Ella's Twisted Senior Year(39)
I snort out a laugh and rack the weight bar back on the bench. “She needs to be committed. Let me see the phone.”
She walks it over to me and I type: I’d rather go to prom with a dog turd than you. Leave Ella out of your little hissy fits or I will ruin you.
“Whoa, that’s harsh,” Ella says, reading over my shoulder.
I shrug. “I’m beginning to think my mom was right. Girl needs the cops called on her.”
“She needs a new boyfriend. Maybe we should set her up with someone.”
I poke her in the stomach because I’m covered in sweat and it’s the only contact I can make right now without grossing her out. “I don’t hate anyone enough to do that to them.”
*
On Friday, Ella lets me drive us to school again. Mrs. Kim’s donut holes taste extra sweet now that my favorite person is back to eating them in my truck with me.
“I’m feeling pretty good about this,” I say, popping another donut hole in my mouth. Ella is all lady-like and eats them in two bites but I don’t know how she manages that. They’re too good, all warm and sugary and fluffy like some kind of angel baked them.
“Confident about what?” she asks.
I pull into the parking lot and aim for my new usual spot—one three rows over from Kennedy’s Explorer.
I lean over and kiss her on the sugary lips. “Confident about us. Kennedy is gone. I should have texted her a lot time ago.”
“I’m not sure threatening to ruin your ex-girlfriend is exactly the best idea.” Ella hops out of my truck and meets me in front of it. “But I support you.”
I hold out my hand. “Does that mean you’ll be seen in public with me?”
She glances around and then takes my hand, lacing our fingers together. I kiss her on top of her head and walk into the school, feeling proud of the girl on my arm for the first time ever.
“One and a half months of school left,” she says when we get to the shark statue where April waits for her. “We could have made it that long, but it’s your funeral.”
“What can I say?” I speak quietly, leaning down to her ear. “I’m crazy about you.”
Her ears turn red and she clears her throat. “Okay, see you later.” She gives me a little wave and her enormous embarrassment is cute in the best way.
“Hey,” I say, looking more at April. If I can get the best friend on my side, then Ella might feel better about this whole situation. “We should eat lunch together. Maybe out on the quad?”
“You gonna bring some of your hot jock friends?” April asks. Ella gives her a look.
I chuckle. “Yeah, I can bring some. Do you have one in mind?”
She shrugs. “Maybe someone who doesn’t have a date to prom?”
I point a finger gun at her. “Got it. I’ll see you ladies at lunch.”
I may not be an expert on all things girls, but the look Ella’s best friend gives me tells me that I’m in, at least in her eyes. Now all I have to do is get Ella fully on board. I don’t want to just be friends who hook up after the lights are turned off and everyone’s gone to bed. I want something legit with the girl I’ve loved since I was a little kid. After all these years, all the things that came between us, finally, it feels like it’ll all work out.
My cloud nine mood lasts only until I step into second period.
Five students crowd around a single desk in the corner of the room. “Dude,” Jason Garcia says. “I mean, really?”
“What the hell is going on?” I walk over and a girl shoves her phone into the front pocket of her hoodie. Dread slams into me like a huge pile of garbage falling from the sky. I’ve been in this situation before. Everyone crowded around a phone, giving me books that are a mixture of amusement and pity is nothing new.
I press my palm into my forehead as more students rush into class hoping to beat the tardy bell. “What did she do this time? Ella is going to kill her.”
Jason snickers. “Ella might kill you actually.”
The bell rings and Mrs. Hinojosa sweeps into the room, her long multi-colored skirt flowing behind her. “Why isn’t everyone in their seats?” she calls out in a singsong, and the class obeys as we drop into our desks one by one.
Luckily my first period health science teacher doesn’t really care about phones, so I’m able to take mine out, sit it on the desk and scroll through the apps without fear that she’ll confiscate it. Unfortunately, the rest of the class can do it, too.
It only takes about two seconds to find Kennedy’s online profile, where she’s released her newest virtual attack. The garbage feeling from earlier feels more like being hit with molten lava right now.
I don’t hear a single word the teacher says while I look at Kennedy’s idea of “ruining me”. All of the donut holes from earlier threaten to come back up. I sink into my chair and try to look as small as possible, but at over six feet tall, I’m sure it’s not working.
Kennedy has posted a status update calling out Ella as being a boyfriend stealer. But that’s not the worst part. She’s pasted screenshots of our private text message conversations along with the words, Does this sound like the words of a guy who’d leave me and be with another girl just a few days later? STAY AWAY FROM ETHAN POE, LADIES. I’m posting this for your own good. XOXO