Ella's Twisted Senior Year (14 page)

Ugh. My own words, thrown in my face. By my own admission, I wouldn’t hook up with a girl just after a few days of dating. Isn’t that exactly what’s happening now with Ella and me? No one cares that I’ve known her my whole life. They’re only going to side with Kennedy’s broken heart on this one.

I can feel everyone’s eyes on me. If this is what Ella went through, she’s a hell of a lot stronger than I am. I raise my hand and ask to get a drink of water.

Every eye in the classroom follows me as I slink out of the room as quickly as my legs will take me. Once out in the hallway, I am alone and finally able to breathe.

According to Kennedy’s page, the pictures have been shared over a hundred times now and she has dozens of comments, all slamming me and praising her for being “so strong, girl”. Ugh.

When I broke up with her it wasn’t
for
Ella. I didn’t leave Kennedy to hook up with another girl. I left her because she was a horrible person. So why do I feel like my heart has been squashed in a vise grip as guilt consumes me more with each passing second? Kennedy can be vicious, but she’s also really hurt from losing me. I don’t want to be the cause of anyone’s heartache, even someone like Kennedy.

I get to the water fountain and don’t feel like taking a drink. Instead, I lean against a row of lockers and take out my phone again. I guess I’m hoping to see someone comment anything that might be sticking up for me. Funny how as much as I hate the internet, here I am looking to it for consolation.

Someone calls me a pussy in the comments. Other people say they didn’t know jocks could have feelings when it came to sex. I guess that’s supposed to be good but it sure sounds like an insult.

Some guy commented, “I’d hit it” and Kennedy replied to him with a winky face emoji.

Uh okay.

As I’m scrolling through the comments, feeling more and more like a heartless douche (their words, not mine) with each passing second, the page refreshes with a new post from Kennedy.

This one makes my blood boil.

“Thx for the love guys. But I’m over it now. He had a pretty small thing if you know what I mean. On to better and BIGGER things! Xoxo!”

Okay, all of that shit I said earlier about not wanting to hurt her? Forget all of it. It takes all of my willpower not to comment back and tell her that my thing both A) isn’t small and B) it’s not like she ever saw it so how would she know?

But an online argument with my ex would be stupid so I swallow my pride and keep walking, hoping a loop around the school hallways might help me calm down before I have to face my second period class again.

Voices sound around the corner and I stop short, not wanting to face anyone. But then I recognize the voice—or the giggle rather. “Oh my
god
we’re totally gonna fail!”

I poke my head around the corner and find Ella and April sitting cross-legged in the hallway, a poster board between them and a dozen different colored markers lying around.

“Do you two ladies have a hall pass?” I ask in my deepest, most authoritative voice.

Ella’s head snaps around, and then her expression softens when she sees me. “Hey there, handsome.”

Every muscle in my body is drawn to her and I nearly forget why I’d been so pissed off.

April waves. “Listen, Ethan. Is this the worst poster you’ve ever seen or can it be salvaged?”

I pretend to consider it for a moment. They’ve made a political poster as if the WCHS Sharks mascot was running for president and the gray thing in the middle of the poster is, I guess, supposed to be a shark.

“Looks okay to me,” I say.

They both roll their eyes. “No, it looks terrible,” April says, hanging her head. “Ugh, this sucks.”

“What class is this for?” I ask. Ella pats the carpeted floor next to her and I take a seat, letting my back rest against the wall. “Economics. We’re doing a faux presidential election campaign. Other groups all chose celebrities to run for president but we picked the mascot.” Ella leans her head against my shoulder, capping her marker. “Babe, we suck at drawing.”

The pet name was quick and harmless but it sends a shiver of desire through my bones. She called me babe. I grin and reach for the gray marker.

“Maybe I can help.” I lean over and draw another shark on top of theirs, making it big enough to cover the terrifying blob in the center of the poster. After a few minutes, I shade in the rest and use a black marker to give it more definition and some eyes and gills.

I lean back and wrinkle my nose at my creation.

“It’s perfect!” April says.

Ella beams and throws her arms around me. “Thank you thank you thank you.”

I sneak a quick kiss on her cheek. “Anytime.”

April watches us with a weird expression on her face. “Oh my god, you guys are totally in love,” she says, shaking her head like she just can’t believe it. “Kennedy can S-T-F-U if you know what I mean.”

A lump rises in my throat. These last few minutes made me forget about the whole Kennedy thing but now the anger and humiliation from her post is back full force.

“It was bad enough before the penis remark,” I say, shaking my head.

“The
what
?” Ella says. She and April exchange a confused look.

“I guess you haven’t seen it,” I say, leaning my head back against the wall as I stare at the ceiling tiles. “Trust me, you will soon enough.”

Ella’s brow creases as she grabs her phone. A few seconds later, April mutters, “Whoa.”

Ella chuckles. “Yeah, this ends now.”

“What do you mean by that? I’m not posting a picture of my thing to dispute her.”

Ella shakes her head, her jaw clenching. She looks me dead in the eye and I shiver. Whatever sweet girl she’d been a minute ago has been replaced with an evil villain who looks just like her. “Nope, this ends now, Ethan.” Her eyes sparkle under the fluorescent lights and the tone of her voice sends a chill up my spine. “If Kennedy Price wants a war, I’ll give her one.”

Despite Kennedy’s well-laid plans to destroy us, my first day of eating lunch with Ethan actually goes pretty well. He’d stayed true to his promise to April and brought a friend. Toby is also a football player, but he’s a running back, whatever that means. He’s kind of thin for a football player, and I’d actually assumed he did something like track until Ethan mentioned their recent football practice.

Either way, April seems impressed with him. I wish I had her carefree, lack of fear approach to dating. The girl knows exactly what she wants—a date to prom, and she’s going to find a way to get it. 

I’m sitting next to Ethan on one of the picnic tables lining the quad just outside of the cafeteria. Though I told him not to worry about it, he bought my lunch for me so I don’t swat his hand away when he grabs one of my fries.

April nibbles on her slice of cheese pizza and turns her attention to Toby. “It was nice of you to join us for lunch,” she says.

“It’s no problem. I love sitting outside.” Toby uncaps his Dr. Pepper and takes a long drink. “Plus, Ethan said you were cool so I had to come see for myself.”

He grins and April pretends to look offended. “You mean you didn’t trust him instantly? Surely my reputation lets you know that I’m a nice girl.”

Toby shakes his head. “You don’t have a reputation.”

She points at him, a coy look in her eyes. “Exactly.”

I turn to Ethan. “Looks like they’re getting along well.”

“I knew they would,” he says, looking at his friend. “Toby is a cool guy and he’s desperately single.”

I take Ethan’s hand and turn it over to check the time on his watch. He uses the opportunity of having his hand to close to me and squeezes my thigh. I shove him away. “Not here, you horn dog.”

He grins and leans in, slipping his arm around my waist. “I’m really glad we’re eating lunch together.”

I rest my head on his shoulder, feeling more comfortable with all of this PDA each time I do it. “We have five minutes of lunch left. Kennedy hasn’t tried sabotaging us yet, so that’s a good thing.”

Ethan’s chest rises and falls under my head. “That’s because she’s done enough damage for today.”

“Man, screw that bitch,” Toby says, joining our conversation. He slams his drink bottle down on the table and points to Ethan, his eyes serious. “I’ve been telling everyone you’ve got the biggest dick I’ve ever seen.”

Ethan’s arm tenses around my back. He laughs but I can tell it’s not genuine. “Dude, you’ve never seen it.”

Toby shrugs. “I don’t care. I’m gonna stick up for my boy no matter what.”

April’s eyes are lost in this dreamy, swoony way and although she’s only known Toby for twenty-five minutes, I can already imagine the ten million phone calls and texts she’s going to shoot my way, all swoony and going gaga over him.

“So, Toby,” I say, turning my face up to the warm sun for a second. “Do you have a date for prom?”

“I’m flattered Ella, but I think your boyfriend wants to take you.”

I throw a fry at him. “I’m talking about this beautiful girl sitting next to you. She needs a date.”

“I know who you’re talking about,” Toby says, throwing a coy smile toward my best friend. “But she doesn’t need a date anymore.”

“Huh?” Ethan and I say at the same time.

April and Toby exchange a glance and suddenly it’s like they’re the ones dating and not us. “We talked about prom a few minutes ago and Toby asked me to be his date.”

“Where was I when this happened?” I ask.

“You were right here but I guess you and Ethan were too busy making puppy eyes at each other to realize it.”

“Damn,” Ethan says, chewing a fry.

April stacks our food trash into one pile and stands, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. “What did I tell you in economics? You guys are totally in love with each other. Right, Toby?”

He nods. “I think this one is a keeper, Ethan. I’ve never seen you like this with another girl.”

The bell rings and it’s a good thing because all of this Ethan and Me talk is making me blush something fierce. April and Toby exchange phone numbers. As we’re walking back to the school, Toby throws an arm around Ethan and me, slipping himself into our personal bubble. “We should all go on a double date sometime. You in?”

Ethan looks at me and I shrug. “Sounds good.”

“I’m free any day but Saturday,” April says. She seems to have grown ten feet taller now that she has a date to prom. “Ella and I have some prom shopping to do.”

I must visibly flinch because April pouts. “Come on, El. It’ll be
funnnn
,” she says, dragging out the last word.

“We should do something after you’re done shopping,” Toby says, releasing his chokehold on us. “Ethan and I have some T-shirt designs to work on.”

“So it’s settled,” April says. We get to the cafeteria doors and Toby holds it open as we walk back into the throng of jerks who like to stare and laugh at us. “The boys will do whatever they’re doing tomorrow and we’ll go prom dress shopping.”

She makes a little jiggle of her hips and falls into step with Toby who genuinely seems interested in walking her to class.

I link my hand into Ethan’s, an act that now feels as natural as brushing my bangs behind my ear. “I’m not ever sure I want to do prom,” I say, adamantly ignoring all the stares as we make our way to fifth period.

“So about this starting a war thing,” Ethan says like he hadn’t even heard what I said about prom. “What exactly are you planning?””

I give him an evil eye wiggle and squeeze his hand. “I’m still scheming. But trust me, it’ll be good.”

*

Since Dad’s off work on Saturday, I actually get the rare usage of what used to be my car. It takes a few minutes to get the seat and mirrors adjusted to fit me, but once I’m behind the wheel again, I feel the sweet rush of being in control of my own life. Sure, bumming rides from Ethan is fun because I get to hold his hand, but nothing is as satisfying as hitting the open road on your own, going anywhere you want to go.

I go to April’s house. We hit up the mall and April has a prom dress plan all worked out in her head. We hit the specialty shops firsts—the ones with high end designers and dresses we’d never be able to afford, not even for our wedding day. According to April, this is how we find out what’s in style this season.

Then, we take the styles, colors, and fabrics from the expensive stores and look for similar dresses in the cheaper stores.

April’s long auburn hair looks amazing with navy blue and she quickly finds a sleeveless gown with shimmery glitter lace patterns on the skirt. Though she’s pretty sure she wants to get that dress—it’s a steal at only three hundred and sixty dollars, she says—we still have to hit every dress store in the Galleria Mall before we can consider buying anything.

I’m starting to question if having a best friend is actually worth all the things you do to make them happy, when a dress catches my eye. It’s a pale pink chiffon gown. The bodice is covered in silver rhinestones and above a sweetheart neckline, the fabric goes sheer with only rows of rhinestones up to the shoulders.

I feel the soft fabric and turn the dress around on the hanger. The back is dropped low, nothing but sheer nude fabric covered in beautiful rows of rhinestones. It is so beautiful, the urge to try it on goes deeper than my strong feelings against attending prom.

April walks out of the dressing room wearing a short black dress with a massive satin bow on the butt. “Try it on,” she says, sashaying over to me and grabbing the dress in my size. “What do you think of this one?” she says, spinning around.

I crinkle my nose. “I think you should put that thing back before I throw up.”

She laughs. “Yeah, I think the blue dress from two stores ago is the magic dress. I’m just doing due diligence before I commit to anything.” She points a finger at me. “So you trying that thing on, or what?”

I bite my lip. The gown is gorgeous but there’s no way my parents can afford it. With trembling fingers, I reach for the price tag. It’s on sale for a hundred and fifty-five dollars.

April looks over my shoulder. “Not bad, El. Try it on!”

It is a beautiful dress and the price isn’t as bad as most of the dresses that will walk through the doors on prom night, but still. I
can’t
ask my parents for that kind of money. Plus, there’s shoes, and hair and makeup and ugh. I go to put the dress back on the hanger and April stops me with a fierce swipe of her hand. “Try it on, Ella. You have to.”

I roll my eyes and stomp to the dressing room. The moment the dress falls over my body, I know it’s the one. I mean, if there was
one
if I was actually certain about going to prom. It hugs my body perfectly and no matter which way I twist in the three sided mirror, it looks like I’m a Disney princess come to life. And that’s saying something because I’m not wearing any makeup and my hair is in a messy bun.

I open the fitting room door and step out. April’s jaw falls to the floor. “Oh. My. God.”

I hold back a squeal. “I know, right?”

She rushes forward and touches the rhinestones on the shoulders. She’s still wearing that god-awful black dress. “This is the one. And it’s hella cheap. Oh my god, you have to get it now.”

I bite my lip so hard it draws blood. “I can’t. I don’t have any money.”

“Just bake more cupcakes,” April says. “The twins have a birthday next month. We’ll get my mom to order and pay in advance.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to be a hundred and fifty-five dollars plus tax worth of cupcakes. Plus, I give her a discount because she’s family.”

She looks at me in the mirror. “So you’ll bake more cupcakes! Let’s get your website up and running so you can take orders.”

I hold up a finger. “First of all, any money I earn I should be going toward more supplies. Secondly, I can’t just use the Poe’s kitchen any time I want. I’m a guest in their home, not a paying tenant or anything.”

April groans. “Fine, let me take a picture.” She takes my phone from my purse and steps back, angling the camera to get a full body shot of me in this beautiful dress.

On the drive back home, April scrolls through her own phone, examining all the selfies she took of each dress she tried on. “I think the blue one is definitely the winner,” she says, glancing into the backseat where it hangs in a garment bag. She presses the phone to her chest. “Toby is going to drop dead when he sees me in it.”

I reach over and turn down the radio, desperate to change the subject. This day started out as a boring trip to look at dresses I didn’t care about, but it ended with me longing like crazy for a stunning pink gown that I’ll never be able to afford.

“New subject,” I say, ready to put the longing behind me and focus on more important things. “I’m going to take Kennedy Price down for what she did to Ethan. You want to help me?”