Like a Fairytale

True to her word, Rebecca talked Tanya into letting me go with Justin to meet his family for Christmas. I’m not going to lie, it was a little bit weird having Rebecca help me. I mean, we are talking about the girl who, the very first time she met me, yanked a clump of hair out of my pigtail so hard she left a bald spot that took a year grow back. (Pictures from that year are so weird looking.) I knew I should just accept her kindness, but wounds take time to heal - and she had tortured me for eight years.

“I’m so excited!” Justin said happily for the millionth time on the car ride to his house in Stratford from the airport.

His mother Pattie caught my eye in the rearview mirror and grinned. “Justin, you’re going to scare off Ella.”

“Oh, trust me Miss Pattie, I’ve seen a lot worse,” I laughed.

Justin turned to me. “Where have you seen worse? You don’t have any brothers.”

“No, but you’ve never seen Kelsey on a Monster. Come to think of it, you haven’t ever really hung out with Kels, have you?” I asked.

He shook his head. “You’re better in that department; you flew to another country to meet my friends, and yours sit next to me in a handful of classes.”

I giggled. “You fail.”

“I do not!” He pouted, pulling a puppy dog face that was too cute for words.

“Okay, fine, you do not fail,” I relented, and he laughed, putting an arm around my shoulders.

No, Justin and I haven’t started dating since Monday, but we have gotten more touchy-feely. I’ve kissed him on the cheek three times, he’s brushed hair out of my face twice (my hair is pretty much always falling in front of my eyes; I don’t know why) and now the arm-around-the-shoulders thing. On one hand, its sweet and I like it and I like the sparks that dance across my skin when it comes in contact with his. On the other, I feel like I’m leading him on, because as long as Hannah is at Toes, we can’t be together. She’ll put me through hell, and worse, she’ll do the same to him. I can’t bear to think of Justin getting hurt, I just can’t do it.

“We’re here,” Miss Pattie announced cheerfully.

We were at a small but cozy-looking house covered in the beautiful winter snow. When we exited the car and entered the house, I saw it was just as cozy in the inside. The living room had mismatched furniture and CDs were stacked in a high pile next to a large stereo. It was exactly how I wanted my house to look when I was old enough for one.

“Ella, I’m sorry, but we don’t have guestroom, so you’ll have to sleep on the couch. Is that okay?” Pattie’s worry was sincere, and I liked that about her.

“Its fine,” I said warmly. “Where do you want me to put my bag?”

“Ella, let me get that for you,” Justin insisted, taking my duffel bag from my hand before I could protest. He took it back to his room, which was also very real - blue plaid cover, white walls, an acoustic guitar, posters tacked randomly on the walls. It was exactly like any other teenage boy’s bedroom.

After a few minutes, the doorbell rang, and Justin grinned at me. “Prepare to meet Ryan and Chaz.” He opened the door.

A brown headed boy was standing out there, and when he saw us, he yelled over his shoulder, “Dude, Ryan, he did bring the girl! He wasn’t joking about how hot she was either!”

Justin flushed bright red, and I laughed. “Thanks, I think.”

Justin let he and a blonde guy in, doing that weird man handshake thing before he looked the boys looked at me.

“You must be Ella?” The blonde one said, a kinder smile on his face than the smirk on the other boy’s. “I’m Ryan.”

“Oh, so you’re the best friend. Got it. Must make sure you don’t hate me.” My sense of humor was really coming out, mostly because I knew I didn’t have to go home to the Stripper.

He laughed. “I couldn’t get Justin away from you if I tried.”

“Dude!” Justin hissed, smacking him upside the back of the head. “Shut up!”

I laughed, going in the kitchen to get something to drink. When I came back, they were all playing some video game.

I cracked up again. “So, what are we playing?”

“Call of Duty,” Justin explained. “I don’t think you’d be very good at it.”

“Oh really?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

So that’s how me and Justin got involved in a epic Call of Duty showdown, and I kicked his ass at it. Since he swore I cheated, we had a rematch, which I also won.

“Dude, she’s got you,” Chaz laughed.

Before I had a chance to respond, my phone started screaming, “I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world! Wrapped in plastic, its fantastic! You can bru-”

“Where’s it at, Monistat?” I asked Kelsey, flipping open my phone as I did so and walking into Justin‘s kitchen again. (Yeah, Barbie Girl is her ringtone - I do it because it pisses her off.)

“I’m looking for my motherfucking shovel!” She yelled. I could tell she was crying.

Well, hell. “Kelsey, what’s wrong?”

“That fucking asshole cheated on me Hannah motherfucking Jackson!” I swear, Kelsey only cusses like this when she’s pissed, and she was pissed.

“That bitch!” I cried, pushing my out of my face. “The both of them!”

“I know!” She cried.

Suddenly, I stopped dead in my tracks, halfway through pushing hair out of my face again. “Kelsey, this is my fault.”

“What?! How?” She wasn’t mad at me, she just couldn’t believe I was pinning the blame on myself, this I could tell.

“Because, Hannah knows nothing makes me more mad then messing with my friends, so she sent Cole out to hurt you! She’s doing this to get back at me!” I closed my eyes and leaned against the refrigerator. “God, I never knew she was going to do it like this, I thought she was going to attack me, and just me. She’s such a sneaky bitch.”

“Ella, its not your fault that Hannah’s a jealous bitch,” Kelsey said softly, but I knew she was thinking the same thing I was: if I hadn’t of said what I said the other day in the cafeteria, this wouldn’t be happening.

“Kelsey, what if she hurts Sammy? There’s got to be some homophobes in Thousand Oaks, and you and I both have heard the stories of boys like him getting rocks thrown at them and shit!” I was on the verge of tears myself - something that never happened. I slid down the fridge, which wasn’t covered in magnets and such, thankfully, until I was practically sitting on the back of my feet. I covered my face with my left hand. “And God knows what she’ll do to Rebecca if she finds out that Becky helped me get here. And Justin! God, I’m such a bad friend, you call me freaking out about a boyfriend and I end up breaking down…”

“El, chill. It’ll be okay. I’ll warn Sam and Rebecca to be careful, and besides, how do we know it was Hannah behind this anyway?” The first part was reasonable, but the end wasn’t.

“Who else, Kelsey? Who?” My voice was choked. I’m telling you, it takes a lot to freak me out, but threaten my friends, and I get like this. For the last eight years, Sam and Kelsey have been the only ones to give a damn about me, and I love them dearly for it.

She sighed. “I don’t know, Ella. I just don’t. Listen, hon, go enjoy your vacation. This is the first time you’ve been away from the Stripper and Rebecca, and you need to live it up. Plus, I know you’re falling hard for Justin, even if you won’t admit it to yourself. Just, don’t sweat this. Deal with it when you get home.”

“Okay…” I agreed reluctantly. “But keep me posted. If anything happens to Sam or Rebecca, you keep me posted, okay?”

“Fine. ‘Bye Ella.” She hung up before I could respond, and I knew she was going to cry about Cole some more. I felt like crying myself.

There was nothing I could do to protect the people I loved. I knew I would hurt Justin if I let him go, and I knew Hannah would hurt him if I didn’t. I didn’t want to let him leave, not at all. He cared about what happened to me, something only two other people in this world could claim. But if it would protect those two other people, I would do it. It would kill me, but I would do it if it would save Justin, Kelsey, and Sam.

“Hey,” He said softly, kneeling down next to me. “What’s wrong?”

My will to leave him the hell alone crumbled when I looked up into those golden brown eyes. My will not to cry did too.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’ll be okay,” He whispered, sitting next to me and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I buried my face into his shoulder. “Baby, tell what’s the matter.”

I smiled at the pet name, before remembering my entire thought process before Justin came in. Then, I started to cry harder. “Hannah,” I whispered. “Hannah is the matter.”

“What’s Hannah doing?” He asked, his tone still quiet and caring. It was the kind of thing that would make me fall hopelessly in love with him if I wasn’t careful.

I swallowed back some of the tears. “She… she’s mad at me. She hates me, really. Its partly because of what I said in the cafeteria the day you two broke up, and partly because she thinks you like me, and she’s jealous…” I stopped the get composure again before continuing. “She knows that… that I’m very protective over my friends, because they’re the only ones who cared about me for a long time there. And so she sent some guy, to go cheat on Kelsey, and hurt her. She’s hurting me through my friends, and I’m scared.”

“Sam and Kelsey will be okay, Ella,” He said softly. “Hannah’s not nearly as powerful as you think.”

I looked up at him, taking his chin in my hand. “They aren’t the only ones I’m worried about.”

He smiled slightly, rubbing away some of my tears with his thumb. “I’ll be fine, babe. There’s only one fifteen-year-old girl in this world who can hurt me, and I trust her enough not to.”

I smiled and bit my lip, despite my fear and worry. After kissing him on the cheek again, I simply leaned my head against his shoulder as he rubbed my forearm comfortingly, until I had almost forgotten everything but Justin, there with me.

Almost.