Ellie's POV
The sun was shining too brightly for my likes this morning and I burrowed into my blanket, putting the pillow over my face. The windows of the trailer house made the interior too bright when the sun starts rising. My stomach cramped again and I grabbed it, bending into a foetal position in pain. The alarm started ringing and I turned it off. I couldn't go to Obivan sensei's training when my stomach hurt so much. It's been a week since Levi's little sister's party.
Perhaps this stomachache was related to it because I had been feeling very stressed lately over everything. The pain comes and goes. Sometimes it feels like there's a metallic thing clawing away inside and the way the cramps felt left me breathless with pain. Usually, after a while it subsides to a dull pain in the lower abdomen. School has even restarted but I was staying home because of the pain. I only had one more week until the start of the quarter finals matches. I have gambled my whole life on it and that made me more anxious.
Daniella had not contacted me after our last meeting. Levi calls on me every day but Katrina comes over with him every time and I would lose interest in speaking with him. I went into a restless sleep and woke up again to my brother speaking on the phone.
"Hey brat! Stop that!" I mumbled, pulling down the pillow from my face.
"You are again skipping school today!" He said with a shake of his head and I made a face at that. It doesn't feel good to be rebuked by one's little sibling.
"I don't feel good." I mumbled.
"Yeah right! You spend the whole night stalking Katrina's facebook. No wonder you don't feel good in the morning." He said and I scowled at him, feeling flustered. I swear he is older than me sometimes.
"Just go to school brat!" I muttered, throwing the pillow at him.
"And you better eat breakfast, lazy bum. You have stomachaches all the time because you don't eat and keep sleeping." He said again in the know-it-all voice only he is capable of.
"Just shut up! Can't a depressed person be allowed to mope sometimes?" I asked him and he rolled his eyes.
"What would you be depressed about? Mum is working hard to make ends meet. All you do is, attend some fight class, miss school and sleep the day away. You are a jerk to even Levi who had always cared about you. What right do you have to feel jealous over Katrina? You don't even try and all you do is mope." He said.
I sat up in bed and winced from the pain the movement caused. "Hey twerp. Don't talk about things you don't know. I am not jealous of anybody."
"Well, that's good. Because Kat is coming over tonight to the bonfire party and I am helping her bake special cookies for Levi." He said and I glowered at him. Isn't he a traitor to his own blood! I fumed at him silently.
"What bonfire party? I didn't hear anything about it." I said and Allen smirked at me.
"I bet you didn't know it's Friday either. We are having a gathering to celebrate the success of mum's shop. Levi and Richie will also come over and we will have a bon fire and barbecue by the lake." Allen told me. I nodded cautiously. Allen looked at his watch and gasped.
"And now you are making me late for school." He blamed me as he ran out of the trailer asking me to lock the door. I trudged along and locked the door before getting back into bed. I didn't feel like eating. Things just felt a little too tiresome these days. I looked at the copies of the notes Levi had taken for me on the small desk in our humble home. I still hadn't been able to even take a look at them. I hoped there were no exams. At this rate, I could be failing school. I sighed.
I shouldn't think such depressing thoughts but I couldn't help it. Being in constant pain sucked so bad. I should probably go to a hospital but I kept thinking it would get better with pain killers. I didn't want to trouble my mother or stress her. What if the pain was caused by my training sessions with Obivan sensei? I didn't want mum to find out about the deal I made with Eric. If I could make it through until the end of the tournament, everything would settle. But it seemed like something so far into the future.
I think I had probably dozed off again. The next time, I woke up to people speaking loudly. I frowned as I opened my eyes blearily. My stomach growled at the smell of something baking. It reminded me that I hadn't had anything to eat since last evening. It was already 4pm. I couldn't believe I had slept for that long. Quickly I rushed to the shower. The pain had abated for now and I made use of the opportunity. A while later I emerged in our small kitchen. My mood took a nosedive when I saw Allen helping Katrina with baking.
She seemed to be really excited and lively. I felt lame to actually envy her lively spirit. I rummaged the small refrigerator for something to eat. I took the milk bottle from the refrigerator with an apple and took some cereals from the cupboard. Katrina came over to get something from the same cupboard and grinned at me.
"Hey, Elle. Haven't seen you for a while. Guess what? I have transferred to your school. I've become great friends with Natalie and Danny. They said you are in their gang too. What a surprise that was!" She said with tinkling laughter.
"Uh, yeah.." I said uneasily, conscious of our height difference and the clothes that she was wearing. She was wearing an off the shoulder frilly pink midriff halter top with the shortest shorts I have seen. Her legs went on forever. I felt petty being jealous over her but I couldn't help it.
"Do you want the cereal box? Let me get it for you." She said as she easily reached the box and gave it to me. I had been barely able to graze it with my fingers.
"Er, thanks." I mumbled as I walked away. Allen looked at me with a shake of his head and I ignored it as the girl walked over to Allen with the chocolate chips bottle.
It felt awkward to not say anything while I stayed in the kitchen having breakfast.
"What are you guys making?" I asked even though I knew what they were making.
"I am making heart shaped cookies for Levi. I intend to put it in this box and give it as a present." Katrina said, showing me a medium sized box.
"This is how I want it to look." She said, showing me a drawing. I looked at it. There were four heart shaped cookies with the letters "LEVI". The transparent box was cute with a small teddy on the side with a heart saying "I love you". I felt sharp pangs of unease at that.
"It's cute right?" She asked me brightly and I tried to muster a smile but I failed.
"You seem to be baking a lot more than just four cookies." I said, ignoring it.
"Yeah. I am giving him this and a jar of cookies. This one is for him to keep as a token of my love and the other is for him to eat." Katrina said and I resisted the urge to gag.
"You are an amazing girl friend. Levi is lucky to have you." Allen said to cover the silence as he shot me a secret glare.
"Ellie, come join us. Allen's a great cookie baker. You must take lessons from him." Katrina said. I frowned at that.
"Any idiot could bake cookies from looking at videos. Bid deal!" I said and felt petty for saying it.
Allen scowled. "Right! Any idiot could bake cookies huh? Then why don't you bake one and show us how good it is?" He asked me with a glare.
I looked at the both of them and internally groaned. "Well, of course, I can also bake." I said as I moved over to them.
"Mine's going to be a limited edition collection." I said to them and Allen muttered "It better be only limited edition".
I shot him a glare as I joined them. I tried to glance at what Allen and Katrina were doing and tried to copy how they made the dough mixture. But I think I missed some steps. Nevertheless my one also looked about the same. I made circular cookies but my dough was enough to make only four cookies.
"Those are huge!" My brother remarked as I tried to make them the same size.
"Just shut up and finish your work!" I mumbled as I focused on finishing mine.
"It's done." He said and I glanced at their tray. Already some of their cookies were baking and the heart shaped ones were now in the tray. They had used smarties to put Levi's name. It really looked good already. I didn't say anything. Just then, Levi walked in.
"Hey guys!" He said as he saw us all in the kitchen. He seemed surprised to see me there.
"Hey Levi! You came early. I've got a surprise for you." Katrina said, quickly going over to him and hiding her surprise from his view. Allen quickly put the batch out of his sight.
"Hmm..doesn't look much like a surprise. I can already smell it." Levi said with a smile.
"Haha..no..trust me. You will be surprised. Me and Ellie are baking cookies but your surprise is kinda special." She said flirtatiously and I made a face at that as I pounded my cookie dough.
"Hmm.." Levi said with a smile at her. I looked at the both of them and felt something sharp twisting my insides. They looked good together. Levi was just a couple inches taller than her and they both looked like models.
"Ellie is also baking cookies?" Levi asked as he came over.
"Yeah..something like that." Allen muttered before I could respond. Seriously, I should beat the shit out of the little smart mouth.
"I must definitely taste that." Levi said with a smirk.
"Let's hope you don't die from food poison then." Allen said and I glowered at him.
"It's just water, flour and cocoa powder. How could someone get food poisoning from that?" I asked and Allen looked at me glumly.
"You didn't put egg, sugar and butter in it?" He asked me.
I frowned. "It's not a cake or an omlette. I did put sugar though." I mumbled.
"I can already imagine the taste." Allen said with a sigh. Just then, Richie came over with the freshly caught fish, meat and veggies for the barbecue. Everyone went over to help Richie.
Levi waited long enough to say "Don't worry. I will eat it. As you said only flour, water and cocoa powder couldn't result in food poison" before leaving me alone.
I looked at my cookies with distress. Maybe I could put an egg and butter in it.
"Just wait! I will mix those in." I said quickly, running over to the refrigerator. I beat one egg and distributed it over my four cookies and put a slice of cold butter on each one.
"Now it should be okay." I said as I put mine beside Katrina's tray. My brother would put mine in too when the others were finished. So, I headed over to help the others with the barbecue.
"Ellie, thank god you are here. We need help cutting the fish." Richie said.
I glanced at Katrina and my brother and saw them preparing the cones and marshmallows.
Levi was also helping with cutting the meat and fish. I grinned. This was my chance, finally.
"Okay. I'll cut the fish." I said as I went over to Richie.
"Levi, go and set up the barbecue grill. Me and Ellie will cut the meat." Richie said to my dismay as soon as I went over.
"Okay." Levi said as he went over to set up the grill with my mom and the landlady of my mom's shop.
I groaned. I looked at what Richie was doing with the fish and did the same. I wasn't squeamish and I hoped Levi could see I was better than most girls because of it. That halted my train of thought. What did that even mean?
"You seem out of it." Richie said as I washed the fish I had gutted and cleaned properly.
"Um, yeah." I mumbled.
"Are all the fish done now?" I asked to quickly change the topic.
"Yeah. Need to cut the beef and prepare the kebab skewers." He said.
"Please wash all the fish properly." He said, giving me a bucket. I took it to a tap and started cleaning. A while later I started hearing girl's laughter. I looked up and to my surprise saw Natalie and her friends with Katrina coming over to me.
"Aw, look at Ellie being the man!" Natalie cooed and the whole gang laughed. I looked up flustered at them.
"She smells like fish blood. Gross." Someone said making a puking sound.
"Don't be mean stupid!" Katrina said.
"Why..why are you guys here?" I stuttered.
"I invited them to cheer you up." Katrina said and I didn't say anything. Danny avoided meeting my eyes.
"Er, the smell is making me want to puke. Can we go somewhere else? No offense Ellie but our sensitive noses can't take the stinky smell. You must be used to stinky smells unlike us girls." Natalie said and everyone laughed.
"Don't be stupid. Come help me make the buns and the marshmallows." Katrina said quickly. They all walked away with her and I grimaced. My clothes were already mostly wet and I smelled like fish. It's not a big deal, I wanted to tell myself but for some reason my eyes were betraying tears. I quickly swiped them away and walked over to Richie with the cleaned fish. I felt terrible inside.
"Thank god, you are here! I need a hand with the meat. Allen! Come over and take the fish to Levi." He called over to Allen. I watched Allen take the bucket over to Levi and my mum near the grill.
"Hey, why are you in a daze. Come and help me cut the meat!" Richie said and I glared at him.
"Do it yourself! Why must it be me who should be doing all the disgusting stuff?" I snapped.
"Whoa! You volunteered by yourself when I asked." Richie said.
"I don't want to do it now! Go and ask those girls to do it." I said as I whirled away from him.
Richie grabbed my hand. "Ellie calm down! What's gotten into you? Most girls don't like cleaning raw meat, especially girls dressed up like them. They don't like doing things that could be smelly." He said.
"So what? Am I not a girl too?" I snapped and then realized what I said. Richie looked at me oddly.
"It is smelly to me too. I don't particularly like it either but it's just food." I mumbled, uneasiness growing by the second as I tried to explain away my outburst.
"Ah! Let me guess. You accepted to do this because Levi was there." He said knowingly.
"No!" I said immediately, my face going pale.
Richie sighed loudly. "Girls can be so dishonest sometimes. Honestly, I didn't think you were one of that type." He said with a shake of his head and walked back to where he was cutting the meat. I felt a bit stupid, standing there alone. I glanced at Levi and saw all the girls surrounded around him trying to toast marshmallows on the grill. Katrina was trying to feed one to Levi. I sighed loudly. I haven't been myself in a while. When those girls had picked on me, I should have said a line like "Someone has to prepare the food you are going to eat" or something.
I trudged over to Richie again.
"I'll help or this will take ages. I want it to be over soon." I mumbled.
Richie just glanced at me and let me work beside him. We finished our part quickly and I decided to just stay inside when Richie grabbed my hand.
"Come, sit with me for a bit." He said and I made a face at that.
"I am not interested in talking." I said with a sigh.
"Maybe not! But you like Levi don't you?" He asked me.
I waited for a long time but in the end I couldn't deny it. "Yeah. So?" I whispered.
"Why don't you tell him that you like him?" He asked me and I blinked.
"Because, he might not believe me. He already thinks I lied to him once. He might think I am just going along with him. God, sometimes I don't know what I feel either. I hate it when I see him with another girl who is obviously trying to win him. It just feels so wrong to me." I said and rubbed my face.
"That's called jealousy. You don't want to share what's yours. It's a typical symptom of falling in love." Richie said.
I glanced at him warily. "I kind of know that but things are complicated. Levi has distanced himself from me ever since he knew I lied to him about us dating. It was all you guy's fault for putting that in his head in the first place but I got blamed in the end. Besides, he is also keeping lots of secrets about himself from me." I told him.
"Secrets? What secrets do you mean?" He asked me.
"You wouldn't know." I said dismissively.
"Actually, I do know a lot about Levi. I was his attentive neighbor ever since he was a kid. I know him because I had witnessed and been with him when the worst hit him." He told me, folding his hands on his chest. I looked at Richie with interest.
"Soo..what exactly do you know about him?" I asked him slowly, wondering if I wasn't being too snoopy.
"Well, why don't you tell me what you know first?" He pressed me instead.
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AN: Please vote and or comment if you liked this chapter. I am hoping to finish the story this time without taking breaks :)