He Knew It All

Jonathan and his two parents exchanged glances as they waited for Ellery to come back downstairs. They had been sitting there for ten minutes, his two parents eating their breakfast, while Jonathan pushed his french toast around his plate, because, well, he was worried about who Ellery was talking to. It wasn't Kyle, considering whenever they spoke on the phone you could hear Ellery laughing all the way from outside. And it wasn't Cory since, well, he was dead. Jonathan looked up from his plate a few minutes later to see his parents looking at him.

"Why don't you go check up on your sister?" his dad suggested as he shrugged one of his shoulders. "Tell her to come down and finish her breakfast."

Jonathan set down his fork and napkin that he had clutched in his hand, before he nodded. "Okay."

He stood up from the kitchen table and watched his parents closely as they stared at him as if they were expecting him to do a backflip, or even a summersault. Jonathan turned on his heel and slowly went down the hallway, trying to see if he could hear Ellery talking to someone, so he could possibly get an idea of who it actually was. When he didn't hear her talking, he started up the stairs and went down the hallway towards her room. He knocked gently on her door, before pushing it open with two of his fingers, and he went inside.

Ellery was sitting on her bed, her phone in her hands as she looked down at them. Once she felt Jonathan in the room, she stood up from her bed and looked at him, a slight frown on her face. "Hey."

"Hi," Jonathan said as he stepped further into Ellery's room. "You didn't come back downstairs for a while, so I decided to come and check on you. I was kind of worried."

"Yeah," she said quietly as she tossed her phone onto her bed. She and Jonathan were quiet for a few minutes, and Jonathan just watched her closely. He knew something was wrong. She was staring at the floor, her posture was way off, considering she never slouched, and she didn't look happy. At all. Jonathan walked closer to her and shrugged his shoulders.

"You okay?" he asked curiously, bending his knees just slightly to meet his eyes with Ellery's that were on the floor.

"Mhm," Ellery replied as she looked up at Jonathan. A few seconds later she let out a sigh and dropped her hands to her sides. "Cory's dead."

Jonathan's stomach and jaw dropped and he looked down at the ground. He started to scratch the back of his neck out of habit and let out a quiet sigh. He knew she was going to find out, of course, but he didn't know he would feel so bad about it. He looked back up at his sister and he could feel the tears start to burn his eyes, because he knew that his sister was probably heartbroken.

"I'm, uh," Jonathan said quietly as he looked at his sister. "I'm sorry, Ellery."

Ellery looked up at her brother and shrugged one of her shoulders. "Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything, Jonathan. Things happen."

"Yeah," he nodded, his eyes falling to the ground. He continued to stare at the ground for a few minutes, until he felt Ellery's arms around his waist and her head in his chest. He frowned to himself and wrapped his arms around his sister's tiny frame, before rubbing her back comfortingly, just like a brother should. "Who was on the phone?"

"Cory's mom," Ellery said quietly as she squeezed Jonathan tightly, before she pulled away from him. And Jonathan was a little surprised to see that she wasn't crying.

Jonathan nodded and looked down at the ground. "Oh."

"He did drugs," Ellery said, looking up at Jonathan with a small frown on her face. "He did drugs, Jonathan. His mom just found out when she was going through his things, I guess."

"Drugs?" Jonathan asked, hoping to sound curious, like he didn't know anything about Cory being dead. "That's, uh. That's really unlike him."

"Obviously not," she replied. She shook her head and just looked up at her older brother, and it didn't take two seconds to read the look on her face. It was obvious that she was upset, sad, angry, and hurt. And he felt bad, because he felt somewhat responsible. He took Cory on the roadtrip, he invited him, he drove to the park, and he didn't try and stop Alex.

He didn't do anything.

Once again, it was silent again between the Cook siblings, and the slight awkwardness was broken by a knock on the front door. Ellery snapped back into reality and walked past Jonathan, before going out of her bedroom and down the stairs. She went to the front door and opened it to see Kyle standing there with a smile on his face and his hands behind his back.

"Hey, El," Kyle said, his voice calm and quiet. He pulled his hands from behind his back to reveal a bouquet of flowers. "I, uhm. I heard about...Cory. I hope these make things a little better at least. I'm sorry."

"Thanks, Kyle," Ellery said as she took the flowers from Kyle, trying to plaster a bigger smile onto her face (but failed). She looked down at the flowers and then back at Kyle. "They're beautiful."

Kyle's smile widened just the slightest, before he stepped into the house as Jonathan came down the stairs. All three of them stood in the foyer, and Ellery looked at Jonathan, who was staring at Kyle. She looked over at Kyle to see him looking back at Jonathan, as if they were talking with their eyes (and knowing the guys, they probably were). Not knowing what to say, Ellery just slipped on a pair of shoes and walked out of the house. She shut the front door behind her and took a seat on the stoop, before setting her flowers into her lap, and she looked out across the yard, wondering what she did to deserve any of this.

+++

As Kyle and Jonathan stood in the foyer, they just stared at each other in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence; it was a silence where no one knew what to say. Neither of them were sure if they should mention Cory, neither of them were sure if they should go check on Ellery, and neither of them were sure if talking about anything else would be appropriate.

But Kyle knew Jonathan would speak up sooner or later.

"Come upstairs," he said, leading Kyle up the stairs towards his bedroom. Kyle followed closely behind him, and once they got into Jonathan's room, he shut the door behind him and sat down on his friend's bed.

"What?" Kyle shrugged as he looked over at Jonathan, who was pacing back and forth while running a hand through his hair.

"Why did you get her flowers?" Jonathan asked, looking over at Kyle with narrowed eyes. "You're really trying to get my sister to like you after we just killed Cory?"

Kyle scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "Jonathan, I got her flowers because I was sorry that he's dead! And I thought you said we didn't kill Cory! You told us to stop saying it like that!"

"We didn't, but--we--ugh!" Jonathan said as he threw his arms up in the air. "Kyle, what are we going to do!? My sister's crushed!"

"Did she cry?" Kyle wondered, a small frown appearing on his face. "Was she okay?"

"She didn't cry," Jonathan replied as he leaned against his bedroom door. "She was just...really quiet."

"I feel so bad," he mumbled.

"What are we supposed to do?" Jonathan asked, before he let out a loud sigh. "I don't know what to do."

"Well, I was thinking we could just tell her the truth," Kyle said logically. "But obviously--"

"No," Jonathan snapped, his eyes meeting Kyle's in less than half a second. "No, Kyle. We made a pact. We cannot break the pact."

"But she's so sad!" Kyle said, frowning. "And when she's sad, we're all sad."

"Telling her the truth won't bring Cory back, anyway," Jonathan muttered as he rested the back of his head against the door. "Nothing will bring him back."

"Lying about it won't do any good either," Kyle said rudely as he stood up from Jonathan's bed. "I'm going outside to talk to her. I want to make sure she's okay."

"You don't say anything to her about what we know, Kyle," Jonathan instructed as he pointed at his best friend. "Don't drop any hints."

"I'm just going to talk to her. Calm down," Kyle mumbled as he waited for Jonathan to move out of the way. Once Jonathan pushed himself away from his bedroom door, Kyle stepped out and walked down the stairs. After he greeted Mr. and Mrs. Cook, he opened the front door and walked out, before shutting the door behind him. He looked down at the stoop to see Ellery sitting down with the flowers he gave her on her lap. He slowly sat down next to her and ran a hand through his hair.

"Hey, El," he said as he looked over at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ellery said, her tone short and chopped. "I'm okay."

"I'm really sorry," Kyle apologized as he ran his hands down his shorts, as if to wipe the sweat off of them, considering he was slightly nervous. Not because he was talking to Ellery, because he knew everything that she didn't. "Don't be upset."

"How could he die, Kyle?" Ellery asked as she turned to look at Kyle, a small frown on her face, which caused Kyle's stomach to sink. She shook her head and sighed. "How could he have done drugs and not tell me?"

"Some boys just want privacy," Kyle said quietly as he shrugged one of his shoulders. "I know he's your boyfriend, El, but maybe he was just scared that you would judge him."

"I wouldn't judge him," Ellery commented as she looked down. She set the flowers next to her leg and ran her hands through her hair. "I just can't believe he hid that from me."

Kyle just nodded and looked down at the stoop, before he let out a quiet sigh. He didn't know what to tell Ellery, because if he let one word slip, all of the guys would hate him. He wanted to hold Ellery and tell her that everything would be alright. He wanted her to know that she could talk to him about it. And he wanted her to know that he would be there for her.

He really wanted her to know that.

"Ellery," Kyle started, a soft sigh escaping his lips. "You can talk to me about it, if you want."

Ellery closed her eyes and shook her head, before she turned to Kyle and opened her eyes. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around Kyle's thin torso, and she rested her head on his shoulder. Kyle smiled sympathetically as he wrapped his arms around her like a brother would, and he squeezed her gently as if to reassure her that everything would be okay.

"It'll be okay," Kyle whispered as he kissed the top of her head, like her father would. "It'll be okay, Ellery."

"Why does it have to happen?" she asked, her voice quiet and soft. "What happens now?"

"What do you mean?" Kyle questioned as he looked down at Ellery.

Ellery picked her head up and looked at Kyle. She sat up and put her hands in her lap. "What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know," Kyle said quietly as he put his arm around Ellery again and rubbed her arm comfortingly. "I just want you to keep your head up and know that everything happens for a reason, El. And you can always talk to me."

"Thank you, Kyle," Ellery said as she hugged Kyle again. "I can always count on you."

Kyle just frowned slightly and nodded, knowing that for once in his life, Ellery couldn't count on him.

Only because he wasn't allowed to tell the truth.