Dinglehoppers

Eight

8. Write a chapter where your character randomly bursts into song.

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"Ariel, listen to me! The human world... it's a mess.”

-Sebastian, The Little Mermaid.

“Sorry, Ells. You came at a wrong time. Celia is out with some blond kid named… I think his name was Mike or something.” Sam said as he stood in the doorway of his house, staring at Ellie with a wide smile.

Ellie was too upset to care right now that her best friend was practically on a date with Milo.

Really, she just… well okay maybe it did excite her in the deep corners of her mind, but she wasn’t up to jumping with joy and dancing with Sam about it (like she usually would have done.)

She also really, really wanted to talk to her right now. She thought about calling up Paige, but she honestly believed she must be out with John at the moment.

“Wanna come in? Are you up for a beating in Call of Black Ops, like Celia calls it?” Sam asked her, which caused her to give him a small smile.

She found herself absentmindedly nodding her head, and Sam stepped out of the way to let her in.

But for some reason, as soon as she stepped inside the house, she felt a sudden wave of nausea hit her. Not like she actually wanted to throw up, but she just felt dizzy, so she quickly closed her eyes.

“My mom went grocery shopping because – don’t tell her I told you this- but Celia needed pads and bananas for cramps and she was all pissed off until Blondie there showed up. So mom took advantage and went to Wal-Mart.” Sam said as Ellie heard the sound of a door closing.

She counted to five slowly, and took a deep breath. But her efforts were futile, because by the time she was going to take her second breath, the tears started streaming down her cheeks, leaving them soaked within a matter of second.

“Can you set up the PS3? Gonna order some pizza.” Sam said as she heard the sound of keys jiggling, assuming he was locking the door.

She quickly brought up her hands to her eyes, trying to wipe the tears away before he noticed. She hated crying over something so simple, something that wasn’t even worth her tears.

“Uh-huh” she told him quietly, afraid that if she said more, he’d notice the shakiness in her voice.

“Ellie?” he asked. She had her back towards him, desperately trying to wipe her eyes, but the more she wiped them, the more tears came out.

“Huh?” she asked him. Suddenly, she felt him set his hands on her shoulders, and then he spun her around, frowning as soon as he saw her face.

“Holy crap,” he said, but not in his usual mocking tone “what’s wrong? Ellie, are you crying?” he stated the obvious more than asking. But Ellie still tried to deny it.

Ellie hardly ever cried for anything! She was not going to start now, especially not for something like this!

She shook her head, sure that if she spoke her voice would crack.

“Hey, hey, come here.” he said as he pulled her closer and into his arms, wrapping them around her tightly and squeezing her a bit.

Ellie was too focused on stopping her tears to realize how awkward this situation would have been if she weren’t so upset.