Ella's Twisted Senior Year(17)

“Is this better?” Kennedy whisper-yells. She throws a finger toward Ella’s chest. “Why are you here?”

I take her finger and bring it down. “She’s staying here until her parents get a new house.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” Kennedy snaps. She launches toward Ella again but I hold onto her arm. “Get out!” she yells, and there’s no way my mom didn’t hear that. This is not how I planned this afternoon. We were supposed to go to Kennedy’s house but then she’d insisted on going to mine. Then, I was going to sit her down and tell her exactly why we were breaking up. Looks like Kennedy won’t get to hear my well-rehearsed break up speech right now.

“Look, you need to chill,” I say, leveling my gaze at her. “I’m not letting you start drama in my own house.”

“Ella’s starting the drama here, not me,” she snaps. Even shorter than I am, she manages to look terrifying. “You said you weren’t friends. So why is she here?”

Ella moves forward, shoving Kennedy out of the way so she can step into the hallway. “We’re not friends,” she says, standing tall to Kennedy even though she’s shorter than my soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. “I was in his room because his mom asked me to check it for dirty dishes. Trust me, this is the last place I want to be.”

She steps right past me as if I’m not even here and then she sweeps her hand toward my bedroom. “It’s all yours.”

“Skank,” Kennedy mutters as she walks into my room, taking me by the hand. Ella slips into the rec room and closes the door behind her. I look down at my hand as it sits in Kennedy’s, our fingers laced together. Everything about this girl disgusts me now. Even if Ella was just some stranger I didn’t know from my past, I’d still be appalled at how Kennedy is treating her. I pull my hand out of hers and shove it in my pocket.

“Listen, Kennedy.” I stop and take in a deep breath. I can’t remember any of the words I’d had before we came up here. Guess I’ll be winging this break up. “We’re breaking up.”

Her brows pull together and her cheeks flush pink. “What? No we’re not.”

I shake my head. “It wasn’t a question. I’m breaking up with you.” My eyes slip from her eyes to her trembling jaw. She’s either about to cry or scream and I don’t want to deal with either one so I just keep talking. “There are a lot of reasons why, but I’m just not into this relationship anymore. I’m sorry, but we’re done.”

Her tongue runs across her bottom lip and she sighs. When she looks up at me, her eyes are filled with tears. “Why are you doing this to me? We just got together, Ethan.”

“I know, but I’m just not feeling it.”

She huffs and crosses her arms. “Do you want sex? Because I’m cool with that.”

I shake my head. “No. There’s no fixing this, okay? Let’s just end it now and go on with our lives.”

“We can’t just go on with our lives,” she says, agitation returning to her voice. “We’re the future prom king and queen, Ethan! I worked really hard to get us to this point so you’ll still have to stand on stage with me and be my date to prom, boyfriend or not.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works.”

That can’t possibly be how it works. I’ve never been a prom person and this whole time, I guess I’d been hoping the prom king nomination wouldn’t end in me winning. I’m still not psyched about the idea of wearing a tux, much less of going with Kennedy. If given the choice, I’d stay home and binge watch Netflix while eating a large pizza.

She stares at me, wanting an explanation. There has to be a way out of this that doesn’t end in total humiliation in front of my mom, but I panic and do exactly what I’d promised myself I wouldn’t do. Make a fake promise.

“Look, maybe things will be better by prom, okay? Let’s just break up for now and see how it goes.”

Her jaw goes rigid. “Are you going to hook up with Ella? Is that what this is about?”

I laugh so hard it comes out like a snort. “Not happening. She hates me.”

Kennedy puts a hand on her hip. “I’m sure you can change her mind.”

I shake my head. “Stop making this into something it’s not. I’ll walk you to your car.”

All of my prayers are answered when Kennedy leaves without causing an epic scene in front of my family. Dakota’s bus drops her off right when I’m walking Kennedy to her car and she doesn’t say anything. Not that she would I guess, since Kennedy doesn’t really like my little sister.

“So Ella’s family is staying with us, did you hear?” Dakota says as we walk back inside. Her long black hair is in two braids that hang over her backpack straps. She’s tied a pink ribbon bow around each braid and I think about how Ella used to do the same thing a long time ago. Maybe that’s what inspired my sister’s hairstyle.

“Yeah,” I say quietly as we reach the stairs. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Are you gonna get all sad again like you did when she quit being your friend?”

I give her a playful shove into the wall as we climb the stairs. “Shush.”

Ella stands in the rec room doorway, leaning against the frame as we walk up the stairs. Dakota’s mouth falls open. “Ella? Your hair is so short!”