Slater | Nick Goode

2.6

Ellie sat in disgust with herself, alone at a table in the mess hall. Kurt would start his speech any moment.
"Maybe she went crazy, like her kid," she heard some other kids gossiping. She tried to block out everyone else's voices.
"Alright!" Kurt exclaimed, loudly clapping his hands together, "chicks, dicks, listen up!"
Ellie rolled her eyes, holding her head in her hands.
"We had a scary situation earlier, but cannot let that mess with the most important night of our summer," he stood on his podium, as usual, prancing around like some kind of dancer. "Tonight is Sunnyvale versus Shadyside. It is red versus blue, it is good versus evil. Tonight we commencicate Color War!"
"Its fucking 'commence,' idiot," Ellie mentally corrected the boy.
"Oh yeah!" He yelled, listening to every camper in the mess hall scream at the top of their lungs.
"Tonight's first event is Capture the Flag, baby. Yeah, yeah, yeah! Now, Sunnyvalers... we have never, ever lost a Color War! So let's not let tonight be a stain in our legacy."
The Sunnyvale campers started to chant above Kurt's voice, "Sunnyvale! Sunnyvale!"
"So let's go out there, like our ancestors before us, and murder those Shadyside witches!"
Kurt jumped on top of a chair as Joan walked to the front of the stage. Ellie looked back, locking eyes with Melissa, who gave her a devilish smirk.
Ellie sighed, standing up and making her way out of the mess hall.
Joan was heard her entire walk out, "uh, hi. Thank you Kurt for that neat-o speech."
Ellie walked until she made her way to the outside of the kitchen.
She tried to find a bucket and a couple of other cleaning supplies.
Cindy stormed her way in, her curious and concerned mind racing.
"What are you doing?" She asked, watching Ellie struggle to find the things she needed.
"Chores."
"I need to talk to you," she told Ellie, her voice quivering.
"I'm not in the mood," Ellie said shortly.
"Earlier, you said Mary was upset," she remembered.
"Oh, so now you care," Ellie laughed, filling up a bucket she found with warm water.
"Ellie, this is serious," Cindy spoke.
"It was serious earlier, and you didn't give a shit."
"Come on, you were the last person to see her before she snapped. What about drugs, did you see any around?"
"She's a nurse, so yeah," Ellie explained.
"Well did she mention anything or-"
"Nope."
"Estella, I'm just trying to understand what happened today," Cindy pleaded.
"Who cares? It's over."
"Not for your brother. He's still freaked out and acting weird and.. it's just a big joke to everyone. 'Mary was possessed by the witch.'"
"Maybe it was the witch." Ellie stated plainly, gathering different soaps, rags and sponges.
She pushed past Cindy and out of the kitchen, making her way to cabin five.
"Ellie!"
"What? That doesn't match everyone else's bullshit view of the world?" Ellie grumbled, dropping everything out of her hands to find the cabin key, "Tommy is going to be fine, Cindy. He's a big boy and maybe Nurse Lane is just fucking crazy. I don't know, please just leave me alone."
Ellie shut herself inside the cabin, leaving Cindy standing hopelessly in front of the door.
She clicked the radio on and it began to play the latest cassette she entered, "Moonage Daydream."
Plastered on the walls were the words, "bitch," "witch," "slut," "suck it," "monster," and Ellie's personal favorite, "Slater rots in hell."
She grabbed the bucket full of warm soapy water and dipped the towel inside, before someone knocked on the door.
"Go away, Cindy!" She yelled above the music, standing on top of her bed frame to reach the cruel letters written out in red paint.
"It's me, it's Nick," the voice called out. Ellie's eyes went wide, her face scrunching up.
"Go away, Nick," she shouted, trying her best to scrub the paint off of the wood.
Despite Ellie's wishes, Nick opened the door and stepped inside, "whoa."
"I like what you've done with the place," he joked, looking around at the hateful words.
"This wasn't me," Ellie spat, successfully wiping off the word, "witch."
"I'm shocked," he said and began to read the walls, "Ziggy is a witch bitch? Ellie sucks cock in hell? Slater the Slut. Jesus. Was this Melissa?"
"Colonel Mustard," Ellie joked.
"Ellie, you're going to fall and kill yourself," he called, walking up to the bed frame and looking up at her. He quickly noticed the bandaged wrapped around her arm.
"That's the plan," she groaned as she stood on the tips of her toes trying to reach the word Slut.
"Ellie, please get down before you hurt yourself," he pleaded, finally taking a good look at the girl. She was wearing a sage green tank top with black jean shorts. It was nothing special, but he thought she looked beautiful.
Ellie obliged, getting down from the bed and walking over to the bucket.
"What do you want, Nick?" She asked, dipping the rag in the water.
"Well, first off, Kurt wants you outside and paired with Tommy. But, second off, I wanted to say I'm sorry," he apologized, looking down at his shoes. Ellie looked at him confused.
"Sorry for what?" She asked, still looking at him, now observing his outfit. He had on a tight red and white shirt, that fit snugly around his biceps, and khaki pants.
"I don't know, whatever I did to make you upset."
Ellie sighed, massaging her temples, "you did nothing wrong, Nick. Im sorry for being an asshole today. And the last couple of days."
"I feel like you getting in trouble was my fault. And today the encounter with Melissa was... handled wrong. I hate her for being like that towards you and-"
"Nick. Stop, we're fine. We're friends," she spoke softly as she gathered her things.
Nick paused and looked around, "maybe I don't just want to be friends."
Ellie was clearly caught off guard, her eyes went wide and a blush rise to her cheeks.
"Nick, we can't date," she whispered, but loud enough for him to hear.
"Why not? Why would it be so bad?" He walked over to her, putting his right hand on her cheek, causing her to look up at him.
"I told you before," Ellie thought of them all. Her father, Melissa, Nicks entire family, his legacy, Joan, and especially the end of camp, when they would both have to go home and only see each other around school, "before we started anything, I told you that I didn't like you like that."
A small part of that felt like a lie, though. She kept telling herself that she liked Joan and only Joan, but maybe she liked Nick, too.
         No, that's greedy. You can't like two people. Right?
She looked him in the eyes and parted her lips, desperate for his on hers.
He took it as a sign, and gently pulled the girl in. It was like their kisses before, passionate and sweet. But Ellie cut it short, not wanting to make him believe that they had a chance.
"I'm sorry, Nick," she whispered and broke free from his hold, walking over to the door and holding it open for him.
He followed behind, giving her one last look before he walked off in the other direction.
She cleared her throat and held her head high, walking over to where she saw Tommy, leaning against a flag.
"Carry on Wayward Son," played on the speakers as the campers all got in a circle.
Tommy stood in front of them, looking over a big wave of blue shirts, as he spoke. Ellie sat beside him, on a concrete bench, a 10 year old camper sat next to her, patiently waiting for Ellie to finish putting her blue face paint on.
"Alright, alright, alright," Tommy called out, "Now remember, keep at least three defenders by this all the time. Okay, and who's the jailer?"
A younger camper raised his hand, Ellie knew him, he was in Tommy's cabin, "Okay, Jeremy, you may be the most important player in the, uh..."
Tommy's silence made Ellie perk up, looking around at what made him stop.
Tommy looked sickly, his eyes baggy and he looked just like Nurse Lane did when she went to see her earlier that day.
"Mr. Slater?" Jeremy called, worriedly.
"Tommy," Ellie stood and put her hand on his shoulder, jolting him out of his trance, "are you okay?"
"Yeah, I, um, I'm good. Why don't you guys get started? Plant the flag, and I'll be right behind you. Okay? Let's go, Shadyside! Come on!" Tommy yelled, handing the the metal pole to the boy and the group took off in the other direction.
Tommy turned to look at Ellie, who was still standing beside him, "oh man," he groaned touching the back of his head, where he fell earlier with Nurse Lane, "my head is throbbing. She must have got me pretty good. Mary's stronger than she looks."
"Maybe you should lie down, I can handle the campers," Ellie suggested, turning Tommy's head to examine his wound.
Tommy grabbed her hands and reassured her, "no, no. I'm fine, I'm good. I'll.. meet up with you guys."

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