Capturing Ella

Chapter 10 - Ella

'Whatever you do, don't laugh,' I warned the girls. 

I stood in my bedroom at Michael's house in the short shorts we had all chosen to wear, and a bright pink Cancer Research shirt with the writing "REAL WOMEN WEAR MUD" across the front. Not only that, I was the last one to get decked in the typical Hawaiian fancy dress – a flower garland or a lei, a flower headband and wristbands and a long pink hula skirt. But the worst part about this was the flower bra that came with it. I say bra, it was more two plastic bowls with flowers stick onto them. Michael having no idea what bra sizes even were ordered them all in the "one size fits all" category but I can guarantee you. One size does not fit all boob sizes – unless the one size fits all category gives some space to store mid-run sweets. Crystal, Phee and Sky had all put their costumes, which fitted perfectly, and it was only me that was having trouble with the bra.

'We won't, just come out!' Phee shouted, and as soon as I opened the door, all three of them laughed.

'What happened to not laughing?' I asked, adjusting my hula skirt.

'We're not laughing,' Sky said managing to keep a straight face for the first time, and I just shook my head.

'Bullshit!' I joked back. To be fair, I was a mess. The other three somehow managed to pull it off whilst I... yeah I didn't.

'Ella, why are your boobs so small!' Crystal said coming over to look at the monstrosity that was the flowery cups. 'I can actually fit my Capri sun down there,' Crystal telekinetically moved her sealed fruit juice pouch and put it down the bra, and sure enough it fitted and filled up the cup causing the girls to lose it again.

'Okay, yes I get it. My chest never hit puberty like yours all did.' Honestly, there was hardly anything there. At a mere 34B, it added to the look that I was barely twelve, and not nearly twenty one. And the girls found it hilarious that I had nothing.

'You look fine, Ella.' Phoenix said, coming over and hugging me. She must have picked up I was starting to feel self conscious and came over to protect me. I like Phoenix, as much as she does join in on the fun she knows when enough is enough. I am a joker just like everyone else in, but there's only so much of people laughing at me that I can stand without my mental sanity leaking away – and we were standing on that threshold now. I always found it worse when family laughed at me, because I couldn't escape them. When friends did it, I could ignore them for the time being and go back when I was less annoyed and had time to understand the joke. My brain was like that, raked with anxiety and anxious thoughts. If something like that happened, I needed time to just chill and to breath before I could see the funny side of it. But when you're at a family event, and people are laughing at you for sitting crossed legged at the dinner table in a restaurant and making jokes about how "ladylikeness isn't inherited", it gets me down.

'Of course you look fine, wait if you just...' Sky came up behind me, undoing the four rope strips that held the bra together, pulling them a bit tighter so the bra didn't look overly stupid. She then tied it, tying a bow to finish. 'See, you're fine. You might just get some mud down there.'

'To be fair, we're gunna be getting mud everywhere so we may as well say goodbye to our dignity,' Crystal said, sitting down on my bed and playing with the Disney blanket I had on my bed. I had to always make sure at home there was a blanket nearby, just in case. I had to be prepared for every eventuality.

'Exactly, and I think we have to admit Ella's gunna look like a tit in front of her Soulfinder,' Phee joked quietly and I rolled my eyes.

'She looked like a tit stabbing the table.'

'I knew what I was doing! He was clearly being triggered by the events making him more susceptible to telling the truth. Every time he mentioned cutting, he winced. Or at least the muscle under his right eye did. He was clearly uncomfortable. When I threw the knife he was good enough to catch it.' I explained.