A challenge for Ellis

A not so great Friendsgiving

"What's Friendsgiving" I asked mom who was in the kitchen. "Basically it's where you get with friends and do a thanksgiving with them" my mom said. "Oh, that sounds cool" I said happily. She smiled at me and kept going with the kitchen cleaning, Aunt Maggie and Aunt Amelia along with Winston, Kai and Scout were flying in tomorrow. I knew that Grace was hosting a super secret Friendsgiving at her house and invited me over. Her parents were not home and I knew I'd be in big trouble if I went. "Come on Ellie, don't be such a chicken" Grace said through the phone. "Okay, I'll be there but I have to wait until my mom goes to work to walk over to your house" I said. Grace lived across the street from me and I could just walk over there without getting in trouble but my mom wouldn't like the idea of us trashing the place and hosting a dinner of our own. I decided to go over there to shut Grace up as soon as my mom left but it wasn't a usual Grace idea, McKenzie was at the house and pushed me into the table! "Ha, tricked you, I would never become friends with you" Grace yelled smirking at McKenzie. "Grace, what, you lied to me this whole time" I said sad. "Grow up, Eli" McKenzie yelled and dumped the whole bowl of cranberry sauce on me. Grace was laughing and I saw Riley come down the steps. "Grace, what are you doing and why is Mc Bugger here" Riley yelled. Grace pushed Riley into the steps. "Shut up, Riley, Ellie is not our friend, never has been, I just wanted information about her life to use it to our advantage" Grace yelled. "She's my friend" Riley yelled. "Then you are out of the group, consider yourself uninvited to our group meetings, rotten Riley". Grace yelled back at her. "Oh don't worry, I don't need you or stupid Mc Bugger as friends, I'd rather be friends with just Ellis than a bunch of meanies, we are going to Ellis house and neither one of you are invited over" Riley yelled helping me up and taking off with me. "Riley, you didn't have to do that but why did Grace lie" I asked. "I don't know but Grace is one of those mean girls who lies and wants to fit in with Kenzies mean girl crew. I'm very sad that Grace and the other girls did this to me with McKenzie but I'm glad I still have Riley. Riley and I played in my room for a while with my clothes after I cleaned up. Riley put on a bunch of my moms bright red lip gloss, jewelry and high heels. "Hi, I'm McKenzie, I'm the best and think i am superior over Ellis but the truth is, I'm hiding a really dark secret, the secret is that I am super jealous of her" Riley said giggling and I started to laugh a little bit, a while later while Riley and I were so busy playing, my mom opened the door to see the mess we had made. "Ellis, who is this and what did I said about friends being over while I am at work" mom said a bit frustrated. "Sorry mom, this is Riley" I said. "I can help pick it up" Riley said "I did drag most of it out". "It's okay Riley" my mom said laughing "I'll pick it up since a lot of it is my stuff" she said picking up the high heels, necklace and Lipstick bottle". Riley and I picked up my clothes, I had such a great night with her.

The next day, my family arrived at the house for thanksgiving, we all hugged and got situated before dinner, Aunt Maggie, mom and Zola are talking about the hospital, Kai is playing with Scout and Bailey playing Xbox in his room, I just sat on my bed thinking about what had happened the previous day. I was interrupted by my thoughts when I heard a knock on my door. "It's open" I yelled. It was aunt Amelia, she came in and sat down on the edge of my bed. "Hey, how are things going at school, well since the trampoline park incident, I haven't told anyone about it besides your aunt Maggie which she's keeping your mom out of the loop". "It's been okay, I guess, McKenzie made fun of me for liking to trick or treat" I said looking down. "Ellis, you know there is nothing wrong with trick or treating, especially not at your age, you know that and I know you, so I know trick or treat isn't what's bothering you, what did the pest do". "It wasn't just her" I said crying "another girl named Grace faked being my friend to help McKenzie make my day's miserable, they had this whole Friendsgiving set up and dumped Cranberry sauce all over me, Grace had this whole giant friend group and the only one who stood up for me is Riley, she's my only friend". Aunt Amelia gave me a giant hug and rubbed my back. "It's going to be okay" she said. "I think it's time you get your mom in the loop so it can finally stop". "But McKenzie said not to tell my mom or it'll get worse" I said. "McKenzie is a liar, we both know this, I told you to tell her when your ready but she is going to find out if she hasn't already, moms like Meredith know this stuff and do figure it out so I would tell her before she gets mad or finds out on her own, it'll make it worse if that happens" she said. "I'm scared to tell her though, she will be mad at me for attending the Friendsgiving cause Grace said her parents wouldn't be home" I said. "That's not your fault, Grace hosted it, not you" she said comforting me. "Also, maybe ask Riley to be there with you when you tell her, it helps to have a friend around". "Thanks Aunt Amelia, that made me feel a little bit better" I said hugging her. She smiled and hugged me tighter "I'm glad it did, sweetie, I'm glad".

We had a wonderful dinner, the food was so good and I had lots of mashed potatoes, LOL! I just hope Christmas dinner is this good and am hoping I get to go to Seattle for winter break still for Christmas and to see Skye. 🤞