Ella's Twisted Senior Year(12)

April has six siblings and a three bedroom house. I’ve only spent the night over there once. The rest of the time she comes to my house so we can have privacy and our own bedroom. I smile. “Thanks, but my parents are going to figure out something.”

“Are you the girl who lost her house?” some freshman-looking kid asks me while two of his friends stand around waiting for the answer.

“That’s me,” I say. “Tell me if you find it.”

*

All four of my morning teachers go out of their way to talk to me about what happened. It’s not like I lost my entire family in a murder-suicide but you’d think it was that dramatic by the way they act. I get asked a lot of questions and many people want to know if my dad’s okay. I’ve spent all seventeen years of my life blending into the crowd so suddenly being the center of attention is like Mother Nature’s idea of torture.

In lunch, I’m grateful to see that my lunch account still has twenty bucks on it. I can no longer pack a lunch from whatever’s in the pantry and the last thing I want to do is ask my parents for money. April and I get cheesy fries and a soda and settle into our spot at a round table near the windows that face the courtyard.

Because my luck is astronomically awful lately, I look up from the table at the exact moment that Ethan walks by, his girlfriend right next to him.

“Hey,” he says, giving me a little wave.

What the hell?

I just stare at him. I don’t know why. Maybe I’m exhausted from being forced to talk to entirely too many people today, maybe because I’m running on crappy hotel room sleep and I haven’t been able to take a single breath in the last three days without that tornado on my mind. Whatever the reason, I just stare.

His steps falter and those gorgeous dark eyebrows pull together. “You okay?”

“She’s fine,” April says, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

“Yep,” I say when Ethan won’t stop looking at me. “I’m peachy.”

I don’t have to look at Kennedy to know she’s glaring at me. The fact that she doesn’t want her boyfriend talking to me, the girl he thinks is a gross stalker, is enough to make me smile. Why waste her time and precious brain cells being threatened by me? I am no one.

Kennedy takes a step back and opens her arms wide. “Attention everyone!” she calls out, putting her cheerleading lungs to good use. “Hello! I need everyone’s attention, please!”

I turn back to my cheesy fries but it’s obvious this is about me.

“What are you doing?” Ethan asks her.

Kennedy says, “As we all know, one of our students lost their house in the tornado. She’s clearly wearing the same outfit she wore on Friday, the poor thing.”

From across the cafeteria, I see Mr. Brown’s face redden and he begins walking toward us. But Kennedy has everyone’s eyes on her now. “Please, everyone. Let’s take up a food donation for Ella, okay? I’m sure her family could use all the help they can get. The poor girl looks like she hasn’t even showered in days. Maybe we could take turns buying her lunch every day, hmm?”

My entire body seems to vibrate with anger. People laugh and others go back to eating. Someone shouts something I can’t quite make out, but Kennedy has proven her point. If I talk to her boyfriend, she can easily embarrass me in front of the entire school.

Ethan hisses something to her and she rolls her eyes.

I slap my hands on the table and stand up, nearly knocking over my chair.

The entire cafeteria goes quiet once more and I make eye contact with the teacher who is still walking over here. I figure I have about ten seconds until he gets to this side of the room, so I better make it quick.

“Now that Kennedy has your attention, I’d like to organize another fundraiser as well.” My heart pounds and I’m nervous as hell, but the desire to make her feel as small as she’s trying to make me feel is too strong. I won’t let her win.

I point to her. “I’ll be collecting donations to help Kennedy Price get the one thing she doesn’t have. A personality. I hear they sell them in Japan, but they’re pricey, especially since the doctors will be working on someone as vapid as our head cheerleader.” My face goes numb from nerves but I force myself to keep talking. “Donations of any amount are appreciated.”

“That’s enough, girls!” Mr. Brown growls, pointing a chubby finger at me. Kennedy grabs her boyfriend by the arm and tugs him away but Ethan meets my eyes for just a second.

He grins.





Chapter 8





Kennedy tugs my arm, her long nails digging into my skin when I try resisting. “What the hell was that?” I ask as we head back toward our table. I want to turn around and apologize to Ella, but who knows what kind of wrath Kennedy would inflict upon both of us if I did. Luckily most people have turned back to their food, proving that the attention span of teenagers is never that long.

Mr. Brown walks up to our lunch table the second we sit down. He clears his throat.

“Ms. Price, may I have a word with you?”

Kennedy turns around in her chair and peers up at him with her innocent little angel look. I’ve seen her use it on her dad to get him to let us stay out past curfew. “What can I help you with, Mr. Brown?”

I’m not even joking. She bats her eyelashes at him.