Just a Story of One Little Girl

“Who was that?” I jumped at the voice and spun around coming face-to-face with Bryan. I stared at him, shuffling my feet. “Oh, come on! Don’t play that mute act with me. I heard most of your conversation, so I figure you can be quite talkative if you want to be.”

The sandy-haired boy took a step towards me, but I immediately backed up, slamming into the wall next to the payphone. He advanced on me again and I slid down the wall to the floor. Bryan crouched down in front of me, his narrowed hazel eyes boring holes into my own wide, green ones.

I opened my mouth to apologize – for what, I wasn’t sure – but my voice caught in my throat. Bryan’s face flushed slightly and he threw his hand up in exasperation, causing me to flinch. He didn’t seem to notice my reaction. “I just want some Goddamn answer from you!”

I could tell he was getting angrier and angrier the longer we sat there. “I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt me,” I whimpered, wrapping my arms around my legs as best I could.

“Huh?” The older teens eyes widened, his eyebrows arching. “I wouldn’t…I don’t…I’m…Just answer our questions.”

“I’ll tell you anything you want.” I promised. “My name is Mackenzie. Or Ellery. My name was changed as a baby, but I might change it back so…yeah.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Ok, come on, back to the table.” He lifted me to my feet and guided me towards the table. I started to go under to get back to my window seat, but Bryan stopped me.

“Nah, I think you’re gonna sit by me and Steve. You’ve been next to Joey all night!” I glared at him, but did as he said and slid in next to Steve. Bryan smiled at the group. “Her name’s Ellery.”

“You got her to talk?” asked a shocked Evan. “How old are you Ellie? Can I call you that?”

I blinked a few times. “I’d rather you didn’t. I’m, uh, 14.”

“14!” They all shouted in unison, causing other patrons to cast curious glances over at our table. I sunk down in the seat and nodded.

“Sorry, you’re just so little.” Joey apologized. “What were you doing out in the rain?”

“I was really stressed out so I took a walk, but I got lost and wound up at the park. I like the rain. It helps take away my stress.”

“Aren’t your parents gonna be worried? Or is that who you called?”

“No, I called my brother. I kinda walked outta the hotel on him and my friends.”

“Hotel? Where are you from? Why are you here? Sorry that sounded rude. I didn’t mean it like that.” A light blush caressed Dan’s face.

I smiled. “We’re from Jersey.”

“Answer the rest of his question,” Bryan warned placing a hand on my knee.

“I was adopted when I was like 2 weeks old, and I really wanted to know who my parents were, but I have no idea what my dad did with my birth certificate, and it’s not like he would be very happy with me asking him for it, so I visited the orphanage I was adopted from, and I found my mom, but she totally doesn’t want anything to do with me and got really mad when I called her and told me to never try to contact her again.” I finished and took a much-needed breath.

“Do you not like your family or something? I mean what are they like?”

“Well I have three awful brothers who make it their purpose to make my life miserable, but my oldest bro is pretty nice. He’s too over-protective though. My dad is…I can’t really explain him, but I think he kinda blames me for my mom’s death. She was hit by a drunk when I was almost five coming to pick me up from a friend’s house.”

“Ouch. I’m sorry.” I shrugged. “Ummmm…How’d you break your arm?” Jason asked curiously.

I stiffened and licked my lips nervously. “Well, in gym class, we were playing indoor ultimate Frisbee, and the Frisbee got stuck on top of our really tall bleachers that are like 10 feet high or so. So I climbed up but I, uh, kinda lost my grip about a foot below the top, and like an idiot I tried to break my fall.”

Joey looked at me with his arms crossed. “They would never let us do something like that in our high school.”

I rolled my eyes. “Our school doesn’t care. I mean, my gym teacher is practically drunk half the time, anyway. He takes attendance and then falls asleep.”

“Are you telling the truth?” Bryan turned my head so I was looking at him. My mouth went dry.

“There she is!” My brother and friends were making their way over to our table. Aiden’s eyes focused on Bryan as soon as they reached us. “Why are you touching my sister?” His voice was stone cold and had a threatening undertone to it.

“This is your sister?” He said slowly, processing the new information. His eyes widened and he took his hand off my knee. “Sorry,” he muttered. He slid out of the booth allowing me to get up and hug my brother.