Love Always, Ella

Chapter One

Ella

January 1st, 2016.

My name is Ella Grace Carson. If you happen to be reading this, you more than likely stole my journal and I'd really like to get it back. So, if you see an overweight girl who looks roughly around sixteen years of age and has brown hair that could have a debate on whether or not it's an actual afro, you've found me. This is my first journal I guess you could say unless you want to count the one I had in the second grade. All it had was a bunch of doodle hearts with Timothy Paxton's name, a kid I had a major crush on back then scribbled inside all of them. That doesn't count in my opinion.

Why did I decide to get this worn-down leather piece of junk you ask? That's a good question. I don't know. It could be because I'm anti-social, or because I'm going through so much in my life it feels like my head could burst. It could even be that I'm going through a midlife crisis. Can you have one of those at sixteen?

Anyways, I decided to get this to document everything major that's about to happen hopefully within the next couple of years. I get to figure out where I want to go to college, why on earth I still have never had a boyfriend, and also what the hell I'm going to do to lose weight. Basically, this journal is meant for me to figure out my entire life. Wish me luck.

~

Two years later

Letting out a sigh of frustration, I collapse onto my bed and try to ignore the mess around me. Suitcases are cluttered all in my room, pieces of random clothing overlapping the sides of them. I've been in the middle of packing for my grandparents for the past two days and I'm still not finished.

    "Ella!" My mother pokes her head into my room, and when she notices I'm just sitting on my bed she looks at me in disbelief. "What are you doing? I told your grandparents you'd be there in time for dinner. Get going!"

    "Why are you making me go?" I whine, kicking a box with my foot in order to show my annoyance.

    Being the mother that she is, I watch her start to pack my things up for me to try and help. She looks frazzled as she runs her hand through her brown bob, pausing to place it on her hip and look around the mess I call my room. "Because Washington DC isn't doing you any good." She sighs again. "I knew we should have stayed in South Carolina, but with your father being so close I just-"

"It's fine." I cut her off, not wanting to talk about that situation. My mother has made a lot of sacrifices to try and give us a better life. Here in Washington, I got bullied so much in high school that I had to drop out and continue my classes online to graduate. This place has a lot of bad memories to it, so I suppose that's why she's sending me off for the summer. To me, it doesn't matter where I go. I feel like there will always be mean people, and even though I can take the bullying and put up with it I just wish people could be a little bit nicer.

"You're going to have a wonderful time." She smiles, placing both hands on either side of my face to hold it. "I just wish I could go. I'm going to miss you so much."

"You have to work, I'll be fine." I reply, standing up from the bed to finally finish packing. For the most part, I've gotten everything done. I just have to finish stuffing the clothing inside so that everything can finally be zipped. My mother's staring at me in disgust practically as she's watching how unorganized I'm being to try and get the zipper to close. As long as it shuts I don't care.

"I'm worried about you driving eight hours." She admits, helping me zip the other side. We can't get one side to zip all the way up, but it's mostly closed so it works for me. "Are you sure you're going to be okay Ella?"