Georgetown Academy, Book One

Chapter Six: Ellie

Tuesday, 9:23pm.

When Ellie stepped out of the car, she had on her best Jackie O. face. Arrivals like this always made her worried that she was going to fall on her face, confirming to everyone watching that she didn’t deserve to be with someone like Hunter McKnight.

She and Hunter walked past the front hedges where a group of seniors were passing around several joints. There was never a shortage of pot at a G.A. party. Ever since they legalized dispensaries in California, all the kids of California representatives always brought back huge stashes after visiting their hometowns. Ellie, almost getting a contact high as she walked by, found herself searching through the faces for Gabe. Just the thought of having to face him again put her in a cold sweat, though the thought of not seeing him had the same effect. Stop it, she warned herself. Nothing good will come of talking to him.

Suddenly, just as she and Hunter stepped inside, a voice interrupted her inner-monologue.

“Nice outfit,” Brinley said, giving her a wink. Annoyance flashed through Ellie. Brinley had a horrible habit of trying to smooth over fights or arguments by pretending like everything was fine. Soon enough, the other person would be playing along too and in Brinley’s mind, all was forgiven without her ever having to apologize. Sometimes it didn’t bother her, especially when she could see Brinley was remorseful, but with how on edge she felt about the possibility of seeing Gabe again, everything was magnified.

She uttered a simple, “Thank you,” refusing to meet Brinley’s eye.

Brinley turned to Hunter. “Can you give us a sec?” Ellie had relayed the story about Brinley’s outburst to him earlier and now he cocked his head at Ellie, getting her permission before leaving the two of them alone. Ellie nodded and he squeezed her hand, filling Ellie with the exact dose of warmth and security she needed.

“She’s all yours, Brin. I’ll go get you girls some drinks.” Hunter gave Ellie a quick kiss before walking away.

“Look, Elle. About today…”

Ellie lost focus for a second as she saw a guy with shaggy hair out of the corner of her eye. She quickly craned her neck to see it wasn’t Gabe, just Thatcher Wellington, a senior on the baseball team who was not nearly as funny as his father, a political commentator on The Daily Show.

“…There was a lot going on,” Brinley finished, lamely.

“I have a lot going on too, Brinley,” she replied. Brinley seemed about to retort when Ellie saw her left eye twitching. Ellie had noticed that same tic in Brinley several other times lately. What was going on with her? And then, suddenly, she was apologizing.

“I’m sorry, okay? That’s what I wanted to say, Elle.” She took a breath and Ellie noticed that Brinley took a few beats to exhale as if she were in a yoga class. But when she finished exhaling, she looked Ellie in the eye and, in a kinder tone than before, continued, “I’m sorry I was rude earlier. You didn’t deserve it.”

Ellie was surprised. Brinley would run you over with her car and not apologize. But she was also grateful.

“No problem, Brin. Let’s be over it,” she replied with a smile, feeling a small weight lifting off her shoulders. With everything else she was dealing with, it was one less problem on her plate. “I’m a little off my game, too,” she admitted. “Today was a rough one for my mom.”

Brinley nodded. Of course she would’ve already heard. Brinley’s father was a powerful behind-the-scenes political consultant who made it his job to know everything about everyone.

“My dad said Dick Mills is already living up to his name.”

Tears prickled Ellie’s eyes and she looked down, embarrassed. Get it together, she told herself. Brinley didn’t even know the half of it, and Ellie had an intense desire to tell her everything. But she knew she couldn’t.