I quickly opened the door home and tried to run upstairs, into my room, without anybody noticing it but my mother unfortunately had ears like a fox.
"Ellie! Do you even stop greeting me now? Come right back!," my mother shouted when I almost got to my room. Unwillingly, I stomped the stairs right back and went into the kitchen just to see my mother standing there with a mad expression and her arms crossed.
"Hello, mom," I said, not looking into her eyes but starring at the ground. I couldn't stand her presence right now, but then again, neither my dad's.
"Excuse me, but you're talking to your mother, not the kitchen floor, are you?," my mother asked furiously.
"And you're talking with your daughter, not some criminal, are you?" I shouted back.
That's why I wanted to go straight into my room! I knew that any conversation I would hold with my mother would escalate.
She took a deep breath and touched her temples just to look at me again, but this time her eyes softened a bit.
"I know this is very hard for you as well, okay? But sometimes you can't just think about yourself. It is damn hard for me too, okay Ellie? I never wanted this either so now we have to stick together and try to make the best of it instead of shouting at each other, don't you agree?," she explained and watching her eyes tearing up, I couldn't hold it anymore and ran out of the room and into my room.
I shut the door violently and pressed my face into my pillow. I knew my mother was probably crying down there and I hated myself for being the reason. I hated myself for being the reason my whole family was breaking apart.
At times like these I'd usually call Beth and talk to her so I can calm down a bit but I guess that was not possible either now. And looking back, she was really the only person I could rely on when I was sad. I was all alone without her.
I realized that I needed her more than I thought and maybe that's the reason why she did that. Did I annoy her that much?
I felt like my whole world was falling apart and the ground that I felt under my feet was slowly slipping away. My parents would divorce soon and I was sure it was because of me, and my boyfriend betrayed me - with no other than my best friend. They were right when they said that bad luck never comes alone.
Suddenly I heard a loud noise coming from my window. When I looked at it, I found out it was because someone threw a stone against it.
And I knew that only one person in this world would do something stupid like this.
I opened my window and stretched my head out of it just to shout:
"Fuck off!"
I smashed it close again because I thought life couldn't take the piss out of me any further. First taking away all of the people that I love and now sending me this douche bag to make it even worse?!
Of course this idiot wouldn't stop and I heard him throwing five further stones crashing against my window. Why of all people did he have to be my neighbour?
Before he would break the glass (since I was sure he would have continued if I hadn't stopped him), I opened my window once more and felt bad because he won again.
"What the hell do you want from me? Aidan? I really don't have any nerve left for you to kill it, so please just let me be, will you?," I said looking up because his house was right next to ours and his room was, of course, directly facing mine so we could basically see each other anytime we'd look out of the window.
Maybe that's the reason I covered it with a huge Ed Sheeran poster.
"I knew you were lonely so I had to cheer you up a bit," he said with his usual stupid face and his usual stupid voice.
"You'd cheer me up if you shut your mouth and never talked to me again," I answered annoyed.
"You do know that we have to plan the upcoming school festival together, do you? So maybe not talking to each other would be a bit problematic, don't you think?"
I totally forgot about this! He grinned at me mischieviously when he saw that I lost our fight again.
"Don't worry Ellie, I'm sure we're a good team. Just like during the old times, huh?,"he stated and my body shivered just by the thought.
"They are over, Aidan. You should know this best," I told him and rapidly closed my window again before he could twist my words the way he wanted to to embarass me one more time.
I knew I could never win against him because he was way too good with words and speaking so I'd rather give up sooner than being humiliated like that ever again.
***
"So Ellie, did you have a talk with Aidan already? You know you two have a lot of work to do so you should start really soon," Mr Winters asked me when he saw me the next day in the hallway.
"Uh, we indeed have spoken to each other about it but we don't have any exact plan yet," I told him a bit nervously.
"That's okay! I mean, it's hard because thinking of a theme is always a hard task, isn't it? But remember: original and new! I know you both can do it. You're a good team in my opinion,"he said and I almost rolled my eyes and started to deny when I remembered he was my teacher.
"Y-yeah, I suppose. We're a great team,"I said and suddenly felt a big hand on my shoulder.
"We're the best team you could've ever arranged, Mr Winters," no other person than Aidan said with a cheeky smile. When our teacher nodded happily and went away, he looked at me with his electric blue eyes, provoking me to fight him.
"So,", he started, "since when are we a great team? I thought the old times are over, little Smelly-Ellie"
My eyes widened immediately.
"Do not ever call me that again, will you?!"
"Oh sorry, it just slipped," he lied and giggled into his hand so his dimples appeared.
"But when it buggs you that much, you can call me Maiden-Aiden,of course, if that maks you any happier," he said, a toothy grin never leaving his face.
"Stop with this nonsense, really. You drive me crazy!," I said burning with anger. I wanted to make his dumb smile disappear so badly.
"But why? You always called me that when we were younger, didn't you?,"he said a bit surprised of my sudden rage.
"Yes, exactly, when we were younger. We are grown-ups now! So just stop with this kindergarten stuff and go. I have classes now," I explained and went away before he answered anything.
I walked really quick but he followed me.
"Hey, Ellie! Wait!," he shouted through the whole hallway making everybody look at us.
It was far too embarassing for me to shout anything back or to insult him even though I wanted to so the only solution I could think of was running into the girls' toilet because he wouldn't follow me in there, would he?
But then again, I forgot that we're talking about Aidan.
I ran into a cabin and locked it. I knew he came in because I could hear some girls screaming and asking what he did there.
Then he knocked at my cabin door and I thought of burying myself right there.
"Hey, Ellie! I know you're in there so come out"
"How do you want to know that?!," I shouted back.
"You've got some really pretty shoes, you know?"
I stayed quiet for a while. I was too exhausted to argue with him.
"What do you want?,"I asked.
"Just listen to me," he said with a calm voice so I gave up and let him talk.
"I know it's been a hard time for you, okay? I know about your parents and about your friends as well"
"How do you know ab-,"I asked completely shocked.
"We are neighbours, did you forget about that? And the thing about about your friends... Scott and me are in the same soccer team, and eventually, I heard about it. Just ask him about it, okay? All I want to tell you is that I know we're not exactly friends anymore, but you can call me whenever you need someone to talk to, okay? I'm a good listener. Just throw something against my window and I'll be there. I promise"
My mouth stood wide open when he finished his last sentence.
"See you later then,"he said and I heard him going away.
What the holy moly did just happen?!
______
A/N: Hi everybody! I'm sorry that it took me a lot of time to publish such a short chapter but I hope you like it anyway!
I'd love to know what you think about everything so make sure to leave a comment! :)
Thank you so much for reading, love you xx