broken//matthew espinosa

Chapter 35: my sister

stephanie
We all wave goodbye to Gilinsky's jeep, as it gets towed away by a truck. He groans in frustration and sits on the grass. Ellie sighs and sits next to him. I swear if I didn't know that they are "just friends", I would of thought they were dating. She rubs his back as he looks up at the sky, figuring out how to get us out of here. Sammy pulls out his phone and starts dialing a number, laughing a little, as everyone stares at him.
"Mom?" Everyone breaks out in quiet laughs.
"Can you pick us up at the Hollywood sighn?" He nods and smiles.
"Grounded for 2 weeks! It was Gilisnky!" He laughs and moves the phone onto his chest.
"She says she's calling your mom." Johnson oohs at Jack.
"She's calling yours too." Sammy says, which causes Johnson to stop oohing. Ellie just sits there, smiling. Sammy hangs up the phone and sits down with us.
"So we are all in trouble." He laughs, rolling in the grass.
"So how long have you known each other?" I randomly ask. They all smile and Jack looks at Ellie. The way he looks at her...
"Kindergarten." Sammy says, picking at the grass. Jack laughs and kisses Ellie on the cheek.
"Um, are you two dating?" I laugh. Ellie turns pink, as Jack scratches the back of his neck.
"Um, I don't think so." Ellie says, unsure. Jack smiles and turns her head so she's facing him. He kisses her gently and then pulls away.
"I've always wanted to do that." He says, scratching his neck again. Ellie laughs and covers her blushing cheeks. A car pulls up to the dirt road, and they all stand up. I do the same. A lady rolls down the window and has a angry look on her face.
"Get in." She says, obviously mad.
"Mom I can expla-"
"No." She cuts Sammy off.
"I don't want to hear it." She tells him, not making eye contact. Sammy mumbles something and buckles his seatbelt.
"And who's this?" She asks, I'm assuming she's asking me.
"In Stephanie. Nice to meet you!" I smile. She smiles and starts driving.
"Nice to meet you too." She says. We drive back down Jacks road, and he gets out of the car.
"Anyone wanna come for pizza?" He asks, leaning on the car door with his hands. Johnson, Ellie, and I all smile at each other, and jump out of the car. We leave Sammy with his mom, and he crosses his arms over his chest. Jack runs up stairs to change, because he said he was "sweating", but he really wasn't. I'm sure he was just freshening up for Ellie. Johnson and I pull her to the couch and stare at her. She looks at us and smiles.
"What?" We groan and look at her again.
"You and Gilinsky?" I say, nudging her.
"Yeah, what was that back there?" He asks, nudging her to. She sighs.
"I don't know. Does he really like me?"
"Yes!" We say at the same time. We all laugh and jack comes walking down the stairs. He looks at us with confused faces, and sits down on the chair across from us.
"What's going on?" He asks.
"Oh, nothing." We laugh. Jack shakes his head and stands up. We all follow him outside. He goes into his garage and pulls out a plastic baseball and a plastic bat.
"Johnson, first. Stephanie, third. Ellie, your up." He says, throwing the ball up and down, on an imaginary plate.
"Really Jack? I'm wearing a dress!" I say.
"Yeah yeah I've seen girls underwear before." He says in comets seriousness. I look at Johnson and he shrugs. Ellie grabs the bat and walks to home plate. She stands in a batting position and waits for Jack to throw the ball. He throws it, and she hits it, which causes it to go high in the air. We all watch it, and I run backwards, trying to catch the ball. I end up falling on the ground. Ellie throws her self next to me, and she starts having a laughing attack.
"What?" I say, standing up and rubbing my back. She's just laughing and laughing.
"Okay." I say, grabbing her arm and pulling her up.
"Let's go." I walk her to all the bases, and drag her to home.
"Home run!" I yell, and interlock our fingers together, and put our arms in the air. We both laugh, but the Jacks look at us will full seriousness.
"What's wrong?" I ask them, lowering our arms. Jack holds the ball in his hand, and a smile curves on his face. He looks at Johnson and now they're both smiling.
"PLAY BALL OR GO HOME!" They both scream. I smile, and Ellie smiles.
"Can you two keep it down?" A lady peeps her head out of the sliding glass door. She looks at Ellie and I and she smiles.
"Hi Ellie." She smiles. Ellie waves, and then she stares at me.
"Who are you?" She asks politely. I smile and hold my hands behind my back.
"I'm Stephanie. You must be Mrs. Gilisnky?" I ask her. She nods and smiles.
"Yes. Nice to meet you." And she slides the door close.
"Your mom is so sweet!" I say to Gilisnky. He shakes his head.
"Sometimes." He says. I stand on home plate, and bend down to pick up the bat. I hold up the bat and get in batting position. He throws the ball and I swing, hitting it over his white fence. I smile and run to all the imaginary bases.
"Nice." Johnson says, as he places his hands in his hips.
"This is not nice." Jack says.
"We have no ball now!" He groans. I shrug.
"Let's eat pizza!" I say, patting my stomach. They smile, and we walk back inside to eat. Mrs. Gilisnky opens a box of pizza on the table, and we all go crazy. I look out the glass door, and realize it's now dark. I could of sworn it was just sunny and hot.
"My aunt is going to kill me." I murmur, finishing my slice.
"I can drive you." Jack beams.
"With what car?" I ask him.
"My moms?" He says, putting down his slice. He walks to the front door, and grabs keys from the coffee table. He looks at me, and I rush over to him.
"Bye guys! See you tomorrow." I say, and they both wave me goodbye. I step out of tech house and follow Jack to his moms car. He puts the key in the ignition, and starts to pull out of the driveway.
"So, how was your first day around California?" I laugh and smile.
"Pretty good, besides my panic attack." I laugh. He smiles a bit, and then looks at me.
"You get those a lot?" He asks.
"Uh..yeah." I say, kind of embarrassed.
"My sister use to get those a lot." He says.
"Yeah?" I say.
"Yeah." He says again.
"You remind me of her." He smiles.
"Oh. Does she live with you?" I ask. He shakes his head.
"She died a couple years back." He says.
"Oh..I'm so sorry, Jack." I tell him.
"It's cool. Now I have you." He smiles.
That made me feel happy.
Knowing that I remind someone of someone that's now gone.
"So you have a thing for Ellie?" I smile.
"Uh, kinda. I guess she just reminds me of my sister too. She has those big hazel eyes that my sister had. She's also so cool and chill." I smile, knowing that Ellie is all those things. I point out the street I live on, and he drops me off.
"Bye Jack! Thank you." I say to him, and walk inside the house.
What a day.
What a good good day.