Chapter Six
Elle
“Then, I dunked the ball into the hoop in the last ten seconds, and won the game!” a guy boasted, recalling a basketball game from his from high school glory days. Why did he think I honestly cared? Why did he think anyone cared?
“That’s great!” I said, forcing a weak smile.
“Yeah, totally awesome, bro!” Jake said, high-fiving him.
“I know, right? It was wicked!” the guy said, taking another swig of the potent smelling alcohol in his hand.
“Jake,” I whispered.
“Elle,” he said, looking over to me.
“Who’s that?” I asked, pointing to a blonde girl in the middle of the room, who looked oddly familiar to me. She appeared to be a little lost, or drunk, and for some strange reason I had a gut feeling that I didn’t like her.
“The blonde?”
“Yeah.”
“Uh, I don’t know, you’d have to ask your brother, sorry,” he said, glancing at me apologetically.
“No, it’s fine, it doesn’t really matter anyways,” I said, trying to figure out who that girl was. From where I sat, her dress looked to be a little bit on the short side, but definitely designer. That’s so sad that I could tell it was an expensive dress. I’m Elle Paterson, I’m not supposed to care, let alone know, about negligible stuff like that!
Last year, Kara dragged me dress shopping for senior prom. When I say “dragged,” I mean she physically had to haul me into the stores. I’m not exactly the biggest fan of shopping, or clothes for that matter. As we went from store to store, I could feel my life force being sucked away little by little. Then, as if the journey wasn’t bad enough, she made me go through every single dress we passed, and pick out which ones were designer brands, and which ones were knockoffs. Why? Because she wanted me to leave high school with “at least being slightly educated in something useful to life.” Why on earth would I agree to do something like this? Well, one, because she’s my best friend, and two, because she said she would attack my face with an explosion of makeup one night while I was sleeping. Did I mention that makeup’s also not on my agenda list of favorite things?
“Do you want anything to drink?” Jake asked politely.
“Just water, please,” I replied quietly.
“Really Elle?”
“I don’t drink,” I mumbled responsibly.
“Okay, I’m down with that; water it is,” he said, taking a red plastic cup, and filling it up for me. He offered it up, and I graciously accepted. After scanning the scene, I saw a sofa in the distance that looked moderately safe, and wasn’t in an outrageously congested area. I walked over, not caring if Jake was following or not, and sat down. Jake evidently was following me, and sat down beside me.
He gently slung his arm over my shoulder, and asked, “What’cha thinking about?”
“Nothing,” I replied truthfully. I leaned my head against his chest, and we rested there in a peaceful silence. People grinded with each other, and underwent things they would be regreting in the morning, while we sat and watched in a haze. I like watching people; sometimes, it’s nice to be on the outside, looking in. It calms me, I guess.
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As Long As You're Mine
Teen FictionNick and Elle. They were the perfect couple. Young, cute, smart, rich, spoiled, and different--they were a match made in heaven. Nick let his perfect relationship go when he decided that skiing was more important than Elle. A year later, they're bot...
