Chapter 7

     “What’s that?” I asked as I gestured to the item in Ellie’s hand. As usual, we were sitting on the curb in the parking lot of the church afterward. We always told my Mom and Dad that we were studying what we went over in the bible; we weren’t. And we never were. Or, maybe I would, every now and then, while Ellie yapped away, and I listened.

    “A Twinkie,” she said as she tossed it up and caught it. Ellie then looked over to me and gasped. “Do you not know what a Twinkie is?” She asked.

    “No…?” I said slowly, shaking my head. Her eyes widened and she shook her head in mock disapproval.

    “I knew you were sheltered, but damn,” Ellie scoffed as she unwrapped the thing.

    “What is it?” I asked. I reached over to touch it and quickly took my hand away as I felt the squishy, greasy texture. “Ew,” I muttered.

    “Not ‘ew’,”She rolled her eyes. “It’s good. Try it.” Elie offered, holding it out to me.

    “Nuh-uh, that’s gross.” I gagged, my lips turning down in a frown of disgust.

    “It’s good,” She insisted. “Gosh, you’d love my house. What, does your Mom make everything from scratch?” She shook her head.

    “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I scoffed. “My Mom’s cooking is amazing.”

    “Yeah, it is amazing,” she admitted as she took a bite from the yellow cake. “But you’ve never had, like,….store food. It’s all organic. Ain’t ever had red dye 40.” She shook her head.

    “What is red dye 40?” I whispered. My face was contorted in an expression of something like disgust. She glanced over with a smirk and laughed softly, placing a hand to her forehead.

    “It’s nothing… never mind,” she excused.

    “Then can I ask another question?” I inquired. Ellie sighed and nodded her head as I smiled. “What happened last night downtown?”

    Ellie sighed again. “Nothing happened. What happened was what I told you. I was with a group of friends and there were crackheads and one got too close and touched us. I punched him in the nose. That’s it.” She murmured. Ellie’s eyes glanced down to her bandaged hand.

    “Really, though?” I inquired. She glanced up at me with her familiar green eyes, with a hint of brown. “Is that all that happened? ‘Cause it just seems like more.” I insisted.

    “Eve…” Ellie huffed, glancing away for a moment. She looked at her hands in her lap, twiddling her thumbs, seemingly thinking about something. “Okay. It wasn’t…a crackhead.” She admitted.

    “I knew it,” I declared as I sat up straight. “Who was it? What was it?”

    “I….got in a fight. A little fight. Scuffle.” She murmured dismissively.

    “Fight? With who?” I pressed the issue, scooting closer to her.

    “You sound like a news reporter,” Ellie grumbled. She looked away again and then looked back and met my eyes. “With Kaya and her friends.” She sighed.

    “Kaya…? Why?” I asked. I frowned and my brows furrowed together. Kaya was a girl from Middleton High which was a town over. Ellie had gone there for a few months for basketball before she transferred back to Recon Christian High School with me. I didn’t know Kaya personally, but some of my friends did, and I had heard her name before. I think she was popular.

    “Because they just don’t like me, Eve,” She said.

    “That’s…mean…” I murmured. I crawled closer to her, noticing how Ellie tensed and when she looked over at me, she looked like she was almost scowling. Ellie never scowled at me. “Why? You’re so nice. They should…like you. Everyone likes you.” I smiled at her. She huffed and rolled her eyes.

    “Just drop it, Evelyn. It’s not important. Kaya’s not important, or her friends.” Ellie said. Her voice was hard to an unfamiliar degree. I’d never really seen her this way, ever. No one called me Evelyn but my father, either.

    “But- I just…” I protested.

    “But nothing! Stop, Evie. Just stop it…Evelyn.” She barked. I flinched, staring at her in bewilderment. I froze and slowly backed away again, my ankle lightly scraping against the concrete of the curb.

     “Eve! We’re leaving! C’mon!” Ivy screamed from the other side of the church building. I let out a breath and looked at Ellie once more before I hesitantly stood up and turned away from her, leaving her sitting alone on the curb with her scowl intact while my heart broke a little. And with her stupid Twinkie.

      I rounded the church, passing by the white siding of the building as I walked to the front part of parking lot which was reserved for Dad and the pastors and priests, which wasn’t many. My flats clacked against the pavement gently as I walked over to the family car where Dad was leaning against the door and talking idly to Ivy. Kaylee and Mom were presumably still inside, most likely doing some last-minute things or something.

      “Eve? Are you good?” Ivy asked as I arrived at the car. She had on her usual slacks, belted up, with an emerald green button-up shirt. She was dressed nicely despite not wearing a dress or skirt. Dad had hated her style at first and didn’t approve of it, but slowly he got accustomed since she didn’t back down from defying him – ever.

      “Fine,” I murmured as I gently passed her to open the car door.

      “You’re sure?” Dad asked, his hand resting on the door to hold it open.

      “Yes,” I said plainly. My voice was clipped as I slammed the car door closed, careful of Dad’s fingers as I did so. He and Ivy shared a suspicious look from outside the window that I decided to ignore. Even if I felt bad for being a bit of a brat, I didn’t want to talk. I’d never fought with Ellie like that. I was actually…angry. I was angry at Ellie.

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    Monday at school, I ignored her face at all costs. If I caught a glimpse of her brunette hair in the crowd, I would take the opposite staircase, or go the long way to class. I sat with my usual group at lunch, but I sat at the end of the table and ignored Ellie’s pleading looks from across the cafeteria.

    “C’mon, Eve. Everyone knows this is going to be resolved. You’re making a big deal. Ellie clearly feels bad,” Emma said, patting my back.

    “No, she doesn’t. She’s just trying to get me to talk. I do not wanna talk.” I mumbled stubbornly, stabbing a strawberry onto my fork. Emma and Bel shared a glance as they sat on either side of me. They had moved to the end of the table with me, trying to talk me out of my angry haze.

    “You guys never do this. Just tell us what happened!” Jada insisted. She sat beside me, simultaneously eating her sandwich and also studying for a test she had next period, which she had put off all week.

    “She’ll get mad if I tell you. She just got in a fight, and I was, apparently, bugging her about it too much and she yelled at me.” I sighed. I absentmindedly tapped my fork against my plastic container, a frown plastered onto my pink lips.

    “Okay, but, like, what did you say? Why would Ellie yell at you? Ellie has slapped people across the face for doing that exact thing to you. There’s no way she doesn’t feel awful about it.” Bel scoffed.

    “I don’t- I just asked…why they got in a fight, and I just wanted to know, and she told me to ‘Stop it, Evelyn’. She called me Evelyn,” I grumbled. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m being dramatic.” I sighed.

    A mix of both Bel’s and Emma’s voices rang out, clashing against each other. “You are,” Emma said.

    “You aren’t,” Bel said in tandem. They both looked at each other and laughed, while I simply frowned. Again.

    Just then, the bell rang, and everyone was standing up. I glanced up at the ceiling and huffed, following all my friends as they went to their lockers, and I had a hardened look on my face as I thought everything over.

    “Evie,” Ellie called behind me. I knew that voice too well to ignore it. My shoulders tensed, and I looked over at Bel with wide eyes. Bel grasped my wrist and tried to push me along. Meanwhile, Emma was trying to hold me back and force me towards Ellie. Unfortunately, Emma won in the end and I was turned face-to-face with Ellie as I stared at her. She looked at me, her bangs a bit out of place, and her chest was rising and falling gently. She must’ve ran.

    “Evie,” She repeated. She tried to reach out and touch my face, but I turned away. Ellie sighed, and her lips turned downwards. “I’m sorry, really, that was mean, but-”

           “But nothing, Ellie. Stop it.” I spit her words from Sunday right back at her, turning away hastily, and leaving her standing there, blinking in confusion. Bel and Emma watched the shorty ordeal, shrugging at one another awkwardly and fleeing as well, leaving Ellie alone.