June 6th
I woke up slowly, feeling tired and reluctant to get out of bed. But it was finally the weekend, and I planned to ask my parents if I could go to my best friend's house. As I walked downstairs, I saw my mom sipping a cup of coffee and my dad reading the newspaper. They were talking quietly, but their conversation halted when they noticed me. "Hey, guys..." I approached them with concern. "Is something wrong?" My mom looked a bit somber, and my dad wouldn't meet my gaze. "Ella, why don't you take a seat?" I pulled out a chair and sat at the table with my mom, while my dad stood behind me. I picked up a glass of water and took a sip.
"This is difficult for us to say, but Ella, you're going to live with your brother." My eyes widened, and I spit out my water. "WHAT??" I exclaimed. "Mom, tell me Dad's joking. I haven't spoken to Dallas in years." She shook her head with her gaze down. "Ella, you know we love you, but you've been so out of control." My brow furrowed. "What are you even talking about? I haven't done anything wrong." She rolled her eyes at me. "Are you serious? You've been expelled from four schools, gotten into a million fights, and you really don't have any friends." I backed away from the table and stood up. "I have plenty of friends." She stood up. "Oh yeah? Name three of them." I pondered this and realized that the only friend I really had was Amara. "Okay, you know what? It doesn't even matter I cannot believe you would do this to me." I ran up to my room and locked the door. What the ACTUAL fuck?
June 10th
"Do you have everything? did you double-check all your bags?" I turned my head away. "Yeah, yeah, I did everything already," I said, feeling bummed. I couldn't believe my mom made me leave to live with my stupid brother, whom I hadn't spoken to in maybe ten years and I just turned 15. Dallas had always been a stick in the mud - boring, a dork, never did anything fun, and always super tidy. This was going to be terrible.
June 11th
I arrived at the address my mom had given me and knocked on the door, waiting for someone to answer. When the door opened, I immediately noticed the strong smell of alcohol on the man's breath. His speech was slurred as he asked, "Who are you?" He had greasy black hair and was wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt, which I found disgusting but also oddly cool. I replied, "I'm Dallas Winston's sister. Who are you?" He stumbled a bit before responding, "Wait, little Dally has a sister?" Annoyed, I cracked my knuckles and rolled my eyes, saying, "Alright, clearly this isn't the right house. Dallas is not associated with weird crackheads like you." As I turned to leave, he grabbed my shoulder, stopping me and turning me around. "Dally's inside, just go upstairs and it's the first door to the right."
I shoved past him to catch a glimpse of the house. It was captivating. This was nothing like the Dallas I knew. Dallas was a neat freak and loathed parties. Now, well, I don't even recognize this person. The house was filled to the brim with smoke and skanks. I hesitated, thinking maybe this wasn't the right house and the strange man at the door was lying to me. I scanned the room for people my age and found two guys standing in the corner. As I approached, I noticed that they both seemed to be my age. Further investigation revealed that the slightly taller one had dark, slicked-back hair and was wearing a muscle shirt, while the other one was slightly shorter, with black hair, tanned skin, and deep brown eyes that allured me. He was gorgeous.
"Can I help you?" the taller one said. It was quite rude; he acted like I had done something wrong. I would've said something back, but he and his friend seemed to be the only normal people in the house. "Uh, yeah, is this Dallas Winston's house?" I responded, annoyance creeping into my voice. he leaned his head back in frustration "Listen, I'm gonna spare you the heartbreak, he doesn't want you, he is with another girl right now, and hell, you look way too young to be one of Dally's girls" I rolled my eyes "Maybe because I'm not one of Dallas's girls. I'm his sister," I announced. They both looked at me dumbfounded. "Dally has a sister?" the shorter one said. "Uh, yeah? Has he never mentioned me before? Where do you guys think his family went?" They both shrugged. "We just assumed they died or something, we didn't wanna pry in his business" I put my hands in the air in defeat. "Okay, I don't care. Do you know where he is? Is this his house?" The shorter one spoke again, "Okay, okay. He's upstairs to the right calm down."
I walked up the stairs, feeling nervous about seeing my brother again. As I approached the door, I paused. Why was I so scared? After all, he's my brother. He wouldn't be mad at me or anything. I opened the door and saw Dallas kissing a pretty blonde girl with too much eye makeup.
I was shocked. Dallas had never been like this before. He was just too innocent. This new Dallas was just shocking to me. I managed to stutter out a simple "Hey, Dallas." He looked up and sighed, "Who the hell are you, and how do you know my name?" I was taken aback by his sudden rudeness and hostility. "Uh, it's me, your sister." He froze for a second, and his eyes widened. "Ella?" I nodded my head with a slight smile. "Hey, Dallas."
