The Bully and the Beast

Chapter 4

Ella started the car as Monica slid in on the passenger side. They both threw their things in the back and sighed.

"Did you hear what happened?" Asked Monica.

Ella turned off the radio. "No. What did you find out?"

"I was in the office when they brought in Jacob Daniels and Ryan Miller. They thought it would be funny to freak people out by lowering the basketball hoops."

"Um, they did more than just lower them."

Monica nodded. "I know. The jerks had no idea how to work those things. They broke the equipment."

"What losers," sighed Ella. "Hey, did you hear David and his family moved back in." She glanced at Monica to gauge her reaction.

"I didn't even see them move in." She turned in her chair completely to look. "You better leave that poor kid alone. You put him through enough."

"Was I really that bad?" Ella shook her head. "Wait a second. Have you seen him? He's tall, has a nice body, and is hot."

Ella blushed. She needed to watch what she said out loud.

"Aww you're blushing." She pinched Ella's cheek. "Well you can crush on him all you want but I bet that boy wouldn't date you if you were the last woman on the earth."

She swatted Monica's hand. "Yeah yeah don't remind me. I was a big jerk to him. He's made that pretty clear."

"I know that look," said Monica. She jabbed Ella's shoulder with her finger. "Just because everyone else has forgiven you doesn't mean that he has to. Just leave him alone."

Ella frowned. She thought what she had done wasn't so bad but, she did pick on him for years. Everyday she pulled some kind if prank on him eventually that wore someone down.

In fact, in one day she had pranked him five times. The worst of those pranks was switching out his regular chocolate with laxative chocolate. He was stuck in the bathroom all day and couldn't even go to baseball tryouts. That one really pissed him off.

"Okay, so maybe I was a bit mean," said Ella. "I just want him to know I'm sorry."

"Have you said that?" Asked Monica.

"Said what?"

"That you're running for president." Monica rolled her eyes. "That you're sorry!"

Ella but the corner of her lip. "Kind of. I tried a few times to just say sorry and we were interrupted."

"Why don't you just go over to his house when we get home and tell him you're sorry. No one can interrupt you and he might listen."

Ella opened her mouth to say something and shut it again. Monica was right. What did she have to lose? He would either accept it or tell her to screw off again. It was worth a shot.

they pulled up to the house and both of them jumped out of the car. Ella threw her stuff to Monica who managed to catch it with ease.

"Tell Phil or mom that I'll be home in a minute."

Monica bowed playfully and skipped into the house. Ella waited for the door to shut before she started her short journey across the familiar yards. There were tall oaks that grew along the property line to give the houses some separation. She loved to walk through them when she was having a tough day with Phil. The trunks were so big that she could easily get lost in them.

Ella ran he fingers along the ashen trunk as she crossed over into their yard. There was a brand new black jeep in the driveway that she had never seen before. Hopefully David wasn't lying to her and they had really moved back in.