvette. Don't be stupid."

I thanked him and grabbed the keys. I couldn't believe it. I'd be driving a Corvette tonight. Suddenly I remembered the corsage I had bought Ellie. "Oh, here Elle. I got you this." I opened the plastic container and picked out the tiny flowers and slipped it onto her lower arm.

Ellie bit her lip and looked up at me through her eyelashes, "Thanks."

After a few serious pictures and some not-so-serious ones, Ellie and I said goodbye to her parents and started to walk outside towards the garage. Ellie slipped her hand into mine. "We totally cheesed it up in there for those last few."

I laughed shortly and looked at her through the corner of my eye. "Yeah. But we made it a Kodak moment."

"You're so lame," she teased and squeezed my hand. I squeezed hers back. Sometimes a simple gesture such as a hand squeeze can drive a person mad. Ellie grabbed me forcefully and crushed my mouth with hers. My eyes widened at first, but then became droopy and I wrapped my arms around her and finally got to touch her back.

"You look amazing, Ellie. If you don't win tonight, it'd be a crime."

She rolled her eyes, something she does so much that it doesn't even faze me now. Her eye rolls don't even mean anything anymore she does it so much. But their something I live for. "I'm not going to win, Sean. Who cares anyway? I'm not going to cry over it."

I snuck another look at her and smiled to myself. "Well, you never know… You could win…" I thought back to the day the school had actually voted for the winners. I basically had threatened everyone I could that if they didn't vote for her, I'd pound them. Hopefully I wouldn't have to.

An hour later we were seated at the restaurant. Ellie looked around and gave it her nod of approval. "My dad and I came here awhile back. They have awesome chicken."

"Do you eat anything besides chicken?"

"Eh. Sometimes. When I feel like it. I don't know, I'm not really hungry tonight."

Great. If I was going to be paying for her dinner, she better be ordering an actual meal. None of this stupid side salad crap girls sometimes pull. I looked over the top of my menu at her and noticed how far her collarbone stuck out. I could even see the outlines of the other bones at the top of her chest. I tried to think back to the beginning of biology this year. What was that bone called again? The breast bone maybe? "Well, you look like you could use a good meal," I muttered. She didn't hear me.

"Here are your drinks. Could I get your orders?" our waiter, Greg was his name, asked politely.

I look at Ellie, "You go first."

Her eyes searched the menu one last time. "I'll just have a small salad with Italian dressing."

Not if I had anything to do with it. "I'll take the three-cheese lasagna with the…um… vegetable soup. And she'll also have the Italian-herb chicken with her salad."

"Very well. I'll be back soon with your order."

Greg took our menus and Ellie stared at me, open-mouthed. "Didn't I just say I wasn't that hungry?"

"Well, you were bragging so much about the chicken. If you don't eat it, you don't eat it. I'll take it home."

"Whatever. So what time do you think we'll get to the dance?" She reached over and checked my watch nervously.

"Um. I don't now, why?"

"Well, they announce the winners at 10:30."

I grinned, "I thought you didn't care about that. Isn't that just what you said?"

"Shut up." She grabbed her fork and started to play with it. "I don't care. I'd just like to be there in case Ashley wins or something."

"Sure…" It was so obvious that she wanted to win. Who would have thought, Ellie Nash wanting a homecoming title.

I could feel the small ring box burning a hole in my pocket. Should I give it to her now? Wait till later? I reached down and touched it through my pants. Now would probably be a good time. I pulled it out and rolled it around in my hands for a while, watching her as she played with the earrings in her ear. She caught me looking at her and lifted a corner of her mouth in a smile. I cleared my throat and stood up straighter. "I have something for you," I blurted out. Smooth, Cameron. Real smooth.

She clasped her hands and put them in front of her on the table. "What's that?"

"It's just a little something. You know, we've been dating for little while now. And you've been great, seriously. You've helped me out a lot. And so I thought I'd just get you a little something to show you that I appreciate it."

She licked her lips and hunched her shoulders expectantly. I pulled the box out from underneath the table and set it in front of her by her water glass. She stared at it for a little bit before looking back up at me. "Should I open it?"

"That's the idea."

She picked it up gingerly and held it in her palm for a minute before opening it up. The garnet and diamonds on the ring glistened in the candlelight and her mouth fell open in shock. "Sean, wow. This is gorgeous."

"Or you could say pulchritudinous," I offered, using a vocabulary word she had quizzed me mercilessly on. It meant pretty.

She giggled and continued to stare at the ring. I stood up and walked over to her side of the table so I could put it on her finger. "You wear it on the left ring finger. I just got it because, well, you're my girlfriend. The lady at the jewelry store said it could stand for friendship and commitment. Do you like it?"

"I love it," she breathed. I slipped it on her finger and she grabbed me in a hug. I dug my nose into her hair and breathed in. She smelled great. I heard her let out a little happy sigh and my heart jumped.

People around us started clapping and giving us knowing smiles. Oh God. They thought we were engaged. Ellie continued to admire her ring while I shook my head to the other diners, letting them know there was no engagement. That was crazy.

"Well," Ellie sat back contently in her chair. "I have the most amazing boyfriend on earth."

"Oh really? Do I know him?" I joked, trying to look seriously.

"Nah. He's tall and handsome."

"Ha ha," I laughed sarcastically.

Ellie's POV

The theme of the dance was something like "Underneath the Stars" or along that line. The gym looked pretty good, all things considered. Still, I tried to not look too impressed. I have my reputation to uphold. I kept glancing down at my ring as Sean and I walked from the car to the gym. What would people think? I couldn't wait to show Ashley. She'd be incredibly jealous. Wow, I'm such a bad friend. I couldn't wait to make my friend jealous and shove it in her face that despite all her protesting and arguments that Sean was a devoted boyfriend and definitely worth my time.

I noticed Marco as soon as I walked into the gym and waved at him. He let out a fox whistle and drew the attention of everyone around him to me. I tried not to blush, but some things can't be helped. "Ellie, you look amazing as always." Marco kissed me on both cheeks and made me twirl for him. As if he hadn't seen me in the dress just the other day.

"Wow. You do look pretty good," Paige grudgingly admitted. Even though Paige can be a huge bitch and a snob, she is honest. Even when she doesn't want to admit that I looked better than her.

I gave Paige a saccharine smile and turned my attention to Ashley who was busy staring at the rock on my finger. I waved it in front of her face, "You like?"

She grabbed my fingers so she could take a better look and frowned. "It's pretty. If you like that sort of thing." She walked off, leaving me thinking all sorts of horrible things about her in my head. I wanted to wipe that pretentious look off her face. Sean wrapped his arm around my waist tighter after noticing me tense up.

Maybe Ashley forgot that just the other day she was all excited for me about Sean's surprises. She really needed to get a grip on her emotions. Not that I should be talking… I was a jittery, nervous wreck. I kept looking at Sean's watch, checking to see how much longer until they announced the winners.

Sean and I danced in a dark corner, away from everyone. We didn't want everyone to see us actually enjoying ourselves at a school function. How weird! A slow song came on and he wrapped his arms around my waist, drawing me even closer, if that was possible. I wrapped my arms around his waist too and let my head fall back so I could look at him better. "Are you having fun?" I asked.

"Now I am," he whispered into my ear. I tried to fight the silly smile off of my face, but I couldn't help it. Why the hell was I letting this guy affect me this much? What was so special about Sean that he made me want to get up earlier in the mornings to pick out a special outfit for him or buy him a CD he'd been dying for or bake him a batch of cookies? I was starting to become the cookie-cutter girlfriend and that was scary. I'd always scoffed at love on the outside, but secretly yearned for it in private. I think only Marco really knew that side of me. The side that cried at Beauty and the Beast and cut out anniversary announcements from the newspaper and watched A Wedding Story religiously. I wondered if Sean realized how happy I was when he gave me my ring.

"Okay, and now it's time to announce the winners of the Homecoming Court!" Mr. Simpson shouted in the microphone.

I froze. This was it. Even though I knew I wasn't going to get it, part of me still hoped that maybe people had decided to vote for the underdog this time. "Please don't be Ashley, anyone but Ashley" was the mantra in my head. I am so horrible.

"The Freshman Prince is…" okay, yadda, yadda, yadda. Get to the juicy stuff. I watched as J.T. Yorke went up onstage with some girl I didn't know to receive their crowns. How cute. J.T. made a big showy bow and tried to grab the mike from Simpson to make a ridiculous speech, but didn't achieve. I frowned at the thought of Sean not winning. I had wanted him to win. On second thought, if that meant he'd have to dance with that girl who was wearing that totally slutty dress, maybe it was better he hadn't won.

"Sophomore Prince is Jimmy Brooks! And your Princess for the Sophomore class is…"

Ohmigod. Ohmigod. Ohmigod. My heart was beating so hard, I thought my chest was going to explode. I couldn't even breathe. I reached for Sean's arm and held onto it tight. Where was a paper bag when you needed it? Better yet, a gun. Because I was seriously pathetic.

"Ellie, go up there!" Sean pushed me. What? I looked around. Everyone was staring at me. Wait. Did I just win? "Ellie! You won!" Sean nudged me and I put a foot forward.

No way. I had just won. I tried to walk up to the stage as elegantly as possible, but that wasn't happening. I wanted to run up there and rip that crown from Simpson's hands and put it on because I had just won. For once, the head cheerleader or the tortured artist as Ashley liked to call herself sometimes hadn't won. I had. The most invisible girl in school. The girl who was called a vampire or freak almost every day of her life. Who usually hid behind the video camera. Who wrote anonymously for the Grapevine. Who had wanted this more than anyone else. This moment was like revolutionary.

I noticed a lot of people clapping and smiling for me. Seriously. For me. Emma Nelson congratulated me on my way up. My boyfriend's ex-girlfriend congratulated me. Marco let out a whoop and, for a moment, I was seriously embarrassed. Then Dylan and a few of his friends did the same thing. I forced my shaking legs to go up the steps to the stage one heel at a time.

The lights on the stage were so blinding, I could hardly see anyone standing around on the floor. I couldn't even hear the rest of the court being announced. I didn't even care. I smelled the single white rose that Liberty Van Zandt handed me after placing a tiny tiara on my head. All of a sudden, my gaze found Ashley standing in the front with Craig. Her arms were crossed and she wouldn't even look at the stage. What a sore loser. She looked seriously pissed. Even Paige and Hazel managed to give a few polite claps before shrugging it off. Why couldn't she just get over it like everyone else had? I tried to put myself in her shoes, but I knew that even if she had won, I would have been a little upset but would have gotten over it and would have been happy for her. So why couldn't she do that for me? Why did she always have to get everything while I was just her "buddy" or second best?

Jimmy and I danced a slow dance to "Yellow" by Coldplay, totally cheesing it up with a few twirls and dips here and there. I was so giddy I was actually like ballroom dancing in front of the entire freaking school. How lame am I? I was glad Jimmy had gotten prince. He deserved it. I knew he used to have a huge crush on me when I first moved here. I had felt bad for turning him down since he's such a sweet guy, but he had Hazel now. We finished our dance and I went to go find Sean. I spotted him getting a drink and I met up with him.

"Hey Princess," he greeted me. I liked the sound of that.

"Isn't it funny?" I asked.

"No, you deserved it more than anyone. Simple as that." I had the sweetest boyfriend.

Marco and Dylan came over to give me a hug and soon other kids from my grade were congratulating me. I didn't even know that half of them knew my name. I guess I wasn't so invisible as I thought.

It was nearing the end of the dance and Sean and I had actually decided to stay longer than we planned on. Who knew, right? I laughed as Marco and I gossiped about everyone's outfits that night. Some people were such major fashion faux pas. "Hey, Marco, I'm going to find Sean, but I'll see you at Jimmy's later, right?" Jimmy was having an after-party that night.

"Sure. Bye, Ellie. I always knew you were a princess." Leave it to Marco to say something so… corny. But it made me smile anyway.

It took me awhile to find Sean through all the throngs of dancers, but I caught sight of him talking to Ashley. What was she saying? Maybe she had decided to be nice about it. That would be good. I hated being mad at Ashley or having her mad at me. I was about to greet her when I heard the last part of what she was telling Sean.

"-doesn't surprise me. She's been hiding the fact that her dad is like this huge billionaire from everyone. I know she paid people to vote for her. What a loser."

My face grew red and I could barely see I was so pissed. What a bitch!

"You're just jealous. You know Ellie's better than you and you can't stand it. Don't say anything else about her or I'll-"

Ashley cut Sean off. "Or you'll what? Beat me up? Steal something from me? I could care less."

I snapped. What right did she have to stay that stuff about me and then yell at Sean like that? I pushed her from behind and she stumbled forward, grabbing onto the edge of a table for support. "What the hell?" She cried, looking behind and seeing me. "Oh. It's you."

"What's your problem? Are you that pathetic that you're going to spread lies about me and ruin our friendship over this?" I grabbed the tiara from my head. "Over a crown?" I threw it at her feet. "There! Take it!"

She looked at the tiara and then back up at me, but she didn't move to pick it up.

"Take it! You want it, you're ready to fight me for it, you'll talk shit about me for it. So take it. I'm giving it to you."

'Ellie-"

"Why are you just standing there? Take it! Pick it up! TAKE IT!" I screamed, my fingernails digging into my palms. I couldn't stand watching her just look at the crown and then me while everyone else just crowded around and started whispering to each other. I saw that Simpson and the other chaperones were making their way over to us. So I did the thing I do best. I ran.

Sean's POV

I threw Ashley one last scathing look before I picked the tiara up, which was surprisingly still in perfect condition, and ran after Ellie. I caught up with her and put an arm around her shoulders as she walked towards the car. Her breathing was heavy and she looked troubled, so I didn't disturb her by talking. I just kissed the side of her head and led her to the passenger seat of the car.

"Let's go to the beach first," she mumbled as she slid into the car. I shut the door behind her.

The ride to the beach was made in silence. She just stared out of the window while I peeked down at the tiara in my lap every once in awhile. I wondered if she even still wanted it. Something told me she did.

I opened the door for her, but she just sat in the car still. "I don't want to get out," she said, looking down at her hands.

"That's fine." I got back into the car and positioned myself so I faced her. I picked the tiara up and held it out to her. "I believe this is yours. You won it."

She touched the tiara and then took it, placing it back on top of her head. "It looks better on me anyways."

I chuckled and rubbed her leg. She looked at me, "Sean? Are you trying to get fresh with me right now?" I rolled my eyes and took my hand away. "I was just kidding, Sean."

"I know. So, did you want to talk about it?"

"About what? About how my friend is basically a vicious back stabber? No, not really. I'd rather forget about her and have fun."

"Thank you. I thought we'd be spending the rest of the night in silence. Do you want to go to Jimmy's now?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I think I'll wear my crown in, too. Just to shove it in her face."

"That's my girl," I playfully punched her on the shoulder and she reached down to bite my hand. "Hey, watch it. You'll ruin the manicure."

"Yeah… I'm liking the faint oil stains on your fingers. You couldn't even get rid of those for tonight?"

"Between buying you a corsage, a ring, and taking you out to dinner… no."

She looked at me, with her head leaned back against the seat. "You were great tonight, Sean. Seriously, it was awesome. Thanks for everything."

I leaned in towards her, "Don't thank me yet. I still have one more surprise for you."

She lifted her eyebrows, "Oh yeah? What's that?"

I whispered in her ear and she smiled in anticipation. "Wow. I can't wait for that. Did you want to skip the party?"

"Nah. I'm looking forward to hearing what Marco has to say about everyone's attire tonight."

"Attire. Good word. But Marco and I already discussed that thoroughly. Sorry."

"Damn! It was the only thing keeping me going tonight."

"You are so fucking funny. Let's go."

She flipped down the mirror and looked at herself quickly before pushing it back up. I could barely tear my eyes away from her to turn the car back on. I don't think I even told her how pretty she looked tonight. "Ellie?"

"Hmmm?"

"You look beautiful."

Yay! Another chapter! So, if there's anyone's POV that you'd like to see, you can tell me in a review and I'll try and include it. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and thanks for all the reviews. By the way, I also agree that Toy Soldiers is one of the best movies. It's great.