Ethan Adams

Chapter 28

I take initiative over the weekend and force myself into Janet's schedule. She's still in a horrible mood about the Anthony thing and my intention is to find out why. Of course, I try not to bombard her as soon as I get into her house, because she'll probably shy away and kick me out if I do. So I do what any other great friend would do: I dust off her Nintendo 64 and get through as many levels of Ocarina of Time as I can, while she watches and eats granola bars with awe written clear on her face.

"We are really good at this!" She says, gasping. "Wow!"

"Summer really polished us up, huh?" I nudge her as I hop onto another platform. She giggles.

"Summer seems so long ago from now!" She sighs out loud. "Now we both have boyfriends, we're going to college and our trio is now a duo!"

I want to tell her that technically Ethan isn't my boyfriend, but maybe it's not the time. This isn't about me and my ambivalent relationship status. "Speaking of..." I start but she gasps.

"You know who came to talk to me on Friday?!"

"Who?"

"Ella! She was totally mad, apparently I had been bad mouthing her or something stupid, she practically threw a tantrum and I had no idea what to do. When did I even bad-mouth her? She's just talking trash, per usual, I don't know how you used to be her friend."

"Janet, you literally called her desperate in front of Jessica and her friends."

Janet stares blankly at the screen. "Oh yeah. Anyway, I just thought it was weird. She unfriended me from Facebook."

Woah. "That's serious..." I bite my bottom lip, feeling really guilty all of a sudden.

Ella and I aren't friends and I haven't spoken to her since she told me I was jealous of her and whatnot but still... It seems like such a shame to lose her as a friend after all this time. Sure, she hadn't really been a friend since junior year, but sometimes I get flashbacks to memories the two of us had together before her whole thing happened and I just miss it. I miss the old Ella, but I know I'm never gonna get her back.

Maybe I'm just being too nostalgic. But I can't help but miss the girl who used to be my friend.

Janet's phone rings. I catch a glimpse of Anthony's name before I see her roll her eyes and turn it face down, obviously set on ignoring it.

"Who was it?"

"Anthony. I'll just text him later."

I glance at her, expecting to see that she's annoyed but instead she looks worried. So I pause the game. "What's up with the two of you, anyway? He sat with me and the drama kids for lunch yesterday for the first time since you two became official."

"We figured we needed some space." She says, sounding like her usual happy-go-lucky self. However, her face still looks downright upset. "I don't know if you've noticed but we've been fighting a lot recently."

"Oh, I've noticed." I mutter. She sighs loudly. "When did this all start?"

She shrugs. "I don't know."

If there's one thing I know about Janet is that she hates silence. So I don't say anything, and she keeps quiet too. After about three minutes of no sound, she releases a loud breath.

"It's just that... he's got his audition with Julliard and he's gone through already and he's probably going to college there after summer and I'm gonna be here at wherever without him!"

There we go.

She starts sniffing and I pause the game, shuffling over to sit next to her. Eventually, the tears come and I pull her into a side hug, shushing her gently and ignoring the damp spot in my t-shirt.