Elements

Chapter 28

Sorry. This chapter is absolute crap. I wanted to write, but I struggled a bit, so, yeah. Sorry!
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"What. Is. Happening?!" I was sitting with Anita in our dorm room. I banged my head against the desk with each word. Ever since we left the dance right after Ben an hour ago, I'd been feeling like my brain was going to spontaneously combust. First, Ben goes all weird on me. Then I pull myself together, only to see May sticking to him like glue. Then I viscously hurled snowballs until Anita calmed me down. After I have my head on straight... again... great news, Ben shows back up! This time he's semi normal, until he drops a major bomb on me.

He freaking likes me.

GREAT.

Once my brain finally caught up, he had already left the dance and Anita was hyperventilating because she saw him kiss me on the cheek. Back in my senses, I had called it a night.

After telling Anita everything, I had felt an extreme headache and was now trying to get rid of it by repeatedly banging my head on the desk. You never know, it could work!

"It's called feelings Ells, we all have them eventually." Anita chuckled at my distressed exclamation.

"It's not funny Nita! What am I going to do the next time I see him. Pretend it never happened? Walk the other way? Roast him alive?"

Still laughing all she could say was, "Probably not that last one. I doubt he'd enjoy being extra crispy." I cracked a smile at that.

"But in all seriousness," she continued, "I'd say treat him like you normally would. He's your friend first. Don't deny it happened, just... don't let it change anything."

I rubbed my temples. "Kay" was all I could muster in response. "I'm going to bed. How does all this makeup come off? I hope it's easier than putting it on."

Anita smiled and passed me a small package labeled, "make up wipes". I grabbed one and scrubbed until my face was clean.

When I looked in the mirror, I didn't look like the girl who had been on an emotional roller coaster that night- I looked like the plain, weird Ella I knew myself to be.

I looked a little pale.

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The next day was Sunday, the perfect day to be laying around, catching up on school work, being with friends. Only problem was, I wasn't a generally lazy person, so I didn't lay around much. And since Monday marked the start of winter break, there wasn't school work to do. And seriously, what friends? I had my roommate and a boy I was desperately trying to avoid. So instead, I did the unthinkable.

When I found Anita getting ready for the day, applying her round of makeup and hair products, I gestured to the items that had me clueless, and said, "Teach me."

She grinned like a child on Christmas.

Hours later, I knew how to match makeup colors to my skin and eye color, how to apply mascara, eyeliner, and eyeshadow without actually losing an eye, how to use foundation and blush, and lastly how to apply lipstick and lipgloss without getting it on your teeth.

I also owed Anita a new package of makeup wipes.

She had spent the majority of her day helping me figure out what makeup would be practical for me to wear regularly, and what I should never wear. Ever. Apparently eyebrow pencil and lip liner would never look good on me. Less work for me I guess.

By the time we had finished, I had a decent understanding of makeup. I was no pro like Anita, but I was decent.

Thankfully, we had worked all day, only breaking for food and the bathroom, and even then we are in our room. It was the perfect excuse to avoid people all day.

"So what are you getting Ben for Christmas?" Anita asked while demonstrating how to use a flat iron. I had only burned myself twice!

"I don't know. I'm kind of limited. How are we supposed to get gifts for each other anyway- ouch!" Make that three times. There were a few stores on the island, but only for necessities. Any clothes, makeup, or anything else had to be bought during the summer or sent by parents. As I had no parents to contact- or way to contact them as I had no phone- buying a gift was sort of out of the question.

"Oh that's right, you weren't there. They announced it on the busses during the field trip. Apparently there's a Haven graduate who has offered to come and help with gifts. They can conjure any object at will, with a few restrictions. They have a table next to the cafeteria from now until Christmas. It's totally free too." She explained.

I knew what I was getting Anita already. My biggest fear was that someone would come after her or Ben- basically anyone I cared about- to get to me. I had decided to create a kitten for her: a little calico with purple eyes just like her. The cool part was that if the cat thought Anita was in danger, it could transform into a mountain lion to defend her. It would be strong as an ox, fast as a leopard, and agile as... well, a cat.

Ben was a little harder. I had been thinking hard about what to get him, but in light of Anita's bit of info, I had a lot more options to work with. I wanted to get him something meaningful, but not overboard. Something simple, but heartfelt.

I explained my quandary to Anita.

"I'd suggest getting him something meaningful to your past together, but that obviously wouldn't work because you don't remember." I nodded. How could you give someone something meaningful if you barely remember them?

"Well let's see. What do you have that's special between you two?" She continued. I thought through everything I knew between me and Ben.

"The song A Drop
In the Ocean, the treehouse, the area with the cherry trees outside, and I guess the dance. Wow. Not a lot at all." I listed off everything that seemed really significant between the two of us.

A silence fell over us as we thought. There wasn't much I could do with the song, and the tree house was a bit... difficult to reach. The cherry trees had merit, as did the dance, but I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to make them into gifts.

Just as I was about to give up and just get him an ugly holiday sweater, Anita yelled out, "I've got it!". I looked up at her, eager to hear what she had to say. "What if you got him a snow globe, to represent the icy themed dance, but with a tree house inside. Find out what it looked like, and then tell the gift maker how it looked so he can put it inside. It takes two symbolic things and puts them together." She explained. I grinned at the brilliance of it. If I could get him to tell me what the tree house looked like, it would be a great gift.

"Thanks Anita!" I smiled and hugged her. Then I left the room, hoping I could catch Ben before lights out. Granted it was bound to be awkward, but we were still friends. How bad could it be?

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Hey guys! Sorry again for the bad chapter. Oh well. It's still a chapter!

Anyway, today's random fact is actually what happened to the puppy the day Cammie died and Ella's parents were kidnapped. For those of you that don't remember, Ella and Cammie were playing with a puppy Ella made with her powers when the Puppeteer came. The puppy tried and failed to defend the two girls. Outraged at Ella's escape, the puppeteer used his powers on the puppy and forced him into being a cold, ruthless attack dog. it now stands faithfully by his side, with no recollection of the girl who created it.

Well that was depressing. Yikes.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Please share, vote and comment. Thanks!

Emily