leave it at that.

ellie

"I'm gonna need to stay over for a while." I am standing there for a moment, shocked, and then I quickly usher Leila inside. She's still crying and shaking when I sit her down in the living room. My brother and dad is upstairs, so they shouldn't hear her. I make her a cup of tea and sit down next to her. It's now 8 pm when she stops crying and she can talk. "Deep breathes girl, i'm here" I say. She takes some deep breathes and calms down. "What happened?" I ask, slowly. She's still a little shaken when she talks. "M-my parents. I just can't deal with them anymore and I need a lace to stay for a little while. It's bad, Ellie. I don't know what else to do." I'm not going to make her say anything else, though, even if this does come as a surprise so me. Leila always seemed happy so I didn't take the time to realize if something was going on at home. However , it's Friday so we have the weekend to talk, if my dad lets her stay. I'll have to talk to him. "Ok Leila. I'm going to talk to my dad and see if you can stay. We're going to have to talk about this at another time though, you know that right?" She shakes her head. "Ill be right back"
I head upstairs. My dad is at his desk on his computer. "Hi dad" I say. She turns around and smiles. "What's up, honey?" I take a deep breath. "Leila is downstairs. Somethings wrong, I don't know what but she's crying and she's saying she needs to stay here for a while. Dad, can she please stay? I know somethings wrong and I don't think she has anywhere else to go. He stares at me for a moment. "She can stay in my room and i'm sure she'll be fine, please?" I say, i'm pretty much begging at this point. He stares at me for a while. "I'm going to have to talk to her." I nod and he heads out of the room downstairs. My dad knows Leila, and he actually thinks she's a good friend because i've known her for a long time. Ever since 6th grade. I would say she's my closest friend and I would hate to turn her away when she looks so upset. After a while my dad comes upstairs. "She can stay." Thats all he says but i'm already halfway out the door. "Thank you dad!" I hug him and run downstairs. I take some of Leila's stuff and we head to my room. My room is pretty big since there's only three people living in my house. "You can just sleep in my bed with me." I tell her. Her makeup is still runny but she looks a lot better since she first came here. Leila unpacks her things and says she's going to take a shower. At about 10, we order some pizza and watch a movie. "Hey, Leila?" She looks at me. "What happened? Why do you need to stay?" She takes a deep breath. "My parents. I just can't take it anymore. Things have gotten worse and i'm constantly being yelled at and ridiculed. It's like I can't even breathe without them saying i'm doing something wrong! My parents are alcoholics, Ellie. They're constantly drinking and it makes my life a living hell. Schools my only escape. I stay out all night if I can. When I got home today all my mother had to do was yell at me. I know she's not worried about me, she just wants to take my money or pretend to be a good mom by shouting at me! I've tried to talk to them but it's no use, El. I just couldn't take it. So, I packed some stuff up and left. They probably won't even notice if I was gone. I went straight to your house because I knew you would understand. You're my closet friend Ellie. I'm so glad I'm able to stay because I don't know what I'd do without you." When she's done, she's crying. I hug her and we just sit like that for a while. I don't know what to say. I never knew her parents were like that. Why hasn't she told anyone? I never knew she had any sort of problems at home. I hate seeing any of my friends suffer. And seeing Leila's condition makes me so incredibly mad it's taking a lot of will power not to go over there and just hit her parents. I would never do that but it'd be nice. I sigh to myself. Leila's one of my closest friends. I have to do something for her.