Saving Grace

Chapter 1- Ella

      My eyes slowly fluttered open. It was around 11:30ish and I was a little out of it. I slowly crawled out of bed and then made the bed all neat and tidy. Sunlight invaded the space through a small gap in the blinds. Stomach growling, I decided to go get breakfast– lunch– whatever you would call eating a bowl of cereal at almost noon. I got dressed into some very unfashionable sweats and a tee and sat down in my "gaming chair". This was the usual morning for me on weekends and breaks, followed by hours of nonstop gaming coupled with all-day long chats with my best friend, Ella.

      Ella has been my best friend for a little over a year now and every day of it has been perfect. Sure we've had arguments and sure we've said toxic things to each other, but overcoming these conflicts and being capable of remaining friends has done nothing but help us to understand each other and help prove that our friendship is strong. I've met many people from her life over the course of her friendship. I remember reading Ella's fanfic a long time ago and hearing a few names– little did I know I would meet every single one of these individuals. I've met many that have given me lots of happy, funny memories, but there have also been those that have ended up making me feel really shitty. Sabastian, Kuba (Dennis and Gabe), Alan, Jake: all these people have made me feel really terrible about myself or made me feel not worth Ella's friendship. But, over time, I've come to realize that I can't always assume that I'm the problem or that people hate me because I'm undeserving of being liked. Regardless, Ella makes me feel the opposite– like I have a place and like I'll always be loved by somebody no matter what.

      One day, Ella mentioned a name I had heard maybe once or twice before, but I never really was too curious. She showed me a few pictures of him and, yeah, he is pretty handsome but I wasn't all that interested. But, during one conversation, she told me that her cousin had called me a DEGENERATE...
Immediately I was so very offended– nobody had ever called me one before– and that was when I knew that I had to give this man a piece of my mind. For days, I tried getting Ella to help me get into a call or xbox party with him so we could talk because I was frustrated that he found me to be a degenerate before even meeting me for himself. I had heard, over a short period of time, multiple stories about him and I became increasingly agitated at the fact that he thought so ill of me– I HAD to meet him now.