Truth, Lies and Bitchy Girls

Ellen woke earlier than normal the next day. Probably because she didn’t want to see any of them before she had seen her mother and cleared her head. She descended the staircase and made her way towards the kitchen to fix her self some cereal. Normally she would sit in the living room to eat her breakfast but she stood in the kitchen for convenience so she could get out of the house quicker.

After she had finished eating, she grabbed a pen and piece of paper and made her way back up the stairs. After walking into her bedroom, she walked over to her closet and scanned through all of her clothes. After some deliberation, she chose her red skinny jeans, her Avenged Sevenfold band tee, her pink converse and her oversized hoodie.

After she was dressed, she walked over to where she had left the pen and paper, picked it up and began to write a note to Zacky telling him where she was, seeing as he would rise from his bed for several more hours. Once the note was written, she exited her room, walked over to his shut door, and slid the paper underneath. After this, she walked down the stairs and out of the front door to go and visit the place that she hadn’t set foot in for months now.

The journey took less time than she had anticipated as the last time she had walked there; she had been carrying boxes so she could move all of her possessions into Zacky’s house. Readying herself, she slowly made her way up to the door that lead into the house she had never called home.

She had been made to surrender her door key when she moved in with Zacky so she had to ring the doorbell and pray that someone would answer. Her mother came to the door almost immediately.

“Ellen! You’re home! Where are all your things?” Her mother exclaimed, embracing Ellen.

“My stuff’s at Zacky’s. I’ve just come by to say hi, seeing as it’s my birthday and then I’m gonna go again.” She murmured.

“Oh right! So you just neglect your real family so you can go and live with that man and you only turn up on your birthday?!” Her mother screamed at her.

“NO! I DIDN’T NEGLECT YOU! I WENT OUT AND GOT THE LIFE I’VE ALWAYS WANTED! A LIFE WITH FRIENDS AND PEOPLE I CAN TRUST!” Ellen yelled before running down the path with tears streaming down her face.

“ELLEN MCAVEY! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!” Her mother shouted after, but she was already to far away to hear.

She continued running until she reached the secluded part of the beach where she used to go whenever things got too much at home or when she just needed some space. She collapsed onto the sand and a few tears ran off her cheeks and fell to the sand.

***
“Brian, what the hell are you doing here?!” Zacky exclaimed as he opened his front door and found Brian standing there with a sheepish grin on his face, holding an overflowing box.

“Birthday party!” He replied excitedly.

“Brian no. She said she doesn’t want a fuss and, how ever much I don’t want to, I’m going along with that. Besides, I’ve gotta go see my lawyer.” Zacky groaned.

“Why’ve you gotta go see your lawyer?” Brian enquired. But Zacky didn’t reply, he simply shook his head and pushed past Brian before getting into his car and driving off.

***

Ellen was sat on the beach for half the day. All that time, she was sobbing. She figured she should probably return to Zacky’s, he’d be wondering why she’d been gone so long. Slowly, she stood up shakily and began walking up the beach, placing her feet carefully so she didn’t slide down the sand. The journey back to Zacky’s house was shorter than to her ‘home’ as her mother had so delicately put it.

She didn’t really want to any of them to see her in her current state so, after she had slammed the door closed, she immediately ran up the stairs and hid in her room. She walked over to her bed and sat down, once she had closed the door leading into the room, and found a note had been left there. Her curiosity taking over, she picked it up and read it.

Ellie! I’m sorry. They forced me. If you feel like it, come out into the garden. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Once again, I’m sorry. Zacky xx

Ellen heaved herself back off the bed so she could look out of the window to see what Zacky was on about. Looking out, she saw the five of them lounging around and a banner up that said ‘Happy Sixteenth Ellie!’ Sighing, she decided to give in and play them at their own game. She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something on it before making it into a paper aeroplane and launching it out of her window into the garden.

***
How long had they been sitting in the garden for? They didn’t know. They were thinking about giving up waiting for Ellen until Johnny noticed a paper aeroplane flying towards them. He shouted something and Brian reached up and grabbed it. He saw that there was something written on it, so he unfolded it and read:

If you want me, come and get me!

He looked up at Ellen’s window and motioned for Matt to follow him.

***
Ellen could hear someone thunder up the stairs but she remained in the same position on her bed, knees brought up to her chest and holding a magazine. When Matt and Brian burst into her room, she jumped and dropped the magazine.

“Err, any reason for this interruption?” She asked them innocently.

“Indeed. You’re coming with us.” Brian told her as Matt hauled her off the bed and threw her over his shoulder before walking out of the room with Ellen hitting his back in a feeble attempt at getting him to put her down.

“Y’know Ellie, the more you struggle, the less likely it is that I’m gonna put you down.” Matt said, laughing at her attempt to escape.

They walked down the stairs, well in Matt’s case, stumbled, as it’s hard to walk down stairs when you’ve got someone flung over your shoulder. They strolled through the kitchen and exited the house through the patio doors. It was only until the patio doors had been closed that Matt removed Ellen from his shoulder.

“Uncalled for!” Ellen pouted.

“On the contrary Ellie, it was completely called for.” Brian replied smugly.

“And why would that be?” She enquired, forcing herself to hide her smile.

“Because you wouldn’t come down here otherwise.” Matt said to her.

“Touché.” She smiled.

“You were gonna come down anyway weren’t you?” Zacky asked her, acknowledging her cheeky smile.

“Indeed I was, but not yet. I was gonna do something first.” She told them, her smile fading. The five of them noticed this and a look of concern spread across all of their faces.

“Ellie, what’s up?” Zacky enquired, pulling her onto his lap. She just shook her head in reply and closed her eyes so they couldn’t see the tears that were forming.

“Jelly? Jelly, please don’t cry.” Jimmy begged as he watched a tear roll slowly down her cheek.

“Sorry Jimmy.” She choked as she shakily wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Sssh, Ellie, it’s okay.” Jimmy replied. “We just wanna know what’s wrong.”

“I don’t wanna go back there.” She sniffed.

“You don’t have to; you can stay here as long as you want.” Zacky said, reassuring her.

“Thanks Zack.” She said, gratefully. “God, I probably look terrible now don’t I? I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t come up and drag me down again!” She told them, leaving them sitting there and returning to her bedroom. Quickly, she wiped her eyes and applied some mascara before picking up her laptop and returning to the garden with it.

She was sat cross-legged on the grass by the pool messing about playing games when Jimmy walked up to her.

“I think you should play it.” He whispered.

“Play what?” She asked, feeling slightly confused until she saw the look on his face. “Ooh, play THAT. I may just do that.” She opened Itunes and scrolled through the songs until she found the files Matt had copied to her laptop.

“That one! That one!” Jimmy told her excitedly, pointing to one of the songs. She obliged with his wish and pressed play causing the haunting sounds of an organ to radiate through the speakers of her laptop.

“What the fuck dude?! Why’s Ellie got Critical Acclaim on her laptop?!” Brian demanded.

“Ohmigod! Your face!” Ellie laughed, pointing at him.

“At least it ain’t ugly like Zack’s.” He bit back.

“What? Why’d you bring me into this?!” Zacky asked him.

“’Cause she lives with you.” Brian retorted. “But seriously, why DOES she have that?”

“Y’know Brian, SHE does have a name.” Ellen pointed out.

“Yeah, and she’s got it, ‘cause she’s the first person to own the complete album. Ellie’s benefits.” Matt explained to Brian.

“What?! Complete album? You didn’t tell me!” He exclaimed with mock outrage.

“Haha, yeah. ‘Cause you’re such a sneaky twat, we kept it from you.” Jimmy told him.

“I hate you all.” Brian pouted.

“No you don’t, you’re just saying that. But I want cake!” Jimmy chuckled.

“Cake? What the actual hell?” Ellen questioned.

“Can’t have a birthday without cake.” Johnny grinned as Ellen groaned and attempted to shrink into the background, but failing dismally.