Ella's Twisted Senior Year(25)
“That son of a bitch,” Ella snaps. Her hands ball into fists as she grips her backpack straps in her lap. “He played both of us. He told me you didn’t like me. Which was weird because that summer I was pretty sure we both liked each other. Every day I went over there thinking that would be the day we’d kiss.”
I nod. “Me too, Ella. You have no idea how badly I wanted to ask you out.”
She blinks and a tear rolls down her cheek. “Really?”
“Yeah,” I say, leaning across the seat. Fear of being rejected again makes me move slowly, my thumb lifting to brush away her tears. She doesn’t shove me away. “I had the biggest crush on you,” I say, wincing as my heart rips open. These are secrets I should hold close, keep them tucked away to where no one can use them against me. But the gates have opened and I can’t hold back any longer. “I was going to ask you out that summer. After Corey told me you didn’t like me, I was bummed but I thought we could still be friends. Then you just left and never came back. It killed me, Ella.”
She reaches up and covers my hand over her cheek. “I can’t believe we’ve been suffering from a lie all these years.”
In the distance, the bell rings but we don’t move. This moment is too special to worry about something as trivial as the start of first period.
“Why would that * do that do us?” I ask, gritting my teeth as I think about Corey and how we’re not really friends anymore. I haven’t hung out with him in a couple of years.
“I might have an idea,” she says. Her beautiful features twist into a scowl. “Not long after that, he made a move on me. He tried kissing me that same day actually, but I was so heartbroken about being called a stalker that I pushed him away. He tried hooking up with me like three more times at April’s beach party.” She shrugs. “Maybe he said it to break us apart so he could hit on me?” She frowns and shakes her head. “No, that’s stupid. Maybe he just didn’t like you.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, girl.” I grin and brush her hair behind her ears. It feels just as wonderful as I thought it would. “He wanted you. That explains perfectly why he’d pull such a dickhead move.”
Her cheeks flush. “We should go to class.”
“Not until you’re okay.” I reach down and grab her hand, more because I know she won’t shove me away than out of a need to comfort her. Maybe that makes me shallow, but I don’t care. I need to touch her, to feel her heartbeat beneath mine. Being near Ella is healing a part of me I’d forgotten was broken.
“It sucked so bad,” she says, blinking away more tears. “You moved on so easily. You got hot and popular and you made a ton of friends. I was just stuck without you.”
“I’m so sorry, El.” My heart feels like it’s breaking all over again as I imagine her going through eighth grade alone. Truth is, it’d been hell on me as well, but I hid it better. I joined football and made friends but I still missed her every day. I just channeled that hurt into working out and telling myself to get over it.
“Maybe we could try being friends again?” I ask. She takes a second before looking over at me and in that moment, all the blood in my veins freeze in anticipation. If she rejects me again I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle it.
“Yeah,” she says. “Maybe we could be friends again.”
Chapter 14
The first four classes of the day blur by as if I’m trapped in a time warp. I am vaguely aware of sitting in desks, staring ahead while my teachers ramble on with their lesson. In third period, I even manage to take some notes, using letters and words that might make sense to someone who’s in their right mind, so although my body is present and accounted for when my teachers take attendance, my mind is in a whole different world.
One where Ethan never called me a stalker.
Is it really possible to have spent the last four and a half years believing a lie?
Ethan and I don’t have a single class together, which up until this morning I’d considered a blessing from the schedule gods. Now I’m dying for more time with him, thinking stupid things like how fun it would be if we could look over in class and share secret glances with each other. Something is severely wrong with me. We’d agreed to be friends. That’s all. And now I’m just blowing it all out of proportion by letting it fill up my every waking thought.
When the bell rings for lunch, I’ve nearly convinced myself to stop thinking about Ethan. Just for an hour, so I can think clearly.
April grabs my elbow the moment I walk in the hallway from class. “Did you know they broke up?”
I don’t need to ask who she’s talking about. “Yeah, it kind of happened right in front of me,”
“Ella, there’s this new technology that exists. It’s called a cell phone. And it has this calling feature that’s pretty cool.” She narrows her eyes at me, her height making her look a little intimidating. “You should have used this technology to call and tell me all about it, you jerk.”
I snort. “I’m going to need more than a phone call to tell you everything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours.”
“Oooh, I’m intrigued. So how’d the breakup go? Was she all shrill and screaming?”