No Happily Ever After

It was almost midday when I woke up. My head was spinning and I was sitting on the lap of Jack Barakat, my tutor.
'Jack.' I poked his cheek.
'Ella..' He mumbled sleepily. 'Wait, Ella?! Why're you here?'
'I got lost remember? Alex brought me home.' I reminded him, gesturing to the sleepy 17 year old boy sprawled across the loveseat.
'Right. You wanna go home?'
'Please. My shower's singing to me.'
'We have a shower.' He reminded me, as I helped him up.
'And not the right shampoo.'
'Is that how you get this?' He poked my mane of honey coloured hair anxiously.
'Yep.'
'Jaysus.' He sighed. 'Let me get some coffee... Where's your stuff?'
'Somewhere.' He made us coffee whilst I searched for my bag. He came back clutching two mugs when I grabbed it and flourished it like a trophy. 'I found it!'
'Awesome.' He yawned and handed me the mug, and I thoughtfully sipped the dark, bitter concoction inside.
'When are these guys gonna wake up?' I smiled briefly.
'Never, probably. Rian'll wake up at about 4 to see Kara, Zack'll wake up at 11pm most likely to play videogames and get drunk and Alex... I'll wake him up now.' He tossed his empty mug at random and seized the sleeping Alex, who screamed.
'Get away from me, Jack!'
'We're taking Ella home!' He insisted, grabbing the sleepy Alex and me by our hands and tugging us outside. Alex slid into the back seat as I buckled my seatbelt.
'I live...' I trailed off when Jack tapped his head with his finger.
'It's fine, your mom told me your address. I know where you live.'
We drove in silence until he pulled up to my house.
'Seeya.'
'Bye.' I waved and walked up to my front door. Once they'd left, I shoved open the door and crept inside.
'Ella?'
'Hey, Mom.'
I smiled reproachfully, until I noticed Mason, my mom's sort of lover, sitting on the sofa.
'Hey Ella.' He waved.
'Hey, Mason.' I smiled weakly, sprinted up the steps, and threw myself face down on my bed. I didn't understand my mother, not at all.

'How was tutoring?' Cris jogged to my side 2 days later.
'We just introduced ourselves. I got lost on the way home though, so his friend offered me a place to stay.. Conveniently at Jack's.'
'What happened?' She demanded as I traded some books from my locker.
'I can't remember... Lots of drinking, video games and innuendos.'
'Hey, guys.' Rory grinned at me, then kissed Cris who shook her head and looked at me.
'Seriously, Ella, if you don't date him at one point, I will be seriously angry.'
'What's this?' Rory asked, watching me with careful eyes.
'I have a tutor... Who apparently would be perfect for me.' I grinned at Cris who grinned back.
'If anyone deserves to be happy, Ella, it's you.' He ruffled my hair like a dad would.
I beamed. 'Why thank you, Rory.' I paused. 'Gimme a sec, I have a text.'
*Tutoring tonight?
From Jack.
I smiled and thumbed a quick response to confirm. Yes, there was tutoring tonight. And there would be for quite a while.

I'd settled into this habit of waking up, going to school, going to tutoring, getting a ride home and going to sleep. I'd spend my weekends at Jack's house, and I'd introduced him to Cris and Rory. It'd been almost 2 months since his drunken party, and I'd actually grown to genuinely like him.
'Hey, Ella!' Alex grinned at me from across the room. I was sitting in my room, All Time Low, Cris and Rory sprawled across various bits of furniture: my bed, sofa, dressing table, even the floor.
'What?'
'Pass us the chips.' He grinned and caught the packet of Doritos lazily, before rooting around in them and surfacing with a handful of orange triangles. 'Delicious.'
'Disgusting, more like.' I commented, before sitting cross legged on my bed where Jack lay. Cris winked at me as he grabbed my hand.
'What're we gonna do?'
'Watch a movie?' Cris suggested, throwing a handful of popcorn into her mouth.
'What kind?'
'A scary movie.' She grinned. 'Why don't we watch... Wrong Turn?'
Running over to select the movie she'd watched so many times, she turned to give me the most sadistic smile I'd ever seen