Chapter 16: It's My Life/Confessions

ELLA

"It didn't take me long to figure out that I could still do a lot of the same things that I could do before the accident, I just needed to discover a new way of doing them," Artie said with a shrug, presumably remembering how elated he'd been from that day on, when their family began to give him more opportunities to be independent. "And the few things that I couldn't do anymore were replaced by new interests, new hobbies that I maybe wouldn't have ever thought about exploring before. Singing, cooking, that stuff."

The doorbell rang just then, causing the siblings to glance at one another quizzically, all silently wondering who that could be.

"I'll get it," Griffin said, hopping up from his seat and heading toward the foyer.

From the kitchen, they could hear Griffin having a muffled conversation with whoever was at the door. While they waited for him to return, Artie began cleaning up the countertop and washing the dishes as Ella and Sebastian continued to eat their brunch.

"Hey, uh, Art? Tina's here," Griffin announced when he re-entered the kitchen, Tina trailing behind him with her backpack slung over one shoulder. All eyes turned to Artie then, who had the proper sense to look surprised at his best friend's sudden appearance in his house.

"Oh, hey, T," Artie greeted her. "What's up? Everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Friday morning in class you told me to come over on Sunday so that we could get a head start on our history project, remember?"

Artie's eyebrows shot up and his mouth formed an 'o' shape, showing that, no, he hadn't remembered that conversation of theirs until just now.

"Crap. Sorry, T. My mom and Harrison have us doing this sibling bonding weekend thing, and it completely slipped my mind."

Ella took notice of the glance Artie had shared with Sebastian as he said that. She knew she was pretty intuitive, but it didn't take a special set of skills to assume that neither boy had divulged the plans of this particular weekend to their respective friend groups.

"I texted you fifteen minutes ago telling you that I was on my way," Tina told him, her frustration beginning to show.

Sebastian made a show of taking a long sip of his spiked coffee just then, making eye contact with Ella as she finished up her french toast, both of them glad it wasn't them on Queen T's bad side.

Artie pulled his phone out from the pocket of his khakis and scrolled through his notifications.

"Ugh, that's my bad. I put my phone on silent when we were watching a movie last night, and I forgot to switch the ringer back on," Artie explained. "I've been making brunch for everyone and had my phone in my pocket, so I didn't feel the vibration, obviously. But, hey, you're here now! Sit! We'll play a board game or something. Can I get you something to eat or drink? I just made french toast for Seb and El."

It was clear that Artie was overcompensating for forgetting the plans he'd made with his friend by making an attempt at being the best host ever.

"Well, I suppose we don't really need to worry about our project until Wednesday or so," Tina replied, hooking her backpack onto one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "I guess we can just hang out. We haven't done that in a while."

"Great," Artie said, and Ella could hear the relief in his voice as he opened the fridge and retrieved a can of Diet Coke, handing it to Tina, probably knowing that the soda would win her forgiveness. "Why don't we move this party to the living room? I hereby challenge you all to a game of Scrabble."

Ella dumped her plate in the sink (she told herself that she'd go back and put it in the dishwasher later… or Artie would… or Mom…) and lead the way into the living room, opening one of the cabinets under the TV and grabbing the Scrabble box before taking a seat on the sofa. Griffin sat across the coffee table from her in one of the armchairs, with Sebastian claiming the other one beside him, just as Tina settled down on the other side of the couch. Artie remained seated in his chair, parked adjacent to the coffee table, in the space between Sebastian and Tina.

Ella watched curiously as Sebastian and Tina engaged in an intense stare-down as they sat across from one another. When Tina narrowed her eyes at Seb, he returned the glare right back to her. Ella knew that Tina had a habit of being a little overprotective of Artie (too much so for Ella's liking– sometimes it came off as infantilizing), and she also knew that Sebastian didn't take shit from anyone. Ella didn't know how well they knew each other, but the tension between the two of them was like a thickness in the air that Ella couldn't keep herself from noticing.

"Alright, does everyone know the rules?" Artie asked as he took charge and began setting up the game on the coffee table, either blissfully unaware of the people on opposite sides of him glaring at one another or just choosing to ignore them.

"Artie, it's Scrabble, not rocket science," Tina reminded him with an eye roll.

"I'm just checking, 'yo," Artie replied, disregarding her tone. "I don't play with cheaters, so I want to make sure we're all on the same page before we start."

With that, Artie looked pointedly at Griff, who played along by looking over his shoulder and pretending like he didn't know what Artie was insinuating.

"Who, me? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Ella chimed in, raising an eyebrow. Griffin was known to 'work smarter and not harder' whenever it came to family game night, which often resulted in him ignoring the rules of the games that they played.

Ella's phone vibrated just then, and she took the time to read and reply to the text message she'd just received, making sure to angle herself in such a way that nobody was able to peer over her shoulder. She was so distracted by her phone, however, that she didn't even realize that the others were waiting on her to start the game.

"Earth to El," Seb called as she was typing the message. "Youngest goes first. You're up."

"Oops. My bad," Ella said, putting her phone down on the couch between her and Tina before selecting her letter tiles from the bag to get started.

They all zeroed in on the game at hand for a while, the only thing disrupting them being Artie's strict enforcement of the rules.

"That's not a word," Artie pointed out as Sebastian placed his latest set of tiles on the board.

"'Quinze'? Sure it is. It means 'fifteen' in French."

"Well, we're playing in English, and you're only allowed to use words from the language you're playing the game in. That's in the rules," Artie said, reaching for the letter tiles Sebastian had just placed on the board and handing them back to him.

Sebastian rolled his eyes before heading back to the letters on his rack and trying to come up with a new word that would both appease Artie and earn himself the maximum number of points.

"Ella, your phone keeps going off," Tina said as they waited on Seb. As they'd been playing the board game, Ella's phone had been sitting in the space between them on the couch. Tina handed her the device, but not before stealing a peek at her notifications. "It's… Santana? What's she doing texting you?"

Jesus, Tina! Ella thought as she quickly took the phone from the older girl's hand. Did your nosy self really have to announce my business like that?

"Santana… Lopez?" Artie asked, perking up at the mention of his friend and cocking his head to the side in confusion. Ella could feel her face heating up as all four of the others stared back at her. "What's the story there?"

Ella briefly considered lying, but she knew that her face would give it away. Abramses had long been notoriously shitty liars. She racked her brain for a usable excuse, only to come up with nothing.

"Come on, woman. Spit it out," Artie told her, gesturing with his hand for her to just tell him the truth.

Ella sighed. She knew it would all have to come out at some point (and she was already kind of surprised that Santana hadn't mentioned their conversations to Artie), but she hoped that she'd be able to run through possible ways the conversation would go in her head beforehand and not approach this subject so unrehearsed. At least Artie and Santana were good friends nowadays. This conversation would be much more difficult to engage in if tensions hadn't subsided between the Glee Club and the Cheerios years back.

"I… I want to join the Cheerios next year when I get to high school," Ella confessed. "I've been texting with Santana about it. She's been giving me some advice and tips for tryouts."

"You what?!" Artie exclaimed, setting the letter he had been holding back down into the tile rack and crossing his arms over his chest like a pouty little kid. "You didn't think you should, I don't know, ask me about this?"

"I was planning on it! Just… not in the near future," Ella replied, causing Artie to scoff. "But only because I knew that we were going to fight like we are right now!"

"So, you were just going to… surprise me with this once you made the team?"

"What's your issue?" Ella asked, exasperated. "You have friends on the Cheerios!"

Tina, Griffin, and Sebastian's heads were turning back and forth between big brother and little sister as they fought, as if they were watching a tennis match.

"I just… wish you'd have talked to me about this is all," Artie huffed, dialing his reaction back a bit as he seemingly remembered that Tina was there. He didn't want to lose his temper in the presence of their guest. "The Cheerios are bitches, El. You're not that type of girl."

Ella managed to bite back comments about Artie's previous relationship with Brittany and whatever feelings he does-or-does-not harbor for Quinn. If she wanted to earn his approval and respect, she knew she should err on the side of caution when choosing her comebacks. She'd expected this reaction from him, especially after the fit he threw after she chose to make the switch from gymnastics to cheerleading two years ago. She just assumed she'd have more time to prepare for it.

"You've never cared about joining the Cheerios before," Artie commented coolly. "What brought this on?"

"Well, I've kind of secretly always wanted to be a Cheerio," Ella shrugged. "Since the first time I saw them perform. It was during halftime at one of Griff's football games a few years back…"

Lima, Ohio

October 2009

"Our team sucks," Eleven-year-old Ella complained from where she was seated on the bleachers of the McKinley High School football field with her family, watching the McKinley Titans get crushed by the Fairbrook Knights.

"Hey, we've still got another two quarters to play. There's still time for them to turn it around," Art Abrams said. Her dad had come all the way from Akron to cheer Griffin's team on and was trying to remain optimistic. It would be a shame if Griff's team lost every game during his senior year.

"It's only halftime and we're already down by almost twenty points," Artie lamented from beside Ella. Football had never been his favorite sport, but nobody liked to cheer on a losing team. "We need some sort of coaching change if they want to even have a chance at winning any games."

"I-I've never l-l-liked Coach Tanaka anyways," Tina commented from her spot on Ella's left side.

It had really begun to feel like autumn in the last week or so, and the temperature was starting to drop significantly as soon as the sun went down. Ella and Tina huddled together under the blanket they were sharing, with Artie parked in his chair beside them, bundled up in a scarf and hat and his own blanket covering his lap.

"Oh, look, here come the Cheerios," Nancy pointed as the cheerleading team took the field after the football players exited.

The team consisted of a bunch of girls– and even some guys– who were holding megaphones and pom poms, jumping around without a care in the world even though their team was losing horribly. The girls all had identical perfectly curled ponytails and despite the cold, they were wearing only short skirts and tank tops.

"A few of the cheerleaders are in Glee Club with you guys, right?" Nancy asked Artie and Tina, and Ella watched as they exchanged an annoyed look.

"Yes, but Quinn only joined so she could keep a watchful eye on her boyfriend Finn. And I'm not really sure what Brittany and Santana's motives are," Artie replied with an eye roll. "They're the most popular girls in school, and we get called losers every day. Why would they want to be associated with us?"

"Maybe they joined because they like to sing and dance," Nancy suggested. "Or they wanted to be a part of something where they didn't feel pressured to be anyone but themselves. Maybe they're just like you. Did you ever think about that?"

Artie paused and shared a glance with Tina as he considered his mother's words for only a moment before definitively shaking his head.

"No. They're out to do something horrible, I'm sure. I just haven't figured out what it is yet. Maybe they're spies for Coach Sylvester. Or they're going to try and bring us down from the inside. Something like that. I just know it."

When all of the cheerleaders were in their starting pose, bass-boosted music blasted through the speakers, complete with sound effects that coincided with the flips and tricks that the cheerleaders performed. Ella's eyes grew wide as she watched the routine, captivated by the way that the girls were able to show off their flexibility by pulling body positions so high up above the ground, then spinning in the air like they were weightless on their way back down.

"Aw, l-look. There's Quinn," Tina pointed over to the other side of the bleachers, and Ella's gaze settled on the pretty blonde girl who was sitting by herself, bundled up in a pristine white pea coat and a matching white knitted ear warmer headband. She was not wearing her Cheerios uniform, but she was watching intently as the team performed.

"Why isn't she out there with the rest of them?" Ella wondered.

"She's pregnant," Artie answered bluntly. "Apparently it happened because Finn didn't… suppress his urges well enough in the hot tub or something." Ella wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he shook his head before she could ask. "Coach Sylvester kicked her off the team."

Ella, Artie, and Tina watched the former head cheerleader from afar for a little bit longer, and the longer they did, the more Ella found herself feeling sorry for Quinn.

"It's s-s-sad. I k-kind of feel bad for her," Tina said.

"She shouldn't do that to herself," Artie added, his voice softening a bit at Quinn's expense as he furrowed his brows and shook his head. His deep-rooted hatred for the Cheerios who'd joined Glee Club didn't extend to Quinn in her current state, apparently. "She's just torturing herself by watching them perform without her."

When Ella was finally able to tear her gaze away from the Cheerios' fallen leader, she returned her attention to the team just in time to see the routine's tumbling sequence. Girls and guys alike performed back tucks and layouts on the hard grass, which Ella knew firsthand to be an impressive feat.

It was then that she began to wonder if maybe her background in gymnastics would make her a decent cheerleader. Ella remembered the flyers she'd seen in the hallways at school, advertising that the middle school was holding tryouts for its winter cheer team in a few weeks. It couldn't hurt to try the sport out, right? Maybe– just maybe– that could even be her one day, competing as a member of the perfectly in-sync team in one of their pretty uniforms with her hair in a curly ponytail…

"That halftime routine was what inspired me to make the switch from gymnastics to cheer in the first place," Ella confessed, keeping her gaze fixed down at her lap, unable to force herself to meet Artie's eyes. She feared the look of disappointment he was undoubtedly wearing. "I don't know, I was just… mesmerized by them. I know it's silly, but ever since then, it's kind of been a dream of mine to wear that pleated skirt someday."

Artie sighed and shook his head as he silently went to take his turn at the board game they were still playing, as a sort of distraction from the elephant in the room.

He considered the last few letters in his rack and peered at the board as the others were quiet as they waited for him to speak. Artie placed his last few letters on the board and picked up his pencil to record his final score.

"I just don't want to see you become someone you're not," He said finally. "You're not mean, El, but being on that team– being coached by Sue– that changes someone. I saw it firsthand with Quinn. She became a better person after she distanced herself from that team. It's toxic."

"Artie, come on. You're being ridiculous–" Ella began to protest as Sebastian went to take his next turn, but was quickly stopped by Artie.

"The game's over," Artie snapped at him.

"But I didn't get to finish!"

"Tough. The game ends when one player uses their last letter. Here, look at the rules."

Artie tossed the paper directions in Sebastian's direction. Seb caught them and promptly stuck out his tongue. Artie didn't even return the gesture. In nearly every kind of environment, Artie's always been a stickler for the rules. But there was another layer to his moodiness now, and it was evident to the others.

Ella couldn't be sure whether his sour mood was a result of her wanting to join the Cheerios in the first place, or because she went behind his back and reached out to Santana. Regardless, Ella knew that the agitation Artie was displaying was because of her.

Ella swallowed hard. Having Artie's support meant a lot to her, and she hoped more than anything that this disagreement wouldn't go on create problems in the close-knit relationship with Artie that she cherished so much.

As her big brothers, it was their self-imposed duty to look out for her, and she understood that. To some extent, Ella even appreciated the boys' overprotectiveness. But she's not their little girl anymore, she's just a few months away from high school. She knew that it was about time that she made decisions with her own best interests in mind, and it was about time they supported her in that.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

It was about time we got a visit from Queen T in this story, and I decided to go ahead and end this chapter with a little bit of drama! We'll flesh out all of the sibling tension in the next few chapters... and maybe I'll even go ahead and add another layer of drama on top, who knows? ;) The reviews as of late have been so incredible and they mean so much to me, please keep them coming!